hamilton wins chinese gp

Lewis Hamilton claimed a brilliant first victory of 2011 for McLaren as he chased down championship leader Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull in China.

Hamilton made one more stop than Vettel and made his fresh tyres work as he passed Vettel with four laps to go.

Button was denied third place on the penultimate lap as Mark Webber staged a brilliant comeback from 18th place on the grid to deny the Englishman.

Scot Paul di Resta finished 11th for Force India.

Hamilton had joined Button in passing Vettel with a brilliant getaway off the line but lost position in the first round of stops.

But Hamilton stuck to his three-stop plan and used his fresh tyres to work his way past Button, Felipe Massa's Ferrari and the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg before he set to work eating into Vettel's lead.

The 2008 world champion comfortably passed Vettel in the dying stages of a dramatic grand prix to move 18 points behind the German in the championship.

Hamilton said: "I think today the strategy we came up with definitely helped.

"My new option tyres seemed to last longer. The pit stops were fantastic.

"The car felt great and I was trying to nurse my tyres while picking up pace. It was one of the best races I've experienced."

Hamilton's victory was even more impressive as McLaren had to work furiously on his car to get it to the grid in time because of a fuel leak.

BBC F1 commentator David Coulthard said: "What a controlled comeback.

"It was a fantastic drive. He controlled his emotions and bounced back from a difficult race in Malaysia not to mention pre-season testing.

"I think Hamilton is really overcome with emotion too."

After straightforward victories in Australia and Malaysia, Vettel had to work hard to hang on to second place as he just could not eke out enough performance from the hard tyres.

Vettel explained: "We came out in the lead and then I think we tried too hard to stay on two stops.

"I saw Lewis coming closer and there was no point defending too hard - he found his way past.

"We did a couple of mistakes but still finished second so I'm very happy with that. We can learn a lot today."

In contrast, his team-mate Webber displayed his characteristic grit to fight back from 18th on the grid to snatch his first podium of the season.

Yet more problems with the power-boost Kers system and electrical problems meant the Australian had to battle his way through the backmarkers.

But Webber used his superior race pace and his three sets of soft tyres to deny Button on the 55th lap of the race.

Webber said: "It was an interesting GP. We started on hard tyres, got that out of the way.

"It wasn't easy. To still see P17 after 15 laps you think - 'when is it going to come'.

"It was a good day for racing (with Lewis winning) and a good day in terms of points for the team."

It was a disappointing end to the grand prix for Button, who had qualified behind Vettel in second place, but who lost position to his team-mate before Webber zoned in on him at the end.

Button had lost the lead to Vettel when the pair made their first pit stps at the same time only for Button to stop first at the Red Bull garage.

The mix-up meant Vettel returned to the track ahead of Button.

"It was absolutely bizarre," said BBC pit-lane reporter Ted Kravitz. "The McLaren mechanics didn't know what to make of it. He lost at least three seconds there."

Button said: "First of all massive congratulations to Lewis. It was a great race to be part of but I wasn't quick enough.

"Fourth place was as good as I could get out of the car. You're a sitting duck when people have got newer tyres.

"It was a tough afternoon for me and for some reason I didn't have the pace."

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9460612.stm

It was a great race, the different strategies made it fascinating, and it seems clear the Mercedes and McLarens had the right idea with the three stopper, whereas Ferrari got it wrong.

Hamilton drove superbly, and as he's predicted yesterday the extra set of tyres he saved turned out to be crucial. Some superb overtakes from him.

Also congrats to Webber who had a wonderful race, managing to snatch third spot from 18th on the grid.

if the race went another 5 laps i reckon webber would of had the lot of them but im sure his very happy with 3rd considering where he started.


be interesting to see what the f.i.a do about alonso using the drs out of the zone.

not sure Webber would have had Hamilton in five laps, thought Hamilton cruised round once he got past Vettel. Webber would probably have caught Vettel though.

Didn't see the Alonso DRS bit, what happened?

he used it outside the zone your supposed to use it in. just after the hairpin at the end straight.

With any luck he'll get a season long ban and be forced to shave his brows off.I cant abide the man.
Best race theres been for a while,the new tyres have certainly brought a new edge to the races and in my opinion saving tyres for the race is going to become more important than burning them up in chasing pole.

thought his DRS was broken?

Bit late with my thoughts, but well done Hamilton on the victory.
For for the consecutive week, my driver of the race is Webber.
A great drive by him from 18th and if he started further up the grid he would probs have won it.

Webber isnt having much luck of late, a bad first corner last week dropped him down to 10th, and now this. If he gets a decent start im sure he will be pushing for the title this year.

Webber was driver of the day, hamilton drove very well as well. Best race for ages!