GREAT BRAWL CHINA
F1 CHINESE GRAND PRIX Flying Hamilton lifts prize and eyes title shoot-out
TWO races down and battle lines are already drawn in a title showdown for the ages.
Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel have each savoured world championship glory but already this season it is clear both are still hungry for more success.
Hamilton, still smarting from playing second fiddle last year to his former Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg, led from pole to flag as he won in Shanghai for the fifth time.
It moved the British driver into a tie with Alain Prost for the second most podium finishes of all time.
A staggering 106 times in the top three still leaves him 49 short of Michael Schumacher’s record but it’s the prospect of going toeto-toe with the current Ferrari golden boy for the season that has Hamilton licking his lips.
After finishing the race where he started it – one place ahead of his German rival, who won the opener in Australia – Hamilton said: “I love this fight we are having. Sitting there with Sebastian I was like, ‘this is going to go right down to the end of the season’.
“And I hope for both of us there is nothing mechanical that will come between our sheer battle through ability.
“I really hope it is an out-andout fight through stubbornness, mental stability, fitness, composure and through just outdriving the person on track.”
Hamilton has been crowned champion three times in the last nine seasons but is still short of Vettel, who won four in a row.
They are the two great drivers of their time, both possessing the ruthless streak that separates champions from the field. And Hamilton said: “It is going to be one of the closest championships, if not the closest, I’ve experienced.
“I am fighting against a fourtime world champion, who is at his best and is phenomenally quick and a Ferrari team which is the best they have been in a decade. I feel I am at my best too.
“I said to Sebastian as I left the last race, ‘ I’m coming back in the next one’. When I got on the podium it was like, ‘I told you’.”
Vettel was frustrated by two early safety cars that saw him drop to sixth before working his way back to second.
Red Bull teen Max Verstappen produced another superb display after he rose 13 places from 16th on the grid – including nine on the opening lap – to finish third.