Chinese Grand Prix: Nico Rosberg takes dominant win to extend lead over Lewis Hamilton
Nico Rosberg was oblivious to the chaos behind him to take his third straight win of the season at the 2016 Chinese Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton had to settle for seventh place as his first corner bad luck continued and is now 36 points being his teammate in the Drivers' World Championship.
Apart from Rosberg dominating at the front, it was a race packed with incidents right from the start, which continued until the final lap, with cars battling for places all across the grid. Vettel made a brilliant recovery to finish in second place after going down to 15<sup>th place following his opening lap collision with Kimi Raikkonen, while Daniil Kvyat drove a solid race to finish in third place.
Hamilton's bad luck at China continued as after starting last on the grid, due to power unit problem during qualifying, the Briton lost his front wing following a collision with Felipe Nasr on the opening lap. This caused his wing to get lodged under the car for most of the lap, which caused damage the floor of the car, and despite putting in a good drive, he had to settle for seventh place in the final standing.
Daniel Ricciardo was the best of the starters and went into Turn 2 in first place. The Australian looked strong and lead Rosberg for the opening two laps, but debris on track saw him pick up a puncture on lap three, which released the German and brought out the safety car. The scenario aided all cars to make their first stops and others to catch up to the pack after going into the pits early to replace damaged parts. The Red Bull driver, however, put in a brilliant drive from 17<sup>th place after the first round of stops to finish in fourth place, showing that the Austria-owned team is not as bad as first feared.
All the carnage and the reshuffling of the order began at Turn 1 on the opening lap after Vettel collided into teammate Raikkonen when he was trying to avoid hitting a fast starting Kvyat, which put both the Ferrari's on the back foot. The Finn came off worse as he had to immediately dive in for a front wing change, which put him at the back of the pack, but a brilliant recovery drive and a great final stint on the soft tyres saw him finish fifth.
Felipe Massa drove a good race to finish sixth ahead of Hamilton, who was struggling for downforce at the end of the race. The Toro Rosso cars of Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz took eight and ninth place ahead of Valtteri Bottas, who grabbed the final point.
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