Thanks for your company today, the race was looking like a procession early before it came alive. Ricciardo is certainly the driver of the day, and he’ll tackle the rest of the season with a win in the bank. If you see Lewis Hamilton over the next few days maybe don’t mention that Mercedes are winless after three…

Keep on eye on our ongoing F1 coverage, and we’ll see you at the next race.

There’s likely to be plenty of chat about this race in the wash-up, almost all of it surrounding Red Bull. The focus may be on Verstappen’s death-defying driving, but credit must go to Ricciardo for a fantastic drive.

After the crowd is roped into an early round of applause from a false finish in the Australian national anthem it’s time for the trophy presentation. Then the celebrations will go – as we say in Daniel’s homeland – “right off”.

The shoe is out, with a great shot of Bottas standing behind him looking about as unimpressed as any human possibly could. He’s challenged for disinterest by Raikkonen in the podium photo.

We nearly had some more drama on the way back to the garages.

Finishing order – before calculating Verstappen’s 10 second penalty

1. Daniel Ricciardo
2. Valtteri Bottas
3. Kimi Raikkonen
4. Lewis Hamilton
5. Fightin’ Max Verstappen
6. Nico Hulkenberg
7. Fernando Alonso
8. Sebastian Vettel
9. Carlos Sainz
10. Kevin Magnussen
11. Esteban Ocon
12. Sergio Perez
13. Stoffel Vandoorne
14. Lance Stroll
15. Sergey Sirotkin
16. Marcus Ericsson
17. Roman Grosjean
18. Pierre Gasly
19. Charles Leclerc
RET. Brendon Hartley

Lap 55 – Alonso goes past Vettel into 7th, and he’s running so badly that even Carlos Sainz next in the queue might have a go. Vettel complains over the radio that he was run off the track, but to be fair he’s had one of those days so let him go.

Lap 54 – With two laps to run, Ricciardo is charging away. He’s almost seven seconds up now.

Magnussen is your last man in the points, comfortably ahead of Perez.

Lap 53 – Brendon Hartley has done me in! Just as I was about to launch a speaking tour about retirement free races he pulls out.

The only crucial battles left are Bottas vs Raikkonen vs Verstappen for 2nd/3rd/4th and Alonso within a second of Vettel for 7th.

Lap 52 – Vettel has got problems, losing ground on 6th placed Hulkenberg and being outpaced by Alonso in 8th.

Raikkonen is closing on Bottas, and may be within range to have a go at him in the next lap.

Ricciardo has got this sewn up unless something goes drastically wrong.

Lap 51 – We’ve got five laps to go, and Ricciardo is now nearly five seconds ahead. Raikkonen is within range of Bottas, but not getting close enough to launch a move.

And more on the ever controversial Verstappen:

Lap 50 – Ricciardo has got this in his grasp. He’s 4.2 seconds ahead of Bottas, who is busy trying to ward off Kimi. Looks like Mercedes will go an unprecedented three races in a row without a win.

Somehow despite all that chaos we’ve still got all 20 cars running. My own personal record of being on deck for 3 of 8 races in history without a retirement is on.

Lap 49 – Christian Horner of Red Bull says his team will ‘clench their butt cheeks’ and hope for the best with Ricciardo at the front. He’s 4.3 seconds ahead of Bottas now, and looking comfortable unless something bizarre happens.

Bottas is now only half a second ahead of Raikkonen.

Lap 48 – Verstappen gets past Hamilton without incident. The penalty may bring him back behind the Mercedes, but now that he’s got clear air he can try and build a big enough gap that the penalty won’t matter.

Meanwhile, Raikkonen has taken advantage of all the chaos to comfortably sit third.

Lap 47 – The lead is now over four seconds. More importantly we’ve got Verstappen looking at Hamilton again. Ricciardo may be forced to use the shoe to try and defend his teammate against a surprise Mercedes/Ferrari alliance after the race.

Lap 46 – Verstappen has been handed a 10 second penalty. If the race finished now he’d finish in 9th place.

Ricciardo is streaking to victory, with a fastest lap 1.36.221. Fancy champagne looks like it will be introduced to a sweaty shoe.

The top 10 as it stands:

1. Ricciardo
2. Bottas
3. Raikkonen
4. Hamilton
5. Verstappen (penalty pending)
6. Hulkenberg
7. Vettel
8. Magnussen
9. Alonso
10. Sainz

Lap 44 – At the front the gap is down to 0.4 seconds and Ricciardo is all over the wing of Bottas.

Lap 43 – Bottas leads by 1.1 seconds over Ricciardo. The Red Bull has pulled well away from Vettel. Verstappen has hit Vettel! They are both back in the race, but down to 5th and 6th respectively.

Will there be anyone not feuding with Max by the end of the season?

Lap 42 – Verstappen is back from the dead and past Hamilton! Lewis was struggling for grip, and lost fourth place to his rival.

Even better for Red Bull, Ricciardo has gone past Vettel and into second place. He’s well on the trail of Bottas now – 1.5 seconds behind.

Lap 41 – Ricciardo sets a new fastest lap with a 1.36.608. He’s half a second behind Vettel. Verstappen is back on Hamilton’s tail, only 0.5 of a second behind.

Lap 40 – Ricciardo grabs Hamilton with a great passing move, much to the delight of his mechanics. He’s now 3rd.

Reader Dan writes in on the subject of Raikkonen being used as a mobile blocking unit for Vettel.

It’s no wonder Kimi always looks miserable. He shouldn’t accept a life of being Vettel’s sidekick. Ferrari ruin the intention of the sport by always favouring only 1 driver and sacrificing the other to try to help them. Many years without a driver championship prove this doesn’t work.

Lap 39 – Verstappen runs off the road trying to pass Hamilton! He loses fourth, and by narrowly avoiding a calamity we miss the very real chance of a good old fashioned fistfight between drivers.

The gap at the front is 1.4 seconds and falling. Vettel is coming for Bottas.

Lap 38 – After Bottas’ 1.7 second gap to Vettel, the rest of the top five are close together. Hamilton is 0.9 behind in third, Verstappen 0.6 back in fourth and Ricciardo a second behind his teammate.

At least the Toro Rosso twitterist can see the funny side of the Gasly debacle.

Lap 37 – Ricciardo has a look at Raikkonen for 5th but can’t make it work. He finally sticks the move into the hairpin and grabs the position.

Vettel is 1.6 behind, but he’s also got problems with Hamilton less than a second behind him.

Lap 36 – Bottas timed his restart perfectly, and now leads by nearly two seconds.

All the action at the restart came lower in the field, with Alonso getting past Grosjean and into ninth.

Gasly has been given a 10 second penalty, showing that the stewards didn’t agree with his version of events either.

Lap 35 – We’re racing again. Bottas stays ahead from Vettel, Hamilton, Verstappen and Raikkonen.

Lap 34 – The safety car is back in after this lap and we’ll be on again. The field will be bunched up and anything could happen. Hold on to your hats and ensure you’re sitting level in the middle of your chair.

Lap 33 – Another lap under safety car. Perez has pitted as well. The cleanup team is on the track, sweeping furiously like a Winter Olympic curling team to clear the way for a restart.

Lap 32 – Hulkenberg, Sainz and Ocon all took advantage of the safety car (as correctly predicted by Renault pre-race) to come in.

Debris is still all over the corner where the Gasly/Hartley collision happened. The accident is now under investigation.

Lap 31 – Safety car! Plenty of debris on the corner where the Toro Rosso incident happened. Red Bull has used the opportunity to double stack their drivers in the pits.

Lap 30 – Temporary Yellow flags as two Toro Rosso cars come together. Gasly has a go at Hartley, and collides with him going into the turn. He doesn’t share the widely held view that he was at fault and berates his teammate on the radio. They’re both back in the race, still no retirements.

Bottas leads Vettel by 0.9.

Lap 29 – Charles Leclerc is the first man to tempt fate on a retirement, spinning off but managing to recover and rejoin the race. If he’d not been able to get started again there would have certainly been a virtual safety car.

The gap at the front is still just over a second. Verstappen is 5.7 back from Vettel in third, and he’s got two seconds on Hamilton.

Lap 28 – The current top 10:

1. Bottas (0.9 seconds ahead)
2. Vettel
3. Verstappen
4. Hamilton
5. Ricciardo
6. Raikkonen
7. Alonso
8. Hulkenberg
9. Sainz
10. Magnussen

Lap 27 – Raikkonen has stopped, and in a win for occupational health and safety fanatics everywhere he’s made it back to the track without any of his pit crew being maimed. He drops down to 6th on his exit.

Lap 26 – Bottas has a tentative look at Raikkonen, but opts not to attack. Late in the lap he goes around the outside and eventually wins a wheel-to-wheel battle. Raikkonen has a go towards his inside, opening the door for Vettel to pass him as well and go into second.

The Mercedes leads, but with only a 0.6 second safety net to Vettel.

Lap 25 – It’s down to 0.6 at the front, as Bottas sits in a Ferrari sandwich with Vettel slowly gaining on him. If he can get past Kimi quickly he’ll be in a great position to win this race.

Lap 24 – The lead is down to 2.7 seconds, and Vettel is right on Bottas’ hammer now. He’s just over a second ahead of the Mercedes. Kimi is still going, like that episode of Seinfeld where Kramer tried to drive as long as possible before running out of fuel.

Lap 23 – Vettel has only shaved a tenth of a second off Bottas, but the Mercedes is advancing on Raikkonen and may end up being slowed by him soon. It’s still 4.8 seconds at the front.

Last man on track is Leclerc.

Lap 22 – Raikkonen is 6.2 ahead of Bottas and still on track. Maybe his pit crew have put a ban on him? Bottas is 1.4 up on Vettel in the crucial battle for what is at the moment second.

Meanwhile, approaching the halfway mark of the race we’re still without a retirement. Should it stay that way, it will be the third time I’ve done a live blog where everyone has finished. I’m willing to discuss terms with Formula One to retire from the game.

Lap 20 – Bottas exits well clear of Verstappen, who just set the new fastest lap of the race with a 1.37.755.

Vettel is coming in from first, temporarily allowing Raikkonen to take the lead.

Lap 19 – Hamilton gets back on track in front of Magnussen and Ricciardo. The Australian quickly wraps up the Renault for 6th. Bottas is now coming in.

Lap 18 – Verstappen and Ricciardo have both come in, one after the other. Max has gone on mediums in an attempt to avoid having to stop again. Mercedes have called Hamilton in, and he’s out in 2.5 seconds.

Lap 17 – The margin is 3.6 seconds at the front, as we enter the F1 equivalent of the middle overs of a one day cricket game.

Lap 16 – The gap at the front is not only extending between 1st and 3rd, but Vettel is getting to the point where he’s a full pit stop behind the Ferrari. Verstappen lost half a second on Bottas in that lap.

For those of you following the Sainz vs Gasly race, the Renault man is into 15th now.

Lap 15 – Bottas remains well at bay, but he’s got 5.8 seconds on Verstappen behind him. The battle of the lap was Sainz trying to get past Gasly for 15th, but the Renault couldn’t make it and continues to run 16th.

Lap 14 – Hulkenberg is the first of the top 10 runners to pit, coming out behind Leclerc and Gasly for 15th. He’s 2.5 seconds ahead of teammate Sainz who has also been in.

Vettel continues to hold court, 3.5 seconds out front and as yet unchallenged. He’s barely had to do anything unconventional since shutting the gate on his teammate at the start.

Lap 13 – The lead is up to more than three seconds now, as Bottas’ period of keeping up with Vettel has come to an end. Verstappen is five seconds behind them.

Lap 12 – Alonso briefly gets ahead of Grosjean, before the Haas man fought back to stay in the points.

It’s out to 2.8 seconds at the front now.

Lap 11 – Vettel extends his lead to 2.l8 seconds, and Bottas has a further 2.5 on Verstappen in third. The big gap is between Ricciardo in 6th and Hulkenberg in 7th – more than 10 seconds behind.

Hartley in the Toro Rosso is the first man to pit. Meanwhile Grosjean has called in to the Haas garage to suggest ditching the ultrasoft tyres at the first available opportunity.

Lap 10 – No change at the front, or in the top 10 . The closest drivers are currently Grosjean 0.8 ahead of Alonso in the 10th place battle.

Hamilton is 1.4 behind Raikkonen for 4th.

Lap 9 – The gap is out to 2.5 seconds, with Vettel left alone to do as he likes at the front. Hamilton is 10 seconds off the lead, with three cars between him and Vettel. This race looks like it’s in a holding pattern at the front until the stops begin.

Lap 8 – The gap is 2.3 seconds at the front. No change in the top six since the opening lap.

In other news, I’ve saved this Lance Stroll GIF for ongoing use in my daily life.

Lap 7 – After losing half a second on Vettel in the first half of the lap, Bottas recovers to only be a 2.3 down. He’s got 3.5 seconds on Verstappen The closest battle on the track is between Magnussen, Grosjean and Alonso for 9th to 11th.

Lap 6 – The big losers so far have been Perez (down six positions) and Hartley (down four)

Vettel has got 2.2 seconds on Bottas. He’s in control, but he’s not pulling away anymore.

Lap 5 – All our runners are still on track. The current top 10:

1. Vettel (2.5 seconds ahead)
2. Bottas
3. Verstappen
4. Raikkonen
5. Hamilton
6. Ricciardo
7. Hulkenberg
8. Sainz
9. Grosjean
10. Magnussen

Lap 4 – Bottas stems the bleeding, cutting Vettel’s lead to 2.3 seconds at the end of the lap. Hamilton is still 1.2 behind Raikkonen in the battle for fourth, and he’s 2.1 behind Verstappen. Lewis’ season is starting to resemble the sound of a balloon slowly losing air.

Lap 3 – DRS has now been enabled, but nobody’s within range to use it near the front. The margin at the front is now 2.5 seconds, with a further 1.3 from Bottas to Verstappen. Hamilton is 1.1 behind Raikkonen.

Last man on track is Ericsson, almost two seconds last behind Gasly.

Lap 2 – Bottas lost half a second in the first part of the lap, so it looks like Vettel is going to comfortably control the pace until at least the first round of stops.

No change in positions after that lap, Ricciardo is 6th and the two Renaults of Hulkenberg and Sainz behind him. Grosjean and Magnussen are the others in the points.

Lap 1 – Vettel has gone well clear on the first lap, he’s already a second ahead of Bottas.

Verstappen is third, Raikkonen fourth and Hamilton is down to fifth.

The big gainer is Lance Stroll, who has gone from 18th to 12th on the first lap.

Pit crew everywhere, you have approximately two minutes to make sure your insurance is up to date.

The formation lap is underway, we’re a few minutes away from the start of the 2018 Chinese Grand Prix. The front four starters are all on the soft tyres. Everyone down to 10th has ultrasofts, and the majority of the remainder are on softs.

Pierre Gasly is your outlier, rolling out the mediums from 17th place.

In a scenario you never thought you’d hear, Toto Wolff has just claimed underdog status. Pigs also reportedly about to take flight.

Drivers are climbing into their cars, and we’ll find out just how strong Toto’s claim is in the next few minutes.

He also told him that he had a “personal thing” to do before getting in the car. Which I can only assume is paying his electricity bill.

If your loyalties are towards entertainment rather than either of the teams, like me you’ll be looking at Max Verstappen coming off the row behind Lewis Hamilton towards the first corner.

Last week Lewis used that classic Commonwealth term “dickhead” to describe the Red Bull man. They’ve since patched things up semi-convincingly, but if there’s any hint of contact between the two today the post-race scenes could become chaotic. Not Connor McGregor throwing a barricade at a bus chaotic, but the sort of passive aggressive feud that F1 excels at.

Pit lane is open, and we’re within 30 minutes of lights out.

Lewis Hamilton is the king of the Chinese Grand Prix, with five career wins. The heat is on today, needing to get past his teammate and two Ferraris to add a sixth. Fernando Alonso (x2) and Kimi Raikkonen are the only other previous winners in the field today.
Any chance of a replay of the Spinal Tap-esque incident pre-race where a kid asked Lewis for an autograph via a black marker on a black hat? After generously pondering where he was supposed to write and turning it over a few times to try and find an appropriate spot he just wrote on it and hoped for the best. Your copy of the footage will help that child prove to his mates at school tomorrow that he really did meet the world champion.

After five passing moves in Melbourne and 42 in Bahrain could this be the rubber match to decide which way the season is going to go?

More passing means increased chance of a collision, and Renault has helpfully done the stats and discovered what we’re a nearly 50/50 chance of seeing a safety car today.

On the other hand, the 2016 edition of this race was one of the handful in the history of Formula 1 where every starter made it to the finish line unscathed, so [insert that shruggy Emoji thing that is so popular with kids].

Good afternoon, morning, or night wherever you are. Welcome to our coverage of the 2018 Chinese Grand Prix.
The key storyline today is whether Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari can continue their red hot start to the season.

No driver has ever won the first three races of the season and failed to go on and win the title. To be fair there are a lot more races than there used to be, but nevertheless the German starts from pole today with history on his side.

Here’s how the drivers will line up:
1. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
2. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
3. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
4. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
5. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
6. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)
7. Nico Hulkenberg (Renault)
8. Sergio Perez (Force India)
9. Carlos Sainz (Renault)
10. Roman Grosjean (Haas)
11. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
12. Esteban Ocon (Force India)
13. Fernando Alonso (McLaren)
14. Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren)
15. Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso)
16. Sergey Sirotkin (Williams)
17. Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso)
18. Lance Stroll (Williams)
19. Charles Leclerc (Sauber)
20. Marcus Ericsson (Sauber)

Adam will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s our man in Shanghai, Giles Richards, on how qualifying panned out: