Chinese GP 2017: Hamilton storms to victory - as it happened

So that's it, you're all up to date on the standings. Make sure to check out Jake Nichol's race report, which is imminent. But, I've been James Eagles - thank you so much for joining me. I'll see you in Bahrain in seven days time.

Bye for now.

So, we have two drivers locked level on 43 points going into Bahrain. Hamilton managed his race so well, pushing when it mattered, timing his stops to perfection. A flawless race for his 54th career win.

Vettel did well to recover from a poorly timed first stop, as he dropped to sixth. Some superb moves at Turn 6 helped his cause, whilst his teammate struggled and only went backwards after struggling with his tyres.

The battle for third was intense, I'm sure Ricciardo will hold a trademark smile, but it won't be as wide as usual. Wider than Melbourne though, I'm sure. Verstappen used his battery power well, as he did in Spain and Japan last year, and stayed ahead despite spending most of the time moaning at the end!

PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION:

1. Hamilton
2. Vettel
3. Verstappen
4. Ricciardo
5. Raikkonen
6. Bottas
7. Sainz
8. Magnussen
9. Perez
10. Ocon
11. Grosjean
12. Hulkenberg
13. Palmer
14. Massa
15. Ericsson

Retired: Alonso, Kvyat, Vandoorne, Giovinazzi, Stroll

CHEQUERED FLAG: Lewis Hamilton wins the Chinese Grand Prix, with Sebastian Vettel in second. Verstappen holds off Ricciardo for the final podium spot.

FINAL LAP: Hamilton starts his 56th and last lap, leading Vettel by seven seconds.

55: Two laps to go, and all eyes are still on that battle for the final podium spot.

54: "Can you please keep telling Charlie, this is ridiculous."

53: Ricciardo is so close.

52: "I keep getting understeer because of [Grosjean]."

"I know mate, but you have to be within a second."

51: "Can Grosjean get out the way, please?"

Verstappen looks for the blue flags.

50: Grosjean passes Massa at Turn 1, very nicely done. The Brazilian pits and is now in the penultimate spot for those running. Perez also pits from ninth, but he shouldn't lose a spot.

50: Verstappen is under pressure from Ricciardo.

49: Magnussen promotes himself into eighth by passing Perez.

48: "Well done Nico...Valtteri." Tony Ross is struggling to adapt.

47: 10 laps to go, Hamilton leads by just under nine seconds from: Vettel, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Bottas, Sainz, Perez, Magnussen and Ocon.

47: Ocon pulls alongside Massa on the straight and gets past going into the hairpin.

46: Ocon has stopped and is now looking to repass Massa for a points position. He has a look at Turn 6, but pulls out of it.

45: Bottas gets past Sainz at the hairpin for sixth.

43: "How the hell has the gap come down from 12 to 8?" asks Hamilton. Pete Bonnington reassures him that although Vettel is pushing, he's doing well.

42: Raikkonen's fightback begins, as he passes Sainz with a rudimentary move at the hairpin. 14.6 seconds behind Ricciardo though.

41: Vettel was 1.3 seconds faster than Hamilton last lap. A 1:35.423 is the new fastest lap. Hamilton is warned: "Vettel's picking the pace up now."

40: Raikkonen finally pits for another set of super-softs. He rejoins in sixth.

39: Grosjean passes another Renault at Turn 6 - Hulkenberg is now relegated to 13th.

39: "So where are we going to finish? I have no front end grip." says Raikkonen, who is now losing time to cars he's already lapped.

38: Bottas sets the fastest lap.

37: Crucially, Hamilton keeps the lead with 20 laps to go.

36: In comes Hamilton, for a new set of softs.

36: "These tyres won't last." says Hamilton. His crew is ready and waiting. Bottas comes in first for softs.

36: He's now stopped, making him the fifth retirement.

35: Alonso slows, and no it's not a trick on the eyes, the McLaren is usually faster than that. "Driveshaft, driveshaft problem," bemoans the Spaniard.

34: Ricciardo pits for another set of super-softs. Alonso loses out to Sainz by running wide at the hairpin.

33: Verstappen wastes no time, passing another car at Turn 6. Bottas was left for dead. Raikkonen complains: "The front left is f**king shuddering."

33: Now, unbelievably, Hamilton sets the fastest lap on those old softs.

33: Verstappen is closing up to Bottas.

32: Verstappen betters it with a 1:36.722

31: Fastest lap now belongs to Sainz - a 1:37.398.

30: In comes Verstappen to replace his damaged tyres. He opts for another set of super-softs.

29: Just after the halfway mark, the order is as follows: Hamilton, Vettel, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Bottas, Alonso, Sainz, Magnussen, Perez.

Your retirees are: Kvyat, Vandoorne, Giovinazzi and Stroll.

29: Verstappen runs wide at the hairpin after locking up. Not only does he flat spot his left front, but he runs onto the astroturf and allows Vettel to scamper away.

28: "Surprised we're not boxing, I've got a real problem." says Palmer, who's struggling on his tyres. His problems are multiplied, as Grosjean gets through at Turn 6.

27: Good eye though from Fernando, he noted that Bottas has some damage.

26: Bottas was probably on the edge of being a second behind Alonso before deploying his DRS on the long straight - but still breezed past him. I can't tell you if Alonso had reached 100mph at that point.

25: Raikkonen is unsure as to whether his rear tyres will make it to the end.

24: Perez gets past teammate Ocon at the hairpin for 10th.

23: Hamilton was 1.3 seconds faster than Verstappen last lap. He's really pushing.

22: Vettel tries his luck around the outside of Turn 6 on Ricciardo. They go side by side towards 7 and even bang wheels, but Vettel comes away victorious and is up to third.

21: "What are your thoughts on going to the end?" asks Pete Bonnington.

Hamilton replies: "I think I can do it."

21: No action on Magnussen for driving slowly.

20: Kvyat has retired.

20: Vettel tries an audacious lunge down the inside of Raikkonen at Turn 6, and makes the move - he;s up to fourth.

19: Bottas passes Magnussen at the hairpin for ninth.

19: Verstappen has dropped back, the gap to Hamilton is 3.3 seconds. Vandoorne is being wheeled back into his garage.

18: Now Magnussen is in danger of a penalty...for driving unnecessarily  slowly under the Safety Car.

18: "Okay Stoffel, we have a fuel problem. Back off, back off. Box this lap."

17: Hulkenberg's day gets better - he gets an additional 10 second penalty for overtaking under the Safety Car.

16: "WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING ON THE EXIT OF TURN 12? I HAVE NO POWER UNLESS I PRESS THE K1."

Kimi's happy.

16: Hulkenberg receives a five second time penalty for overtaking under the VSC.

15: Verstappen is just sitting behind Hamilton, who sets a new fastest lap with a 1:38.124.

?15: Now Ericsson joins Hulkenberg in being under investigation - for overtaking under the SC.

14: A new fastest lap, and it belongs to Verstappen.

13: Hulkenberg and Grosjean being investigated for overtaking under the VSC.

13: Raikkonen and Vettel are really being hindered behind Ricciardo.

13: Hamilton betters him - a 1:39.358 is now the benchmark.

12: Verstappen breaks the fastest lap, with a 1:40.405 - but he's made no inroads into Hamilton's lead.

11: Not for long, he passes him going into Turn 6.

10: Raikkonen runs wide at the hairpin and Vettel has a look. He's not close enough. Verstappen is swarming over the back of Ricciardo.

10: Sainz sets another fastest lap - a 1:42.693.

10: It's like Abu Dhabi! The whole top five are within a second of each other. Hamilton has been told he can go to the end of these soft tyres.

9: Sainz has assumed 6th from Alonso. Bet that was easy.

8: Perez is flying! He gets Massa after running wide at Turn 1, and then Kvyat on the exit of Turn 4. Verstappen passes Raikkonen to move onto the podium. "I don't know what happened, I had no torque." Raikkonen claims.

8: Now, back to racing. Hamilton from Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Verstappen, Vettel, Alonso, Sainz, Kvyat, Perez and Massa.

7: "It's very wet on the main straight." I'm certain Raikkonen's made a statement, butit sounded like a question.

7: Safety Car in at the end of this lap.

7: "It's really hard to keep these temperatures up." says Hamilton.

Verstappen's start was incredible! He just kept finding grip...

6: No action on Vettel's start.

6: Ricciardo uses the detour into the pits to change onto slicks. It's my understanding that he didn't actually pit first time round.

5: Hamilton leads, on a set of softs. Vettel is still in 6th.

5: Everyone is now pitting. Alonso says "I don't need f**king slicks." Clearly, Ricciardo concurs - he's got another set of intermediates.

4: No we're not. Unfortunately, Giovinazzi has ended his race near the scene of his Qualifying accident. Safety Car out.

4: We're racing again. Hamilton leads from Bottas, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Verstappen, Vettel, Sainz, Ocon, Alonso and Kvyat.

3: Bottas stayed out too.

3: A whole host of people in the pits - including Vettel, for softs. Hamilton stays out.

And replays confirm that, Perez diving down the inside - unwise at Turn 4.

2: "Box, box. Potential right puncture." Seems that Perez was the one to hit Stroll.

2: Max Verstappen and Alonso have had barnstorming starts - up to 7th and 8th respectively. VSC deployed.

2: Vettel in under investigation for being out of position on the grid. Hulkenberg pits.

1: Stroll is off with rear damage.

1: We're off the grid! Vettel starts well askew from his grid slot and can't beat Hamilton off the line. Raikkonen and Ricciardo almost make contact, but the Aussie gets through cleanly. Sainz has fallen to 19th.

We're on the formation lap, the only man now on slicks is Carlos Sainz. Vettel reports "It's dried up a bit."

Some news, after his accident at the end of Qualifying 1 yesterday, Antonio Giovinazzi joins Grosjean and Palmer in getting a grid penalty - although, this one is for an enforced gearbox change,

But is the track ready? Both Hamilton and Perez ran wide on their way to the grid...

Most of the field look to be starting on intermediate tyres. The anomalies are: the two Saubers - who are on wets, Mercedes are on super-softs, as is Sergio Perez and Daniel Ricciardo. Stoffel Vandoorne says that it's tricky to decide between slicks and inters, so we may be in for a cracking start.

Good morning and welcome to a rather dull China. I'm James Eagles, welcome to VAVEL's live commentary.

I feel that that top three will be seen quite a lot this year, in varying orders. But, it's not about Qualifying per se, it's about the race day, as Bottas noted.

So, why would you want to miss it? Join me, bright and early once again (UK and European readers) from 6:30am, as the Chinese Grand Prix buildup will be well underway.

What the top three said after Qualifying:

Lewis Hamilton: "The heat of the moment is so much more intense than it was before. I guess it's because before, it was you against your teammate, but now we're up against another team. They've won the last race, positioning is really important for the start. They were quickest through Q1 and Q2. Now, I don't even know if I'm going to get pole! But what I'm going to do is make sure it's as close to perfection of a lap that I can get." 

Sebastian Vettel: "We knew it would be close, also in Australia we looked very good and then Mercedes seemed very strong in the last Qualifying. I don't know if they claim to turn up the engine between Q2 and Q3, but we have to look at the speed traces. But, they're very strong in Qualifying trim, we know that, but I think it was a good session."

Valtteri Bottas: "It's a small margin. Smaller than last time. It's a shame one of the Ferraris got between us, but again, the main day is tomorrow and I think it was a better Qualifying on my side than what I had in Melbourne, so that is positive. But, I still have things to work on, I move on to tomorrow and see what I can do against the Ferrari."

Rain is expected tomorrow, will the drama be repeated?

The weather thus far this weekend has truly disrupted the show. Practice 1 saw around 15 minutes of track time, whilst Practice 2 was abandoned, due to the medical helicopter being unable to land at the designated hospital in Shanghai amidst the fog.

In order to compensate, some potentially needed resources have been moved to Jiading hospital, more accessible by helicopter and by road ambulance. Thankfully, it means we have a race on - rumours flying around early on Friday suggested that that may not have been the case.

For the classic race, we take a look at the 2007 edition. It was a race that could've seen Hamilton claim a world title in his rookie season, having got under the skin of then teammate Fernando Alonso, whilst shocking the world with some incredible displays.

The weekend got off to the perfect start for the Brit, claiming pole by just over a tenth-of-a-second from Raikkonen. The Finn's fellow Ferrari, Felipe Massa lurked behind with Alonso sitting in fourth. However, the Spaniard was less than happy, accusing the McLaren team of tampering with his tyre pressures in Q3, in order to give Hamilton the advantage.

Conditions were wet throughout the morning, leaving the whole field with no option but to start on the intermediate tyres.

Hamilton led into Turn 1, with Raikkonen behind. Alonso tried a daring move around the outside of Massa, scrabbling around for what grip there was. He got the move done into Turn 3. But the Brazilian exacted his revenge into Turn 5. Further back, Ralf Schumacher caused a distraction by spinning his Toyota from sixth.
 

Hamilton stretched his legs, slowly pulling away from Raikkonen and the squabbling pair behind. That was until his first stop, where he briefly surrendered control. His race and indeed championship defining moment came here, opting not to change his worse-for-wear wets, just topping up with fuel. This was because McLaren's radar predicted another bout of showers.

Four laps later, Raikkonen repeated the trick.

Hamilton wasn't to be the only rookier to encounter pit lane troubles, Adrian Sutil lost control of his Spyker whilst peeling off into the entry, hitting the outside wall.

As the rain did indeed come, Hamilton ran wide at Turn 5, inviting Raikkonen to have a look - but nothing more. His patience was rewarded though moments later, Hamilton slithering wide at Turn 8, gifting Raikkonen the inside line for the next left hander. Not to worry though, second would be enough for the youngster to take an historic title.

As the track dried, Hamilton's wets were well past their best; with Alonso catching, he pit on lap 30. But, with no grip, he slipped into the outside gravel trap that borders the pit lane entry, beaching his car as he tried to edge out. Ron Dennis' prayers for a friendly push went unanswered.
 

His first and only retirement of the year meant that Raikkonen went unchallenged for the rest of the race - not only taking the win, but the World Championship from Hamilton and Alonso by a solitary point after victory in Brazil.

So, it was a Qualifying session that saw Hamilton claim his 63rd career pole - his sixth in China. Here's Jake Nichol's report from earlier.

Vettel edges out Bottas for the remaining place on the front row by the mere margin of one-thousandths of a second, with Kimi Raikkonen rounding out the Mercedes/Ferrari duopoly of the front of the grid. Red Bull have been struggling thus far. Daniel Ricciardo's fifth place was far better than anything that happened on track at his home race, but an engine problem left Max Verstappen 19th. He starts in 17th, due to penalties for Romain Grosjean and Jolyon Palmer.

Let's take a look at the past ten winners here. Mercedes have dominated here for the past three events, with Hamilton starting on pole, will that fine record continue.

A permanent racing facility, finished in time for the 2004 season, the Shanghai International Circuit will provide more of a chance to show off the raw speed of the cars, whilst giving opportunity to overtake - due to the wider track dimensions in comparison to Albert Park.

Click here for the full rundown.

In case you have either forgotten the events in Melbourne two weeks ago, or missed it all together - here's a handy reminder in the form of Jake Nichol's race report.

Sebastian Vettel gave Ferrari their first win since the 2015 Singapore Grand Prix - as they roared back into life after a limp end to the 2016 season. Lewis Hamilton trailed behind in his Mercedes after starting on pole, struggling with his tyres and the width of the new cars. His new teammate, Valtteri Bottas, claimed the final spot on the podium.

Hello and welcome to VAVEL's live coverage of the 2017 Formula One Heineken Chinese Grand Prix. Once again, I'm your correspondent, James Eagles and will be guiding you through all the events of tomorrow's Grand Prix from the Shanghai International Circuit, situated in China's largest city, for the second round of the World Championship.