It had been expected that the Mercedes driver would face stiff opposition from Australian Grand Prix victor Vettel as well as Hamilton's own team-mate Valtteri Bottas, but the battle was never joined.
Max Verstappen made certain of leaving a lasting impression on Lewis Hamilton by putting in a storming drive to go from near the back of the grid to the podium in Sunday's Formula One Chinese Grand Prix.
Next up is the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday. The scenario I am in right now, I am fighting against a four-time world champion, who is at his best and is phenomenally quick, and a Ferrari team which is the best they have been in a decade.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner has called for clarity over how drivers are allowed to line up in their grid slots after Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel failed to park his vehicle between the lines at the Chinese Grand Prix. The German and teammate Kimi Raikkonen, who ended up fourth, also topped the opening two phases of the three-part qualifying session. Type "JOIN" and send to 9910181818.
"For me there was no risk to come in [for slicks]", he said.
Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel was also on a charge, passing teammate Kimi Raikkonen with an inside-dive and then former teammate Ricciardo with an fantastic move around the outside, moving him up to third.
Canadiens beat Rangers to even series 1-1
Instead, they had to play catch up as the Canadiens struck on the power play, their first special-teams tally of the series. Miller was whistled for a faceoff violation late in the second period as he played the puck in the circle with his hand.
Sebastian Vettel was in good form for the duration of the race.
For this season's championship is now nearly certainly a straight shoot-out between Hamilton and Vettel. A short time later later, on the fourth lap, Antonio Giovinazzi hit a wet patch and slammed into the wall, severely damaging his Sauber vehicle and bringing the race to a halt again.
The two drivers have one win each so far this season from the first two races, in Australia and China, and look likely to be vying for the title over the next eight months. Hamilton said. "And then in the race it was just keeping my composure".
Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas completed the top-six, slipping back from P5 to P12 after spinning behind the safety vehicle.
"And it was going to mean we would have to pull out all the stops and really have a very, very ideal lap, you know, a solid lap".
Raikkonen's podium hopes in China were not helped by Ferrari's decision to leave him out longer than was ideal before his second stop - which meant that by the time he had recovered it was too late to get himself past the two Red Bull cars. "We are both doing that and I think that is a great place to be".
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