Tactics pay off for Hamilton as he ends Vettel’s run with China win

The McLaren driver got the better of championship leader Sebastian Vettel after a race-long duel to record his 15th career win – and first since August’s Belgian Grand Prix.

Hamilton lined up third on the grid and battled past team-mate Jenson Button before overhauling pole-sitter Vettel for the lead with just four laps remaining.

Ultimately it was as much a tactical victory as it was one of power and nerve, Hamilton’s three stops to Vettel’s two proving the way to go on the new Pirelli tyres.

“I’m absolutely overwhelmed. It feels like a long, long time since I was sitting here,” said Hamilton, who is now second in the drivers’ standings, 21 points behind Vettel.

“I feel very proud and extremely grateful for all the hard work the guys put in. I’m looking forward to many, many more great races like this.

“Every inch of the race, every second, was incredibly enjoyable.”

Hamilton suffered drama before the race when his car failed to start in the garage. He eventually made it out just 30 seconds before the pit lane closed, and he admitted it was touch and go for a while.

“The car just wouldn’t start,” he said.

“We’ve had it not start several times in the past so I thought it was nothing, but when they kept trying it was becoming more and more of a concern for everyone.

“As I was driving to the light I was nervous that just as I got to it, it would go red, but fortunately we got out and there was no problem.”

The result saw Vettel denied a third win in a row in 2011, and a fifth dating back to last year, and the German admitted that he had perhaps gone the wrong way on strategy.

“I’m the only one with two stops (on the podium) so that’s something to look into tonight,” he said.

“We also had a problem with KERS so it wasn’t a trouble-free race. Once we decided to go two-stop, we had to be patient.”

Vettel fluffed his lines at the start to allow Button ahead into the first corner, with Hamilton also forcing his way through.

“My start was not the best and for some reason it seems the left-hand side of the grid is worse here than the right-hand side,” said Vettel.

“It wasn’t brilliant and I lost positions to Jenson and Lewis. After that it was about being patient.”

The trio held station until just before the first round of pit stops, when things began to go awry for Button.

Moments after Vettel had passed Hamilton for second, both he and Button pitted together, only for the McLaren driver to commit the baffling error of pulling up at the Red Bull garage.

Although he was quickly waved on to his own berth, the incident cost him time and Vettel duly moved ahead.

“It was a surprise that Jenson came into my garage in front of me,” Vettel continued. “Fortunately it had no effect and the guys kept their heads.

“We came out in the lead and tried hard to stay on two stops.”

But his bid to remain on the hard rubber all the way to the flag following his second stop on lap 31 fell just short of success.

With Hamilton flying on his third set of option tyres, Vettel had no response and on lap 52 Hamilton pulled a brave move in turn seven and surged away to a 5.1-second advantage at the flag.

Away from the scrap for the lead, Vettel’s team-mate Mark Webber was putting on a tremendous show of his own, charging through the pack from 18th place after a troubled qualifying.

Webber’s gritty drive saw him climb to fourth by lap 54, but the fired-up Australian had one more overtake in him, completing the performance of the day by snatching third from Button on the penultimate lap.

“I just kept my head down and focused on the next corner. The guys did a good job at the pit stops and I got a bit of luck today, but I’ll take as much as I can get,” said Webber. “We learned quite a bit today, and it was a great result for the team.”

Even so, he would have preferred for a few of his rivals to fall by the wayside.

“I was looking for more yellow flags, a few more retirements, but nothing,” he said.

“I had to pass everybody,” he added. “I really earned it today.”

Nico Rosberg was fifth for Mercedes, ahead of Ferrari duo Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso, while Michael Schumacher (Mercedes), Vitaly Petrov (Renault) and Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) completed the top 10.

Scotland’s Paul Di Resta had a frustrating afternoon, coming home 11th after qualifying eighth, while Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari was the sole retirement after losing a wheel following a pit stop.

Button refused to blame the embarrassing pit-lane blunder for his fourth-placed finish, insisting his car was simply not quick enough to battle for the win.

“I had a pretty interesting race – I lost out to Sebastian at the first pit stop when I mistakenly pulled into his box,” he said.

“I was looking down at the steering wheel to adjust a switch: when I looked up, I thought I was in my pit box, but then I saw the Red Bull pit crew in front of me. But that moment didn’t really change my race at all.”

After falling behind Vettel, Button fell into a number of scraps, with the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso, and the Mercedes of Rosberg also battling at the front with the two McLarens and Vettel.

“We saw a lot of action out on the track today, but we just weren’t quick enough,” he said.

“For some reason, I really struggled to look after the rear tyres and fourth place was the best I could get out of my car today.

“Nowadays, getting strategy right is very important. I didn’t have a clue where I was going to finish: I could have been seventh, I could have been second. Nonetheless, fourth position is a good result, all things considered.”

And he admitted his team-mate’s win was a boost heading into the European season.

“I want to say congratulations to Lewis – he had good pace and drove a great race today. It was also a fantastic job by the whole team,” he said. “This victory will be a great motivator for everybody back in Woking.”

Rosberg lamented the race as a missed opportunity for Mercedes to secure a morale-boosting podium finish.

“Naturally I’m disappointed with the race today as we know that we didn’t make the most of our opportunity out there,” said Rosberg.

“We’ve made a big step with the car this weekend which is really nice to see and we will have better races in future.

“Leading the race for such a long time was a great feeling but we had issues with the fuel consumption which made it really difficult to fight for position.”