This was the weekend Lewis Hamilton and his fans around the world had been waiting for. It finally saw the British McLaren driver take first place at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai on Sunday.
The racer says he adopted the team’s noted three-stop tactic to overtake previous winner Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton found himself in front with four laps remaining, in what he has called one of his finest victories.
“It is one of the best grand prix wins I can remember” he commented
“I could not believe I was catching Vettel. He was putting up a great fight and it was great to get by him.”
The Brit ended up inside 21 points of his nearest rival. He forced Vettel, driving for RBR-Renault into second place. This prevented him from winning three meets on a trot this season. Vettel’s team mate Mark Webber finished in third place, while Hamilton’s compatriot Jenson Button was fourth.
Vettel was instructed by Red Bull to follow a two stop manoeuvre, in an attempt to catch Hamilton, but it was no good. The Brit had newer, fresher rubber on his tires and managed to overtake Vettel at turn seven.
This is the first time Hamilton has won a Grand Prix race since August last year in Belgium.
It is now on to the fourth race of the season, at the 2011 Formula 1 Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul. Then we will see if this is the start of a run of success for Hamilton and McLaren.
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