LEWIS HAMILTON made a brilliant comeback to win the China Grand Prix and haul in Sebastian Vettel's impressive early Championship lead.
Defending champion Vettel won the opening two races of the season in Australia and Malaysia, and he made it three out of three pole positions in Shanghai.
Counting the back end of last season, it meant that, arriving in China, Vettel had won all of the last five races. And, taking into account qualifying on Saturday, he had achieved pole in six of the last seven Grand Prix.
It is an extraordinary recent record and, with Vettel having seemingly reduced the number of his errors, it raised concerns even at this early stage about whether anyone in the field could match him.
Back in pre-season, both Hamilton and Jenson Button had already expressed doubt about the competitiveness of the 2011 McLaren.
And, with Vettel indeed victorious in the first two races, tensions were high among the chasing pack in the run-up to this week's race.
Hamilton's loyalty to McLaren, the team which he joined as a child prodigy, came under scrutiny after he said: "I have only got a short period in Formula One and I want to be competitive.
"I want to win championships. If you're in a good enough place and you're happy then there's no need to go anywhere but loyalty has its limits."
Meanwhile, Mark Webber hit back angrily at a journalist's suggestion that he was now playing second fiddle to team-mate Vettel for the season.
Webber said: "Absolutely fucking ludicrous question. You've known me long enough. Five wins in a row? Yeah, but he's not just beaten me, he's beaten everyone. So no one turns will turn up then. We may as well all stay home."
Matters got little better for Australian Webber in Saturday's qualifying when a mechanical problem meant he could only manage 18th place on the grid.
But, by the first corner of the race, the Drivers' Championship had its first major twist as the McLarens of Button and Hamilton overtook Vettel after a poor start by the Red Bull man.
Vettel had recovered his lead by lap 16, passing the struggling Hamilton with ease before taking advantage of a terrible error by Button in the pit lane as the Frome flier visited the wrong garage.
However, Hamilton was not to be denied this time and he battled back to overtake Button and then, thrillingly with five laps to go, Vettel.
Despite having taken one more pit-stop than his German rival, Hamilton had newer, better tyres at the vital stage and he used them to produce one of the best finishes to a GP in recent memory.
Just behind the front two, Button's day actually got even worse after he lost another place to Webber who drove a seriously impressive race to get the car on the podium from a start of 18th.
Nevertheless, Vettel (68 points) still holds a handsome early lead in the Championship of 21 points over Hamilton (47) in second with Button (38) in third. Webber is in fourth place just a point behind Button.
Meanwhile, the Ferrari pair, Fernando Alonso (26) and Felipe Massa (24), have both once again had a start of the season to forget.
Alonso's best finish so far was fourth in the season opener in Australia while Massa's was fifth in Malaysia, leaving them both off the pace in fifth and sixth place in the overall standings.
Looking further down the grid, there have been some notable early performances from the Renaults of Vitaly Petrov - third in Australia - and Nick Heidfeld, who was on the podium in Malaysia.
Those early points were vital for both with Petrov repaying the faith of his boss Eric Boullier after a poor 2010 season and Heidfeld justifying his role as the replacement for the severely injured Pole Robert Kubica.
Force India's Scottish rookie Paul di Resta has picked up two early points for 10th-placed finishes in the opening two races while Nico Rosberg's fifth place in China means he continues to outperform seven-time champion Michael Schumacher at Mercedes GP.
But Williams pair Rubens Barrichello and Ecuadorian Pastor Maldonado have yet to score, leaving the team alongside Lotus, Virgin and Hispania on zero points.
F1 2011 SEASON RESULTS
PODIUMS
Australian GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault
Malaysian GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Renault
Chinese GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
REMAINING CALENDAR
8 May Turkish GP (Istanbul)
22 May Spanish GP (Barcelona)
29 May Monaco GP (Monte Carlo)
12 June Canadian GP (Montreal)
26 June European GP (Valencia)
10 July British GP (Silverstone)
24 July German GP (Nuerburg)
31 July Hungarian GP (Budapest)
28 August Belgian GP (Spa)
11 September Italian GP (Monza)
25 September Singapore GP (Singapore)
9 October Japanese GP (Suzuka)
16 October Korean GP (Yeongam)
30 October Indian GP (Greater Noida)
13 November Abu Dhabi GP (Yas Island)
27 November Brazilian GP (Sao Paulo)
F1 2011 STANDINGS
World Drivers' Championship
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault 68
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 47
3 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 38
4 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 37
5 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 26
6 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 24
7 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 17
8 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Renault 15
9 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes 10
10 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber-Ferrari 7
11 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes 6
12 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 4
13 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Mercedes 2
14 Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India-Mercedes 2
There are 10 drivers who are yet to score.
Constructors' Championship
1 Red Bull-Renault (Aut) 105
2 McLaren-Mercedes (Gbr) 85
3 Ferrari (Ita) 50
4 Renault (Gbr) 32
5 Mercedes (Ger) 16
6 Sauber-Ferrari (Swi) 7
7 Toro Rosso-Ferrari (Ita) 4
8 Force India-Mercedes (Ind) 4
There are four teams which are yet to score.
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