Lewis Hamilton last night won an action-packed Grand Prix in China, ending Vettel's hopes of a season starting hat-trick. 

Hamilton almost missed the race entirely when a fuel leak was discovered in his engine. 

The McLaren mechanics worked furiously away to rectify the problem as the seconds ticked down until the pitlane would close.

He went out onto the track during the installation lap with less than a minute to go, and the team resorted to drilling his engine cover in place as he sat in second spot on the grid.

Vettel started from pole but both McLarens passed him immediately before the first corner. 

He then managed to get ahead of both in the first round of pit stops, when Button made the bizarre mistake of stopping in the Red Bull pit stop just as Vettel was coming to pit.

Vettel finished the race second, he had been leading until the final five laps.

Mark Webber made his best drive of the season as he finished third, after starting from eighteenth, and Button finished fourth.

Mercedes' Nico Rosberg and Ferrari's Felipe Massa were fifth and sixth respectively.