Button rises through the chaos once more to claim China GP win
Jawsey April 20, 2010
Tags button, china gp, formula 1, mclaren, motor racing
Another fascinating race, dubbed by Alonso as a “wacky race”, where really we had no clear idea what would happen till the last few laps. A sprinkling of rain, a couple of safety cars, all the top drivers sent to the back and forced to charge up. All the ingredients for an excellent race really!
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
For me, it was a race of two defining moment. Firstly, the shower of rain, where the majority of driver panicked and pitted for inters, only to discover that the track was still fundamentally dry – if a bit slippery – and forced to pit again. That spread out the field somewhat, giving the likes of Button and Rosberg up front almost a minute’s breathing space. And then all that gap disappeared as the safety car was called out again when Alguersuari’s front wing shattered in the pit lane entrance (something not a lot of commentators picked up on) as well as on track. This nullified the leader’s advantage somewhat, so it was a case of finding those who held their position well enough, or used the second safety car to their advantage. That in mind, here are my drivers of the day:
Drivers of the Day
3: Kubica
Another solid drive to a serious points haul, Renault once more proving that the car that was looking a bit of a dog pre-season isn’t too shabby at all. Kubica was one of the few not to scramble for inters, and was rewarded accordingly. There was no question that his was a slower car compared to say, the Ferraris’, but the last few races have not necessarily been about having the fastest car, more about playing the right tactics. Wherever the rumours are taking him, he’s proved his worth today
2: Rosberg
Rosberg missed out on Jawsey points last race, although he drove a solid run to third, it wasn’t a particularly interesting race from his side, and other drivers in lesser machinery did better. However, this was a much-more harder fought race. One of the few not to pit early on, he led for much of the first part of the race, before slipping off the track behind Button. But there was no question that the McLarens, and to some degree the Ferrari’s too, were faster cars, so for Rosberg to consistently keep pace with them was impressive enough. Once more, he comfortably outpaced his illustrious team-mate too. His race engineer said at the end that a championship challenge might not be so far away, and he may well be right
1: Button
I’m making a habit of picking the winner as my top driver at the moment, but such has been the state of the last 3 races, that the best driver has generally come out on top. Button, once again, picked the conditions perfectly. He stayed out on the dry tyres, quite correctly, paced his car well, and while Hamilton raced to second, then promptly ran out of tyre tread, Button was able to manage his tyres so much better with half that number of stops. Another master class of wisdom and guile, he may have lucked into the win a little in Australia, but this one is his to savour completely. It will be interesting to see how he manages on a more normal race, hopefully like Barcelona, but for the minute, he is silencing his many critics with some confident drives.
Disappointment of the Day
It’s hard to give this one, as the majority of drivers drove well in tricky circumstances, but at the end of the day Adrian Sutil is the unlucky man. Well paced in fifth early on, having been one of the handful not to pit at the start, a big points score was surely on the way. And then after the second safety car, he just fell off the radar, slipping down out of the points to eleventh. Considering Force India have built a rather handy car this season, they’ll count themselves unlucky that they didn’t add to their tally in China
Moment of the Race
Schumacher vs Hamilton
There were so many overtakes that I couldn’t pick out one that stood above them all, so I went for a big moment, the 2-lap battle between Hamilton and the much-slower Michael Schumacher. We’ve all been waiting for that, the raw pace and talent of Hamilton versus the wily experience of Schumacher. Schumi showed that he hasn’t lost any of his guile and skill just yet, despite being fundamentally slower holding back the mighty Hamilton for two laps. An enjoyable, if somewhat brief battle, and points to both men.
So, at the end of Round 4, the Jawsey championship stands as such:
Button: 5
Vettel: 4
Kubica: 4
Hamilton: 4
Massa: 3
Alonso: 2
Alguersuari: 2
Rosberg: 2
Di Grassi: 1
Sutil: -1
Webber: -1
Buemi: -1
Hulkenberg: -1
Schumacher: -1
Button sneaks ahead, but at this early stage, like the WC; it’s all to play for.
Since this blog is as usual far too long, I shall do a follow-up piece on why Hamilton was omitted from DotD points, but till then, we wait to see if the teams make it to Spain in 3 weeks!
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
For me, it was a race of two defining moment. Firstly, the shower of rain, where the majority of driver panicked and pitted for inters, only to discover that the track was still fundamentally dry – if a bit slippery – and forced to pit again. That spread out the field somewhat, giving the likes of Button and Rosberg up front almost a minute’s breathing space. And then all that gap disappeared as the safety car was called out again when Alguersuari’s front wing shattered in the pit lane entrance (something not a lot of commentators picked up on) as well as on track. This nullified the leader’s advantage somewhat, so it was a case of finding those who held their position well enough, or used the second safety car to their advantage. That in mind, here are my drivers of the day:
Drivers of the Day
3: Kubica
Another solid drive to a serious points haul, Renault once more proving that the car that was looking a bit of a dog pre-season isn’t too shabby at all. Kubica was one of the few not to scramble for inters, and was rewarded accordingly. There was no question that his was a slower car compared to say, the Ferraris’, but the last few races have not necessarily been about having the fastest car, more about playing the right tactics. Wherever the rumours are taking him, he’s proved his worth today
2: Rosberg
Rosberg missed out on Jawsey points last race, although he drove a solid run to third, it wasn’t a particularly interesting race from his side, and other drivers in lesser machinery did better. However, this was a much-more harder fought race. One of the few not to pit early on, he led for much of the first part of the race, before slipping off the track behind Button. But there was no question that the McLarens, and to some degree the Ferrari’s too, were faster cars, so for Rosberg to consistently keep pace with them was impressive enough. Once more, he comfortably outpaced his illustrious team-mate too. His race engineer said at the end that a championship challenge might not be so far away, and he may well be right
1: Button
I’m making a habit of picking the winner as my top driver at the moment, but such has been the state of the last 3 races, that the best driver has generally come out on top. Button, once again, picked the conditions perfectly. He stayed out on the dry tyres, quite correctly, paced his car well, and while Hamilton raced to second, then promptly ran out of tyre tread, Button was able to manage his tyres so much better with half that number of stops. Another master class of wisdom and guile, he may have lucked into the win a little in Australia, but this one is his to savour completely. It will be interesting to see how he manages on a more normal race, hopefully like Barcelona, but for the minute, he is silencing his many critics with some confident drives.
Disappointment of the Day
It’s hard to give this one, as the majority of drivers drove well in tricky circumstances, but at the end of the day Adrian Sutil is the unlucky man. Well paced in fifth early on, having been one of the handful not to pit at the start, a big points score was surely on the way. And then after the second safety car, he just fell off the radar, slipping down out of the points to eleventh. Considering Force India have built a rather handy car this season, they’ll count themselves unlucky that they didn’t add to their tally in China
Moment of the Race
Schumacher vs Hamilton
There were so many overtakes that I couldn’t pick out one that stood above them all, so I went for a big moment, the 2-lap battle between Hamilton and the much-slower Michael Schumacher. We’ve all been waiting for that, the raw pace and talent of Hamilton versus the wily experience of Schumacher. Schumi showed that he hasn’t lost any of his guile and skill just yet, despite being fundamentally slower holding back the mighty Hamilton for two laps. An enjoyable, if somewhat brief battle, and points to both men.
So, at the end of Round 4, the Jawsey championship stands as such:
Button: 5
Vettel: 4
Kubica: 4
Hamilton: 4
Massa: 3
Alonso: 2
Alguersuari: 2
Rosberg: 2
Di Grassi: 1
Sutil: -1
Webber: -1
Buemi: -1
Hulkenberg: -1
Schumacher: -1
Button sneaks ahead, but at this early stage, like the WC; it’s all to play for.
Since this blog is as usual far too long, I shall do a follow-up piece on why Hamilton was omitted from DotD points, but till then, we wait to see if the teams make it to Spain in 3 weeks!
