Lewis Hamilton extended his lead at the top of the Formula One championship standings with a pole-to-flag victory at the Chinese Grand Prix, the Briton leading a Mercedes one-two ahead of Nico Rosberg.

The race finished behind a safety car after Max Verstappen's Toro Rosso suffered an engine failure on the start-finish straight with two laps remaining for the leaders but it had been a routine afternoon at the head of the field otherwise.

The Mercedes pair pulled clear of Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari at the start and managed the race perfectly to ensure their would be no repeat of the German's stunning win in Malaysia last time out.

Four-time world champion Vettel finished ahead of Ferrari team mate Kimi Raikkonen to claim a third podium in as many races since joining the Italian team from Red Bull at the end of last season.

THE RESULT

1.  Lewis Hamilton (Britain)     Mercedes               1:39:42.008  
2.  Nico Rosberg (Germany)       Mercedes               +00:00.714   
3.  Sebastian Vettel (Germany)   Ferrari                00:02.988    
4.  Kimi Raikkonen (Finland)     Ferrari                00:03.835    
5.  Felipe Massa (Brazil)        Williams-Mercedes      00:08.544    
6.  Valtteri Bottas (Finland)    Williams-Mercedes      00:09.885    
7.  Romain Grosjean (France)     Lotus - Mercedes       00:19.008    
8.  Felipe Nasr (Brazil)         Sauber - Ferrari       00:22.625    
9.  Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) RedBull - Renault      00:32.117    
10. Marcus Ericsson (Sweden)     Sauber - Ferrari       1 lap        
11. Sergio Perez (Mexico)        Force India - Mercedes 1 lap        
12. Fernando Alonso (Spain)      McLaren                1 lap        
13. Jenson Button (Britain)      McLaren                1 lap        
14. Carlos Sainz Jr (Spain)      Toro Rosso - Renault   1 lap        
15. Will Stevens (Britain)       Marussia - Ferrari     2 laps       
16. Roberto Merhi (Spain)        Marussia - Ferrari     2 laps       
17. Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Toro Rosso - Renault   4 laps       
r.  Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela) Lotus - Mercedes       7 laps       
r.  Daniil Kvyat (Russia)        RedBull - Renault      41 laps      
r.  Nico Huelkenberg (Germany)   Force India - Mercedes 47 laps

 

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