F1 2017: Hamilton wins the Chinese GP
First victory of the 2017 season for Lewis Hamilton. It came at the Chinese GP, a race the Briton from Mercedes has already won five times.
The second round of the 2017 season of the Formula 1 World Championship took place in China, at the Shanghai International Circuit. A race that has been held since the circuit was built in 2004 and that is one of the favourites of British driver Lewis Hamilton, as he had already won it four times, five counting today’s victory.
The British driver got his revenge for the Australian GP, the first round of the calendar, where Sebastian Vettel and his Ferrari had beaten him. But this time, in a race that was largely run on a wet track, the Briton imposed his will from practically the start, also helped by the race circumstances that sent Vettel back down the order.
The German was able to climb back through the field, thanks to a fairly sound strategy and some good manoeuvres to shake off his rivals, and so secured second place in the race. The two Red Bull drivers, Verstappen and Ricciardo, fought over the final laps to take the last podium place, with the young Verstappen managing to step onto the podium.
As for the performance of the Spanish drivers, the best in Shanghai was Carlos Sainz Jr. The Toro Rosso driver finished in seventh place, a fantastic result, as Sainz Jr was the first driver to complete the race outside of the Mercedes, the Ferrari and the Renault, the three big teams. Fernando Alonso, however, retired again, although he did manage to make the most of the race and at one point was sixth, while his McLaren kept running.
The top 10 of the full classification at this 2017 Chinese GP was as follows:
Hamilton and Vettel are tied at the top with 43 points, but we only have to wait one week to see the tie-break. The Bahrain GP, the third race of the championship, takes place on April 14, 15 and 16.
Via | Formula1.com
