F1 Chinese Grand Prix - McLaren triumphant in Shanghai

A wet race at the Shanghai International Racing Circuit -

The British it seems like it wet and wild. On a wet, rain soaked afternoon in the Chinese city of Shanghai they put on a display of skill and smarts in outracing and outwitting the field. The result meant that McLaren will head into the three week break as the team to beat. The circus will now head into Europe after what has been an intriguing Asian swing.

The Red Bull team has promised much and delivered little. Despite consistently dominating the qualifying sessions, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber have failed to translate their advantage in the four races thus far. It once again proves that, it just isn’t enough in F1 if you have a racy car. You also need a driver that can set up and close races.

Celebrating together, Jenson and Lewis for McLaren

The defending champion Jenson Button will holiday in Thailand, content at being the frontrunner once again. He has gone about his business in an understated manner, winning two of the four races and racking up a ten point lead.

On the other hand, Lewis Hamilton has been distracted by events off the track. Hamilton has made news from events as disparate as the alleged split and reunion with his girlfriend, the dismissal of Hamilton Sr. from the team, speeding tickets and aggressive driving on the track. He has an impressive 49 points from the Asian jaunt, not bad for a distracted man. It is a tribute to his resilient driving amidst the chaos that surrounds him.

While you would associate False Starts mainly with Athletics, we had the rare instance of a jump start in China, by none other than the seasoned Fernando Alonso. He earned a penalty for it that cost him any reasonable chance of a place on the podium.

Hamilton and Vettel went tyre to tyre as they went into the pits, before Hamilton passed him just in time to be the first into the pitlane, to change to the wet tyres. As the rain poured down, we witnessed an unsual race in the pit lane, with both men once again getting wheel to wheel on their way out. Vettel pushed Hamilton almost into the pit area as he regained the advantage moving out ahead of the British former champion.

Fortunately racing isn’t all about pit lane antics. Hamilton drove with brilliance to pass both the Red Bulls on the twelfth lap, in a move that left them fuddled. Around the same time, Button slotted himself nicely behind Nico Rosberg who had a small lead of under three seconds on the Brit. Rosberg continued to increase his lead, but then made a fatal error at over steering through Turn 16 and handing Button the lead.

Hamilton had his first lucky break at this stage. He was trailing the leaders by almost 40 seconds, lying fourth behind Robert Kubica, when Jamie Alguersuari damaged the nose wing of his Torro Rosso necessitating the deployment of the safety car to help clear the debris. Button’s lead over his team mate was wiped out. During a very sedate phase in the race, Button continued to lead Rosberg, by just over a second. Hamilton was fighting the battle for third with Kubica, and the long straight line at the circuit enabled the McLaren to pass the Renault.

The final round of pit stops happened between laps 36 and 37. It is during these stops that Hamilton’s early stop paid off rich dividends. He got past Rosberg during the stops, and started to challenge his team mate.

Even though Button built an almost ten second lead at the front, his tyres started to wear and one had the feeling that Hamilton could yet have one more trick up his sleeve. A mistake by Button on lap 51, at the hairpin bend that leads to the final straight cut his lead to under two seconds. He managed to stay in front, but barely. McLaren had a signature finish to the Chinese Grand Prix, serving a warning to their competitors.

Michael Schumacher disappointed yet again, finishing a lowly tenth compared to a second consecutive podium for his team mate. He has some soul searching to do during this short break ahead of the races in Europe.

The next race is in Spain, you would expect to see something special from Fernando Alonso in his Ferrari. Despite the admittedly better pace in the Red Bull, their performances have been in qualifying. And qualifying does not win you championships. The race is back between the two familiar foes – McLaren and Ferrari.

Here is the points table heading into a three week break -

Drivers Championship	Team Championship
Jenson Button (McLaren) 60	McLaren-Mercedes 109
Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 50	Ferrari 90
Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) 49	RBR-Renault 73
Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) 49	Mercedes GP 60
Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) 45	Renault 46