Chinese Grand Prix 2011: Raceday - Formula One Highlights (Part 18)
We had already seen two ‘high profile’ overtaking manoeuvres in the dying stages of the race. The first being Hamilton taking over the race lead from Sebastian Vettel, followed by Mark Webber who was able to pass Nico Rosberg for 4th position.
There were still two more laps left in the enthralling race – Would we see more drama? Who would lose out? Who would benefit most at the end of the 56-lap race?
Jenson Button’s on board radio sprang to life as the McLaren camp warned the Briton of the Red Bull storm behind him – Webber was closing in on the McLaren fast. The Red Bull was finally visible in the McLaren’s rear view mirrors – It was getting bigger...
and bigger... till it was right under his rear wing. Webber made a move and was effectively alongside the MP4–26.
Moments later, the Red Bull was able to slipstream past Button on the start-finish line and got ahead to take 3rd spot. Button tried fighting back as both cars headed into Turn 14. However, after some struggle, Button had no choice but to accept
his fate - Inspired driving by Mark Webber as he zoomed ahead – easily on course for a podium spot. The Australian started the race in 18th spot and had made up a total of 15 positions at the end of the second last lap.
The final lap of the race kicked off with Lewis Hamilton in the lead. The McLaren was over 5 seconds ahead of the Red Bull and it appeared that any chances of Vettel making it a 3rd consecutive race win looked somewhat bleak. At the rear end of
the Top 10, Paul di Resta was overtaken by Kamui Kobayashi. While it meant late points for the latter, it also meant that Force India would add zero points to their credit at the end of the Chinese outing.
Moments later, the McLaren camp roared with delight as Lewis Hamilton took the chequered flag to score his and the British based team’s first pole of the 2011 season. Sebastian Vettel ended his race in second followed by his teammate Mark Webber who crossed
the line in 3rd to take the final step of the podium as a result.
Jenson Button finished 10 seconds behind his teammate to take 4th spot. Nico Rosberg, Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Michael Schumacher, Vitaly Petrov and Kamui Kobayashi rounded off the top ten respectively.
Interestingly, Jaime Alguersuari was the only retirement of the day as the remaining 23 cars were classified as finishers.
Join us again on Bettor.com for the action from the Turkish Grand Prix in a week’s time – We hope that the in-depth coverage of the Chinese Grand Prix was able to quench some of the thirst of our regular readers and made the 3 week Formula One break a relatively
shorter wait!
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