Jenson Button shines as rain shakes up Chinese Grand Prix
Throw in a bit of rain and the form book completely goes out of the window. A dry qualifying round on the Saturday was preceded by a wet race on the Sunday.
Reigning world champion Jenson Button recorded his second win of the season and now leads the drivers’ standings.
Sebastian Vettel had stormed to another pole position, with his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber in second, making it a second front-row lock-out for Red Bull in consecutive races. This was no surprise as Vettel has been the form driver so far this season.
Rain was on the radar for race day, but all the drivers decided to begin on dry tyres.
The race started, then the safety car emerged, after several cars were involved in an accident. Vitantonio Liuzzi had dropped his Force India to cause a collision among some unlucky drivers, and that was as an early indication the rain was here. Some had taken the decision to come in for intermediate tyres, while others, like Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg chose to stay out on slicks. As soon as the rain arrived, some drivers were almost panic-stricken, and were desperate to get off the dry tyres.
The mechanics in the pit lane had one of their busiest races and barely had time to sit down in their garages. Drivers were in and out, then in again, then waiting, and then out racing. The drivers were in and out so many times no one knew what the grid order was. The rain was playing havoc with the teams and there were so many stops the race computer was losing track of who had come in and who was still out on the race track.
Because of the rain, the strategists had to get the decisions spot on. With such a busy pit lane, there was always going to be very tight wheel-to-wheel action. Vettel and Lewis Hamilton almost banged wheels, and got away with a penalty after they were side by side exiting their boxes. Their fight for race position had continued into the pit lane, with neither driver wanting to give in.
Fernando Alonso had livened up proceedings when he jumped the start, quickly putting aside any thoughts that he had a brilliant start. He later served a drive-through penalty, just adding to the number of stops he made. Remarkably, Alonso managed to salvage fourth position, and came very close to getting a podium finish.
If the relationship at Ferrari was going to be frosty when Alonso joined with Felipe Massa at the start of the season, it showed no signs of defrosting after Alonso’s naughty manoeuvre on him. When entering the pit lane, Alonso found himself behind Massa’s gearbox again, like he had done over the last few races. Sick of the sight of it, Alonso overtook Massa as they were heading for the pit lane, as he cleverly snuck in front of him to be first to the garage. Some may say that he shouldn’t have done, but Alonso will think this was clever driving. To be honest, there was nothing wrong with what he did. It was just quick-thinking from an aggressive driver.
This race was another one to forget for the seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher. A master of the wet, he really didn’t have the car beneath him. His struggles since returning continue to occur, and the Schumacher of old has yet to make his mark. His battles with Hamilton and Massa did demonstrate that he has the race craft to keep drivers away from him at the ripe age of 41. However he does have a long way to go to return back to his best.
Button had emerged as the leading man of the race, making the decision not to make so many stops for tyres. He led from the front beautifully, and like Australia was in complete control of the race. He won the race with no problems, and led his team mate Hamilton to a McLaren one-two finish.
What Button has done so far this season would not have been predicted by many. Making the move to McLaren, effectively Hamilton’s team, was going to be tough. Two victories now to his name to Hamilton’s none conveys he is unfazed by entering Hamilton’s territory.
Pole sitter Vettel had a terrible time in the race. He fell victim to the chaotic pit stops, and was not able to do better than sixth position. This was the first race this season where he can safely say that he didn’t have a chance of the victory.
One man who probably deserved to be driver of the day was Rosberg. It is the Mercedes-Benz driver’s second podium finish in as many races. He has the difficult task of containing a certain fellow German, and containing him he is doing. Rosberg has out-qualified and out-scored Schumacher in all of the four races, and looks good to continue that trend, with Schumacher struggling to adapt to the modern racing car and era of talented drivers.
The F1 circus now flocks to Cataluyna, Spain, for the start of the European season on 9th May. It is a welcomed break for the drivers after four fly-away races to open the 2010 season.
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