New cars, new title rivalries, but there's been no evidence so far in 2017 to suggest that Lewis Hamilton is operating at anything but the peak of his powers.

Edged out in Melbourne, but victorious in Shanghai, Hamilton seems to be enjoying his burgeoning title duel with Sebastian Vettel as much as those of us watching.

The third Grand Slam of his career - pole position, race win, fastest lap and the lead of every lap - underlined a faultless weekend-long performance once he fended off Ferrari to claim his sixth pole in a row on Saturday.

A quick look back at all the action from a scintillating Chinese Grand Prix A quick look back at all the action from a scintillating Chinese Grand Prix

There was plenty of potential pitfalls, both strategic and driving, to be avoided in Sunday's tricky damp early stages, but both team and driver made the right calls, with Ferrari left outfoxed this time. With new team-mate Valtteri Bottas, in the words of Toto Wolff, "throwing it away" with an embarrassing Safety Car spin, Mercedes were more reliant on their established race winner than ever.

Hamilton's record run goes on for at least one more year too - he remains the only F1 driver in history to claim at least one victory in every season of his career. On this form, plenty more will follow in 2017.

Rating out of ten: 9.5

Oh what might have been for Sebastian Vettel - although it's an indication of just how far Ferrari have come at the start of F1 2017 that a second place is being framed as a missed opportunity for a team which didn't win last year and a tale of what might have been.

But judging by Vettel's pace at the end of the race - "we were matching times," admitted Hamilton - there would have been a battle royal between the Mercedes and Ferrari in Shanghai if only Vettel's very early stop for new tyres wasn't derailed by the Safety Car's appearance a lap later. In the fastest laps charts, Hamilton's best of 1:35.378 compared to Vettel's of 1:35.423.

The moves Vettel subsequently produced to round Raikkonen and, better still, Ricciardo, were considerable consolation for the battle lost and all the evidence continues to point to a battle of the ages between Hamilton and Vettel through the rest of F1 2017.

Rating out of ten: 9

What's left to say about Max Verstappen? Two years on from the same Grand Prix in which Martin Brundle predicted "we've got a megastar on our hands" three races into the teenager's F1 career, Verstappen was at it again in Shanghai as he made light of his low starting position after engine problems in qualifying to surge to the podium.

From 16th to seventh on the first lap, he was fifth by lap three, third by lap eight and then second three laps later, with his lap-28 hairpin lock-up when under pressure from Vettel the only blot on his copybook. Minimal track time ahead of the race had compromised his set-up time, leading to race-day understeer, but Verstappen fought on and fended off a revitalised Ricciardo at the end.

Driver of the Day once again - now Red Bull just need to find some Mercedes and Ferrari-challenging pace to make F1 2017 a true three-team fight.

Rating out of ten: 9.5

Daniel Ricciardo may have improved from fifth to fourth on race day but, in comparison to his team-mate, it was a tough Sunday for the Red Bull driver. Having benefited from Vettel's early strategy woes to run second after the Safety Car, Ricciardo could not match Verstappen's pace, being passed by the teenager and quickly falling away from the front two.

The Australian was also on the wrong end of arguably the move of the day as Vettel bumped his way past on lap 27. While he came back in the closing stages to put Verstappen's podium finish under pressure, he could not find a way past and a first podium in Shanghai remains elusive.

"I'd have loved to have made it more of a battle," Ricciardo told Sky F1. "I don't think there was much more I could do with what I had. It was close but not close enough."

Ricciardo will hope he can show in Bahrain that he remains the team leader in terms of pace.

Rating out of ten: 7

This was a race that got away from Kimi Raikkonen as a potential podium finish slipped out of his grasp. Power problems disrupted his Ferrari early on before Raikkonen grew more and more exasperated on the radio as his team delayed bringing him in for a second stop.

In the end the Finn finished three seconds off the podium spots and with the Red Bulls duelling ahead, an earlier stop, or staying out on the soft tyre, may have secured third place.

"I think we could have, should have had a better result - but this is what we got today," he said.

Team-mate Vettel already has nearly double Raikkonen's points and the Finn will hope for more in Bahrain, with team principal Maurizio Arrivabene conceding he is likely to select a No 1 driver as the championship battle progresses.

Rating out of 10: 7

Valtteri Bottas disappointed in China after the Finn committed, in his own words, "a stupid mistake" to wreck his race when the Mercedes newbie spun behind the Safety Car.

"He threw it away," added team boss Toto Wolff. Bottas' pace was otherwise reasonable all weekend and his two-tenths deficit to Hamilton in qualifying was one better than it had been in Australia.

But the bottom line is that top-line drivers shouldn't spin when keeping their tyres warm - hence Wolff's unusually outspoken criticism of a driver in public and an urgent need to make amends in Bahrain.

Rating out of ten: 6

Fortune favours the brave. And Carlos Sainz was certainly both fortunate and brave during an exciting run to seventh in Shanghai. He admitted he got that sinking feeling when he learned he was the only driver gambling on slicks on the damp track for the start - and he nearly came to regret it when he spun at the first corner, before rather comically bumping the barrier as he tried to recover.

But that was as bad as it would get as, when everyone pitted for dry tyres ahead, Sainz was up into sixth and, impressively, managing to stay in touch with the big hitters ahead. A battle with his friend and hero Fernando Alonso, which he eventually won before the McLaren's retirement, brought up Sainz's second straight points finish of 2017.

Rating out of ten: 8.5

A welcome return to form for Kevin Magnussen who kept his nose clean in qualifying and Sunday's chaotic race to bring home important points for Haas. On the cusp of the top 10 throughout, fine moves past the Force Indias and Williams of Massa turned it into a very good afternoon for the Dane.

Rating out of ten: 8.5

Sergio Perez generally finds a way to score points these days however competitive his Force India is and he delivered a solid ninth in China despite a challenging start in the wet.

Wheelspin at the lights was followed by contact with Lance Stroll at Turn 10, which pitched the Williams into the gravel and punctured Perez's VJM10.

But the Mexican's race picked up when on slicks and he managed to recover some of that early lost ground, eventually finishing six seconds ahead of team-mate Esteban Ocon to snare two points.

Rating out of ten: 7

Before the season got underway, Esteban Ocon said his target was points in every race and that remains a possibility after a fine recovery drive from the Force India driver.

The Frenchman lost out to the yellow flags in qualifying when on a lap that would have seen him through to Q2 and had to settle for 17th on the grid. But he worked his way through the field and bided his time to pass the experienced Felipe Massa and secure a 10th place finish.

Rating out of ten: 7

Romain Grosjean was another to suffer from Antonio Giovinazzi's qualifying crash, and the pain was compounded by a five-place grid penalty for failing to slow significantly under double yellow flags.

But starting from the back row, it was another fine drive from the Frenchman as he finished 11th. Grosjean produced two fine overtakes on Jolyon Palmer and Massa, braking late to dive down the inside of the former while going round the outside of the latter at Turn One and Two.

Rating out of ten: 7

After the highs of Saturday, Sunday was an afternoon to forget for Nico Hulkenberg. The German became the first Renault driver to reach Q3 since the team's return as a manufacturer at the start of last year.

Starting seventh on a damp track, a points finish appeared a distinct possibility but his race unravelled as he span after moving onto slick tyres while he was handed a combined 15-second time penalty for overtaking under both the Virtual Safety Car and Safety Car. However, he still finished ahead of team-mate Palmer.

Rating out of ten: 5

F1 2017 remains stubbornly unkind to Jolyon Palmer so far. After a wretched Australian GP, round two never recovered from Palmer's unfortunate exit in Q1 when he was undone by Antonio Giovinazzi's crash.

First his flying lap was wrecked by the double yellows triggered by the Sauber's meeting with the track wall and then came the double whammy from the stewards' room with a demotion to the back of the grid for not slowing sufficiently.

And who was it who crashed to make a mess of Palmer's decision to pit at the start of the race? Sauber's young Italian probably isn't the flavour of the month in the Palmer household right now.

Rating out of ten: 6

The Chinese GP certainly wasn't the kind of race Felipe Massa came out of short-lived retirement for. Described as "an incredibly painful afternoon" by Williams technical chief Paddy Lowe, Massa struggled for grip throughout with his Sunday going into a tailspin after he dropped from sixth to ninth on the first lap.

He pitted under the Virtual Safety Car but then couldn't generate enough heat into his slick tyres when the Safety Car came out for real.

A lapped 14th was a world away from his rather more heartening sixth placed qualifying result on Saturday. After a tough Sunday, Bahrain can't come soon enough for Felipe or Williams.

Rating out of ten: 5

Marcus Ericsson may have been last of the cars to finish in his Sauber but he can take comfort from a solid if unspectacular weekend in Shanghai. The Swede benefited from others' poor fortune to reach Q2 for the second successive race and qualify 14th.

He had a couple of off-track excursions in the damp conditions of race day, but did at least manage to keep his car out of the wall unlike team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi.

Rating out of ten: 6.5

Did not finish

How much more of this can Fernando Alonso take? "An animal" in qualifying to take his underpowered McLaren-Honda into the undeserved midfield respectability of the midfield, the Spaniard was a monster on race day to keep his car in the top ten before a driveshaft failure forced him to park up.

Alonso's comment on Saturday night that "in the corners, we are very good - as fast as anyone else - and on the straights we are the slowest by far" leave no room for doubt as to where he believes the blame resides.

And just what was the message Alonso was sending out when he expressed his disbelief at spotting Bottas behind him on track midway through the race…

Rating out of ten: 9

A disappointing Sunday for Daniil Kvyat after qualifying ninth in his Toro Rosso. His race was ended on lap 18 when a hydraulics issue forced him to stop on track.

Rating out of ten: 7

Another weekend to forget for Stoffel Vandoorne, the sole McLaren to drop out in Q1 and then the first one to retire in the race. A suspected fuel problem triggered a loss of power inside 17 laps.

Rating out of ten: 5

Ouch and double ouch for Antonio Giovinazzi in Shanghai. Talk of the Italian replacing Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari for 2018 is unlikely to reappear soon after he twice crashed out in spectacular fashion at Shanghai. Still much to learn - and that's putting it kindly.

Rating out of ten: 3

The innocent party in his race-ending collision with Sergio Perez at the second corner, Lance Stroll did at least show some encouraging signs during Saturday's running - particularly in the early stages of Q1.

Even if he was only 10th and some way behind his team-mate, reaching Q3 was also an important step forward for a young driver still finding his feet in F1.

Rating out of ten: 6

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