2010 Chinese Grand Prix - Cool Jenson Leads Home British 1-2 In Shanghai Gloom

World champion Jenson Button produced another cool, calm and collected performance to win this morning’s Chinese Grand Prix at a damp and wet Shanghai track.  Button, starting from 5^th made another inspired call like the one which brought him victory in Australia three weeks ago to stay out on dry tyres during an early rain shower, which saw most of the race favourites caught out by the conditions. 

The results excelled again and after overhauling early race leader Nico Rosberg on Lap 21, Jenson bought his car home safely, leading home team-mate Lewis Hamilton to McLaren’s first 1-2 since the 2007 Italian Grand Prix and the first British 1-2 in F1 for over a decade, when Eddie Irvine beat David Coulthard in Austria in 1999.  Hamilton was one of those who pitted early for the intermediate tyres, which turned into the wrong decision.  Nevertheless, he produced another storming drive, full of stunning overtaking once more and his second place was fully deserved.  However, he has been reprimanded by the stewards again for dangerous driving in the pits with Sebastian Vettel.  Following his weaving tactics on rookie Vitaly Petrov in Malaysia a fortnight ago, Lewis certainly will need to curb his aggression in future, as it could hook him into immense trouble later in the season.

Once again, Red Bull Racing failed to deliver on their promise as Vettel and Mark Webber has difficult races to 6^th and 8^th places, having sewed up the front row in qualifying.  Vettel was also reprimanded by the stewards in that incident with Hamilton, whilst Webber was the victim of some poor pitstops by the Milton Keynes based team, which put them firmly on the back foot.  Despite being unable to hold off Button and Hamilton, Rosberg produced another consistent drive to a podium finish, on a track when he had managed no better than 11^th before this year.  Once more, he firmly had the measure of Michael Schumacher, who struggled all day with a vehicle full of understeer, which at times looked like it was heading for the erupting volcano in Iceland.  Despite having vain battles with Hamilton and Vettel, the seven-time world champion could only manage a solitary point for his hard efforts.

Ferrari had another troublesome weekend, with Fernando Alonso blatantly jumping the start and making five pitstops in total.  Despite all this drama, he still came home a solid 4^th, keeping him right in early championship contention.  Felipe Massa had a lacklustre weekend, and could only manage 9^th, losing his world championship lead to Button in the process.  Once more, Renault showed their consistency and their determination to put behind a horrific 2009 season with a double-points finish.  Staying out in the early shower paid dividends for Robert Kubica, who finished a strong 5^th.  Russian Petrov survived a mid-race spin to come home 7^th, for his first F1 points. 

Lotus were the strongest of the new teams again, with Heikki Kovalainen finishing ahead of Nico Hulkenberg’s Williams, having ran as high as 6^th in the chaotic early stages.  Spare a thought for Adrian Sutil, Jaime Alguesuari and Rubens Barrichello, who all were involved in the thick of the action throughout, but all left Shanghai with no points to show for their efforts.  Also, for Alguesuari’s Toro Rosso team-mate Sebastian Buemi, who after surviving a 200mph crash on Friday when both his front wheels flew off spectacularly, was t-boned out of the Grand Prix on the first lap by an out-of-control Vitantonio Liuzzi.

Four races gone in 2010 and Button carries a ten point lead over Rosberg, whilst Hamilton and Alonso are tied for third spot.  In the constructors, McLaren have overtaken Ferrari to consequently lead both championships.  The flyaway start is over and the teams can pack up and head back to Europe, with the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona being three weeks away.  However, with the volcano eruption showing no signs of diminishing in Iceland, when that will be is another matter.  I don’t think Jenson Button could care about that at the moment, as his consistency and tactical gambles have paid major dividends for him, he leads the championship again.