Lewis Hamilton won the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai to put himself on the verge of becoming the youngest world champion in the motor sport's 58-year history.

McLaren driver Hamilton, in his second season in Formula One, led from the start as title rival Felipe Massa finished more than 14 seconds behind in second place at the Shanghai International Circuit today.

The 23-year-old Hamilton won his fifth race this year to move seven points clear of Ferrari's Massa and needs only finish in the top five of the Nov. 2 season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix to be sure of securing the championship. Fernando Alonso became the youngest champion in 2005 as a 24-year-old.

"This is another step towards the championship, towards my dream," Hamilton said at a news conference.

Ferrari moved closer to retaining the team title as world champion Kimi Raikkonen took third place and fellow Finn Heikki Kovalainen of McLaren got a puncture on lap 35 and dropped out on lap 50. Ferrari has 156 points to McLaren's 145.

Robert Kubica saw his mathematical chance of winning the title disappear as the Pole steered his BMW to sixth place.

Hamilton will need to avoid a repeat of last season when he finished one point behind Raikkonen after heading the standings entering the final two races. He had a four-point lead over Alonso and seven-point advantage over Raikkonen before the last race in Brazil and could only finish seventh then.

`To the Limit'

Today's victory — matching Massa's five wins this season - - never looked in doubt as Hamilton made a clean start from pole position and built a four-second lead after 10 laps.

The only uncomfortable moment came on lap 12 when he oversteered on turn two yet retained control to make his first of two pit stops ahead of Raikkonen in second and Massa in third. At the halfway point, Hamilton led Raikkonen by 6.6 seconds and Massa by 15.4 seconds.

The top-three remained unchanged until Raikkonen let his teammate overtake him with six laps remaining, boosting Massa's chances of delivering his first title in front of his home fans in Brazil.

"We were completely driving to the limit to reduce the gap but it was impossible," Massa said.