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RICCIARDO STEALS VICTORY IN CHINA

Ricciardo crosses the line after victory. Photo: LAT

By Heath McAlpine

Ricciardo crosses the line after victory. Photo: LAT

Ricciardo crosses the line after victory. Photo: LAT

Australian Red Bull Racing driver Daniel Ricciardo has starred in China as he took victory in Shanghai ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen.

After a turbo failure nearly derailed the Australian’s qualifying session, he put in a clinical performance after the pit stops to seize the advantage and take a comfortable victory ahead of Bottas, who held out the chasing pair of Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton.

A Safety Car after both Toro Rossos collided was the changing point of the race as Ricciardo and teammate Max Verstappen made the most of the halt in proceedings to make a second pit stop for soft tyres, but it was Ricciardo that took full advantage.

Ricciardo first took care of Raikkonen, then after Verstappen and Hamilton tangled leaving the Dutchman to take the grass enabling Ricciardo to take fourth. Ricciardo made a superb late braking pass on Hamilton at the hairpin to take third before attacking his former teammate Sebastian Vettel for second, which he did with DRS on the back straight.

The final pass on Bottas was daring, but the Mercedes driver saw the Red Bull and gave just enough room for Ricciardo to get through. From there, the Australian bolted and was never headed to the flag.

Ricciardo sits atop the podium. Photo: LAT

Vettel had dominated the early section of the race but was jumped by Bottas after the first pit stops and worse was to come as after he was overtaken by Ricciardo, Verstappen had a go at the hairpin that failed and spun the pair. Vettel quickly fell off the pace and dropped to eighth after Nico Hulkenberg moved through amid speculation the Ferrari had suffered damage. Verstappen was given a 10s penalty for the incident.

Reigning champion Lewis Hamilton was never in the race as he dropped to fifth at the start after Verstappen made a great start but finished fourth only after Verstappen’s 10s penalty was added to the result.

The race opens up the Formula 1 World Driver’s Championship with Vettel banking 56 points so far this season, 11 ahead of Hamilton. Bottas sits on 40 points, three ahead of Ricciardo, while Raikkonen rounds out the top five on 30.

The next round of the title heads to Baku for the Grand Prix of Azerbaijan in two weeks.

Full Results:

Position Driver Car Laps Gap
1 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 56 1h35m36.380s
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 56 8.894s
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 56 9.637s
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 56 16.985s
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Renault 56 20.436s
6 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 56 21.052s
7 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 56 30.639s
8 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Renault 56 35.286s
9 Carlos Sainz Renault 56 35.763s
10 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 56 39.594s
11 Esteban Ocon Force India/Mercedes 56 44.050s
12 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 56 44.725s
13 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren/Renault 56 49.373s
14 Lance Stroll Williams/Mercedes 56 55.490s
15 Sergey Sirotkin Williams/Mercedes 56 58.241s
16 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 56 1m02.604s
17 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 56 1m05.296s
18 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso/Honda 56 1m06.330s
19 Charles Leclerc Sauber/Ferrari 56 1m19.066s
20 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso/Honda 51 Not running

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