Hamilton poised to become youngest F1 champ

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Lewis Hamilton was delighted with his win at the Chinese Grand Prix which moved him into pole position to become the youngest-ever Formula One world champion.

The McLaren driver, 23, streaked away from the field in a dominant lights-to-flag drive which left title rival Felipe Massa needing help from his Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen to finish second.

Hamilton's win, which included fastest lap, moves him seven points clear of Massa with only the Brazilian Grand Prix to run.

If onlookers were expecting Hamilton to make another poor start and trigger the kind of first-corner chaos seen in Japan, the Englishman's textbook getaway led only to one of the year's least interesting races.

"It was a great start, I felt it was one of the best we've had this year, which was needed," he said. Read more about F1 at The Circuit.

"I got into turn one quite clear and I took it easy the first few corners. Fortunately we were just very, very consistent and therefore I was able to create a gap and from there it was pretty smooth sailing.

"After my second pit stop we were pretty much cruising. We were just looking after the tires and the engine and just trying to bring the car home.

"It was inevitable the Kimi would let Felipe by, so I just had to keep it under control. To be honest it wasn't tough at all."

Massa had been unable to live with Hamilton's pace all weekend and, in scenes reminiscent of much of 2007, Raikkonen was the quicker Ferrari driver at Shanghai.

But six points became eight -- and the gap to Hamilton down to seven with just Massa's home grand prix in Brazil to run -- when Raikkonen moved over late on.

Massa said: "Lewis was stronger during the whole race but in the beginning he just started to pull away, maybe two or three tenths sometimes per lap, and then this made for sure his race much more comfortable.

"For us we were completely driving on the limit trying to reduce the gap but it was not possible. I was trying to push as Kimi was trying to push to get closer to Lewis but it was not possible."

For Raikkonen, whose world title defense ended with his third place in Japan two weeks ago, the result was inconsequential as he was under orders to help Massa's championship challenge regardless.

"I'm not in a position to challenge for the championship," said the Finn. "I know what the team expects from me and I'm happy to try to achieve the maximum points for the team, what we need.

"The car was handling quite nicely but unfortunately it wasn't fast enough in the moments when we needed it. Second and third was the best we could do, hopefully the next race we can challenge them a bit more."