Hamilton one step from title

Hamilton drove faultlessly at the Shanghai International Circuit to claim his fifth win of the season and ninth of his 34-race career.

With Felipe Massa taking second, Hamilton now holds a seven-point cushion over the Ferrari driver ahead of the final race of the year on the Brazilian's home turf of Interlagos in a fortnight's time.

By a remarkable coincidence, Hamilton led by seven points to Kimi Raikkonen last year when the Briton suffered heartbreak as he lost out to the Finn by a point.

After all the drama of last Sunday's race in Japan, and all the criticism that had been directed Hamilton's way, he was wheel perfect on this occasion.

Hamilton produced a dream start as the threat from behind, with Raikkonen second on the grid, Massa third and bitter rival Fernando Alonso fourth, never materialised.

The McLaren pit crew did their job, matching Ferrari at the first stop as Raikkonen filed in behind Hamilton, and then beating them at the second by 1.6 seconds.

It was all as formulaic as Formula One gets, with only Jarno Trulli in his Toyota and Hamilton's team-mate Heikki Kovalainen enduring any trouble.

Come the conclusion, Hamilton finished an easy 14.9secs clear of Massa who passed Raikkonen all too comfortably on lap 50 shortly after trailing by a second, although that was to be expected.

Behind the leading trio, Alonso, who had won the last two races, was fourth, with Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica fifth and sixth, the latter now out of the running as far as the title is concerned.