Lewis Hamilton won the Chinese Grand Prix comfortably ahead of his team-mate Nico Rosberg Sunday as Mercedes tightened their grip on the season with their third one-two finish in a row.
The British former world champion got away smoothly from pole position and finished 19 seconds ahead of Rosberg, with Ferrari`s Fernando Alonso third in front of the two Red Bulls.
Despite winning three races in a row for the first time in his career, Hamilton still trails Rosberg by four points in the title race as he seeks his second world championship.
Red Bull`s Daniel Ricciardo held off his team-mate and reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel for fourth spot with the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg coming home in sixth.
“I can`t believe how amazing the car is. I was able to look after the tyres and then I was racing myself,” said Hamilton on the podium after the race.
“I`m really happy Nico`s up here with us. It`s great points for the team.”
In dry conditions, Hamilton got away cleanly from pole position at the start and by lap six he already had a four-second cushion on the field.
Behind him Vettel moved up from third past his team-mate Ricciardo, as did Alonso who got a flying start in the Ferrari.
The early drama came behind as Felipe Massa in the Williams dived past Nico Rosberg`s Mercedes and banged his left rear wheel against Alonso`s car.
Rosberg, seemingly mesmerised by Massa`s overtaking manoeuvre, then touched wheels with the other Williams of Valtteri Bottas on his outside but came through unscathed.
It took Rosberg two laps to get back past Massa and when the first round of pit stops began on lap 12, the Williams crew could not remove Massa`s damaged rear left.
