The Chinese Grand Prix won by Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg second sounds like a standard race result of 2015 and 2014, however there may be more bubbling under the surface at Mercedes again after Rosberg accused Hamilton of being selfish and purposely going slow to back him up in Vettel.
The accusation is absurd as Hamilton will have no interest in allowing another constructor to beat either Mercedes, as it is starting to look like that Vettel could be Lewis’ biggest threat this year, not his German teammate who he seems to have covered pace wise and mentally so far this year.
Vettel and Kimi look good value for the title of next best, and at a circuit with more favourable conditions it may not be as easy for the silver cars as it has been last year. Kimi will hopefully gets some more luck and stay out of trouble to make it a real stoush between many World Champions.
Further back Williams slipped further back into upper midfield obscurity as they were clearly better than the rest of the cars behind, but not quite good enough to be annoying the front runners.
Even further back there was some good stories with Grosjean scoring his first points in a long time, and Sauber continuing the promise of Australia with a double points finish.
Bad day out for Renault, who took such offence at Red Bull claiming in not so many words that they ensure failures a plenty just to get the focus back onto them and what a great job they are doing. Suddenly a detuned slowpoke Honda looks a good thing.
Pastor Maldonaldo, disappointed to miss out on first retirement, was unable to negotiate the pit lane much to onlookers delight. His race was over after Jenson Button rear ended him at the first corner, probably not expecting a Honda engine car to be so close to the back of another car this early in the season.
Here’s the results.
| Driver | Team | Grid | Fastest Lap | Race Time | |
| 1 | Hamilton | Mercedes | 1 | 01:42.2 | |
| 2 | Rosberg | Mercedes | 2 | 01:42.6 | +00:00.714 |
| 3 | Vettel | Ferrari | 3 | 01:43.0 | +00:02.988 |
| 4 | Raikkonen | Ferrari | 4 | 01:43.0 | +00:03.835 |
| 5 | Massa | Williams | 5 | 01:42.7 | +00:08.544 |
| 6 | Bottas | Williams | 6 | 01:43.1 | +00:09.885 |
| 7 | Grosjean | Lotus | 7 | 01:43.1 | +00:19.008 |
| 8 | Nasr | Sauber | 8 | 01:43.7 | +00:22.625 |
| 9 | Ricciardo | Red Bull | 16 | 01:43.2 | +00:32.117 |
| 10 | Ericsson | Sauber | 9 | 01:44.2 | Lapped |
| 11 | Perez | Force India | 14 | 01:43.5 | Lapped |
| 12 | Alonso | McLaren | 15 | 01:43.7 | Lapped |
| 13 | Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso | 20 | 01:42.7 | Lapped |
| 14 | Button | McLaren | 17 | 01:45.0 | Lapped |
| 15 | Stevens | Manor | 19 | 01:45.4 | Lapped |
| 16 | Merhi | Manor | 18 | 01:46.0 | Lapped |
| R | Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 11 | 01:43.9 | Retired (52) |
| R | Maldonado | Lotus | 10 | 01:43.7 | Retired (50) |
| R | Kvyat | Red Bull | 13 | 01:46.3 | Retired (15) |
| R | Hulkenberg | Force India | 12 | 01:45.8 | Retired (9) |
GURGLER’s MAN OF THE YEAR
5 points LEWIS HAMILTON
The perfect weekend, with added team mate losing the plot for cherry on top.
4 points SEBATIAN VETTEL
Still trying hard to make this championship a two horse race.
3 points MAX VERSTAPPEN
The youngest point scoring driver in F1 history should have scored more if not for reliability. In fact, without issues he would three point scoring finishes in his first three.
2 points FERNANDO ALONSO
The fact this car is anywhere near another is testament to the great Spaniard. Will the progress from race to race be enough in time to win him a championship?
1 point – DANIEL RICCIARDO
Despite using Mark Webber’s old engine mapping he fought back well and provided much entertainment throughout.
