Hamilton takes 'dream car' to victory in Chinese GP

Shanghai (dpa) - Lewis Hamilton on Sunday took a major step towards becoming the youngest-ever Formula One world champion with a start-to-finish victory in the Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit.

Although his main rival Felipe Massa in a Ferrari finished second, the McLaren-Mercedes driver increased his lead at the top of the drivers' standings to seven points and with just the Brazilian Grand Prix remaining, the Briton needs only a fifth-place finish in Sao Paulo to take the title.

Hamilton, who managed to put aside the disastrous race in Fuji at the Japanese Grand Prix last weekend, posted a time of 1 hour 31 minutes and 57.403 seconds for the 56 laps of 5.451 kilometres for a total race distance of 305.066 kilometres.

The second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen finished third after allowing Massa to overtake him with seven laps remaining.

Although it is not allowed for teams to give orders that drivers move over to allow their team-mates to pass, Hamilton said that he always knew that it would happen.

"It was inevitable that Massa would finish ahead of Raikkonen."

But while Massa said that he had been faster than Raikkonen towards the end and had managed to pass him, the Finn made no such pretensions.

"I know what the team expects. I had nothing to lose or win for that matter and I am driving for the team. We know what we want as a team and that is what we did.

"It is normal in such a situation."

Hamilton thanked his team immediately after crossing the line. "As always, a wonderful job. The car was a dream to drive.

"The whole weekend we have had God on our side as always. The car felt fantastic the whole weekend. I owe so much to the team as they make sure that I just have to bring the car home and I did that.

"I managed to get everything right on the formation lap and then I had a great start. It was probably one of the best we have had this year. From there it was pretty smooth sailing."

Hamilton, who had a seven-point lead going into the Brazilian Grand Prix last year, but then dramatically lost the title to Raikkonen, said that he felt much stronger this time around.

"This win is another step towards the championship. Going into Brazil is much different than last year as we know the car will be more competitive.

"I hope we can pull through this time," he said.

The 23-year-old, who started from pole, had no problems at the start and immediately opened up a gap between him and the rest of the field.

The only casualty of the first round was Toyota's Jarno Trulli, who spun off and had to retire shortly afterwards.

Upfront Hamilton was pulling away from the two Ferraris and after seven laps had already opened a lead of more than three seconds and more importantly, was going around half a second a lap faster than his main rival Massa, who was lying third behind Raikkonen.

The Briton and Raikkonen came into the pits together and McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen briefly took the lead as Massa had pitted earlier.

But the old order was restored after all cars had completed their first pit stop and Hamilton completely dominated the field as he continued increasing the gap.

Lying fourth, but being challenged by Fernando Alonso in a Renault, Kovalainen picked up a tyre puncture on the 35th lap, but managed to limp back into the pit lane, but lost valuable ground.

Alonso then held on to fourth place until the finish, ahead of the two BMW-Saubers of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica.

The final points position went to Timo Glock in a Toyota and Nelson Piquet Jr in the second Renault.

The only other driver in with a chance of winning the title, Kubica, who started from 11th place on the grid, managed to make up several places, but could not find the pace to move close enough to the race leaders to get the necessary point to keep his challenge alive.

The victory takes Hamilton to 94 points, while Massa has 87. In the constructors' standings, Ferrari have extended their lead to 11 points. The Italian team has 156 points from McLaren's 145.