Button leads McLaren to one-two in wet race

2010 Chinese Grand Prix review

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Jenson Button scored his second win of 2010 in a rain-hit Chinese Grand Prix.

Button hit the front after wisely choosing not to make an early switch to intermediate tyres – a decision which cost several of his rivals dearly.

Despite making an early change to intermediate tyres Lewis Hamilton fought back to finish second and was closing in on Button at the chequered flag.

Nico Rosberg finished third having led in the early stages before being passed by Button. Hamilton later passed him via the pits, but Fernando Alonso was unable to overhaul the Mercedes driver in the closing stages and finished fourth.

Alonso might have finished higher however, had he not been handed a drive-through penalty for jumping the start. His early getaway initially put him in the lead ahead of the Red Bulls.

Robert Kubica took fifth place for Renault ahead of Sebastian Vettel.

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Vettel was passed by Mark Webber at the start and both lost ground by making the early change to intermediate tyres which, like several other drivers, they then had to correct with another stop to change back to slicks.

He made quick progress through the field aided, like the other drivers who pitted early, by a safety car period to recover debris from Jaime Alguersuari’s car.

Vettel was briefly delayed by Adrian Sutil which allowed the recovering Hamilton past. Hamilton and Vettel had already had an encounter in the pit lane.

Vitaly Petrov scored his first F1 points with seventh despite a spin. The Renault driver took care of his tyres at the end of the race and passed Michael Schumacher in the closing stages, plus Webber who was struggling for grip at the end.

Felipe Massa also got past Schumacher to finish ninth, while the Mercedes driver ended the race in tenth.

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Sutil might have got by Schumacher for the final point had the race gone on for another lap, but the Force India driver ended the day without a point.

Rubens Barrichello took 12th ahead of Alguersuari, who lost several places towards the end of the race.

Heikki Kovalainen became the first driver for a new team to beat a driver from the established teams. It helped that he made only two pits stops while Nico Hulkenberg came in six times.

Behind them were the two HRTs of Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok, the latter suffering a spin in the wet conditions.

It was another double-DNF for Virgin and Sauber. The latter lost Kamui Kobayashi in a first-lap collision which, for the second time this year, also involved Sebastien Buemi. The pair were hit by Vitantonio Liuzzi’s out-of-control Force India.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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119 comments on “Button leads McLaren to one-two in wet race”

  1. Go Heikki :) Good drive from Petrov, too.

  2. Feels like the stewards are doing Hamilton a favor.

    1. Or just taking a better / more thoughtful approach to dishing out penalties this year…

  3. I would describe Schumaher this year as Kovalainen last year, only not as good in qualifying.

  4. Brilliant Hamilton, great Alonso, and I’m starting to give up the idea of seeing Kobayashi race. I was looking forward to it after the last year’s two races.

    And good Button too, leaving Rosberg behind and quietly making a hard race easy.

    1. Thats the 3rd epic comeback from Alonso in a row.

      3 very unlucky races finding himself WAY down the field and fought his way back up to the front.

      Kudos to him if he ends up winning the title.

      1. I think his overtake on Massa was almost sheer desperation as he’s been stuck behind him so much in recent races!

        1. Surely cutting the pit lane entry is illegal.

          Alonso and Hamilton should both have been penalised for this.

          1. @ Jonathan

            The rules don’t stop them to overtake in the pit entry, & secondly it also stated no penalty for the driver crossing the white line while they are entering the pit, so I think they may not be punished.

      2. wouldn’t say he was unlucky this race, lucky if anything. He jumped the start and was penalised (bit too little for my liking) and gradually pulled his way back up with a nice SC to help him out

      3. apart from alonso wasn’t unlucky during this race. he jumped the start! and got lucky because of the safety car! good drive though.

  5. After Q Mclaren was looking bad, but race…

    1. They were looking golden all weekend before Q3 too though.

      The fact that Hamilton (and Button to a lesser extent) mess up their qualifying doesn’t negate all that.

  6. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – the second SC was completely pointless.

    1. I said the same during the race, but im not sure now.

      I mean, don’t get me wrong, im mad as it mostly penalized Renault drivers who made a brilliant decision to stay out and earned 40-second gap this way, which was reduced to nothing thanks to the 2nd SC.

      But still, we weren’t there. You can’t say for sure there was nothing left on track by Algersuari, so i guess its up to them to decide.

      1. Sure, we cannot be sure. But why on earth was the yellow flag not used? It was only a front wing… They wasted 4 laps, which, if I recall correctly, was exactly how long they needed to remove three cars right after the start.

        One cannot lose a 30+ sec advantage, it is physically impossible, unless the cars are in a different league and malfunctioning. Moreover, it annulled Alonso’s penalty and everyone’s wrong tyre decision.

        There, alas, is not one single argument that supports the second SC in my opinion.

        1. Agree totally!!!

        2. even worse, it took them 2 laps to even go out and pick the bits up. terrible call, was waiting for them to show a replay of a big incident or something.

        3. i think it was out for so long because the SC had to wait for the whole field to reform behind it. and because of the massive field spread, it took a while.

        4. Well the carbon fibre was on the racing line, it looked like, as opposed to other instances where waved yellows were used to remove debris from off the racing line. Also I think the reason the SC was out so long was that due to the conditions, it took a while for a) Button to catch the SC and b) for everyone else to catch up with the train.

        5. Absolutely.
          These “over-reaction” induced safty-car moments are very annoying.
          What is the point of building up a good advantage if everything is reduced to nothing by the SC ?

          Think of the 2 renault drivers.
          SC should be exceptionnal: we get to see it all too often.

          1. This is why I don’t like IndyCar and part of the reason I don’t like NASCAR. All the full course cautions/yellows make the races artificially close.

        6. I think the one single argument you’re looking for is entertainment.

          Maybe F1 is about taking a gamble on tyres then having a 90 minute procession where slower cars are out of reach courtesy of strategy calls – personally I quick like overtaking.

    2. marius van list
      18th April 2010, 11:04

      Right… I was surprised… very, very surprised.

    3. Totally agree. Even if they argue that removing minor carbon fibre required the SC for marshall safety, how long does that take? The SC was out there for way too long.

      1. However much I wanted the safety car to close the race back up I have no idea why the did it. Seemed like a very NASCAR thing to do.

        1. It did feel very artificial, it improved the racing no end, without that SC this race could still have been good but definatley a lot less track action.

    4. To add a (slightly) dissenting point of view, it’s not that long ago that Ralf Schumacher had a very serious accident caused by debris on the track. We don’t want that sort of thing happening again.

      I agree, it is a bit NASCAR-esque to throw out the safety car because of debris alone. That said, particularly because certain cars this weekend had shown a tendency to throw bits of themselves at the walls and into the crowd at the slightest encouragement, it was probably best on this occasion to be cautious.

      1. Mark Hitchcock
        18th April 2010, 20:00

        Yeah, at the time I said it seemed like the sort of phantom debris flags NASCAR put out to keep the racing close.

        But thinking about it a bit more, in recent races we’ve seen the drivers failing to respect the yellow flags a little too regularly. Suzuka last year, qualifying in a number of races since then etc. so maybe Charlie (or whoever scrambles the SC) thought it was better to be safe than sorry. Especially given the conditions.

  7. Wasn’t the pit lane entry covered in sharp pieces of carbon fiber. Very dangerous to send out marshals just around the corner of a blind pit entry corner under green.

    1. I guess a lot of people were pitting too…

  8. If you were also listening to BBC 5 Live you’d hear Anthony Davidson (an F1 racer himself) that even though both Vettel and Lewis were released at the same time (kind of) the German later tried to push Lewis into other teams’ pits which should be frowned upon by the stewards too, given the unsafe nature of such move. Besides it was slippery there.

    Great race from Hamilton!!! Overtaking is alive thanks to that guy (and Schuma’s slower pace :)) Great job from Petrov and Well done Mr Button!

  9. Wow Jens is a complete driver, head and ability, he has my deepest respect, been a fan since BAR, plus a humble personality to boot, Jens for president!

    1. I guess he doesn’t have the serbian nationality though…

    2. In Button’s country the term is “Prime Minister”, but anyone other than G. Brown would be a good candidate :P

  10. I feel sorry for Sauber, both cars out through no fault of their own, particularly PDLR as he was running high when his engine fizzled out

  11. SC was a scandal. The probable final order was distorted in an unfair way. Period.

    1. Who do you support/how did they lose out?

  12. Younger Hamilton
    18th April 2010, 11:09

    one word, STUNNING!!!

  13. great race, but i am concerned that out of the four races so far, three have been rain affected. not sure if the racing spectacle will be the same once we head in to the dry races.
    that said, 2010 has proven to be a real treat so far. three week wait till we hit the proper circuits ;)

    1. I personnally don’t rate Barcelona or Monaco higher than Melbourne/Sepang.
      But I feel pretty sure it’s over with rain races for quite a while.

    2. @ easy_south

      “three have been rain affected” isn’t that it rained only in two race.

  14. Jhonnie Siggie
    18th April 2010, 11:33

    Mclaren is the only team to have had both racers finish in the points in every race. The reliability of that car is incredible and that alone might see them grab the constructor’s title.

  15. Those unanimous stewards become more controversial than Hamilton himself. I don’t enjoy these GPs so much now.

    Hamilton did see he had no room to be ahead of Vettel, he should stay back, becasue he crossed the safey line in the pits. This line is painted for a reason. But no, he continued, what’s the problem, right? I don’t know why the stewards allowed him to continue untroubled. Let’s see what the punishment will be.

    1. yes but he didnt and wouldn’t overtake Vettel (who would do that in the pit lane)… and then Vettel steered to the right and endangered Lewis and Williams’ mechanics in those slippery conditions

      1. What Vettel did was unacceptable either. But I can’t understand why Hamilton felt fine to continue despite he was on the wrong side of the safety line. It’s unacceptable.

        1. because there’s easily enough room for 2 cars down the pit lane road.

          1. “easily” is not the correct word.
            Not sure Ham had the right to overtake Vet BEFORE entering the pit lane, in that little portion…

          2. “Not sure Ham had the right to overtake Vet BEFORE entering the pit lane, in that little portion”

            That’d be fine, were it not for the fact that it was Vettel behind as they came towards the pits, and so Vettel trying to overtake Hamilton.

  16. McLaren is looking like the team in 2007, really good! When the car is very good you notice the teammates’s times get very close. You notice this in McLaren and Red Bull.

    I think the championship will be a fight between McLarens Red bulls and Alonso.

  17. “The 2008 world champion made four pit stops throughout the grand prix in comparison Button’s two, but still managed to fight back and pick up a vital 18 points.”
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8627907.stm

    DID EVERYONE FORGET ALONSO JUMPED THE START?

    AND OVERTOOK MASSA RIGHT BEFORE THE START OF THE PIT LANE??

    1. “BEFORE THE START OF THE PIT LANE” before the start- not in the pit lane. Nothing wrong with it in my view. He was …not so clever at the start :P

      1. yup.. and that’s legal

    2. Sorry Metalhead – but who cares that Alonso *supposedly* jumped the start? He got pinged for it, so move on.

      And the move at pitlane was after Hamilton had done the exact same thing to Vettel. So if Hamilton gets away with it, then so too should Alonso.

    3. 1. He got penalised appropriately
      2. The pass was legit

      /discussion

  18. I doubt Alonso jumped the start deliberately as he had nothing to gain as you can’t get away with it.

    Did anyone else see what happened to Algusuari just after the second round of pit stops (early pitters returning to slicks), because he was running high, in the top 6 somewhere and then disappeared off the timing sheets for about two laps and turned up waay down in about 14th

  19. The second SC was a joke. Totally ruinned KUB’s race and saved ALO’s.
    Brilliant drives by BUT and ROS. I also liked PET today.
    At this rate, we would need a marshal’s team to deal with HAM’s issues. He should calm down.
    BTW another ferrari engine broken today (PDLR), MCL might win this one based on realibility.

  20. This was a great race, but two things spoiled the fun for me. First, the second safety car period. I’m not to judge if it was pointless or not (maybe the debris in the pitlane required cleaning or something), but it definately lasted fot too long. I mean, come on, 4 laps to remove the scraps of a single front wing?
    The second thing was Hamilton’s driving. He doesn’t deserve today’s podium because of his behaviour on track. Don’t get me wrong, he is a brilliant racing driver, but he also goes overboard more often than not. I counted 4(!) situations in which he potentially deserved a penalty, yet he didn’t get a single one. Let’s see:
    1)He crossed the pitlane entrance line on one of his first pitstops
    2)He crossed the pitlane entrance line again while racing Vettel (incidentally Alonso did the same thing with Massa)
    3)The whole racing thing with Vettel on the pitlane
    4)He pushed Webber off track (although this is debatable)
    I do understand drivers not getting a penalty because the show could be ruined, but come on, this is just ridiculous…

    1. 1/2) I thought there was only an issue crossing the line on the exit?
      3) We’ll see what happens
      4) He was pushed into Webber by Vettel, not much he could do there

      Maybe 1 potential penalty that he may still be penalised for. I’m not even a fan of Hamilton and I’m defending him today :|

    2. 1) and 2) is not illegal

      3) they got the wrists slapped yet you can’t be racing at a limited speed…

      4) he had nowhere else to go (Vettel was on the right and there were cars behind him)

      every time Webber is in a situation, you can’t blame those around him

      1. 1) They all did, I watched the race again later, I thought it was just one or two drivers but they all did it.

        2) its not illegal

        3) agree with Metalhead

        4) again, agree with Metalhead

  21. What a race!
    Spent a good portion of it catching less of the action than hoped, my internet went insane just as it was my turn to mod on the live blog, completley panicked, explorer went into full on not responding mode after I got my connection back and it took ages to calm down, very sorry guys, really hope i’ll be able to mod again after that fiasco, an I apologise again for the mess my first attempt at modding was.

    Anyway, on a much happier note, Mclaren 1-2. Woooooooooooooooo, yeah! an a good one two at that, I think you’d have to say McLaren have the best wet weather car at the moment, thank god McLaren finally have a proper driving pair, the different racing styles are working out a treat. We might be in with a chance at the constructors this year as well, an I hope we can improve for Spain.

    That said, while Lewis is probably still the faster on outright pace, Button is proving he’s a more complete racer, better able to make tyre calls in wet conditions an know when he’ll be able to find grip, Hamilton is probably more talented but Button is using his talent much more effectivley.

    Bad luck Renault, possibly unnessasary saftey car ruined their race but good points for Petrov, passing Webber an Schumacher.

    I hope F1 stays this good all season, an I hope for some decent dry races as well Malaysia wasn’t bad an we’ve got a few awful tacks comming up so for F1 to really prove itself its got to prove it can put on a show in the dry as well as in the wet.

    1. “That said, while Lewis is probably still the faster on outright pace, Button is proving he’s a more complete racer, better able to make tyre calls in wet conditions an know when he’ll be able to find grip, Hamilton is probably more talented but Button is using his talent much more effectivley.”
      Put perfectly.

      1. thanks Steph!

        We have a 1-2 to match you now, our teams are back where they should be, topping the championships.

        Hope for good fights in europe.

        1. Hope so. I think both our teams have some way to go mainly with quali to match RBR and Mclaren seem slightly further behind but have taken full advantage of the circumstances they have been presented with which will count for a lot. It’ll be interesting to watch how the development race plays out too.
          I think Mclaren and Ferrari have the strongest line ups and maybe Mclaren have the edge now on that front. I never expected to say that about Button but he’s shown his speed plus (as you said beautifully) that decisiveness and cunning when it comes to strategy with the tyres which is so important now.
          I remember pre-season there was an interview with Fernando and he said that what will be crucial is the ability to be smart but flexible and Button has that in spades.

          1. The great thing about the McLaren line up at the moment is that Hamilton, partly because he learned from the Alonso fiasco, an partly because he seems to have learnt that talent isn’t everything, seems to have sensed that Button is older an wiser an therfore a huge bank of knowledge, hopefully Hamilton can really learn from him.

            With Ferrari I think Massa has run up against a wall which maybe one or two others could climb, I really do rate the man as a top driver but I don’t think he’s quite fast enough or canny enough to top Alonso. I think it’s possible that between them Smedley an Massa, out thought an politic’d Raikkonen, who was never built for Ferrari, I still think of Raikkonen as a better driver, I don’t think Massa could have won in the F60. But with Alonso, maybe Massa will be faster next year he coped last time but I have the suspicion the F11 will be designed to the Spaniards needs. An Alonso is at the top of his powers, hunger honed from that barren spell at Renault while Massa is probably still working himself in after that acident. However, Massa suprised everyone before an we haven’t been to a few of his favourites yet, I suspect he has some confidence left to regain. If he’d only drive like he does when Alonso’s behind him all the time there wouldn’t be a problem.

      2. Agree totally with the way Steph put it; but we all forget that its Lewis 4th year in F1 whilst its Button’s 10th year; so effectively, he should be better at applying his talent due to the virtue of experience.
        In terms of the mistakes he makes, and his driving abilities, Lewis is always compared, and judged using the same criteria to guys much longer in the game than he has been. This is the hallmark of a very good driver, and is surely a testament to his phenomenal abilities.
        Vettel is another driver that this happens to as well.
        If i were the other drivers, with regards to the future, i would be very worried about Lewis and Vettel. They are the ones to watch.

  22. Button is a more complete driver :) Lewis is a just a young racer with lots of potential yet he needs to chillax sometimes and not let the nerves ruin his races and lose points consequently… Great drive from Renault (Petrov overtook Webber and Schuma!) And Alonso needs to rethink his strategy – he may not be as much friends with Massa after what he did to him today… Wouldn’t be surprised if there are more tensions going on between the two (never trusted that Spaniard, no matter how much I tried)

    1. Agree totally with the way Steph put it; but we all forget that its Lewis 4th year in F1 whilst its Button’s 10th year; so effectively, he should be better at applying his talent due to the virtue of experience.
      It is a testament to Lewis’s pehnomenal talent that he is always compared (using the same criteria)to guys much longer in the game than he has been.Same with Vettel. These two are the main future of F1.

  23. I will especially remember performance of 3 drivers in this GP:

    – Nico Rosberg – he is now the real star in Mercedes team. His performance and quality of driving is just admirable.

    – Michael Schumacher – a drama of a hardly beaten star. He was loudly asking for rain for this race, expressing hopes to gain some places, but when his wish came true the former king of rain failed miserably. After a good start his pit stop decisions gave him a mixed results at best, and he didn’t impress at all in wet conditions. It was very symbolic that he was passed by rookie Vitaly Petrov driving potentially slower Renault.

    – Vitaly Petrov, he accomplished just his first full race in F1, but what a style. For me he was a king of rain today. Drinign potantially slower renault he was the quickest of all drivers in many the final laps (i was seeing that in live timings), and easily overtook Mark Webber in red bull and former king of rain Michael Schumacher. It was epic.

    1. I wasn’t happy about Schumi’s performance as he was always at the wrong place with the wrong tyre.He still lacks that one second pace on track.

  24. A great race, well done to Jenson like I said before he knows he’ll not beat Lewis in a strait fight but he is the better strategist.
    Alonso and Hamilton seem to have similar aggressive driving styles; Hamilton being a chip of the old block may explain why they just could not get on in 2007. They are the most entertaining drivers this season.

  25. Shoulda Coulda Woulda blah blah blah. Lots of experts on here today. Great race from EVERY driver in nightmare conditions. Hamilton is a racer of Schumacher’s stature and he will be champion again. The operative word being “racer”, Button is a poacher, bless him, and will never go hungry.

    Red Bull? Hmmm. I think there’s a lot of political infighting in that team which is a shame for Vettel and Webber. Fantastic to see Rosberg up there – another future champion following in his dads exciting footsteps.

    Definitely a 10 despite the negatives from some of the “experts”.

  26. For all that Schumacher hasn’t done (yet), seeing him give all the drivers a lesson in defensive driving was pure class. He’s worth having back so that he can bully them all.

    What a race 10/10, well I am British.

    1. I saw him defend only against Hamilton. Later he put in some token effort against Massa too, but that was hardly a lesson. He completely botched that one up.

      Everyone else he just seemed to let steam by.

    2. I was never a Schumacher fan but now I feel bad for him for the damage he is doing to his legacy, which he has heretofore richly deserved. He was desperately slow, and this defense against Massa, rather, running Massa on the grass to prolong the inevitable, made him only more pitiable.

      How much time does he get? The season is 20 percent run, and it is clear that, among the top teams, or maybe all teams, that he has the weakest relative performance. Seeing what Nico can do, Mercedes made a horrible choice by evicting Barrichello, or not getting Kubica in that car.

      1. I agree. I’m no Schumi fan, either; in fact, I supported Damon Hill and Senna before him! Nevertheless, I find it a bit sad that Schumi is doing so badly. He was a truly great driver and is a legend. He doesn’t deserve these demeaning results. I also don’t like how many people in the media, and especially Legard (sp?) on the BBC, continue to draw attention to it: it’s unnecessary.

        1. HounslowBusGarage
          18th April 2010, 20:55

          Hmmm. I wonder if his ‘neck problem’ will return soon. Who else would be available for Mercedes?

          1. I don’t think so his ‘neck problem’ will appear soon.He is a fighter & will fight till the very end of the race.Yes his performance is not up to the mark,but hey this is a guy who did no racing for three years.
            I think if Mercedes bring good update in Barcelona then we may see him in a good position.

            One thing he needs to improve is his qualifying,because Overtaking is very hard on a dry track.

  27. wong chin kong
    18th April 2010, 13:59

    When Button signed up to race with Mclaren, quite a number of writers said Button made the wrong decision because they see Button as no match for Hamilton. Button happened to be lucky with the double diffuser advantage when he was with the Brawns team last year.
    As 2009 champion he did not impress in Bahrain. In Australia, he proved the doom sayers wrong and now again in China-he won two races out of four and now leading the pack. His race strategy is beyond reproach especially in difficult rainy conditions.

    There is nothing to stop Button winning this year WDC back to back barring unforseen unreliability in Mclaren car.

    1. Well, there won’t be rain everytime, nor SC.
      and I am still pretty sure (although I like him and wish him well) he is not really as good a racer as Ham. I mean, to me he is a carbon-copy of Alain Prost. Clever, calm, but not very flamboyant.
      I fell he achieved a lot so far, and while I refuse toinsult him and call him “lucky”, you must admit that everything turned up rather well for him. That will not always be the case.

    2. Yp, racing is much more than quick lap times. Button has shown that he possess the ability to not just drive, but plan and use strategy throughout the race.
      He is less trigger happy than Lewis, and knows how to put his tires to a better use.
      In my opinion, if he wanted to he could pace Lewis, but is rather backing off the quick lap times and high speed takeovers, he treats his car, like a jockey treats a Thoroughbred, that is why he succeeds.

      1. @ Aleksander – “racing is much more than quick lap times”
        Every time i see this statement,i laugh out loud; because this is exactly what racing is, or should i say was. It was about who could race the car fastest around a lap,for the whole race, whilst keeping it on the road. This was obviously before different tyre compounds, refuelling and other team strategies were introduced into F1; so please let not redefine what racing is.
        Button is making better strategic calls than Lewis at the moment; and so he should, because he has more than double Lewis’s experience. 10 yrs at my last count. Remember, barring his single race win at Honda, its not like he’s been always known as a good “strategist” ala Schumacher, so Kudos to him that he can show this quality at this stage in hs career.
        It is also laughable to say he can “outpace” Lewis. Lewis clearly has more outright speed than Button. Lets give to Ceaser what is Ceaser’s, and to be blind to a drivers talents.
        As i’ve said before, you can learn strategy, but you cant learn outright pace. The team can even make up for a driver’s lack of strategic nous, but not pace.
        Overall,irrespective of wins or championship points, i think most people will agree that Lewis is a better driver (OVERALL being the main word here), and more exciting to watch, and he can only get better.
        He is the Schumacher of his era. This is not a slight on Button or disrespect to Micheal.

  28. One for the statisticians, when did we last (if ever) see three teams score 1-2 victories in a season?

    1. In 1998 Mclaren, Ferrari and Jordan all scored 1-2 victories

  29. Does anyone know of a place on the net where I could wacth the Race again ? I missed the 2nd half…

    1. If you’re in the UK, the BBC iPlayer.

    2. If not, the race is already uploaded on the alt.binaries.formula1 usenet news group. it will probably be available on torrents too.

      Some kind people record the BBC airings and upload them.

      I’m still waiting on the post race forum though.

      1. Thank you !
        Looking forward to see what the BBC comment is like. French viewres have to follow on TF1 and it’s, well so-so…

    3. @ Gwenouille

      May I ask how did you missed the second half of the race?

  30. Seems I’m regularly changing my laptop desktop background to pics of Button celebrating victories these days!

  31. Can anyone explain how Sutil fell so far back after dicing with Schumie for 6th near the halfway point and then back to 12th/13th after pit stops????

    Thanks

    1. He was on the wrong tyre for long time so when everybody made their pit stops earlier then hi were faster on track.Secondly his car didn’t had pace on wet track & both Vettel & Hamilton overtook him in couple of laps, as did the Ferrari’s.

  32. I think everyone who underestimated Button should eat their hat. Incidentally, that includes me, so I’ll have a sombrero and chips, please.

  33. scandal!!! :) 2nd SC was just a scandal! it was only to close the gap between kub and rest of cars. hamilton should go and kiss the ass of stewards or anyone who kept unnessesary SC on track!

    1. I don’t think it was Scandal,they needed the safety car to clear off the debris from one of the Torro Ross’s car, but they kept the SC for two extra laps for no reason.

  34. Let’s first say that Button did a great job.

    But, when one observes how Hamilton made so many amazing passes, leaving the RedBulls and Ferraris bottled up behind slow cars, and how he was running down Button as if the latter were chained to a post at the end, you have to wonder who is the better driver.

    I love that we have now such contrasting and effective styles at the front of the grid in the same team. I am very sorry that the race lacked another 3 laps because a wet track duel on bald intermediates between those two would have been talked about for a generation whatever the outcome.

    What happened to RedBull? Isn’t this so familiar how they show sick speed, then both cars, especially Webber, disappear in the race due to horrendous strategy? Now that they have been caught performance wise by up to three teams, I think its fair to say their championship odds look poor, because we have enough proof that their pit wall is not up to scratch.

  35. Now that was pretty entertaining stuff! Bravo Button, Hamilton and Rosberg. I hope Schumacher doesn’t have a performance clause in his contract, btw. I’m not ready to give him the sack just yet, but he certainly hasn’t been showing us much so far. 5 or 6 years ago, he would probably have been the class of the field in conditions like this.

    1. Schumi was much worse in this race, relative to Rosberg, than he has been so far. Schumi claims that the inters and the car behaves very differently in the wet than how it used to in his day. He’s also claiming to have a problem with braking. I think that we should give him a few more races, perhaps even longer, before writing him off.

      1. Back when Schumacher had a stranglehold on wins and championships, I found the whole thing to be pretty darn boring. I’m sure I’m not the only one. Now that he’s arguably an underdog, I find myself pulling for the “old” guy! I’m hoping that he (and his car) can find some more pace in Europe, and add another exciting dimension to what is already looking to be a great season of F1 racing. Like you say, we shouldn’t dismiss him just yet, but his star seems to have faded a bit.

  36. So Hamilton will destroy Button this year….yea right !

    1. He won’t destroy him, I said that from the start. I prefer Button to Hamilton although I respect and like almost all drivers equally.

      However, I feel Hamilton will end up ahead. IMO, People that said that Button will get blown away can’t have watched F1 for the last 10 years (or don’t understand F1)

    2. No world champion in F1 would ‘destroy’ another [recent] world champion. Those people who made such comments were either deluded or fond of hyperbole in showing preference for their favoured driver and his talents.

      If Lewis were to be consistently 0.2 sec per lap faster than Jenson, that would be a great result. You couldn’t really ask for more than that from the 08 champ against the 09 champ. Where Lewis excels is in his race-craft: his prodigious ability to overtake, his defensive driving, his ability to drive around problems and adapt to the car, his consistency, his wet weather driving; and so on. In short, Lewis’s value as an F1 driver isn’t his outright pace: good though it is.

      I long for a dry race. I don’t care if it’s boring! I just want to have a proper measure of the relative performance of the drivers and the teams. All but the first race have been topsy-turvy and nigh impossible to read.

      1. I don’ think he will destroy I still believe that come at the end of the year Hamilton will be ahead of Button,so it’s still early days.

  37. Eventful race!

    Well done to Jenson, today: he drove well. The fact of the matter, again, however, is that this win, like that in Australia, owed more to tactics than to driving skill. I am not saying that Jenson lacks driving skill: he’s one of the best out there. Incidentally, this is something that I have always maintained, since his transformation at BAR onwards. Today, ‘tactics’ were crucial, however, as Hamilton and co.’s decision to pit on to inters, and then, quickly, back to slicks, cost them about 50 seconds. That cost them any chance of the victory. Once again, Jenson didn’t have to do much on the track, except maintain reasonable pace and conserve his tyres. Lewis, to the great benefit of the TV audience, was much busier. He put in many, and often superlative, overtaking manoeuvres. And many of these had nothing to do with his F-duct: I’m thinking of those superlative passes around the outside into that corner complex.

    Now, I think that I’m being very generous to Jenson in complimenting him on his ‘tactics’. I do believe that it was, in fact, luck. A driver can only tell you what the track and car are like on the lap on which they are driving. They are not Merlin: they cannot know or assuredly predict the future track conditions or weather: even for the next lap, let alone a whole stint. The best placed people to do this are the teams themselves: McLaren, for example, has a team of technical boffins studying telemetry and weather forecasts and calculating all the things of which a driver cannot be thinking when he’s driving. So, although Lewis has been unfortunate that said boffins have got their calculations wrong, several times, he has the correct approach. It’s the correct approach because it’s largely conservative. If they get the strategy wrong, Lewis only looses a handful of positions. Jenson’s strategy is hero or zero: the win or last. This is not a strategy that a top team can afford to adopt. Sooner, rather than later, Jenson will be caught out. Imagine what would have happened if Jenson had got it wrong at Australia, as it looked like he had, initially: he would have been sent to the back of the pack – and them some.

    Much has been made of Lewis v Jenson. Jenson may have had better results so far on paper and in terms of the championship. There is no doubt in my mind, however, that Lewis has driven better and is the better driver. We have seen it, time and time again, that Lewis is a mighty racer and a great overtaker. Whereas Jenson made little to no progress against the Ferraris at Malaysia, Lewis (on the slower, hard tyre) had already passed them and a chain of cars and was well out of shot. Yet, Jenson didn’t finish far behind and nor did the similarly culpable Massa. F1 doesn’t really reward overtaking: you can sit back, look after your tyres, and make almost as many positions up by waiting for the pit stops and having moderately fresher rubber. As for wet-weather driving, Jenson is quick here, too. But only one man has won a race in the wet by over a minute since Senna: Lewis, of course. Lewis lapped his team-mate in that race, once; and his main championship challenger more than once. So Jenson has some way to go before he should be regarded in Lewis’s league in the wet; also, Jenson had more of a wet-weather setup than Lewis at China, I think.

    So, Lewis is the better driver. But no champion would likely thrash another in todays F1. Senna is, arguably, the greatest F1 driver ever. But he didn’t thrash Prost. He was often beaten by Prost; although, more often than not, Senna prevailed. So Lewis was never going to have a cake-walk against Jenson. He didn’t thrash Alonso, either. As the season progresses, Lewis will pull further away from Jenson.

    Let’s, please, just have a dry race: I really don’t care if it’s boring. I want to know where all the teams are in terms of performance. (I also want to forestall Jenson’s sixth sense!)

    1. lol, very good (especially the last brackets). Very accurate assessment, Alistair.

    2. See Alistair, the logic in your statement is not sound!
      You want a dry race, perfect condition and a boring one.
      Well life is not predictable, and F1 is a testament to that.
      Saying Lewis is better only to bravado overtaking and merciless usage of his car.
      Well i wonder will he be overtaking into a corner at 280k once he has an accident?
      I think he will become more cautious, stop the antics and calm down.
      I have seen numerous athletes been beaten by guys who’s ability was not on par with them simply by using their head, and Jens is a proof of that!
      What counts are results, not acrobatic manner, compared to a guy who can save tires like no other in history of this sport.
      Saving tires is not as entertaining as overtaking, but it shows that the driver possesses a finesse on driving the car, opposed to an aggressive manner.
      Plus we can see that Jens is more stable in his approach on tactics, he thinks within the helmet, not being dependent on the team always helping him around.
      And this Senna or Schumacher claims are invalid!
      To compare them you need to have them in a same team for a longer period of time, and since we were never given such a treat, we can only contemplate, so give it a rest!

    3. @Alistair – I totally agree, but people cal me a Lewis fanboy because i disagree about Jenson’s abilities so far. Jenson is good. That’s where it ends. He is not as good as Lewis, even with the strategic calls, and this will be found out over the course of the race.
      I will be up in arms the same way, if people compared Vettel to Webber, or Alonso to Massa
      Jenson has made 3 strategic calls so far – 2 were luck; of these two, one turned out well, the other did not. However, today, i believe he made the right call, and it was not luck.
      As others have alluded to here, he knows he cannot beat Lewis on speed alone, so he uses tactical nous to make up for the deficit, and kudos to him for that! But we shouldnt get carried away, tactical nous to cover for a lack of outright pace against your team mate can only get you so far. The comparisons between Senna and Prost highlight it well.
      As i said before, Ross Brawn let Jenson go for a 41 yr old coming out of retirement ( And we know how he has performed so far),If Jenson was such a tactical genius, i think Ross would have known that and made a better effort to keep him.

  38. ‘See Alistair, the logic in your statement is not sound!’

    How dare you! My Logic is always sound :)

    ‘You want a dry race, perfect condition and a boring one. Well life is not predictable, and F1 is a testament to that.’

    F1 may be ‘IF’ spelt backwards. But rain has been the saving grace in all but the first race. I want a dry race (not necessarily a boring race) simply because it’s otherwise very difficult to see the true, relative performance of the drivers and teams. For example, we still don’t know whether RBR still have the fastest car overall.

    ‘Saying Lewis is better only to bravado overtaking and merciless usage of his car. Well i wonder will he be overtaking into a corner at 280k once he has an accident? I think he will become more cautious, stop the antics and calm down. I have seen numerous athletes been beaten by guys who’s ability was not on par with them simply by using their head, and Jens is a proof of that!’

    I don’t think that Lewis is better simply because of his overtaking. But that is a definite advantage that he has consistently and most effectively displayed; and once which is very important with the absence of re-fueling and the abundance of aerodynamic appendages which make overtaking so difficult.

    Incidentally, Lewis has had far fewer ‘accidents’ than the vast majority of drivers in F1 today (even relative to their years in the sport: one need only look at Vettell’s antics).

    ‘What counts are results, not acrobatic manner, compared to a guy who can save tires like no other in history of this sport’.

    The season is nascent: Jenson hasn’t won the title yet! I suspect that Lewis will have a clear advantage in points as the season progresses and draws to a close.

    If Jenson is so soft on his tyres, why was he pretty much the first to wear his tyres out at Australia: requiring a fresh set on just lap 6? If Jenson is so soft on his tyres, why did he wear out his set of soft tyres at Malaysia on lap 9 and why were his hard tyres so ruined at the end of a race that a terminally damaged Ferrari was crawling all over him? If Jenson is so soft on his tyres, why were his tyres bald (pretty much as bald as Lewis’s) at the end of the Chinese GP? Jenson is not as soft on his tyres as people may believe. The reason why Lewis, Webber, Schumacher, etc., had and have had worn tyres (and perhaps why Jenson wore his tyres out at the beginning in Australia and Malaysia) is that they have been dicing, overtaking, and defending – sometimes, for a race distance. Jenson has won his two races simply through strategy: he has conserved his tyres and had no need to do otherwise.

    ‘Saving tires is not as entertaining as overtaking, but it shows that the driver possesses a finesse on driving the car, opposed to an aggressive manner. Plus we can see that Jens is more stable in his approach on tactics, he thinks within the helmet, not being dependent on the team always helping him around.’

    You’ve got me here: its Jenson’s fabled ‘feel for the conditions’, as Martin Brundell said. Jenson is so good at feeling the conditions that as soon as he gets in the car he knows the grip levels and the weather for his next corner, his next lap, the rest of his stint, the rest of his race, and the rest of everyone else’s race. That’s why he doesn’t bother to consult or heed the advice of an extensive group of PhDs with rows of computers monitoring telemetry and weather forecasts who calculate the best strategy possible. Jenson doesn’t need any of that. He constantly takes risks (of course, it’s only a risk from someone else’s perspective) because he has nothing to lose. He doesn’t need consistent safe, high points finishes. What’s the point? In this championship, wins matter, not points.

    Unfortunately, for Jenson, one of his hero or zero calls is not going to work for him; and sooner, rather than later. Lewis has been unfortunate; but his prudent, conservative strategy will likely reap the greatest reward. You simply can’t guess the conditions correctly every time; e.g., Senna, Spa, 1992.

    ‘And this Senna or Schumacher claims are invalid!
    To compare them you need to have them in a same team for a longer period of time, and since we were never given such a treat, we can only contemplate, so give it a rest!’

    It’s quite possible to compare the achievements of drivers. Lewis has done some remarkable things in an F1 car, such as winning a race in the wet by over a minute, which Senna did, but which no other current F1 driver has done. This is a simple truth.

    1. Alistair i falter and give submission, you are the greatest! ;)

      ”Incidentally, Lewis has had far fewer ‘accidents’ than the vast majority of drivers in F1 today (even relative to their years in the sport: one need only look at Vettell’s antics).”

      Well i have to say Lewis entered on a high and blessed note in F1, the privilege not granted to Senna or Schumacher!
      He had a top car since the beginning, and never was in any kind of panic to make forceful results!
      Driving from the front of the pack is less prone to accidents, and that is a fact.

      ”If Jenson is so soft on his tyres, why was he pretty much the first to wear his tyres out at Australia: requiring a fresh set on just lap 6?”
      He didn’t wear them out no car wears them out so quick, it was just that the car was setup differently.
      Getting tires bald is normal, just how much, well, i think Jens got the field won over here!

      ”In this championship, wins matter, not points.”
      Really, what happens if you have a DNF and your teammate has 4th place?

      ”It’s quite possible to compare the achievements of drivers. Lewis has done some remarkable things in an F1 car, such as winning a race in the wet by over a minute, which Senna did, but which no other current F1 driver has done. This is a simple truth.!”

      One race does not prove stature,
      consistency is the name of the game!
      Lewis was never the one to go and build a team from the ground up, Senna and MS were the guys for the job!
      He was given all from the beginning, he cannot appreciate it fully!
      Only hard work, pain and frustration is the ultimate mix to define a Thoroughbred ,Micheal gave up some of his finest years to do so!
      Senna clawed his way from the bottom, Lewis never did, 1min,2 min, 3 min over the competition is a mark of a superior car, but supreme competitors are made of constant pushing towards a greater understanding of car setup,tactics,defining their resolve in the toughest hours.
      Lewis is not sculpted, he is potent and promises much, but to really make me say he is on his way, he must show ability to think during the race, look for a cleaner line!
      You talk of Lewis like he is the one driving smart and Jens the one risking his life, well buddy what can i tell ya, if Jens has his luck taken away he will loose a race, if Lewis has his run out, he can loose his life!

      1. Aleksander – Are you not aware that by comparing Lewis to Senna or Schumacher, you are actually confirming his amazing abilities?
        Remember, this is the beginning of his 4th year in F1 for Gods sake!

        And your “one race does not prove stature” comment shows that you are being illogical. Surely, the opinions of Lewis, shared by the fans and the paddock alike are not based on one race!
        Alistair was just giving you another stat on Lewis – amongst many others he could use to justify his point.

        1. ”Aleksander – Are you not aware that by comparing Lewis to Senna or Schumacher, you are actually confirming his amazing abilities?”
          What a load of Bs! Racers are compared to one another on a daily basis, it is the way ranking is established!
          kbdavies read the whole thing and only than post remarks!
          ”Alistair was just giving you another stat on Lewis – amongst many others he could use to justify his point.”
          he was not giving stats but opinions! He simply does not know if his tires were worn out or his cars set up not done properly, even i don’t, we are just speculating, like all on this blog.
          What does having seasons under a belt have to do with it, looks like you haven’t read my response, since he is in a superior car most of the time than regular rookies, who have to battle their way to prove a point!
          Take time next time and read and think before you write, you look like a hotheaded Lewis supporter,biased and angry on anyone who says other vise!

  39. Nice race. Button is indeed a great strategist, and so are Rosberg or at least his engineers. Awesome race from Hamilton and Alonso, it seems Massa can’t really keep up, no surprises Kubica will likely replace him next year. And Schuma is as bad as Hamilton when comes to burn tyres away, hopefully he can forget the crappy season start and recover to Rosberg levels in the european leg.

    PS.

    Alonso > Hamilton > Kubica > Button > Rosberg > Massa > Vettel > Webber > Schumacher > Kovalainen > Barrichelo > Trulli > Sutil > Liuzzi > Kobayashi > Glock > de la Rosa > Petrov > Hulkenberg > Grassi > Senna > Chandhok = Badoer

    My F1 skill rank right now.

  40. I forgot about STR. Alguersuari is right down below Barrichelo and Buemi at de La Rosa level.

  41. Good race for Button, in this condition you need a driver who is soft & gentle with his car.A deserving victory for him.A bit surprised not to see Vettel on the podium he is another great wet weather driver.Nico again putting on consistent performance.But what wrong with Schumacher??
    He was passed more times by the top drivers then they passed the drivers from the HRT teams.It’s true that Mercedes lacks some pace relatively to the other big teams but if Nico could pull that car on the podium Schumi should stay with him.

  42. Tell me something people, Did Button took the lead from Nico as he ran wide at turn 11 & Button overtook him in the long back straight before they changed the tyres for the penultimate time? If it’s true then I missed it as Star Sports were busy showing intervals.

  43. Rain saves the day yet again and provides us with a wonderful spectacle. Sprinkler petition is in order perhaps for the boring circuits…

  44. Thoroughly enjoyable race and well done Jenson…

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