From pole position in China, Hamilton was never headed and never seriously challenged.

It had been expected that the Mercedes driver would face stiff opposition from Australian Grand Prix winner Vettel as well as Hamilton’s own team-mate Valtteri Bottas, but the battle was never joined.

The combination of changing condition – the track was wet at the start and gradually dried out – and the appearance of the Virtual Safety Car followed later by the actual Safety Car conspired to give Hamilton the advantage he needed.

Bottas, meanwhile, dealt himself out of the fight with an early spin from which he was only able to recover to sixth place at end.

In the washup from the tyre stops following the Safety Car interventions for rookie Lance Stroll’s Williams (off the road on the opening lap) and Antonio Giovinazzi (whose Sauber crashed heavily on the start/finish straight - just as it had in qualifying the previous day), Hamilton found himself leading from the two Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.

The Red Bull pair, while showing stronger in the race than had been suggested by their qualifying form, effectively delayed the progress of the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Vettel.

While Hamilton cruised up front, all interest was on the four-car battle for second place. Eventually it was Vettel who made it past his team-mate as well as the Red Bull pair.

By then Hamilton was some seven seconds clear of the Ferrari. It was a gap that Hamilton successfully managed for the remainder of the race.

The battle for the final podium spot was resolved in Verstappen’s favour after a torrid fight with Red Bull team-mate Ricciardo. Verstappen had got the better of Ricciardo early on but a front wing adjustment at the pitstop made a significant difference to the Australian’s car.

Ricciardo was clearly quicker than his team-mate in the closing stages but was unable to find a way by. The battle between the two confirmed fears that overtaking with the new 2017-spec wider, fatter-tyred cars would be more difficult than the previous year’s cars.

Hamilton and Vettel are locked on equal points at the top of the table ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix in seven days’ time.