China – Race: Lewis Hamilton, from start to finish

From the starting grid, the message from Lewis Hamilton was clear: by parking his Mercedes askew towards his teammate Nico Rosberg, the world championship leader clearly showed that he wouldn’t give anyone a chance to beat him on the Chinese circuit.

At the lights out, the British driver got the best start and soared towards a victory that was already within his grasp. However, he didn’t miss the chance to play with his teammate’s nerves: during the second stint, he deliberately slowed his pace in the race to put Nico Rosberg under pressure from Sebastian Vettel. Indeed, the German Mercedes driver couldn’t get too close to his teammate without risking damaging his tires. To the point that he asked his pit crew to relay the message to Lewis Hamilton… The latter then made it clear at the end of the race that he was truly doing whatever he wanted as he pulled away by seven seconds.

Behind, the Ferraris clearly showed that they were the new second force on the grid. Kimi Räikkönen quickly made up for his slight underperformance in qualifying by overtaking both Williams cars at the first corner. The two red cars were then able to follow the pace of the two Mercedes for a long time, while creating a significant gap over Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas.

Behind, the pleasant surprise is the return of Romain Grosjean in the points, something that hadn’t happened since last year’s Monaco Grand Prix. His teammate, Pastor Maldonado, could have followed suit if it weren’t for the type of mistakes he’s known for. He went straight on entering the pits, forcing the marshals to push him backward. He then spun out before being hit by Jenson Button at the end of the straight. This led to his third retirement in as many races.

For a long time, Max Verstappen held onto eighth place, but his Renault engine failed him on the straight with only three laps to go. This led to the deployment of the safety car, which only withdrew to allow the checkered flag to greet the winner.

So it is Felipe Nasr who inherited the Dutchman’s place, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Marcus Ericsson. As for the two McLarens, they achieved their goal by finishing the race but only in 12th and 13th positions, behind Sergio Perez’s Sahara Force India. They therefore finished ahead of the second Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz, who suffered a gearbox problem that cost him valuable time.

The two Manors also managed to reach the finish line, with Roberto Merhi managing to stay ahead of his teammate Will Stevens, who was making his first start of the year.

As for Nico Hülkenberg, he had to stop as early as the 11th lap due to engine problems, while Daniil Kvyat’s caught fire seven laps later.