• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Hamilton wins Chinese Grand Prix

Oct 19, 2008 - 8:42 AM SHANGHAI, China (Ticker) -- Lewis Hamilton dominated the field from start to finish, driving to an easy victory in the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday.

The 23-year-old from England, driving for McLaren-Mercedes, defeated Felipe Massa, driving for Ferrari, by about 15 seconds. Ferrari's Kimo Raikkonen finished third and Fernando Alsonso was fourth for Renault.

Hamilton added 10 points for his victory. He leads Massa, who picked up eight points, 94-87, entering the final race of the year, November 2 in Brazil.

"That was cool," Hamilton said after his ninth career win and fifth this year. "Fantastic job all weekend."

Massa passed teammate Raikkonen with seven laps remaining, enabling him to gain valuable championship points.

Robert Kubica, the only other driver who had a chance to win the world championship entering the race, finished sixth and was eliminated from the title chase.

The victory was the first for McLaren-Mercedes on the Shanghai circuit.

Hamilton had captured the pole for the Chinese Grand Prix with a lap of 1:36.303.

The pole was Hamilton's seventh of the season.

"We were very strong, very determined," Hamilton said. "I'm in a good frame of mind. I managed to put it together on my last lap, and it was as close as I could get to a perfect lap."

Raikkonen placed second at 1:36.645, with Massa qualifying third with a lap of 1:36.889.

Hamilton had set the pace in Q1, where the top 15 qualifiers advance. The second segment was dominated by Massa's lap of 1:35.135 until the final seconds, when Hamilton flew past the wire in 1:34.947. The top 10 drivers advanced to battle for the pole.