Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg won an entertaining Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.
Starting from pole position, Rosberg led team-mate Michael Schumacher away at the start and immediately began to build a small lead.
Shanghai F1 photo gallery: 2012 Chinese Grand Prix pictures
However, while Rosberg was never headed during the race except during the pitstop phases, his victory was made considerably more comfortable by two critical problems that befell his rivals.
First, the Mercedes team failed to secure one of Schumacher's tyres at his first pitstop, forcing him to pull out of the race and retire.
Then Jenson Button's McLaren team struggled to change a rear tyre during one of his pitstops, dropping him crucial seconds and dropping him back into a massive scrap for second place that featured Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus), Sebastien Vettel (Red Bull), Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) and Mark Webber (Red Bull).
That scrap cost all of the runners involved time, and although it was eventually decided in favour of Button after he decisively dived down the inside of Vettel, the Briton was left rueing his pitstop problem, feeling he could have challenged for the win without it.
Behind Button the scrap for third continued to the end. Eventually Hamilton was able to secure the spot with a DRS assisted pass on Vettel, who then sensationally fell behind his team-mate Mark Webber with just under a lap to run. Raikkonen, meanwhile, was forced to make a late pitstop for new tyres, and fell to 14th.
Hamilton's third place promotes him into the lead of the driver's championship, two points ahead of Button and eight ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who could only finish ninth in Shanghai. McLaren is now 24 points clear of Red Bull in the constructors' championship.
As his rivals fought, Rosberg's lead grew increasingly comfortable, and he was able to cruise to his first victory in Formula 1. It was also the first F1 win for the modern Mercedes squad, which was born out of the championship winning Brawn GP squad in 2010, and Mercedes' first win as a constructor since 1955.
F1 Chinese Grand Prix results
1. Rosberg (Mercedes) 1h36:26.9292. Button (McLaren-Mercedes) +20.6263. Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes) +26.0124. Webber (Red Bull-Renault) +27.9245. Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) +30.4836. Grosjean (Lotus-Renault) +31.4917. Senna (Williams-Renault) +34.5978. Maldonado (Williams-Renault) +35.6439. Alonso (Ferrari) +37.25610. Kobayashi (Sauber-Ferrari) +38.72011. Perez (Sauber-Ferrari) +41.06612. Di Resta (Force India-Mercedes) + 42.27313. Massa (Ferrari) +42.70014. Raikkonen (Lotus-Renault) +50.50015. Hulkenberg (Force India-Mercedes) +51.20016. Vergne (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) +51.70017. Ricciardo (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) +1:03.10018. Petrov (Caterham-Renault) +1 lap19. Glock (Marussia-Cosworth) +1 lap20. Pic (Marussia-Cosworth) +1 lap21. De la Rosa (HRT-Cosworth) +1 lap22. Karthikeyan (HRT-Cosworth) +2 laps23. Kovalainen (Caterham-Renault) +3 lapsRtd. Schumacher (Mercedes)
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