Hamilton can limit damage of grid penalty

LEWIS HAMILTON will start no higher than sixth on the grid for Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix even if he is fastest in tomorrow morning's qualifying session, but the McLaren driver is worth backing at 5-4 to do just that.

The British 2008 world champion will take a five-place grid penalty for changing his gearbox after a problem was found with the unit on Thursday.

However, he has comfortably taken pole for the first two races of the year and looked in good form during Friday practice at a circuit he enjoys.

Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher should battleJenson Button for what is likely to become pole position when Hamilton takes his drop, with the Mercedes cars' nifty DRS device working well on the long straight.

Button struggled a bit on Friday, but the temperature was much lower than what is expected for the rest of the weekend, so that shouldn't put punters off backing him for the race.

Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus team also found their car behaving strangely on the cool, slippery track, ut they could also benefit when the weather warms up.

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