Lewis Hamilton made a statement with an emphatic victory at the Chinese Grand Prix, a career-first third win in succession.
The Briton now lies just four points adrift of teammate Nico Rosberg, who finished second to help Mercedes record their third consecutive one-two finish.
Fernando Alonso gave Ferrari something to smile about following the resignation of team principal Stefano Domenicali last week, the Spaniard claiming the final podium place.
Daniel Ricciardo matched his fourth place from Bahrain, again outclassingteammate Sebastian Vettel. Nico Hulkenberg held off Valtteri Bottas for sixth place, while Kimi Räikkönen endured another anonymous afternoon on his way to eighth.
Sergio Perez was brought back to earth following his Bahrain podium in ninth, while Daniil Kvyat rounded out the top ten – the third time he’s featured in the points in a four-race career.
Hamilton was never troubled after converting pole into a lead after the first lap, extending the gap by a second each tour in the early stages. The Briton was moved to remark “I was racing myself” on the podium, as his bid to add to his 2008 title rapidly gaining traction.
Nico Rosberg admitted that he didn’t have the greatest weekend, so he’d have been content with second place. The German endured a poor start from fourth on the grid, but outright speed saw him pass both Red Bulls and Alonso following the final round of stops.
Alonso settled into third off the grid behind Vettel after getting away with a hit from former teammate Felipe Massa. The Spaniard was able to undercut Vettel following the first round of stops, on the way to the best outing of his campaign to date, though he wasn’t able to do anything about coming a cropper to Rosberg late in the piece.
Daniel Ricciardo is vindicating the belief that he is more adept under the new regulations than Sebastian Vettel, who has been left wanting without the aid of the electronic blown diffuser.
The four-time champion finished 25 seconds adrift of the West Australian, having earlier disobeyed a team order to allow a clearly faster Ricciardo through, remarking “tough luck”. He releneted on hearing he was running an alternative strategy to the 24-year-old, which ultimately didn’t prove to be the case.
Felipe Massa made a banzai start from sixth – the Brazilian appeared set to slot into third before a considerable swipe into the side of former teammate Alonso, which remarkably didn’t result in any effects. His good fortune would soon be cruelled with a botched pit stop.
Relations between Hamilton and Rosberg appeared decidedly cooler than previous events prior to and on the podium, as the reality of fighting for the championship takes an inevitable toll.
The circus enjoys a three-week convalescence prior to the commencement of the European season at Spain, where frustrated outfits will be hoping the major upgrades which traditionally accompany the return goes a long way to tempering Mercedes.
If this doesn’t happen, the season might be as good as over a third of the way through.
2014 Drivers’ Championship Standings
1 Rosberg 79
2 Hamilton 75
3 Alonso 41
4 Hulkenberg 36
5 Vettel 33
6 Bottas 24
Ricciardo 24
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Poor Jean-Eric Vergne. He got beaten by Ricciardo last year for the Red Bull seat and now he's getting thumped by his 19 year old rookie team-mate. Good on Kvyat though for making a solid debut in the sport, if Vettel does move on from Red Bull in the next few years, Kvyat's your man!