Daniel Ricciardo wins 2018 F1 Chinese Grand Prix

The top six drivers held their positions at the restart, with Bottas soon establishing a two-second lead over Vettel. Ricciardo took advantage of his fresh rubber to outbrake Raikkonen at the hairpin, taking fifth place. Also newly shod, Verstappen was looking punchy too, and tried a move on Hamilton down the outside of turn two. The Briton held firm though, forcing the Dutchman into evasive action.

Ricciardo was driving like a man possessed, braking almost impossibly late to squeeze past Hamilton at the hairpin on lap 40. The Red Bull team could not conceal their delight, imploring the Australian to now challenge Vettelfor second spot. Verstappen also soon overtook Hamilton, who seemed unable to keep pace with the frontrunners.

It got better for Ricciardo on lap 42, as he made a DRS-assisted move past Vettel to move up to second. His teammate Verstappen soon unsuccessfully attempted to follow suit and the two cars touched, dropping the Dutchman to fifth and Vettelto seventh. The race stewards ruled that it was an overly optimistic move from Verstappen, and hit the Red Bull with a 10-second time penalty.

While all this was going on, Ricciardo was relentlessly hunting down Bottas, and he clinically passed the Mercedes to take the lead on lap 45. His newer tires clearly working well, the Australian soon pulled away from the Finn into a lead he was not to lose, setting fastest lap in the process.