Lewis Hamilton led from start to finish in a dominant race for Mercedes at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Despite a poor start from both Silver Arrows, the Briton was able to pass teammate Valtteri Bottas at Turn 1 and would pull out a lead over the Finn.
There would be drama down the field at Turn 6 on the opening lap as Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat made contact with the Russian punted into the second McLaren of Lando Norris, who was fortunate not to roll the car.
A brief Virtual Safety Car was called to clear the debris, once clear the two Mercedes would slowly pull away from the Ferraris.
Charles Leclerc also got ahead of Sebastian Vettel at the start but, running within DRS range, the pitwall told the Monegasque to let the German through feeling his pace would be faster.
It wouldn’t as if anything, the gap would grow faster once Vettel was ahead.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was keeping pace with the Scuderia and would the first round of pit-stops at the front as the attempted an undercut.
His pace would be enough to close on Vettel to try a bold overtake into Turn 14 but the Dutchman went deep, allowing the German to squeeze back ahead on the exit.
Told to stay out longer, Leclerc would fall 10 seconds behind the pair when he eventually pitted but would rapidly start closing the gap back to the Red Bull.
So much so, the Milton Keynes outfit would pit Verstappen for a second time returning back to the Medium tyre, causing Vettel and the two Mercedes to do likewise.
Leclerc would stay out again until both Bottas and Vettel had overtaken him before also switching back to the Soft and had all the hard work to do again.
Up ahead though, it was a clear run for Hamilton to take his second straight win and Mercedes third consecutive 1-2 finish as Bottas came home in second.
Vettel had to settle for third with Verstappen able to keep the charging Leclerc at bay in fourth.
Pierre Gasly ran a lonely race in sixth in the second Red Bull, but would cheekily pit for soft tyres with just two laps to go and set the fastest lap, earning himself an additional point.
Daniel Ricciardo scored his first points for Renault in P7, as the Australian also ensured the French manufacturer finished ‘best of the rest’ for the first time in 2019.
He would have to hold off a charging Sergio Perez in the closing laps as the Mexican enjoyed a strong race to eighth in the Racing Point.
Kimi Raikkonen also moved up to ninth for Alfa Romeo, but Alex Albon was the big winner moving up from the back of the grid to P10 in an impressive performance in the Toro Rosso.
There was disappointment for Haas though, as again their race pace proved their weakness with Romain Grosjean dropping to 11th and teammate Kevin Magnussen only 13th.
Nico Hulkenberg also suffered more mechanical issues in his Renault as he was one of three retirements, with Norris and Kvyat, both of whom collided on the first lap, later joining him.
Full results from Shanghai can be seen below:
