Chinese Grand Prix 2019
Mercedes’ domination of the young Formula 1 season continues. Lewis Hamilton took the checkered flag for the second successive race in the Chinese Grand Prix, which was the historic 1,000th F1 race. Meanwhile, Valtteri Bottas took second to make it another Mercedes one-two finish.
Sebastian Vettel finished third to claim his first podium finish of the season. However, it came at the expense of his team-mate, Charles Leclerc.
After bad luck robbed him of victory in Bahrain, Leclerc might have a legitimate gripe about his team’s orders to let his team-mate pass, which in turn cost the junior Ferrari driver a shot at a top-four finish.
That growing team drama turned out to be one of the most interesting storylines in what was a relatively uneventful race, which Hamilton and Mercedes dominated from start to finish.
Highlights of the game
For the second time this season, Bottas got the better of his team-mate in qualifying as he won the seventh pole of his career. And just behind the two Mercedes drivers in the second row of the grid were the Ferraris of Vettel and Leclerc.
However, there would be no repeat of Bottas’ win in Australia as his advantage over Hamilton did not last long. It took the reigning world champion just a few turns to overtake his team-mate and take command of the lead. Meanwhile, Leclerc did the same with his Ferrari mate Vettel.
By lap 10, Hamilton had already built up quite a sizable lead on the two Prancing Horses. It was at this stage in the race that Ferrari told Leclerc, who was struggling to keep pace with the Mercedes drivers, to allow Vettel to pass him for third.
Leclerc sounded off on his displeasure with the team’s instructions through the radio, but he did what he was told.
But despite gaining the place, the four-time world champion also couldn’t close the gap on Hamilton, who looked like he was going to stroll to yet another win in Shanghai.
And after Vettel made a pit stop in lap 19, he got into a heated battle with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen for third place. But despite the Dutch driver’s best efforts, Vettel was just about able to hold him off.
However, Verstappen was able to get out ahead of the other Ferrari after Leclerc made his pit stop on lap 23. After driving a brilliant race in Bahrain, it simply wasn’t going Leclerc’s way in Shanghai.
Up at the top, Bottas did his best to make it interesting; he had closed the gap on Hamilton to under two seconds by lap 26. As it turned out, though, this was as close as it was going to get between the two Mercedes drivers.
Meanwhile, Leclerc finally began to gain on Verstappen for fourth. After a series of second pits, Leclerc resumes his chase of Verstappen while the top three — Hamilton, Bottas, and Vettel — comfortably ahead at the front.
However, the Ferrari driver was ultimately unable to reclaim fourth — a place that could have been his had it not been for the team’s instructions to allow Vettel to pass him.
Meanwhile, the front three basically held steady for the remainder of the race as Hamilton took home another checkered flag in China.
Key statistics
Most Chinese Grand Prix 2019 predictions tipped Hamilton to continue his dominance in Shanghai, and he succeeded. He has now won this race six times in its 16-year history.
Meanwhile, Mercedes have been the winning constructor in China in five out of the last six years.
Aside from winning the 1,000th ever Formula 1 race, Hamilton also made a bit of history by becoming the second driver in F1 history after Michael Schumacher to lead 4,000 laps.
With the Chinese Grand Prix 2019 results now in the books, Hamilton has now jumped back up ahead of his team-mate Bottas in the driver’s championship. The Brit has 68 points, six ahead of the Finn.
Meanwhile, Mercedes have a commanding lead over Ferrari in the constructor’s championship with 130 points to the Scuderia’s 73.
What’s next?
The next stop on the Formula 1 calendar is Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on April 28. Hamilton is the defending champion of that race as he edged out Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen last year.
With the pressure continuing to mount on Ferrari for failing to match Mercedes through the first three races, the Prancing Horse will need to pick up the pace in Baku.
While SBOBET Formula 1 fans didn’t get a terribly exciting race in Shanghai as Mercedes dominated, perhaps Azerbaijan can provide more action and intensity.
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