Nico Rosberg has won the 2016 Chinese Grand Prix after dominating from pole to finish. The Mercedes-AMG driver crossed the finish line 37 seconds before his closest rival, Sebastian Vettel who claimed P2. Daniil Kvyat made it an even podium by finishing third for Red Bull. This is the sixth straight win for Rosberg, he has won every race since Mexico last year.

Hamilton started from the back row but fought his way up to finish in seventh place, other notable drives came from Vettel who fell to the back field after contact in the first lap with Raikkonen. Ricciardo led the race at one point but fell back only to come back up to finish in fourth behind his teammate.

Chinese Grand Prix 2016 Results

1. Nico Rosberg – Mercedes
2. Sebastian Vettel – Ferrari
3. Daniil Kvyat – Red Bull
4. Daniel Ricciardo – Red Bull
5. Kimi Raikkonen – Ferrari
6. Felipe Massa – Williams
7. Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes
8. Max Verstappen – Toro Rosso
9. Carlos Sainz – Toro Rosso
10. Valtteri Bottas – Williams

“I tried everything I could guys but it was lost at the start” – Hamilton

“That was the best balanced car we’ve had in a race. Incredible.” – Rosberg

“You came in like a torpedo.” said Vettel, Kvyat replies “That’s racing”

The Chinese Grand Prix is the third GP of the 2016 season, and the 12th Chinese GP in history. Held at the Shanghai International Circuit, this GP contains one of the trickiest corners (turn 1 and 2) on the Formula 1 calendar. Lewis Hamilton – who started from the back row today – holds the most number of wins in China at 4 while Ferrari tops the manufacturer wins with 4 wins also.

Nico Rosberg started from pole today in search for his sixth consecutive win, the German has won every Grand Prix since Mexico last year. He is on the verge of joining an elite list of similar winners like Nigel Mansell with nine straight wins from South Africa to San Marino; Michael Schumacher with 7 straight wins; Alberto Ascari with 7 consecutive wins from Belgium 1952 to Argentina 1953 and Sebastian Vettel with 9 straight wins from Belgium to Brazil 2013.

Likewise, Mercedes was eyeing for a ninth consecutive win today, and will join others like McLaren who scored 11 straight wins in 2011, Ferrari with 10 in 2002 and Red Bull with 9 in 2013.

Hulkenberg qualified 10th but was handed a three-place grid penalty for unsafe release, dropping him down to 13th place.

Soon as the formation got underway, it was Daniel Ricciardo who stole the moment and jumped into the lead. The two Ferraris collided at Turn 1, “We have made contact, I had no chance to avoid, I had the Red Bull coming up the inside and I hit Kimi. The nose is damaged,” said Vettel. Hamilton was also caught up in the mess and lost his front wing, ending up in the pits, he was joined by Grosjean and Raikkonen.

After lap 1, Ricciardo led the field from Rosberg, Kvyat, Perez, Hulkenberg, Sainz, Vettel, Button, Massa and Bottas.

Thanks to the long straights on the circuit, Rosberg managed to fly past Ricciardo with DRS taking the lead once again. The Red Bull’s tire blew at that very moment sending him back to the pits. Quite an eventful start it was, after five laps the order had changed to Rosberg-Massa-Alonso-Pascal-Gutierrez-Kvyat-Palmer-Haryanto-Perez-Bottas. While all that was happening, Hamilton still managed to set the fastest time before the safety car came out to clear debris of the Red Bull tire.

Hamilton made his second stop on lap seven but Mercedes assured him it was all part of the bigger plan. Several casual frontrunners were now at the backend including Hamilton in 21st, Raikkonen in 19th, Verstappen in 18th, Ricciardo in 17th and Vettel in 15th.

The field went back to green on lap nine, Rosberg led the pack with a 1.9s gap over Williams Massa and Kvyat in third after passing Alonso. Vettel managed to move past Haryanto and Hulkenberg, straight into 12th place. Hamilton had also passed Grosjean, Verstappen and Magnussen, he sat in 16th place after 11 laps. Ricciardo was not far off too, he had climbed to 12th, Vettel had moved up to ninth place!

Vettel was steadily climbing, the former world champion was now in 6th after 12 laps, Hamilton was in 13th behind Ricciardo. Vettel was on an aggressive approach and as he swiped past Bottas the Ferrari made contact with the Williams losing a bit of its front wing. He was on a roll though, taking fifth place after passing Perez on lap 14. Hamilton on the other end moved past Raikkonen and Pascal and now sat in 11th place, behind Ricciardo.

Eyes on Vettel’s Ferrari again, he had moved into fourth after passing Alonso’s McLaren, his next target was Massa. Alonso later dived into the pits for a fresh set of medium rubber, what an action packed race this was!

The frontrunners were yet to make a stop, and when Vettel was catching up with Massa he was forced to pit for softs after dropping the quicker supersoft tire. The Ferrari rejoined in 12th but had moved up to 10th by lap 19, Hamilton was up in seventh behind Ricciardo. In the meantime, Rosberg held a 12 seconds lead over Kvyat, and a 25 seconds lead over Bottas.

Kvyat later pitted from second, so did Raikkonen and Massa allowing Hamilton to climb to third behind Bottas. Vettel was up in sixth behind Button and Kvyat. Rosberg pitted on lap 21 but the Merc held a comfortable 26 seconds lead over Bottas in second.

Hamilton pitted from third switching to another set of softs, he rejoined in 14th. Rosberg’s lead had grown to 13 seconds over Kvyat, and 14 seconds over Vettel who was now in third. Button sat in fourth leading Perez, Massa, Bottas, Ricciardo and Ericsson. Button was on medium tires and beginning to show some struggle in his pace, the McLaren was then passed by the Williams of Massa dropping from P4 to P5 – Perez also got around the McLaren to take P5. Rosberg set a new fastest lap of the race on 1m40.580s, his lead over Kvyat had extended to 20 seconds!

“Give it everything you’ve got mate,” Mercedes told Hamilton as he picked a new set of medium tires, the Brit was now in 14th on lap 32/56. Rosberg’s lead had grown to a holy moly 29 seconds, he still had one stop to make. Meanwhile, Hamilton had moved to ninth place. Kvyat and Vettel pitted from second and third, they rejoined in third and fifth but Vettel passed Kvyat for P3 later. Rosberg also made his last stop picking up a new set of medium tires to take him all the way to the end.

Rosberg’s lead over Vettel (Ricciardo pitted allowing Vettel and Kvyat to move into P2 and P3 respectively) was now 27 seconds on lap 39/56. Hamilton was now running an incredible fifth on lap 41 after passing both Ricciardo and Bottas. Ricciardo later managed to fly past Hamilton who lost momentum while attacking Massa, and the Red Bull also managed to go past Massa and straight into P4 – a good race day for Red Bull Racing.

Hamilton had dropped one more place after Raikkonen – on a fresher set of tires – managed an effective pass into P6. Rosberg’s lead had grown to an enormous 33 seconds over Vettel, the soft rubber on the Ferrari was beginning to fade away. Roberg ended the race with a 37s gap over his rivals, a good race from both Vettel and Hamilton who started from the back row and finished in the points zone.

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