6 Memorable Moments From The Chinese Grand Prix

Image source: Mercedes AMG Petronas

Lewis Hamilton dominated the 2014 Chinese Grand Prix to take his third consecutive victory of the season so far. The Brit led from start to finish, eventually crossing the line a vast 18 seconds clear of his team-mate Nico Rosberg. Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, gave Ferrari its first podium of the year in third.

Daniel Ricciardo put in another good performance to take fourth, 25 seconds clear of his team-mate Sebastian Vettel who finished in fifth. It wasn't quite the thriller that Bahrain turned out to be, but there were certainly some dramatic and memorable moments:

1. Flag blunder

Image source: Mercedes AMG Petronas

Bizarrely, the Chinese Grand Prix results were taken from lap 54, rather than the usual lap 56, after the official in charge of waving the chequered flag jumped the gun. The blunder meant Hamilton took the flag one lap early (although he continued on to complete the full race distance) and radioed the team expressing his confusion. The only change to the results was that Kamui Kobayashi's last-lap overtake on Jules Bianchi wasn't counted.

2. Milestone result

Image source: Mercedes AMG Petronas

Lewis Hamilton's Chinese Grand Prix win gave the Brit his first hat-trick of victories, having previously won in Malaysia and Bahrain this year. It was also Hamilton's third victory at the Shanghai International Circuit and the 25th of his career. Rosberg's second place meant it was Mercedes' third consecutive 1-2 finish as well.

3. Williams FW36s bullet-proof?

Unbelievably, both of the Williams cars emerged unscathed following two separate accidents on the opening lap. Felipe Massa made contact with Fernando Alonso, which briefly pitched him into the air, and Valtteri Bottas was hit by Nico Rosberg at the first corner.

The two FW36s managed to reach the chequered flag without considerable damage, although the collision may have contributed towards Massa's painfully long 78-second first pit stop after a problem fitting the rear tyres.

4. "Tough luck"

Image source: Red Bull/Getty Images

For the second consecutive race, Sebastian Vettel was instructed by Red Bull Racing to let Daniel Ricciardo through. However, he didn't give up the position straight away after the team failed to tell him that the Aussie was planning to run a different strategy. Both drivers were on the same tyre compound and after hearing that news, he replied "tough luck."

The team informed him on the next lap - after he failed to concede the position - that Ricciardo was on an alternative strategy and he swiftly let him through. He eventually completed the same number of pit stops but finished 25 seconds behind his team-mate in fifth.

5. Driving blind

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Nico Rosberg and Valtteri Bottas both suffered telemetry issues during the Chinese Grand Prix. The Mercedes team failed to get any data from Rosberg's W05 during the race, despite the FIA being able to, which meant the German had to provide regular information on the fuel level and tyres over the radio - a task he branding as "annoying."

Meanwhile, Williams and the FIA both lost data on the number 77 car of Bottas, which is why the fuel usage graphic on the TV was reading zero - in case you were wondering. Considering the issues, both drivers performed well to finish second and seventh respectively.

6. Strong battles

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While we didn't have the continuous drama of Bahrain, there were still several exciting battles - particularly in the opening laps - with strong overtakes from the likes of Rosberg, Kimi Raikkonen and Sergio Perez.

There was an intense fight at the back of the field with Kobayashi and Bianchi scrapping for most of the race. The Japanese driver eventually got ahead in a late dive up the inside at turn 14 on the final lap, but as mentioned earlier, he was demoted to 18th due to the chequered flag blunder.