Sebastian Vettel
As was predicted, the heavens opened ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix resulting in a start behind the safety car for the first 8 laps of the race.
Sebastian Vettel had qualified in pole position and dominated the race to claim the first win for the Red Bull Renault team ahead of team-mate Mark Webber.
Fernando Alonso had qualified for Renault team second on the grid for the start of the race but after an early pit stop, Webber took up the place.
Robert Kubica in the BMW Sauber and Timo Glock in the Toyota, both started from the pit lane after penalties but neither were really affected due to the start behind the safety car.
On lap 3, Felipe Massa in the Ferrari was one of the first drivers to slide off the track but rejoined without any damage to his car as the dismal weather continued. On lap 4, Adrian Sutil in the Force India car, also ran off track but only to avoid hitting the back of the Renault driven by Nelson Piquet, and pitted on the next lap.
While the safety car remained on the track and the drivers were eager to get the race underway, many of the teams decided to change their strategy, seeing cars coming into the pits to take on fuel and change tyres before the restart.
Finally on lap 9, the race started and although many of the drivers were cautious, Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren was on a mission and passed the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, moving him up to sixth place.
On lap 10, Vettel was leading the race followed by Webber, Rubens Barrichello in the Brawn GP car, Jenson Button, Jarno Trulli in the Toyota, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Sebastien Buemi in the Toro Rosso, Nick Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber and Heikki Kovalainen in the second McLaren.
On lap 11, Hamilton made an impressive pass on Trulli before running off track on both of the next two laps putting him back down into fifth place while Buemi passed Raikkonen and then Trulli in an impressive drive.
Massa passed his team-mate Raikkonen before lining up Trulli and eventually passing him two-laps later, while Timo Glock ran into the back of Heidfeld on lap 14 as he tried to pass him.
Race leader Vettel, pitted on lap 15 after building-up an 11 second lead, followed by Webber, letting Button take the lead. Vettel rejoined in 3rd place behind the Brawn GP pair. Raikkonen and Hamilton had passed Trulli with Hamilton then making the move on Raikkonen until the Finn took the place back from the British driver as he made yet another mistake.
Button was now leading the race followed by Barrichello and Vettel as Kubica flew over the back end of the Toyata driven by Trulli going into the final turn and ending the race for the Italian.
Once again, the safety car was deployed due to the debris from the rear of the Toyota across the circuit causing Button to go from a 14 second lead to nil as he entered the pits, leaving Vettel and Webber back at the front of the pack.
On lap 21, Felipe Massa went from third place to a complete standstill on the back straight after an electrical failure on the Ferrari, putting him out of the race and another the third without scoring points.
The safety car came in once again on lap 23 with Vettel leading Button followed by Webber, as Hamilton passed Raikkonen to sit in fourth place.
Webber began to put the pressure on Button before passing him on lap 29. Raikkonen pitted from fifth place on lap 29 and rejoins back in seventeenth as Nelson Piquet went off track and hit a marker board before going into the wall and damaging his front wing. His problems didn’t end there as he also suffered a problem in his pit stop fitting the new front wing and dropped to sixteenth place.
On lap 31, Button re-passed Webber for second place as the Red Bull driver ran wide but only held it until the next lap when Webber forced his way back through. Fernando Alonso had meanwhile fought his way back to seventh place.
On lap 34, Hamilton pitted from fourth place and rejoined in eighth handing the position to Heikki Kovalainen who pitted on the following lap.
Vettel came in for his final pit stop on lap 38 after building a 17 second lap advantage ahead of his team-mate and rejoins in third place.
Alonso spun the Renault on lap 38 while in fifth place, a costly mistake which saw him drop back down the field to thirteenth place.
On lap 40, Webber took his final stop while Vettel closed in on the Brawn GP of Button and eventually slips past him with ease on the following lap, Button then takes his stop, opting again for full wet tyres and rejoins in fourth.
A terrible day for the Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima, who appeared to be off the track more than on it before the FW31 developed a gear box problem on lap 45, ending his race. Team- mate Nico Rosberg, pitted from thirteenth place and opted for intermediate tyres, a bad choice on a still sodden track and returned to the pits on lap 50 for full wets.
Hamilton again ran wide on lap 48, letting Kovalainen through for the fifth place before spinning again on lap 50, letting Sutil through. Unfortunately, Sutil slid across the track on lap 52, smashing the Force India into the wall.
The Red Bull duo took the chequered flag of the two Brawn GP drivers Button and Barrichello with Heikki Kovalainen in fifth. Hamilton followed his team-mate with sixth place ahead of Timo Glock and an impressive Sebastien Buemi in eighth.
Spanish driver Fernando Alonso finished in ninth place followed by the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Bourdais in the second Toro Rosso.
Here are the results;
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault (B) 1h57:43.485 2. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) + 10.970 3. Button Brawn GP-Mercedes (B) + 44.975 4. Barrichello Brawn GP-Mercedes (B) + 1:03.704 5. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 1:05.102 6. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 1:11.866 7. Glock Toyota (B) + 1:14.476 8. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 1:16.439 9. Alonso Renault (B) + 1:24.309 10. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) + 1:31.750 11. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 1:34.156 12. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) + 1:35.834 13. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) + 1:46.853 14. Fisichella Force India-Mercedes (B) + 1 lap 15. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) + 1 lap 16. Piquet Renault (B) + 2 laps Not classified/retirements: Driver Team On lap Sutil Force India-Mercedes (B) 51 Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 44 Massa Ferrari (B) 23 Trulli Toyota (B) 19 Fastest lap: Barrichello, 1:52.592
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