2011 CHINESE GP

Hamilton only just made it out in time to line up third in China after his Mclaren initially failed to fire.

That didn’t stop both Mclarens jumping poleman Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull, Hamilton following team-mate Jenson Button as the top three broke clear. But Mclaren lost out during the first round of pitstops, Hamilton falling to fifth.

With the frontrunners employing a range of two and three-stop strategies thanks to the fragile Pirellis, things didn’t unwind until the closing stages. And Hamilton had a lot of work to do on track.

Hamilton dived down the inside of Button at the first corner before his third and final stop. Once everyone had pitted, Hamilton thus found himself fourth. He caught and passed Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes and then overcame the Ferrari of Felipe Massa with 12 laps to go. At that point he was still 4.6s behind leader Vettel.

It took six laps for the Mclaren to catch the Red Bull. Vettel defended hard, but Hamilton took the lead on lap 52 of 56 with a bold move into the high-speed Turn 7.

“It was another beautiful – and highly unconventional – move that took Seb completely by surprise,” said Autosport’s report.

Hamilton took the flag over 5s clear, and reckoned it one of his best. “This race is in my top three of race wins, up there with Silverstone and Monaco in 2008,” he said.