Hamilton wins Chinese GP to level championship fight

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has won the 2017 Chinese Grand Prix, leveling his championship score with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who finished second. The third spot on the podium was occupied by Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, who started from 16th on the grid.

The race started on a damp circuit in Shanghai, with Hamilton on the pole and Vettel by his side. The first incident of the race happened on the opening lap itself, when Force India's Sergio Perez collided with the Williams of Lance Stroll, spinning the latter's car on to the gravel. This brought in the virtual safety car. Ferrari decided to pit Vettel for soft tyres under the virtual safety car. However, this step became useless when another safety car was deployed in the fourth lap, after the Sauber of Antonio Giovinazzi crashed into the barriers.

The top five racers - Hamilton, Bottas, Ricciardo, Raikkonen and Verstappen, managed to pit under the real safety car and thus retain their positions. This pushed Sebastian Vettel to the sixth spot. Bottas had a massive spin in the seventh lap, but managed to keep his Mercedes out of the barriers. However, this dropped him to twelfth spot. Meanwhile, Verstappen passed all others and climbed up to second. He even looked at challenging the race leader, Lewis Hamilton, though the British driver was a lot quicker.

Meanwhile, Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel too started to move up the field as he overtook his team mate Kimi Raikkonen on lap 20 and then the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo on lap 22. Max Verstappen did try to fend off Vettel's attack, but the Ferrari driver managed to pass him on lap 28. Vettel then tried to cut short the gap to Hamilton, but the Mercedes driver did not commit any mistake and managed to take chequered flag to clinch his 54th Grand Prix victory.

Daniel Ricciardo followed his team mate and crossed the finish line in the fourth spot, while Kimi Raikkonen came in fifth. Valterri Bottas was sixth, followed by Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso), Kevin Magnussen (Haas) and the Force India's of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon.

The next race will be held in Bahrain over the next weekend (Sunday, April 16). After the Chinese GP, the driver championship standings are:

1. Sebastian Vettel - 43 points

2. Lewis Hamilton - 43 points

3. Max Verstappen - 25 points