Ricciardo storms to Chinese Grand Prix win, Hamilton fourth
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Daniel Ricciardo won Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix in sublime style.
The Australian took advantage of a mid-race safety car period to pit for soft tyres, and promptly passed Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas to claim his sixth career win.
Bottas fended off Raikkonen for second, while Hamilton was left to finish a subdued fourth.
But the Brit still closed the gap on title rival Vettel, who could only finish eighth after being knocked into a spin by Max Verstappen.
The Dutchman had also swapped to the softer rubber, and was ahead of Red Bull team-mate Ricciardo at the time.
But a win which could and should have been his fell away after he went off trying to pass Hamilton, before incurring a 10-second time penalty for the incident with Vettel.
It all means Vettel leads Hamilton in the drivers’ standings by nine points, with Bottas a further three behind.
Having dominated the sport for the last few years, Mercedes have failed to win any of the opening three races of the season for the first time since 2013.
The German outfit lead the constructors’ race though, sitting one point above Ferrari.
As for the latest 2018 Formula One odds, Hamilton has seen his title chances take a hit.
Ferrari’s early-season pace has seen Hamilton championship odds drift from 4/6 to even-money.
That’s now the same price on Vettel too. The German has come in from 7/2.
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix is next up in two weeks’ time. Hamilton is 6/5 to claim his first race win of the season, with Vettel closely behind at 13/8.
Form man Ricciardo is 15/2, and the Aussie has fond memories of the Baku event, having won the race last season.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
