|
 If the race ended in anti-climax, with the safety car deployed for
the last two laps, the sparks flew afterwards when a seething
Rosberg said Hamilton had compromised his race by driving too slow..
The flare up of tensions between the two, so evident last year, sent
Mercedes bosses into fire-fighting mode when they might have hoped
to have celebrated reasserting their dominance over Ferrari.
The team's non-executive chairman and former triple champion Niki
Lauda made clear whose side he was on.
"Sure, everyone drives selfish," commented the Austrian. "What do
you think these guys are here to do? I call them egocentric
bastards.
"That is the only way to win and the only way to win the
championship."
Hamilton, who led from pole position and controlled the race pace to
Rosberg's discomfort, was unrepentant after celebrating a 35th
career win -- and fourth in China -- that left him 13 points clear
at the top after three races.
"It's not my job to look after Nico's race," said the Briton, who
could point also to the fact that he ended the day with the fastest
lap of the race.
Hamilton's second win in three races left him on 68 points with
Vettel on 55 and Rosberg a further four points adrift.
"Great stuff, Lewis, great stuff, stellar weekend mate, it's a full
house," Hamilton's race engineer told him over the radio after he
took the chequered flag.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who stunned Mercedes with a brilliant
victory in the previous round in Malaysia, threatened again but his
challenge faded in the second stint on the medium-compound tyres.
A third podium in as many races since joining from Red Bull was
still a great result for the four-times champion.
SAFETY CAR
Vettel would have been as relieved as any when engine failure on Max
Verstappen's Toro Rosso brought out the safety car and thwarted any
chance of Kimi Raikkonen overtaking his Ferrari team mate.
Hamilton started the race with his car aggressively angled towards
the inside on the grid, seemingly to cover any attack from Rosberg,
although he explained that was a simple mistake.
"You can't reverse and park back up," he said.
Once the lights went out, the Briton surged ahead of his team mate
with Mercedes, Ferrari and Williams then running in pairs.
[to top of second column] |
Raikkonen, who was left ruing another missed opportunity after
qualifying sixth, surged past Williams' Felipe Massa and Valtteri
Bottas off the line to slot into fourth behind Vettel.
Although Mercedes were expected to regain their dominant stride in
the cooler conditions, Ferrari kept the Silver Arrows honest for
most of the early running when the track was at his hottest and the
cars fitted with soft tyres.
They lurked within striking distance throughout the opening runs and
at one point after the first pit stops, seemed like genuine
contenders.
Vettel closed to within two seconds of Rosberg but fell behind after
switching to the harder compound tyres as Mercedes shadowed
Ferrari's tactics to avoid being outfoxed by the Italians as they
had been in Malaysia.
Williams, replaced by Ferrari as Mercedes' closest challengers, had
Massa and Bottas finish fifth and sixth respectively.
Romain Grosjean had a steady drive to claim the first points of the
season for Lotus in seventh while Sauber claimed a double points
finish with Felipe Nasr claiming eighth and Swede Marcus Ericsson
rounding out the top 10.
Daniel Ricciardo, who endured another frustrating race in his
underperforming Red Bull, was ninth with engine partners Renault
holding up their hands and taking the blame.
McLaren continued their early season struggles with Fernando Alonso
finishing a lap down in 12th, while Jenson Button dropped to 14th
after picking up a time penalty for causing a collision with Lotus's
Pastor Maldonado.
(Editing by John O'Brien/Alan Baldwin)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
