Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo came from sixth on the grid to grab victory as a simmering Chinese Grand Prix came to life following a mid-race Safety Car.
Ricciardo’s win came courtesy of an inspired strategic call when the race was neutralised due to debris on-track following a collision between the Toro Rosso drivers.
On fresh Soft tyres, as opposed to the older Mediums employed by most of his rivals, Ricciardo took the restart from sixth place but worked his way up to grab the lead off the back of a series of stunning overtaking moves.
In full: Chinese Grand Prix results
Pole sitter Sebastian Vettel’s perfect start to the year came to an end as he slipped to eighth, following a strategic blunder and a collision with Max Verstappen, for which the Dutchman was sanctioned.
Vettel nonetheless holds the advantage in the championship, nine points ahead of a subdued Lewis Hamilton.
Vettel had retained position off the line and covered off Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, the move allowing Valtteri Bottas to jump into second and Verstappen up to third.
Vettel opened a three-second buffer to Bottas, with the picture still unclear as to whether a one- or two-stop strategy would be quicker.
Bottas pitted for Mediums on lap 19 of 56 and the use of the undercut – and a stellar out-lap – meant he grabbed the advantage from Vettel when the Ferrari driver came in, also for Mediums, next time around.
Bottas held a one-second gap to Vettel, after the off-strategy Raikkonen came in, when Toro Rosso drivers Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley came together at Turn 14.
The debris littering the circuit triggered the deployment of the Safety Car, and Verstappen (running third) and Ricciardo (holding fifth) both came in for fresh Softs, losing ground in preference of fresher tyres.
Verstappen thus held the advantage but an opportunistic attempt on Lewis Hamilton for third through Turn 7 left him wide, and Ricciardo, having already overhauled Raikkonen, grabbed the spot from his team-mate.
Ricciardo then executed a stunningly late move on Hamilton into Turn 14 and picked off Vettel along the back straight before closing on race leader Bottas.
Bottas tried to defend against the Red Bull driver into Turn 6 but Ricciardo seized the inside line and dived for the narrowing gap into the hairpin, successfully wresting away the lead.
From there, Ricciardo cruised clear to collect victory, his first since last year’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and sixth of his career.
Bottas came under pressure from compatriot Raikkonen during the closing stages but held on to take the runner-up spot.
Vettel had held third position but was spun around by Verstappen at Turn 14 after the Red Bull driver tried a late move.
Verstappen recovered to take fourth, but was handed a 10-second time penalty for causing the accident, dropping him to fifth, behind Hamilton.
Hamilton was never in contention for overall honours as Mercedes was beaten in three successive races for the first time in the hybrid era.
Vettel dropped to sixth after being spun by Verstappen and his loss of momentum allowed Nico Hulkenberg to take the spot along the pit straight, the Renault driver going on to bag another strong haul of points.
It got worse for Vettel as his worn tyres and sidepod damage cost him performance, and a late aggressive move from Fernando Alonso relegated him further, the McLaren driver taking seventh through Turns 1/2 on the penultimate lap.
Carlos Sainz Jr. almost got Vettel on the last lap but had to settle for ninth, with Haas’ Kevin Magnussen rounding out the top 10.
Force India missed out on points, with Esteban Ocon 11th and Sergio Perez 12th, the Frenchman unhappy with his team-mate's approach on the opening lap, while Stoffel Vandoorne was 13th.
Lance Stroll gained six positions on the opening lap but was unable to seriously challenge for points as he took 14th, ahead of Williams team-mate Sergey Sirotkin, Marcus Ericsson and Romain Grosjean.
Gasly, penalised for causing the contact with Hartley, ultimately took 18th, with Charles Leclerc the final classified runner in 19th, having spun through Turn 1, and was lucky to escape from the gravel.
See also: Drivers' Championship
