F1 : Hamilton wins Chinese GP, Massa second .. updated!

2008 SINOPEC Chinese Grand Prix

SHANGHAI : October 19, 2008 - McLaren's Lewis Hamilton put himself on the brink of the Formula One world title with a nerveless pole to flag victory at the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday.

The Winner : Lewis Hamilton

Felipe Massa kept the championship alive with second place after his Ferrari team mate Kimi Raikkonen let him pass but Hamilton just needs to finish in the top five in Brazil on Nov. 2 to become the sport's youngest champion at the age of 23.

Winner - Lewis Hamilton(center), Second - Felipe Massa(left), Third - Kimi Räikkönen(right)

Robert Kubica's slim hopes of winning the title disappeared despite the Pole making a sterling effort to get his BMW-Sauber up from 11th on the grid to sixth at the finish.

Lewis Hamilton ; Vodafone - McLaren - Mercedes

Hamilton's fifth win of the season, and ninth of his 34 race career, gave the Briton 94 points with Massa seven behind and Kubica third with 75. Just 10 points remain on the line at Sao Paulo's Interlagos circuit.

Hamilton had been subjected to barrage of criticism after a wild getaway from pole position and clumsy attempt to retake the lead from Raikkonen at Fuji last weekend.

There were no mistakes on Sunday, and no repeat of the Shanghai nightmare of last season when the rookie skidded off into the gravel at the pit lane entry in a race that could also have handed him the title.

Lewis Hamilton ; Vodafone - McLaren - Mercedes

Hamilton made a clean start, sweeping into the first corner and keeping Raikkonen well behind before wrapping up a day of domination with the fastest lap.

McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen tried to help his team mate with a vain attempt to force his way past Massa on the first chicane after overtaking Spain's Fernando Alonso at the start.

Twice world champion Alonso, who won the last two races, quickly regained fourth place from Kovalainen and held it to the finish.

Lewis Hamilton ; Vodafone - McLaren - Mercedes

Hamilton, meanwhile, never looked back and was nearly seven seconds clear of Raikkonen after the first round of pit stops.

By the time of his second stop, he had built up a sufficient advantage to comfortably return to the track with his lead intact and he crossed the line nearly 15 seconds ahead of Massa.

Lewis Hamilton ; Vodafone - McLaren - Mercedes

Brazilian Massa had been running third a substantial distance behind Raikkonen but the world champion slowed to let his team mate past seven laps from the end.

Kubica's German team mate Nick Heidfeld was fifth, his compatriot Timo Glock seventh for Toyota and Renault's Brazilian Nelson Piquet claimed the last point in eighth.

Kovalainen's 27th birthday was ruined by a run onto the grass on lap 35 which resulted in puncture to his front right tyre and he retired in the pits a few laps later.

Lewis Hamilton ; Vodafone - McLaren - Mercedes

2008 SINOPEC Chinese Grand Prix : Race result

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Time/Retired	Pts
1	22	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	Winner	10
2	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	+14.9 secs	8
3	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	+16.4 secs	6
4	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	+18.3 secs	5
5	3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	+28.9 secs	4
6	4	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	+33.2 secs	3
7	12	Timo Glock	Toyota	+41.7 secs	2
8	6	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	+56.6 secs	1
9	15	Sebastian Vettel	STR-Ferrari	+64.3 secs
10	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	+74.8 secs
11	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	+85.0 secs
12	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	+90.8 secs
13	14	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	+91.4 secs
14	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	+92.4 secs
15	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	+1 Lap
16	16	Jenson Button	Honda	+1 Lap
17	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	+1 Lap
Ret	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	+7 Laps
Ret	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	+43 Laps
Ret	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	+54 Laps

Driver Championship Standings :

Pos	Driver	Nationality	Team	Points
1	Lewis Hamilton	British	McLaren-Mercedes	94
2	Felipe Massa	Brazilian	Ferrari	87
3	Robert Kubica	Polish	BMW Sauber	75
4	Kimi Räikkönen	Finnish	Ferrari	69
5	Nick Heidfeld	German	BMW Sauber	60
6	Fernando Alonso	Spanish	Renault	53
7	Heikki Kovalainen	Finnish	McLaren-Mercedes	51
8	Sebastian Vettel	German	STR-Ferrari	30
9	Jarno Trulli	Italian	Toyota	30
10	Timo Glock	German	Toyota	22
11	Mark Webber	Australian	Red Bull-Renault	21
12	Nelsinho Piquet	Brazilian	Renault	19
13	Nico Rosberg	German	Williams-Toyota	17
14	Rubens Barrichello	Brazilian	Honda	11
15	Kazuki Nakajima	Japanese	Williams-Toyota	9
16	David Coulthard	British	Red Bull-Renault	8
17	Sebastien Bourdais	French	STR-Ferrari	4
18	Jenson Button	British	Honda	3
19	Giancarlo Fisichella	Italian	Force India-Ferrari	0
20	Adrian Sutil	German	Force India-Ferrari	0
21	Takuma Sato	Japanese	Super Aguri-Honda	0
22	Anthony Davidson	British	Super Aguri-Honda	0

Constructor Championship Standings :

Pos	Team	Points
1	Ferrari	156
2	McLaren-Mercedes	145
3	BMW Sauber	135
4	Renault	72
5	Toyota	52
6	STR-Ferrari	34
7	Red Bull-Renault	29
8	Williams-Toyota	26
9	Honda	14
10	Force India-Ferrari	0

Lewis Hamilton ; Vodafone - McLaren - Mercedes

[Source : Super Wheel ; Image courtesy of Vodafone-McLaren-Mercedes]