Well, that was fun.
Collisions at the start, punctures, a safety car period, lots of overtaking and different tyre strategies made for an entertaining Chinese Grand Prix.
It was unpredictable, exciting and full of charging drives from people out of position.
But all the action at the Shanghai International Circuit could not hide one thing – Mercedes-GP are as dominant as they have been in the previous two years and this is going to be another season of relentless success for the German marque.
Nico Rosberg led all but the first two laps of proceedings as he cantered to his third successive victory in 2016, and sixth in a row in total going back to the final three races of 2015.
For much of the afternoon the German was often more than a second a lap faster than anyone else on track.
Yes, virtually everyone who could have been a challenger to him – teammate Lewis Hamilton, the Ferrari drivers of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo – all had problems that dropped them down the order in the opening laps.
But Rosberg did not put a wheel wrong once he had overtaken Ricciardo on Lap 3 to take the lead after he had been beaten into the first corner by the Australian at the start.
Ricciardo’s left tyre disintegrated as he was overtaken and the resulting debris led to the safety car making its lone appearance.
Rosberg did not pit, while many of the grid did, but despite being on older tyres compared to the men behind him at the restart, he still pulled away, which is the biggest statement of just how quick the F1 W07 chassis is.
• Read more: Nico Rosberg continues perfect season at Chinese Grand Prix to extend lead over Lewis Hamilton
• Also see: Nico Rosberg's hot streak continues at chaotic Chinese Grand Prix – in pictures
History is on Rosberg’s side as no driver has not won the championship after winning the opening three races of the season.
He leads his teammate by 36 points and to put his advantage into context, the triple world champion could win the next five races with Rosberg second and he would still trail by one point going into the British Grand Prix in July.
Rosberg is certainly not resting on his laurels despite his impressive start to the season, and said in his post-race interview: “It’s too early to make any premature conclusions.
“Lewis is not many points behind – 30 points is not much, it’s a race and a bit and he will never give up.”
It was a frustrating race for Hamilton, but as in Bahrain where he was involved in contact at Turn 1 with the Williams of Valtteri Bottas but recovered to finish third, it could have been a lot worse.
This was truly a weekend where anything that could go wrong for the triple world champion did.
He went into Saturday knowing he was going to have a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change, which turned into starting at the back after engine problems prevented him setting a competitive lap time in qualifying.
He then was hit by Felipe Nasr's Sauber on the opening lap to break his front wing, with his chassis suffering aerodynamic damage as a result of the contact.
Yet, despite all that, he still finished seventh, and those six points could make all the difference come the end of the season at the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November. Rosberg will inevitably have problems of his own during the season, and 36 points is by no means insurmountable.
What will give Hamilton most heart is the fact that none of Rosberg’s three wins have come in a straight fight with the Briton.
He was delayed by a poor start in Australia, the collision with Bottas and then the various dramas in China.
Hamilton was quicker than Rosberg in qualifying in both Australia and Bahrain and will back himself, considering he won 21 races to Rosberg’s 11 in 2014 and 2015 combined, to get the better of the German consistently when he does have a trouble-free weekend.
Hamilton certainly seems to be taking his early bad luck in his stride.
“Every time I did a stop I was having to come through again,” the 31 year old said of his race. “At the end there was nothing left in the tyres but that’s racing. Onwards and upwards.
“This track is quite good as you can overtake but the car was pretty damaged, I think the suspension was damaged and the car was flexing like crazy.”
Ferrari and Red Bull do look to have raised their game in 2016, but so have Mercedes and they have a clear competitive edge.
But at least we have a title duel on our hands between Rosberg and Hamilton, and the thrill could well be in the chase for the Briton.
Report card
Star performer: Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull Racing)
The Australian had overachieved by qualifying second and he was superb again yesterday, recovering from his early puncture to finish fourth in Shanghai with a series of fine overtaking moves.
Underperformer: Renault
The early promise of Jolyon Palmer’s 11th-place finish in Australia was a false dawn. The car is horribly slow and the lack of speed was exposed for the world to see yesterday and this is looking like it is going to be a long season ahead for the team.
Key moment
The contact at the start between the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen got rid of the main threat to Nico Rosberg, ensuring the Mercedes man had an easy afternoon. Rosberg was too quick anyway, but his afternoon was made even easier by the collision.
Our verdict
While Rosberg cantered to the win at the front, there was great racing behind and this was Formula One's third successive good race and the dullness of the 2015 campaign is being quickly forgotten.
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