Vettel aims for a hattrick in China

After runaway wins from pole position in Australia and Malaysia, Red Bull's 23-year-old world champion returns in confident mood to the Shanghai circuit where two years ago he handed the team their breakthrough first Formula One victory.

The comparisons with Michael Schumacher at his most dominant will only get louder if Sebastian Vettel completes a season-opening hat-trick in Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix.

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After runaway wins from pole position in Australia and Malaysia, Red Bull's 23-year-old world champion returns in confident mood to the Shanghai circuit where two years ago he handed the team their breakthrough first Formula One victory.

Another triumph on Sunday would be the German's fifth in a row extending back to Brazil last year and make him the first to win the opening three races since compatriot Schumacher with Ferrari in 2004.

"We worked very hard over the winter. Last year we suffered some reliability issues at this stage, this year we did not. I think we made a big step forward," he said at Sepang last weekend. "Things are moving quickly and there's a lot of things we have to work on," he added.

"Tyre usage will be extremely important again so we will see. We try to take that momentum we picked up after race one and race two into the next grand prix but step by step."

Red Bull used the KERS kinetic energy recovery system in a race for the first time in Malaysia but it failed on Mark Webber's car while Vettel was unable to use it in the later stages as a precaution.

KERS, as well as the driver-activated moveable rear wing (DRS) will be big assets at a circuit with one of the longest straights and Red Bull need to get the problems sorted.

"We are working on it and the plan for China is to use it all race," Vettel said.