Hamilton beats Vettel in wet/dry Chinese GP

Lewis Hamilton took his 54th career victory and first of the season with a controlled drive in a wet/dry Chinese Grand Prix.

In cool conditions, the race started on a wet track after morning rain but Hamilton led from lights to flag as Ferrari and Red Bull scrapped behind him, while teammate Valtteri Bottas suffered a difficult start and dropped down the field due to a spin behind the Safety Car after a crash for Antonio Gioviniazzi.

Sebastian Vettel lost out during the Safety Car period and dropped to fifth place at the start, allowing Hamilton to pull out a healthy lead. While Australian Grand Prix winner Vettel rose to second as the race progressed, he was too far adrift to challenge Hamilton and the triple world champion came home 6.2 seconds clear to draw level at the top of the drivers' championship.

"Thanks so much to everyone, we've really worked hard for this," Hamilton said on team radio after the checkered flag. "We've got to keep pushing, for sure."

Max Verstappen staged an impressive recovery from 16th on the grid to take third place, holding off teammate Daniel Ricciardo over the line having made rapid progress at the start of the race. Kimi Raikkonen and Bottas were fifth and sixth, with all four cars covered by less than four seconds at the flag.

Carlos Sainz finished seventh and the final car on the lead lap, having gambled on slick tires at the start of the race and dropped to the back, while Kevin Magnussen rose to eighth place to score his first points for Haas ahead of the Force India pair of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon.

With the rain stopping in the hour before the race, the track started to dry and both Mercedes drivers joined Ricciardo in running to the grid on slick tires to test conditions. The track was still too wet, however, with only Sainz gambling on supersofts from 11th place. The Toro Rosso driver dropped to the back of the field before Turn 1 – such was the lack of grip – and then ran off at the first corner, but would soon take advantage of a safety car period.

Hamilton led away with Vettel holding off Bottas at Turn 1, with the Ferrari slow off the line despite being too far to the left of his grid slot – an error for which the stewards decided not to punish the German. With Raikkonen slotting into fourth place ahead of Ricciardo, there was contact further back as Lance Stroll didn't leave enough room for Perez at Turn 10 and the Williams was punted into the gravel, bringing out the Virtual Safety Car at the end of the opening lap.

A number of drivers then opted for slick tires, but Vettel was the only one of the leaders to do so and he dropped to fifth place. On the race restart, Giovinazzi lost control on the very wet patch of track that remained just before the finish line – caused by the overhang on the buildings of the pit straight complex – and hit the pit wall, bringing out the Safety Car on lap 4.

With debris on the pit straight, all cars were required to run through the pit lane and the leaders then stopped for slicks. Mercedes double stacked its cars, but Bottas dropped off the front jack before his front left tire was on and was then held up as the train came through, dropping to fifth place behind the Red Bulls and Raikkonen, but ahead of Vettel.

Sainz spun at Turn 2 behind the Safety Car and hit the wall but was able to continue, before Bottas then spun on the final lap before the Safety Car restart as he was warming his tires, losing control again on the grass as drivers struggled for tire temperature on such a cold day.

The error promoted Vettel to fifth but all the action was ahead of him as Verstappen dived past Raikkonen under braking for Turn 6 on the eighth lap. Setting off after teammate Ricciardo, Verstappen finally got past at the same corner three laps later as the Red Bulls kept Hamilton within two seconds early on.

Ricciardo's pace was slower in the early part and he then held up the Ferraris, with Hamilton starting to ease away at the front as the track dried further. Vettel had to wait until lap 20 to pass his teammate into Turn 6, while he then engaged in a thrilling battle with Ricciardo two laps later and had to outbrake his former teammate around the outside of the same corner. The pair rubbed wheels on exit as Vettel took third place, and at the halfway mark he took over second as Verstappen locked up and ran wide at the Turn 14 hairpin.

Hamilton's lead was over 12 seconds at the time, and Vettel started to close the gap but the race leader had the pace to hold the gap stable at eight seconds to secure victory.

Verstappen pit after his error ahead of Vettel and the leaders all eventually followed suit, leaving him in third place. Raikkonen rose to second as Ferrari kept him out longer – angering the Finn and dropping him to fifth place where he eventually had to hold off the recovering Bottas.

Progress was initially slow for Bottas, but he had the pace to pass Magnussen and Sainz to take sixth in a race where there was plenty of overtaking. Sainz's teammate Daniil Kvyat had to retire from the top 10 on lap 18, while Fernando Alonso was on course for points for McLaren before he damaged his driveshaft defending against his fellow Spaniard and was forced to stop, joining teammate Stoffel Vandoorne in the garage as the Belgian suffered a fuel problem.

Romain Grosjean finished 11th having started on the back row, but pulled out one of the moves of the race when he drove around the outside of the struggling Felipe Massa at Turn 1 late on. Massa ended up 14th behind the two Renaults – who both had spins – and only ahead of Marcus Ericsson.