Nico Rosberg wins an action-packed Chinese GP and extends his lead in the championship

In an action-packed Chinese GP in Shanghai this morning, Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg claims his sixth consecutive win in F1 and his third win of the season and has extended his championship lead ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Daniil Kvyat.

Nico Rosberg, Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo have great starts. Valtteri Bottas runs wide going into Turn 1. But both Ferrari drivers of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel into Turn 1 crash into each other, with Raikkonen going off the road. This crash then affects Lewis Hamilton who has damage to his front wing and is caught underneath the car.

Lap 2 sees Ricciardo leading Rosberg by 0.7 seconds. A battle for eighth then starts between Felipe Masa, Jenson Button and Valtteri Bottas at the hairpin; with Button keeping Massa at bay. At this stage of the race, Rosberg is on the soft tyres and can just follow the Red Bull of Ricciardo and was planning to make his move on the Australian driver when Ricciardo suffers a left rear puncture and has to pit at the end of the lap.

In the opening laps, we saw a battle between Nico Hulkenberg, Carlos Sainz Jr and Sebastian Vettel for fourth place just as the Safety Car is deployed to clear up the debris on the track and many taking the opportunity to pit for fresh tyres. During this period, Hamilton pits twice for tyres and many were wondering what strategy Mercedes are doing with the British driver.

Lap 9 saw the Safety Car leaving the circuit and we are racing once again in China. Heading into Turn 1, Valtteri Bottas passes Rio Haryanto. In the space of six corners, Daniil Kvyat makes up two track places to fourth and Sebastian Vettel makes a move on Nico Hulkenberg and makes his way up the grid.

Rosberg still leads the race ahead of Massa by 2.2 seconds. Into Turn 1, Jenson Button passes Jolyon Palmer for track position as Lewis Hamilton tries to pass Kevin Magnussen for position. There is a battle for sixth between Esteban Gutierrez, Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas. We then see Kvyat and Palmer making good moves on Hulkenberg into the next few corners for track position.

In the first half of the race, we saw some great overtaking moves up and down the grid with Perez making his way through the grid to fifth place, Vettel making his way through the grid as well, Pascal Wehrlein is starting to go further back down the grid and Vettel is also making his way up through the field and is catching Perez.

Lap 12 saw Kvyat passing Massa at the hairpin for second place at this stage of the race and is having a great drive so far; especially when the spotlight has been on if he has what it takes to be at Red Bull. At this stage of the race, the battle for eighth included drivers such as Wehrlein, Button, Ricciardo, Sainz Jr, Hamilton and Gutierrez; with the latter driver losing two places within a couple of corners and Vettel passes Perez at the hairpin and Button passes Wehrlein for position.

The battle for fourth between Alonso and Vettel was great to watch, with Vettel trying to pass Alonso at the hairpin and Alonso trying to come back at him straight away; showing that McLaren-Honda have been making small solid bits of progress since last year and is now in fifth place. Rosberg still leads the race ahead of Kvyat on Lap 16 by 8.8 seconds as we saw Hamilton getting into the points after passing Button for track position.

As we headed into the second half of the GP, a battle between Kvyat, Verstappen and Vettel was building up on the track and by Lap 20, all three drivers were together and were wanting to pass each other. The next lap saw Kyvat, Button and Vettel battling for fourth place; with Vettel gaining very rapidly on Button and passing him relatively easily at the hairpin.

The stewards then announce that Hulkenberg is under investigation for driving unnecessarily slowly in the pitlane as his team mate Perez the following lap will be investigated after the race for an unsafe release. But Hulkenberg does receive a five second time penalty for the offence and has the choice to take it in the race or be added to his race time at the end of the GP.

On the track, the battle for seventh includes drivers such as Bottas, Ericsson, Ricciardo, Sainz Jr and Raikkonen; with drivers swapping and changing places all the time; even if it is to the sake of Alonso who appears at this stage of the race is going backwards as Button loses fourth place to Massa on Lap 25.

As we approach the second half of the GP, Rosberg is leading comfortably at the front by 17.9 seconds and the battle for ninth between Sainz Jr, Raikkonen and Hamilton builds up and the battle for fifth between Button, Perez and Bottas continues and Button manages to keep both drivers at bay until Perez takes Button on the outside with a good move and Bottas passes Button the following lap.

In the early stages of the second half of the Chinese GP, Ricciardo passes Perez for position as Alonso loses a place to Verstappen. Sainz Jr, Raikkonen and Hamilton are engaged in a battle for seventh place on the track. By Lap 33, Vettel is catching Kvyat for second place at this stage in the race. In the early stages of the second half of the Chinese GP, Ricciardo passes Perez for position as Alonso loses a place to Verstappen. Sainz Jr, Raikkonen and Hamilton are engaged in a battle for seventh place on the track. By Lap 35, Hamilton has passed Perez for ninth place.

The battle for third goes Vettel's way on Lap 37 and passes the Russian driver for position and puts a lot of faith in him as a driver despite what happened on Lap 1 of the race as Verstappen and Massa battle for sixth place. Verstappen, Massa, Bottas and Hamilton are battling each other for fourth place, with Massa trying to pass Verstappen which he does by Lap 40 and Hamilton and Ricciardo passing Bottas not long after this.

By Lap 41, Rosberg still leads the race ahead of Vettel by 26.8 seconds as we head into the latter stages of the race. But there are still battles on the track as Ricciardo catching Hamilton and Massa for fourth place and in a great move on the outside of the hairpin on Lap 43, Ricciardo takes fifth place away from Hamilton and the following lap takes fourth away from Massa.

In the closing stages of an action-packed race, there were still battles ongoing down the track but the one that got our attention was the battle for fifth between Massa, Hamilton and Raikkonen; with all three drivers literally all together and trying to pass each other as well. In the end, Raikkonen passes Hamilton on Lap 47 for sixth place and Massa for fifth the following lap.

The McLaren-Honda drivers were battling in the last few laps for twelfth place, Massa and Hamilton were battling each other for sixth place, Bottas, Verstappen and Sainz Jr for eighth place which Bottas loses the place after going in too deep at the hairpin.

But it was Nico Rosberg who was won the Chinese GP which is his sixth consecutive win in F1, his third of the season and his seventeenth win of his career ahead of Sebastian Vettel in second place who was 37.7 seconds behind him and ahead of Daniil Kvyat in third place who was 45.9 seconds behind Rosberg and claims his first podium of the year.

Daniel Ricciardo finished the race in a credible fourth place after his puncuture ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in fifth place, Felipe Massa in sixth place, Lewis Hamilton in a credible seventh place, Max Verstappen in eighth place, Carlos Sainz Jr in ninth place and Valtteri Bottas who rounded off the top ten finishers.

Sergio Perez ended the race just out of the points in eleventh place ahead of the two McLaren-Honda drivers of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button in thirteenth and fourteenth places. But they was ahead of Esteban Gutierrez in fourteenth place and Nico Hulkenberg in fifteenth place.

As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Marcus Ericsson ended the race in sixteenth place ahead of Kevin Magnussen in seventeenth place, Pascal Wehrlein in eighteenth place, Romain Grosjean in nineteenth place, Felipe Nasr in twenieth place, Rio Haryanto in twenty-first place and Jolyon Palmer in twenty-second place.

The classification of the Chinese GP is as follows:-

1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1.38.53.891
2. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 37.776s
3. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull Renault, 45.936s
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-Renault, 52.688s
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1.05.872s
6. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 1.15.511s
7. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1.18.230s
8. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1.19.268s
9. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1.24.127s
10. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 1.26.192s
11. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 1.34.283s
12. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 1.37.253s
13. Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda, 1.41.990s
14. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas Ferrari, 1 lap
15. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 1 lap
16. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 1 lap
17. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, 1 lap
18. Pascal Wehrlein, MRT Racing, 1 lap
19. Romain Grosjean, Haas Ferrari, 1 lap
20. Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari, 1 lap
21. Rio Haryanto, MRT Racing, 1 lap
22. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 1 lap

Nico Rosberg leads the Drivers' Championship with 75 points, Hamilton is second with 39 points, Ricciardo is third with 36 points, Vettel is fourth with 33 points, Raikkonen is fifth with 28 points, Massa is sixth with 22 points, Kvyat is seventh with 21 points, Grosjean is eighth with 18 points, Verstappen is ninth with 13 points and Bottas is tenth with 7 points.
Mercedes lead the Constructors Championship with 114 points, Ferrari is second with 61 points, Red Bull are third with 57 points, Williams are fourth with 29 points, Haas are fifth with 18 points, Toro Rosso are sixth with 17 points, Force India are seventh with 6 points and McLaren are eighth with 1 point.

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa