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F1: Hamilton edges closer to title

Britain’s Lewis Hamilton of McLaren Mercedes showers himself with champagne as he celebrates winning the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai yesterday. PHOTO: EPA

Britain’s Lewis Hamilton won the Chinese Grand Prix yesterday, but was denied the world championship by title rival Felipe Massa, who finished second.

McLaren’s Hamilton led throughout for a straightforward win, but he remains just seven points ahead of Massa, taking the championship to a dramatic final race in Brazil next month.

“A fantastic race, the car was a dream to drive for me,” Hamilton said. “All weekend we had God on our side, as always, and the team did a perfect job. The car’s been fantastic all weekend.”

Ferrari’s outgoing champion Kimi Raikkonen was third after conceding second place to Massa late on. Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso of Renault was fourth.

BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld finished fifth, ahead of his teammate Robert Kubica, the only other title contender, who finished sixth to end his slim championship hopes.

Hamilton, 23, is bidding to become both the youngest and the first black driver to win the world title after throwing away a commanding lead in the standings in his rookie season last year.

“This is a completely different situation to last year,” said Hamilton, who now has 94 points to Massa’s 87 after coming home almost 15 seconds clear. “Brazil will be very different this time.”

The Briton, who has faced strong criticism of his aggressive racing, may have silenced some of his detractors with this convincing display of smooth front-running.

He avoided the fireworks seen at the start of the Japan Grand Prix last week in a clean start from pole position, followed by Ferrari’s Raikkonen and Massa.

Hamilton then reeled off a succession of fastest laps to establish a lead that he extended with comfort as Ferrari seemed to struggle with the softer tires in the first sector of the race.

By the time the leaders began making their first pit-stops, Hamilton led by more than four seconds ahead of Raikkonen, followed by Massa, Alonso and McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen.

Massa was the first to pit, but continued with his choice of softer tires, after 14 laps. He was joined by Alonso and then Hamilton and Raikkonen came in after lap 15.

This left Kovalainen, celebrating his 27th birthday, in the lead for a brief period, before he also pitted and Hamilton took command again, with Raikkonen second, stuck behind Toro Rosso’s heavily-laden Sebastien Vettel.

Out after a swift stop in which he reduced his front wing setting slightly to counter over-steer, Hamilton flew and delivered several rapid laps that extended his advantage to more than seven seconds.

When Vettel pitted, Raikkonen pressed on to cut into Hamilton’s lead, but Massa, third, was unable to make much impression. Hamilton’s advantage was cut from 7.2 seconds to 6.4 seconds over three laps to lap 28.

But he pulled some of that back before the second round of stops, led by Alonso on lap 36. Hamilton led by 8.9 seconds when he and Raikkonen pitted together at the end of lap 38.

By then, unfortunately for McLaren, Kovalainen had already been forced to come in with a front right wheel puncture that effectively ended his hopes of a good finish.

On exit, Hamilton led ahead of Heidfeld’s BMW Sauber, with Raikkonen third, a buffer that was sure to delay Ferrari’s charge in the closing laps.

Hamilton remained unchallenged at the front with a 13-second lead and it was left to the Ferrari team to swap places after 49 laps, when Raikkonen slowed enough to let Massa pass him on the back straight.

For Massa, who had struggled to stay third, this gifted him two additional points in his title bid and means he can still win the championship in front of his home fans in Brazil next month.

“Lewis was stronger today,” Massa said.
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