Hamilton wins 2019 Chinese Grand Prix

After an abortive overtaking attempt at the hairpin on lap 38, Bottas made no mistake at the same point the following lap, but the time lost squabbling with Leclerc meant he was now six seconds adrift of Hamilton in the lead. That gap increased to 7.5s by lap 42, by which point the Finn had seemingly accepted that second place was the maximum he was going to achieve today.

Vettel also made it past Leclerc, who came in for his second stop on lap 43, emerging in fifth place behind Verstappen but with fresher tyres than those ahead of him. The Monegasque was unable to make significant headway, however, and by this point the top six positions looked fairly set, with Verstappen's teammate Pierre Gasly at the rear of the leading group.

Untroubled at the front, Hamilton took to team radio to ask who currently held fastest lap, the Briton clearly keen to maximise his points haul from a race in which his Mercedes team had been surprisingly superior over the Ferraris. That honor, however, ultimately went to Gasly, who took advantage of a big gap back to Daniel Ricciardo's Renault in seventh to pit for fresh rubber two laps from the end without losing a place, and the Frenchman duly nabbed fastest lap and an extra championship point on the very last lap of the race.

Elsewhere, Ricciardo finished best of the rest behind the top three teams in seventh spot, followed by the Racing Point of Sergio Perez, who notably made up four positions on the opening lap. Raikkonen was ninth for his third points finish in as many races, and an impressive drive from the pitlane saw Albon take the final point in tenth.

The day, though, belonged to Hamilton, who serenely led every lap of the race after assuming the lead at the first corner, a far cry from an untidy Friday practice session in which he spun and claimed he was at a loss as to what was wrong with his car.

"It's not been the most straightforward of weekends, but what a fantastic result for the team," said Hamilton after his 75th Formula 1 race victory. "To have a one-two is really special, the start was where I was able to make the difference and from there the rest is history."