Lewis Hamilton will start from the back of the grid at the Chinese Grand Prix after his five-place penalty was compounded by Mercedes power unit problems in qualifying.
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Vettel recovered nicely from the first corner setback and worked his way through the field to claim a creditable second.
The cruel nature of his puncture on Lap 3 prevented him from fighting to retain that lead, yet rather than spending the remainder of the race ruing his misfortune, Ricciardo produced a recovery drive arguably superior to that of Vettel.
Rosberg started on pole position and led almost the entire race by a wide margin to extend his ideal start to the season with a third consecutive win – and his sixth straight dating back to last season.
“Three races in, every weekend we’ve shown our strength at some point and it’s been a strength we didn’t think we’d have this early in the season, so it definitely feels more like 2014 when we had potential”. Kvyat, meanwhile had made a pit stop and was circling on the soft tyres.
“I think pointing the finger at somebody is not correct”.
Kvyat: That’s racing (laughs).
More importantly, to Rosberg at least, will be the fact that no driver has won as consistently and failed to become world champion.
Daniil Kvyat secured his second F1 podium after guiding his Red Bull home in third, just ahead of team-mate Ricciardo, who put in a superb shift to finish in fourth place after his early troubles. You came like a torpedo. “I had to react”.
Vettel took Kvyat to task when the top three finishers were in a room waiting to walk out and collect their bottles of champagne on the podium, making sure the Russian knew he was to blame for the chaotic opening. The Russian driver, for his part, defended his move. “Of course, I’m happy with the way it’s gone and I’m feeling good and the vehicle is there, but I don’t want to say more than that”. It was a risky move but these kind of moves can get you on a podium. The Red Bull man was frustrated by Jolyon Palmer not moving aside as he tried to lap, apparently gesturing to the Renault driver and exclaiming over the team radio “why won’t he get out of my fucking way?”
Vettel had calmed down a little at the official post-race interview. He eventually displayed resilience and finished fourth with Kimi Raikkonen fifth and Felipe Massa sixth in the Williams, Sport24 reported.
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Raikkonen had the quickest lap-time, clocking One minute, 36.896 seconds, a tenth-of-a-second ahead of Vettel.
