Dream Still On For Lewis Hamilton: Reaction From The Chinese Grand Prix

It may not have been as entertaining as previous Grand Prix races this season, but it was certainly an important Grand Prix, as Lewis Hamilton extended his gap at the top of the World Drivers' Championship table to seven points.

Here is all the reaction to this Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.

Lewis Hamilton

The McLaren Mercedes driver has described his victory as "another step towards my dream."

The young Briton, who has the chance to become the youngest ever WDC champion in two weeks time in Brazil, said: "This is another step to the Championship and towards my dream and towards my team's dream. The team deserve it, we've worked really hard."

And after his mistake last time out in the Japanese Grand Prix, Hamilton gave an improved performance this time.

"Our approach to this race was right. It wasn't to go out and win everything in this race—it was to look at both races and score as many points collectively."

Felipe Massa

After losing points in the race for the WDC title, Ferrari's Felipe Massa has admitted that rival Lewis Hamilton had the better car in Shanghai today.

"I didn't have a good start. We just stayed in the same positions," Massa said. "Lewis was a bit stronger in the beginning—he just started pulling away and this made his race more comfortable.

"For us we were driving on the limit trying to reduce the gap but it was not possible.

"Lewis had a better car for the whole weekend."

However, depsite conceding two more points to Hamilton, Massa is still optmistic of his chances in two weeks time, in the last race of the season at Sao Paulo and Massa's home Grand Prix.

"We are in a difficult position, but we know many things can happen in one race," Massa said. "We just need to keep our heads up because it is not finished yet, so I'm very optimistic, and we need to be, everybody in the team."

"We need to be together, to concentrate on doing our job in the best way we can to try and win the race.Whatever then happens, happens. That's the way we are going to approach it, knowing we are still fighting for the title."

Kimi Raikkonen

After letting Massa take second and minimize the deficit to Lewis Hamilton in the WDC, current champion Kimi Raikkonen said he had no problem in letting his teammate pass him.

"We know what we want as a team and that is what we did. It is normal in this situation," Raikkonen said.

Although Formula One forbids explicit orders, there is nothing in the rules to prevent team-mates from switching positions should it be of benefit to the team.

Raikkonen continued: "Like I said, I know what the team expects and what we want, it is racing, I have nothing to lose or win - I am driving for the team.

"It is a normal situation and I was pretty happy with how things went in the race apart from that we could not challenge McLaren today."

The Finn went on to add that the Ferrari was not as good as McLaren in Shanghai, but hopes for an improved performance in the final race at the Interlagos circuit.

"Unfortunately we were second and third today but hopefully in the next race we can challenge them a bit more. It was not easy and we gave our best but it did not work out this time," he added.

"The car was not too bad but we just didn't have the speed."