Hamilton wins F1 Chinese GP in Mercedes one-two

F1 Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton won the Chinese Grand Prix from pole ahead of team mate Nico Rosberg on Sunday in Mercedes' one-two finish.

A mid-race spurt did the trick for Hamilton as he was never seriously

under threat en route to his second season victory, a fourth in

Shanghai and 35th overall, after a late safety car phase with two

laps left when Max Verstappen's Toro Rosso stopped on the track.

Rosberg placed second ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who won in the previous race, and Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari.

The renowned Italian team appears to be the only possible challenger for Mercedes at this stage of the season.

Hamilton increased his lead atop the championship with 68 points. Vettel has 55 and Rosberg 51 from three races.

Vettel had surprisingly won from Hamilton and Rosberg two weeks ago

in Malaysia thanks to better tyre management in hot conditions but

Mercedes rebounded well in cooler China.

Hamilton won the start from pole by moving to his right immediately,

leaving Rosberg no chance to pass. Vettel retained third while

Raikkonen flew past the Williams of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa

in the first turns to move from sixth to fourth.

But Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, the only non-Mercedes driver to top

a podium last year with three wins, seemingly had a technical problem

and dropped from seventh on the grid to 16th.

The McLaren's drivers Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button raced to 12th and 13th places.

Felipe Massa (Williams), Valtteri Bottas (Williams), Romain Grosjean (Lotus), Felipe Nasr (Sauber), Ricciardo and Marcus Ericsson (Sauber) were also in the points.

The Briton complained about an overheating seat but kept his cool to

win in 1 hour 39 minutes 42.008 seconds.

The next race is just a week away, the April 19 Bahrain Grand Prix. Endi