Rosberg extends streak in China, Vettel finishes 2nd, Hamilton 7th
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Nico Rosberg claimed a dominant win in an action-packed Formula One Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday to extend his championship lead over Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton, who battled up to seventh with some feisty driving after starting last.
Rosberg crossed the line a mammoth 37.7 seconds ahead of German compatriot Sebastian Vettel, who recovered after colliding with his Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen at the first corner, to claim his third win from three races this season.
Daniil Kvyat finished third to score Red Bull its first podium finish since September’s Singapore Grand Prix, but the Russian had to defend himself after the race when an angry Vettel blamed him for the collision between the Ferraris.
“You came like a torpedo,” Vettel told Kvyat.
“I was racing,” the 21-year-old responded before Vettel, who also called Kvyat a “madman” and described his move as “suicidal” over the radio during the race, cut him off.
“Not racing,” Vettel said. “If I keep going the same line, we crash,” said the four-time world champion.
Vettel’s point of view did not find many backers, however, with former driver turned television pundit Martin Brundle saying Kvyat was well within his rights to attempt the move.
“If he had made contact with the Ferrari and shoved it across the track, I think then, as we’ve seen with other incidents going into turn one, he could well have been to blame,” Brundle said.
“But he didn’t. That’s motor racing. That’s his job to do and he’s absolutely right to say I will do the same thing again.
Sunday’s win was the 17th of Rosberg’s career and extends his streak of race victories to six, dating back to last November’s Mexican Grand Prix.
The German now leads Hamilton at the top of the standings by 36 points with 18 rounds of a record 21-race season to run.
Rosberg became only the fourth driver to win six consecutive races – joining Vettel (nine), Alberto Ascari (seven) and Michael Schumacher (six).
No driver who has won the first three races of the season has ever not been crowned champion at the end of the year.
Hamilton, who had started from dead last after failing to set a time in Saturday’s qualifying session due to an engine problem, finished seventh, running into further trouble at the start when he lost his front wing in a first-corner collision.
The Briton used some goodold fashioned racing nous and clever strategy from Mercedes to work his way up to third, but his challenge faded in the later stages of the race.
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth. The Australian rocketed off the line from second on the grid and shot past Rosberg into an early lead, but was pushed onto the back foot after being forced into an early stop by a tire failure, and he was never able to catch up to Rosberg the rest of the way.
“The start was not quite good enough,” said Rosberg from the podium. “But I had a really quick car today and attacked Ricciardo straight away. I didn’t see anything behind me and I’m happy it worked out.”
Raikkonen, who came off worse in the first-corner collision with teammate Vettel, was sixth ahead of Felipe Massa of Williams.
Max Verstappen was eighth ahead of Toro Rosso teammate Carlos Sainz, while Valtteri Bottas rounded out the top ten for Williams.
The race was interrupted by an early safety car after a series of incidents at the very first corner left debris across the track.
The safety car led to a chopping and changing of the order with some drivers choosing to pit even as others stayed out, putting a mix of tire strategies into play.