Hamilton wins Chinese Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton won the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix for the third time in four years, recovering perfectly from defeat a fortnight ago in Melbourne's season-opener.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton celebrates on the podium with Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands after the Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit. Aly Song/REUTERS

The Mercedes driver, who started in pole position, beat Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel by six seconds, as Red Bull's Max Verstappen came third in a rain-impacted race that featured early safety car drama.

"Get in there Lewis!" Hamilton's engineer said over the team radio after the three-time world champion took the chequered flag in China for the fifth time in his career.

"That is a great race, mate. An absolute masterclass."

Hamilton replied: "We have worked really hard for this, we have got to keep pushing."

Vettel recovered from a poor start from row one and, after being stuck behind team mate Kimi Raikkonen early on, began to show the pace that clinched victory in Australia.

First the German blew past Raikkonen before going wheel-to-wheel with Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo at turn seven, producing puffs of blue smoke as the cars touched tyres.

Verstappen loomed ahead but the young Dutchman, who produced an astonishing first lap after starting 16th on the grid, suffered a lock-up going into the hairpin allowing Vettel to take second.

Hamilton never looked seriously threatened despite a sequence of quickest laps from Vettel.

The next stop of what is shaping up to be a terrific season-long battle is Bahrain, for a race under the lights next weekend. Hamilton and Vettel have each won twice in the desert.