The battle lines have now been firmly established after just two races into the 2017 F1 championship, this year the fight is between Ferrari vs Mercedes, Sebastian Vettel vs Lewis Hamilton. After wining the opening race of the season China was another track for Ferrari to prove that Australia was not a one off. But it was business as usual for Hamilton as he secured pole position on Saturday by the narrowest of margins over the Ferrari. However so often the race day is where everything is won or lost whether you are fighting for points or podiums. Hamilton won the Chinese Grand Prix and claimed his 54th career victory leading the race from start to finish with Vettel not to far behind in second. But at the post race debrief Hamilton said that his race victory had been massively helped by the safety car as much as it had hindered Vettel. The race started under damp conditions with the track drying rapidly all of the runners started on intermediates, the only exception being Carlo Sainz in the Torro Rosso who started on slicks. Sainz subsequently spun on lap one. But the track was drying quickly which promoted the majority of the field to pit for slicks, the virtual safety car was signalled when Lance stroll beached his Williams in the gravel trap after colliding with the Force India driven by Sergio Perez. Lap four and Hamilton opted to stay on intermediates as did Bottas, Ricciardo, Raikkonen and Verstappen. However Sauber rookie Antonio Giovinazzi, exiting the final corner, slammed into the pit wall after driving over a patch of wet tarmac on slicks which forced the safety car proper to be deployed. Hamilton benefited from a free pit-stop while Vettel, who was one of the drivers to change to slicks, dropped from second to sixth. Hamilton was then able to build up a lead that he would never relinquish while Verstappen had by now made his way up to second despite being demoted to 16th at the start of the race. Vettel battled his way back to third having passed teammate Raikkonen on lap 20 and then gunned down Verstappen by lap 22. Verstappen didn’t put up much of a resistance though as he locked his brakes entering the hairpin turn on lap 28. By now Hamilton had built up enough of a safety net to hold off the Ferrari and the two traded fastest times by now Vettel trimmed down Hamilton’s lead. But Hamilton managed the gap not really needing to push too hard but wary that the Ferrari was still a threat. Mercedes team mate Bottas could only manage 6th place after ”stupidly” spinning off the track while the safety car was deployed in the first part of the race . Daniel Ricciardo finished 4th for Red Bull yet again struggling to match the pace of his younger less experienced team mate. It was Red Bull’s Max Vertappen who took the of driver of the day badge having started the race from 16th due after being demoted because of a forced engine change. As the two title contenders are now matched on points, the Chinese Grand Prix has made it clear that Mercedes have a clear and present danger in the form of Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel.