Posts tagged China

Jensen enjoying his 2nd win of the season. Photo: EPA

Jensen button won a thrilling Chinese Gran Prix and Hamilton provided McLaren with their first 1-2 finish of the season.

The Drama started early when Alonso jumped the start and was later penalised. It wasn’t long before the rain hit and most of the top teams were quick to react by opting to switch to intermediate tyres. This soon proved to be the wrong decision

For Jensen it is his second win of the season and smart strategy in changeable weather conditions again proved to be the key to winning. Button chosing his tyres wisely, opted to stay out on slicks in light rain. It was the right choice, the rain was only short lived for the time being and all those teams who dashed in for inters were quickly forced to pit again to put slicks back on the cars.

This decission was the turning point of the race for many drivers. It was what handed Button the advantage and it was also a decission to change to inters which  ruled out the chance of RedBull claiming a podium position. Jensen’s smooth driving style again became crutial in the later stages of the race where he was forced to look after the intermediate tyres to maintain his lead over Hamilton. It was a classy drive and a smart drive from Button.

Nico Rosberg ran wide on slicks later in the race which gifted P1 to Jensen. Had it not been for this incident there was every chanee Nico could have scored his first GrandPrix victory and the first for the ‘modern’ Mercedes team. Nico Rosberg then lost P2 to hamilton in the pit stop, having a slow in lap combined with Lewis doing a few well timed quick laps, the German was relegated to 3rd.

Sebastian and Mark made their way up from P9 and P10 in the later stages of the race, however Vettel was unable to pass Kubica to claim 5th position due to his tyre wear. Tyres were even more of an issue for Mark who lost a place to Petrov in the dying stages due to there being no tread left at all on the intermediate tyres. Mark had to settle for 8th position.

With Jensen now top of the table and Nico Rosberg 2nd in the standings it has thrown the championship predictions out the window. Not many bookmakers predicted the table to look the way it is currently.

“This win is very special” said Button at the post race press conference. Button ‘s win also hands McLaren the lead in the constructors championship and with 11 points now separating him from his team-mate, it has been a very important morale boost for Jensen who many felt would be racing in the shadow of Hamilton at McLaren.

The race Steward had a busy day with several incidents needing investigation. The first obviously was a drive-through for Fernando jumping the start, however it was a scrap between Hamilton and Vettel on the entry then also the exit to the pits which raised most eyebrows.  Lewis Hamilton was released from his box, however wheel spin saw him exit into the path of Sebastian Vettel. Both drivers were side by side down the pitlane with Hamilton even running over other teams air gun hoses before finally darting in behind Vettel as they exited the pits.

Further controversy happened in the late stages of the race when Button bunched the pack up eady for a post-safety car restart which nearly caused a mass pile up, forces some driver to take avoiding action onto the grass. The cars were forced to slow so much that no doubt some driver had to engage their clutch. The restart went all bad for Webber who was forced off by Hamilton who ran wide defending his position with Vettel. Under new regulations you can pass on the restart from pitlane entry.

If Bernie wanted to make Formula1 more exciting, then he has succeded by charming the rain gods on a Sunday. Changeable weather conditions during the race proving to be the missing ingredient in the sport.

The final race standings from China are below:

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time
 1.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           1h44:42.163
 2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +     1.530
 3.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +     9.484
 4.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +    11.869
 5.  Kubica        Renault                    +    22.213
 6.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +    33.310
 7.  Petrov        Renault                    +    47.600
 8.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +    52.172
 9.  Massa         Ferrari                    +    57.796
10.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +  1:01.749
11.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +  1:02.874
12.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +  1:03.665
13.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +  1:11.416
14.  Kovalainen    Lotus-Cosworth             +     1 lap
15.  Hulkenberg    Williams-Cosworth          +     1 lap
16.  Senna         HRT-Cosworth               +    2 laps
17.  Chandhok      HRT-Cosworth               +    4 laps