In another monsoon race which this time went the full distance, it was polesitter Sebastian Vettel that emerged victorious after a dominant drive to earn Red Bull's first ever race win and the team's first win since they were known as Stewart back at the Nurburgring in 1999. To make it even better for the team, Mark Webber finished 2nd to give them a 1-2 finish and a maximum 18 point haul. Jenson Button drove well to finish best of the rest in 3rd increasing his championship lead in the process.It was another day to forget for Ferrari who went on to record their worst start to a season since 1981 and with Force India's best race finish being a 9th place, it also means Ferrari are bottom of the constructors standings after 3 races for the first time ever since the inception of the constructors championship in 1958. It was a better day for McLaren though as their new double deck diffuser cars provided the teams best result of the year so far picking up a very useful 7 points.
THE GRID
ROW 1: 1. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), 2. Fernando Alonso (Renault)
ROW 2: 3. Mark Webber (Red Bull), 4. Rubens Barrichello (Brawn)
ROW 3: 5. Jenson Button (Brawn), 6. Jarno Trulli (Toyota)
ROW 4: 7. Nico Rosberg (Williams), 8. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
ROW 5: 9. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), 10. Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso)
ROW 6: 11. Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber), 12. Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren)
ROW 7: 13. Felipe Massa (Ferrari), 14. Kazuki Nakajima (Williams)
ROW 8: 15. Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso), 16. Nelson Piquet Jr (Renault)
ROW 9: 17. Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber), 18. Adrian Sutil (Force India)
ROW 10: 19. Timo Glock (Toyota), 20. Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India)
The torrential downpour meant that Charlie Whiting took the decision to start the race behind the safety car which was bad news for Alonso who had qualified with a light fuel load, he pitted along with Nico Rosberg hoping to benefit from a long safety car period, but it never happened, the safety car pulled in after 9 laps and the race properly began. Vettel took advantage of a clear track in front of him (meaning no spray) by racing away from his teammate Webber.
That stayed the same until lap 18 when the first real incident occured, a slowing Jarno Trulli, struggling in the conditions was spectacularly clobbered by Robert Kubica's BMW, amazingly Kubica was unscathed (apart from needing a new nosecone) but Trulli's day was over, his rear wing gone and his rear suspension shot to pieces. Meanwhile, quietly Lewis Hamilton had made good progress and got up to as high as 5th before spinning away everything he had built up, he did rejoin though. But the safety car was brought out for the 2nd time after the Kubica/Trulli incident, but just before the pitstops, an unsighted Sebastien Buemi accidentally hit the rear of Vettel's car, fortunately for the race leader, Vettel did not suffer any damage but Buemi had to pit for a new nose.
After the pitstops were made, Ferrari's nightmare start to the season got worse as Massa stopped on the entrance to the long back straight after suffering the predictable electrical failure, a common breakdown in wet conditions.
Lap 23 and the safety car comes in and the race resumed and thus began a see-saw fight for 2nd place between Button and Webber, Webber eventually won out after both drivers had overtaken each other by taking advantage of the other's misdemeanours. The next 18 laps saw nearly every driver struggle with the intensifying rain and also this was when the 2nd round of pitstops occured. One driver decided to gamble on the rain dying down by taking intermediate tyres, that man was Nico Rosberg and it would be a gamble that would spectacularly fail as he would finish the race a lap down.
Overall, Red Bull maintained the status quo right to the line as Vettel won ahead of Webber, Button and Barrichello. McLaren scored some solid points for 5th and 6th (Kovalainen ahead of Hamilton) while the points positions were completed by Glock and Buemi, there was heartbreak though for Adrian Sutil who lost his chance to score Force India's first points after aquaplaining off the track with 5 laps to go while running in an impressive 6th.
RACE RESULT - TOP 10
1. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull ................ 1h 57m 43.485
2. Mark Webber - Red Bull ................ + 10.970
3. Jenson Button - Brawn ................ + 44.975
4. Rubens Barrichello - Brawn ................ + 1m 03.704
5. Heikki Kovalainen - McLaren ................ + 1m 05.102
6. Lewis Hamilton - McLaren ................ + 1m 11.866
7. Timo Glock - Toyota ................ + 1m 14.476
8. Sebasien Buemi - Toro Rosso ................ + 1m 16.439
9. Fernando Alonso - Renault ................ + 1m 24.309
10. Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari ................ + 1m 31.750
DRIVERS TOP 10 AFTER CHINA: 1. Jenson Button 21pts, 2. Rubens Barrichello 15pts, =3. Sebastian Vettel 10pts, =3. Timo Glock 10pts, 5. Mark Webber 9.5pts, 6. Jarno Trulli 8.5pts, =7. Nick Heidfeld 4pts, =7. Fernando Alonso 4pts, =7. Heikki Kovalainen 4pts, =7. Lewis Hamilton 4pts
CONSTRUCTORS TOP 10 AFTER CHINA: 1. Brawn 36pts, 2. Red Bull 19.5pts, 3. Toyota 18.5pts, 4. McLaren 8pts, =5. BMW Sauber 4pts, =5. Renault 4pts, =5. Toro Rosso 4pts, 8. Williams 3.5pts, =9. Force India 0pts, =9. Ferrari 0pts
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