McLaren's Lewis Hamilton overcame his pre-race gremlins to end Sebastian Vettel's dominance with a victory at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Vettel who tried to emulate Michael Schumacher's opening treble in the 2004 F1 season, made a strong bid for three straight wins to start the 2011 F1 season, but he could not hold off Hamilton, who made one more pit stop than the German and had fresher tyres at the end. Vettel finished second eventually, 5.1 seconds behind Hamilton, who narrowly avoided starting from the pit lane due to fuel leak in his engine, with his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber taking third in an amazing charge through the F1 pack from 18th.

 

Early in the race, Vettel who led the pack by virtue of pole was soon passed by both McLarens before the first corner with Button leading team mate Hamilton for the first 13 laps. But Button then blew his lead on his first pit stop with a rare schoolboy error that cost him dearly. After passing Hamilton for second place, Button stopped at the Red Bull box before the Red Bull mechanics frantically waved him on to make way for Vettel.

With all pit stops completed and 16 laps remaining, Hamilton was fourth. But on lap 42, he passed Rosberg for third and then proceeded to overtake Felipe Massa two laps later to move up to second, 4.6 seconds behind Vettel. The gap between Vettel and Hamilton was soon whittled down over the next eight laps, with Hamilton eventually passing Vettel with five laps remaining.

As for Rosberg, Button and Massa who were fighting it out behind Hamilton and Vettel, they were soon swallowed up by a bullish Mark Webber as the trio struggled with worn out tyres. The Australian made an extraordinary charge through the field in the second half of the race on his softer compound tyres and gunned past Schumacher, Alonso, Massa and Rosberg in the final 15 laps to take the final podium spot.