Hamilton dominates for Mercedes in China leaving Rosberg a disgruntled 2nd; Vettel strong again for Ferrari in 3rd

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Lewis Hamilton sailed to victory on Sunday after a dominating race weekend in China as Mercedes put the sting of their Malaysia defeat at the hands of Ferrari and Seb Vettel in the rearview mirror. Winning at the Shanghai circuit for a record 4th time, the English points leader and defending World Champion looked miles ahead of the rest of the field: he started from Pole, got away to an aggressive start that put teammate and rival Nico Rosberg decisively behind him and then managed the race from the front for a seemingly effortless win. With Rosberg taking 2nd place about the only thing that did not go according to script for Mercedes were their number two driver’s gripes in the post-race news conference that Hamilton had been deliberately slow and so forced him back into dicing with Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari rather than competing for the win. Truth be told Rosberg’s words sounded like a man desperate to regain an edge after being thoroughly dominated by Hamilton at the end of last season and into the first three races of 2015. It simply doesn’t seem that Rosberg has the pace — or the psychological fortitude after watching last year’s title hopes slip away — to threaten his supremely confident teammate anymore.

Vettel was rather fortunate to grab the last place on the podium because, while he drove a typically strong race, his Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen was actually catching him up as the laps wound down. But a Safety Car brought out by hard luck Toro Rosso rookie Max Verstappen’s on-track engine failure on Lap 54 insured that the race would finish under yellow and that Vettel & Raikkonen’s positions were fixed. Nonetheless, it was encouraging to see the Finnish former champion, who had started from 6th on the grid, begin to really get to grips with the performance of his SF15-T, blowing by both Williams early in the race and bringing the fight to Vettel at the end. If Ferrari’s win two weeks ago in Malaysia was probably more of a fortunate victory rather than a true challenge to Mercedes dominance there could at least be the spectacle of a good intra-team rivalry brewing at the Scuderia going forward.

Further back in the top 10, Williams provided more evidence that despite their Mercedes power they have not been able to match Ferrari’s improvements so far this season. Seeming to lack that finishing touch of downforce that turns a good car into a very good car, Felipe Massa finished 5th and Valtteri Bottas took 6th despite both men starting in front of Raikkonen’s Prancing Horse. Romain Grosjean had what must have seemed like a banner day for beleaguered Lotus showing form reminiscent of his and the team’s strong performances in 2013. The Frenchman took a much needed P7 and the year’s first points for Lotus, although teammate Pastor Maldonado finished out of the top 10 after he was rear-ended by Jenson Button’s McLaren, for which the English veteran was penalized post race. Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson continued displaying Sauber’s surprising early season excellence with the Ferrari-powered duo coming home P8 and P10 respectively.

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo had a dreadful start off the grid that saw him drop like a stone from 7th back through the pack. But the Australian ace drove his heart out and managed to salvage P9 by the end. Red Bull have to be considered the season’s biggest disappointment in 2015 so far: they sit a lowly 5th in the Constructors’ Championship with just 13 points from the first 3 races, only one in front of their “junior” team Toro Rosso. Plus they have been leapfrogged not only by Williams and Ferrari but also the likes of Sauber. That’s a far cry for Christian Horner and company from the salad days of 4 consecutive titles with Vettel and their decent 2nd place in the Constructors’ to Mercedes last year. If McLaren are obviously in full rebuild mode it seems as if Red Bull must be headed towards the same tear-it-down-to-build-it up regime in the near future. And that will probably start with jettisoning the woeful Renualt power plant.

Top 10 finishers in China here:

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is but a week away in Bahrain, the last of the so-called “fly away” races. Then the season will proceed directly to the classic European contests. First we see if anyone has anything for Hamilton and Mercedes in the desert. It doesn’t seem likely but then anything can happen in motorsport. Hope to see you then!