An embarrassed local official and an adopted local hero left their unique marks on the Chinese Grand Prix.
The identity of the first, a marshal who waved the chequered flag a lap early, was being concealed for his own sanity.
The second was Lewis Hamilton, whose name is reverberating ever more profoundly across this World Championship.
Champagne moment: Lewis Hamilton celebrates his third win in as many races on the rostrum in China
Come here, Lew: The Brit celebrates with his Mercedes team after leading home another 1-2
Dominant: Hamilton led the race from start to finish in Shanghai to register his third consecutive win
Commanding: The Mercedes driver started on pole position and could not be dislodged as he won in Shanghai
No way through: The Mercedes of Hamilton (bottom) had far too much pace for the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo
Out in front: This picture of the home straight at the Shanghai International Circuit shows Hamilton's dominance
He drove his Mercedes flawlessly to
victory from pole position, prompting a huge cheer from surprisingly
well-populated stands to ring out above the burr of the new turbo
engines.
'I'm in the
happiest mood that I can remember,' said Hamilton. 'It's where I am in
my life, family, girlfriend, all things, where I live, everything,
having the right people in place, management, being in the right team.'
Nothing went wrong all weekend for Hamilton. Off the track, he enjoyed
the adulation of his fans at the airport, at the track and at his hotel
'every morning, every evening, day and night'. They even gave him a
digital photo frame with a specially-made video.
Job done: Hamilton claims his third victory on the spin and punches the air in delight as he crosses the line
Psychological blow: Hamilton left title rival Rosberg trailing as he claimed his third win of the campaign
On
the track, he drove supremely in qualifying through the gloom and
drizzle to set himself up for yesterday's demonstration that took him to
25 career wins.
The
total took him past the immortal Juan Manuel Fangio and level with his
Mercedes boss Niki Lauda and the British great Jim Clark.
As
coincidence would have it, on Clark's 25th and sadly final victory, in
Kyalami, South Africa on January 1, 1968, the chequered flag was also
waved prematurely but the Scot was awake to the fact and raced on.
Hamilton lifted, he said, for a second-and-a-half but was told by the
team to keep going. The regulations, bizarrely, dictate that if the flag is waved early, the placings are taken from the preceding lap.
That
meant Caterham's Kamui Kobayashi's last overtaking move on Marussia
Jules Bianchi did not count. Thankfully, they were contesting 17th place
rather than the important positions at the front.
Pole position: Hamilton leads his challengers into the first corner and never relinquished his lead
Trailing: Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari was well down the leaderboard at the Shanghai International Circuit
Another
consolation of sorts for the unnamed marshal is that the last
flag-related error of this sort was committed by none other than Pele.
He had to be prompted to wave the flag in Brazil in 2006 after the
winning Ferrari of Felipe Massa had already whizzed by.
In
second place here was Hamilton's Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg. His
telemetry failed before the race even started, so he had to think for
himself rather than rely on his team's analysis.
Having
made a poor start as a result of his problems, slipping from fourth on
the grid to seventh on the first lap, he bided his time coolly,
squeezing up the field gradually. It was impressive in the circumstances.
Fernando
Alonso, of Ferrari, drove pugnaciously to a third place that probably
flattered his car. Given that Hamilton has won three consecutive races -
a feat he had never achieved before - it is amazing that Rosberg
nevertheless holds a four-point lead in the championship table, by dint
of his own consistency and Hamilton's mechanical failure in the opening
round in Melbourne.
Pursuit: Fernando Alonso negotiates a corner in his Ferrari
'S' bend: Hamilton leads the field round a series of corners
Spectacle: Fans in the main grandstand take pictures of the start
The
most controversial aspect of Sunday's racing came when Sebastian Vettel
was ordered to give way to his Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.
The world champion was nonplussed and asked what strategy Ricciardo was on. 'Tough luck,' was Vettel's response when told.
Defiantly he refused to yield for a couple of laps before finally making room for his supposedly junior partner to pass.
Christian Horner, who had worn an anxious expression as the drama
unfolded, excused his star driver afterwards, saying: 'He hasn't won
four world championships by not being a racer. Of course, he's going to
question the instruction to understand it, but as soon as he understood
the reasoning, bang, he moved aside.'
Coming through: Rosberg passes Sebastian Vettel on the run down to turn 1
Aussie rules: Daniel Ricciardo finished 25 seconds clear of Vettel
Did he? Should he have questioned it all? Should Red Bull have employed
team orders so readily? The most surprising thing of all though is that
Vettel was again slower than Ricciardo. It was the second time he has
been asked to move aside in consecutive races. Whither the boy genius?
Horner
said: 'He's not getting the feedback from the car that he wants. The
compound effect is that he's damaging the tyres more, which is very
unusual for Seb. As soon as we have worked those out then I'm sure he'll
be back with a bang.'
Red
Bull and McLaren are heading for a legal dispute over the
aerodynamicist Dan Fallows, who left Red Bull, seemingly agreed to join
McLaren and then turned up again at Red Bull. It is a point of
principle, no doubt, for McLaren chairman Ron Dennis, who watched his
cars driven by Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen finish in 11th and 13th
places. They are slipping back.
No so their old boy, Hamilton, who had China in his hands and the world at his feet.
JONATHAN McEVOY IN SHANGHAI: An embarrassed local official and an adopted local hero left their unique marks on the Chinese Grand Prix. The identity of the first, a marshal who waved the chequered flag a lap early, was being concealed for his own sanity.
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