Race results - Chinese Grand Prix 2015 - Tame Shanghai race ends behind the safety car

Hamilton sprays champagne on the podium in China — Credit: Mercedes AMG Petronas

Hamilton led off the line and held off a complaining Nico Rosberg to turn his dominant pole position into race victory in china. The race ended behind the safety car after Max Verstappen had to park his Toro Rosso on the home straight with smoke pouring from the car. Vettel may have won the last race, but he could make little impact on events in China, and came under pressure from his Ferrari teammate, just holding on for third.

Elsewhere, Nico Hükenberg retired due to a gearbox failure, and Daniil Kvyat suffered an engine problem early on. Red Bull’s misery was compounded by a very poor start by Daniel Ricciardo, that he recovered only to ninth by the end. Jenson Button crashed into Pastor Maldonado, which knocked the Lotus driver out of the race, and saw the Brit handed penalty points after the event.

Position	Driver	Team	Time	Stops
Best	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	1:42.208	Lap 31
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	1:39:42.008	2
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	+0.714	2
3	Sebastian Vettel	Scuderia Ferrari	+2.988	2
4	Kimi Räikkönen	Scuderia Ferrari	+3.835	2
5	Felipe Massa	Williams Martini Racing	+8.544	2
6	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Martini Racing	+9.885	2
7	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Team	+19.008	2
8	Felipe Nasr	Sauber F1 Team	+22.625	2
9	Daniel Ricciardo	Infiniti Red Bull Racing	+32.117	2
10	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber F1 Team	+1 lap	2
11	Sergio Pérez	Sahara Force India F1 Team	+1 lap	3
12	Fernando Alonso	McLaren Honda	+1 lap	2
13	Carlos Sainz Jr	Scuderia Toro Rosso	+1 lap	2
14	Jenson Button	McLaren Honda	+1 lap	2
15	Will Stevens	Manor Marussia F1 Team	+2 laps	2
16	Roberto Merhi	Manor Marussia F1 Team	+2 laps	2
17	Max Verstappen	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Lap 52	2
DNF	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus F1 Team	Lap 59	3
DNF	Daniil Kvyat	Infiniti Red Bull Racing	Lap 15	0
DNF	Nico Hülkenberg	Sahara Force India F1 Team	Lap 9	0

1 place drop for Jenson Button. Button admitted that he had made a mistake and had caused a collisionwith Pastor Maldonado in Turn 1. 5 Second Time Penalty and 2 penalty points awards.
0 place drop for Roberto Merhi. The driver failed to stay above the required time set by the FIA ECU during the deployment of the safety car. 5 Second Time Penalty and 2 penalty points awarded.