2014 Formula 1 : Lewis Hamilton took three consecutive wins with a comfortable victory in China

2014 F1 Chinese GP winner : N0.44 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team

• Beats team-mate Rosberg by 18.6s
• Rosberg retains championship lead by just four points
• Alonso takes first podium of 2014 ahead of Ricciardo

Lewis Hamilton took three consecutive wins for the first time in his F1 career with a comfortable victory in the Chinese Grand Prix.

Leading away from pole position, Hamilton eased clear of the field and eventually won by 18.6 seconds from team-mate Nico Rosberg, who recovered from a poor start to take second place and retain a slender four-point championship lead. Rosberg had to pass Fernando Alonso in the final stint – which he did with ease – but Alonso had enough pace to hold on to third.

Daniel Ricciardo was closing down the Ferrari in the closing laps having pit later for the final time, but was unable to get within striking distance and had to settle for fourth. Ricciardo was perhaps not helped by two laps stuck behind Sebastian Vettel despite his team-mate having been ordered to move aside. Vettel himself came home fifth as he appeared to struggle more with his tyres than Ricciardo.

Nico Hulkenberg finished sixth – his fourth consecutive top-six finish this season – ahead of Valtteri Bottas, Kimi Raikkonen, Sergio Perez and Daniil Kvyat.

Hamilton's victory was never in doubt once he got away well off the line ahead of the fast-starting Vettel and Alonso. Felipe Massa made a flying start but touched wheels with Alonso on the run to Turn 1, momentarily being launched in to the air, while Vettel had to defend from Alonso in to Turn 5.

Rosberg dropped as far as seventh place after contact with Bottas but recovered his first position from Hulkenberg in to the final corner at the end of the opening lap. He soon made more progress as he passed Massa at the Turn 14 hairpin, and Massa's day soon went from bad to worse.

Pitting for the first time from sixth place, Massa was delayed in the pits as Williams initially fit the wrong wheels at the rear of the car. Having attempted to replace them, there were further problems with the left rear and Massa was dropped to the back of the field, with only Adrian Sutil having retired early on.

Alonso got the jump on Vettel in the first round of pit stops, while Rosberg also managed to get ahead of Ricciardo at the same time. A few laps after the stops, Rosberg passed Vettel in to Turn 14 and then held off the Red Bull through the opening two corners, allowing Ricciardo to close up. Vettel was told to allow his team-mate through, but after asking what strategy he was on, replied “tough luck”, before relenting at Turn 1 two laps later.

Romain Grosjean had been running competitively in the top ten but ran in to fourth gear issues and after a few laps ran off at Turn 11, limping back to the pits and in to retirement at the halfway stage.

Rosberg closed on Alonso for second place, but the Ferrari was first of the front runners to pit for a second time at the end of lap 33 and made use of the undercut to extend his lead. Two laps later Vettel pitted having been passed by Kamui Kobayashi unlapping himself, and he rejoined well adrift of team-mate Ricciardo.

After the two Mercedes' pit, Rosberg eased up to the back of Alonso and cruised past in to Turn 14, but by now Hamilton was already around 15 seconds up the road and managing his pace. While Ricciardo threatened to close in on the Ferrari for the final podium spot, Alonso responded and eventually crossed the line 1.2s clear.

While the majority of the final stint saw comfortable gaps between cars, Bottas provided some late interest by catching the back of Hulkenberg but couldn't find a way past the Red Bull.

Hamilton's only moment of slight concern came at the start of his final lap, when he believed he may already have finished – radioing in to the team to say “I just saw the chequered flag” – but he maintained pace to make certain of victory.

2014 Formula 1 : UBS Chinese Grand Prix - Race Result

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	54	1:33:28.338	1	25
2	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	54	+18.0 secs	4	18
3	14	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	54	+23.6 secs	5	15
4	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-Renault	54	+27.1 secs	2	12
5	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	54	+47.8 secs	3	10
6	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	54	+54.3 secs	8	8
7	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	54	+55.7 secs	7	6
8	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	54	+76.3 secs	11	4
9	11	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	54	+82.6 secs	16	2
10	26	Daniil Kvyat	STR-Renault	53	+1 Lap	13	1
11	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	53	+1 Lap	12
12	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Renault	53	+1 Lap	9
13	20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	53	+1 Lap	15
14	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault	53	+1 Lap	22
15	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	53	+1 Lap	6
16	21	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	53	+1 Lap	17
17	17	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Ferrari	53	+1 Lap	19
18	10	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham-Renault	53	+1 Lap	18
19	4	Max Chilton	Marussia-Ferrari	52	+2 Laps	21
20	9	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham-Renault	52	+2 Laps	20
Ret	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	28	Gearbox	10
Ret	99	Adrian Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari	5	Engine	14

2014 Formula 1 : Drivers Championship Standing

Pos	Driver	Nationality	Team	Points
1	Nico Rosberg	German	Mercedes	79
2	Lewis Hamilton	British	Mercedes	75
3	Fernando Alonso	Spanish	Ferrari	41
4	Nico Hulkenberg	German	Force India-Mercedes	36
5	Sebastian Vettel	German	Red Bull Racing-Renault	33
6	Daniel Ricciardo	Australian	Red Bull Racing-Renault	24
7	Valtteri Bottas	Finnish	Williams-Mercedes	24
8	Jenson Button	British	McLaren-Mercedes	23
9	Kevin Magnussen	Danish	McLaren-Mercedes	20
10	Sergio Perez	Mexican	Force India-Mercedes	18
11	Felipe Massa	Brazilian	Williams-Mercedes	12
12	Kimi Räikkönen	Finnish	Ferrari	11
13	Jean-Eric Vergne	French	STR-Renault	4
14	Daniil Kvyat	Russian	STR-Renault	4
15	Romain Grosjean	French	Lotus-Renault	0
16	Adrian Sutil	German	Sauber-Ferrari	0
17	Esteban Gutierrez	Mexican	Sauber-Ferrari	0
18	Max Chilton	British	Marussia-Ferrari	0
19	Kamui Kobayashi	Japanese	Caterham-Renault	0
20	Pastor Maldonado	Venezuelan	Lotus-Renault	0
21	Marcus Ericsson	Swedish	Caterham-Renault	0
22	Jules Bianchi	French	Marussia-Ferrari	0

2014 Formula 1 : Teams Championship Standing

Pos	Team	Points
1	Mercedes	154
2	Red Bull Racing-Renault	57
3	Force India-Mercedes	54
4	Ferrari	52
5	McLaren-Mercedes	43
6	Williams-Mercedes	36
7	STR-Renault	8
8	Lotus-Renault	0
9	Sauber-Ferrari	0
10	Marussia-Ferrari	0
11	Caterham-Renault	0

 [Source : F1, DAIMLER, CRASH.NET]