Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg of Germany, center, leaps while celebrating his win with Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany, left, and Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat of Russia, right, in the Chinese Grand Prix.
Mercedes AMG Petronas driver Nico Rosberg won the Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit today, his third win from three races. He opened up the championship lead with 75 points to his name and took an absolutely dominant victory today.
Sebastian Vettel of Scuderia Ferrari and Daniil Kvyat of Red Bull rounded off the podium scoring the second ever podium of his career, the first coming at the Hungarian Grand Prix of 2015.
Three-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton starting the race from the back of the grid after an ERS failure. However, Hamilton put in an impressive effort to move his way up the grid, finishing in P7.
The Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel were involved in a shunt early on in the race, with Raikkonen spinning out and sustaining a bit of damage; he pitted and got back out on track relatively quickly, however. In the final 10 laps, Raikkonen went wheel-to-wheel with Lewis Hamilton to go P5.
Felipe Massa also pushing Hamilton, finished in P6.
With Mercedes taking victory today, both drivers were in the top 10 – as are both Ferraris, Red Bull, Williams and Toro Rossos – the top 10 made up of 5 teams this time around.
Ricciardo suffering an early puncture after stealing the lead from Rosberg in the opening moments of the race managed to take the top spots today.
With teammate Daniel Ricciardo qualifying in P2 and then losing out, Kvyat took on the mantle of leading driver and pushed his car to the maximum for a podium finish. Ricciardo himself finished well in P4, taking double points for the team.
Force India’s Sergio Perez finished just out of the points today at P11 behind the Williams of Valtteri Bottas.
Nico Rosberg now has the record for most race wins without a championship title, overtaking Sir Stirling Moss. He also joins teammate Lewis Hamilton and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso as the only multiple race winners in Shanghai.
#ChineseGP done! Not our kind of result but both cars across the finish line. That matters. pic.twitter.com/OKKRrjCXYo
— Renault Sport F1 (@RenaultSportF1) April 17, 2016
Reactions:
Great recoveries by VET, RAI and RICC today, solid by KVY and ROS, difficult for HAM and Williams guys #F1. RICC my Driver of the Day
— James Allen (@Jamesallenonf1) April 17, 2016
loving Danii laughing off seb giving out about the overtake at the start, great to see for the sport #F1 #ChineseGP
— tom stamp (@thomasjstamp) April 17, 2016
I’m with Dany, there was a big gap and he was already past Seb (just) before the incident! #F1 #ChineseGP🏁🇨🇳
— Ash Dawson (@AshDawson147) April 17, 2016
Yeah it was Seb who crashed with Kimi but: If there is car on your left & right side, what you can do? You can’t go anywhere. #F1 #ChineseGP
— Nita (@nniittaaa) April 17, 2016
A great comeback drive from @danielricciardo for P4! 💪🇦🇺 What if… #ChineseGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/ZwieZNTjrE
— Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) April 17, 2016
