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Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain, second from right, and teammate Valtteri Bottas of Finland, extreme left, pour champagne over team engineer Marcus Dudley as Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany, right, joins in the fun during the award ceremony for the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix on Sun. April 14 at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai. (AP/PTI)[/caption]
Shanghai (China), April 14 (IANS): Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton secured a record-extending sixth Chinese Grand Prix (GP) victory on Sunday, snatching the world championship lead from his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas.
Five-time world champion Hamilton, of the United Kingdom, clinched his 75th career victory and second of the season in the 1,000th Formula One race after overtaking pole-sitter Bottas of Finland.
"It was not the most straightforward of race weekends," he said. "To have a one-two together (with Bottas) in the 1,000th race is really special!" he said referring to Mercedes' third one-two lockout since the start of the season.
Hamilton and Bottas obtained a one-two victory in Bahrain Grand Prix and the season-opening Australian Grand Prix last month, reports Efe news.
The 34-year-old Briton took the checkered flag 6.552 seconds ahead of Bottas, with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel coming third and Red Bull's Max Verstappen fourth.
Vettel said he was happy to have made to the podium, and added the Mercedes team were "just too quick right from the start."
