Nico Rosberg left the drama and chaos of the Chinese GP in his wake to claim a commanding sixth win in a row and open up a big lead at the top of the Drivers’ Championship.
Lewis Hamilton finished seventh after starting from the back of the grid, but his chances of a stronger result were compromised by a broken front wing on an incident-filled opening lap.
Making five separate visits to the pits as Mercedes appeared to switch between strategies, Hamilton ran as high as fifth entering the closing stages but was unable to pass Felipe Massa’s Williams and was instead overtaken by Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
Rosberg now leads his Mercedes team-mate by 36 points in the world championship after three races.
Sebastian Vettel finished second for Ferrari but a whopping 38 seconds behind Rosberg after being involved in the chaotic opening lap’s most controversial moment when he crashed into Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.
Vettel blamed the fast-starting Daniil Kvyat for triggering the incident, with the pair later meeting on track as the Ferrari made his way back through the field after his own front-wing change. Vettel overtook the Red Bull, but Kvyat still claimed Red Bull’s first podium of the year in third.
Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth for the third consecutive race was left to rue what might have been after a puncture scuppered his podium hopes when leading from Rosberg in the early stages.
Raikkonen dropped to the back of the field after his tangle with Vettel but fought back to fifth, ahead of Massa and a frustrated Hamilton.
“It was definitely a difficult one,” the world champion told Sky Sports F1. “I got a good start, which is always difficult from the back. I tried to avoid what was ahead of me but got tangled in it.
