Victorious Vettel leads home Red Bull one-two!
The predicted rain arrived ahead of the start of the Chinese Grand Prix resulting in the race starting behind the safety car, very reminiscent to the Japanese Grand Prix of 2007. After claiming pole position yesterday in style, Sebastian Vettel took advantage of his position at the head of the field and went on to dominate the 56-lap race.
It was however a far from easy victory for Vettel, who led home team-mate Mark Webber to record Red Bull Renault’s first win, as the persistent rain ensured that the result was far from certain until the very second he took the chequered flag almost two hours after the race first began.
After eight laps behind the safety car the race got underway properly on lap nine with Fernando Alonso having already relinquished his second position with a very early pit stop. The Red Bull duo of Vettel and Webber were quickly able to establish a gap over Jenson Button who passed his Brawn Mercedes team-mate Rubens Barrichello early in the race.
With an 11 second advantage at the head of the field Vettel pitted on lap 15 and Webber shortly repeated the procedure leaving Button at the head of the field. Further back down the order Jarno Trulli was really struggling in the conditions and heading to the final turn on lap 18 was hit hard from behind by Robert Kubica’s BMW Sauber. Trulli’s Toyota was extensively damaged and he was out of the race and the safety car was deployed.
Jenson Button’s 14 second lead at the head of the pack was immediately negated to nothing as he headed to the pits for this first stop. From that point onwards, Vettel and Webber dominated at the front as they traded fastest laps and eased away to a comfortable victory from Button.
Webber finished 11 seconds behind Vettel and kept the pressure on his young team-mate and while he will be happy with the result for the team, having your team-mate record the team’s first victory will be tough to take.
Jenson Button took the chequered flag in third position, 34 seconds behind Vettel, while Rubens Barrichello had a low-key race in the second Brawn Mercedes and was never really on the pace of the front runners. The decision not to change his wet tyres in the second and final pit stop put him under pressure from those close behind, but the Brazilian veteran held on to retain the position.
Button remains at the head of the drivers’ championship with 21 points with Barrichello on 15 and Vettel vaulting up to third with his ten point haul from today. Brawn Mercedes lead Red Bull Renault in the constructors’ championship by 16.5 points.
Behind the Red Bull/Brawn drivers the battle for fifth was completely open. In the end it was Heikki Kovalainen who drove an error free race to take the position in his McLaren Mercedes ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton who suffered several spins on his way to sixth.
Timo Glock started the race from the pit lane and despite a brush with Nick Heidfeld early in the race and then a later pitstop for a new front wing, the Toyota driver managed to battle on to finish in seventh position.
Sebastien Buemi is proving he really does deserve his place in the series as he capitalised on his fine qualifying form to finish eighth in the leading Toro Rosso Ferrari.
It was another dismal day for the Renault team following the qualifying boost of yesterday. Light on fuel, Alonso pitted whilst still under safety car conditions early in the race and dropped down the order. The double world champion would battle back to fifth position before a high-speed spin exiting turn 13 sent him back down the order once again. Alonso finished ninth and out of the points.
Kimi Raikkonen and Ferrari leave the third round of the championship without any points again. The Finn ran as high as fifth before pitting on lap 28 but the team opted to move to a one stop strategy. From here Raikkonen never had the pace to recover and he struggled around to finish tenth. Felipe Massa meanwhile ran in the points before his F60 coasted to a halt on the back straight with an electrical problem. Strategy and reliability issues again for the Italian team.
Sebastien Bourdais finished in 11th position in the second Toro Rosso Ferrari after an eventful day. The Frenchman got the better of Nick Heidfeld right at the end of the race to claim the position from the struggling BMW Sauber driver.
Following his high-speed incident with Trulli early in the race and then another pit stop for a new front wing, Robert Kubica rounded off BMW Sauber’s dismal Chinese performance with a 13th place finish.
While Giancarlo Fisichella was classified 14th and Adrian Sutil 17th, it was a disappointing day for Force India Mercedes. Sutil ran in sixth position but with the rain coming down hard in the closing stages, lost control of his VJM02 and nosed the car heavily into the barriers at turn five. It was a real shame for Sutil and the hard-working Force India team.
Williams Toyota had a poor Grand Prix with Nico Rosberg slithering to 15th position following a gamble to switch to intermediate tyres failed, while Kazuki Nakajima spent much of his race running off track before parking the FW31 with a gearbox problem.
Nelson Piquet had a predictably troubled race in the second Renault as he suffered numerous spins resulting in two stops for replacement wings. Piquet was classified two laps down in 16th ahead of the unfortunate Sutil.
The Formula One circus now packs up and head off to Sakhir for next Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
Earl ALEXANDER
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