Button takes lead in title race – full points standings after China

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Drivers championship standings

PositionDriverPoints
1Jenson Button60
2Nico Rosberg50
3Fernando Alonso49
4Lewis Hamilton49
5Sebastian Vettel45
6Felipe Massa41
7Robert Kubica40
8Mark Webber28
9Adrian Sutil10
10Michael Schumacher10
11Vitantonio Liuzzi8
12Vitaly Petrov6
13Rubens Barrichello5
14Jaime Alguersuari2
15Nico Hulkenberg1
=16Timo Glock0
=16Sebastien Buemi0
=16Pedro de la Rosa0
=16Lucas di Grassi0
=16Karun Chandhok0
=16Kamui Kobyashi0
=16Jarno Trulli0
=16Heikki Kovalainen0
=16Bruno Senna0

Constructors championship standings

PositionTeamPoints
1McLaren109
2Ferrari90
3Red Bull73
4Mercedes60
5Renault46
6Force India18
7Williams6
8Toro Rosso2
=9HRT0
=9Lotus0
=9Sauber0
=9Virgin0

2010 Chinese Grand Prix

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    Author information

    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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    61 comments on “Button takes lead in title race – full points standings after China”

    1. This new points system seems to swap the positions about a lot. 3 championship leaders now…

      1. Nothing has changed. New system just gives more points, but standings was same with 10-8-6…

      2. Under any points system I think it would have changed just as much by now? Although I think one of the past systems would have had Alonso still ahead after Malaysia, I think.

        1. After old system:
          Button 23
          Rosberg 20
          Alonso 20
          Hamilton 20
          Vettel 18
          Massa 16
          Kubica 17
          Webber 10

          So almoast no changes at all

          1. This looks much nicer in my eyes!

          2. yeah it is nice. from looking at the table, i’ve come to the conclusion that webber is a bit s***. ;)

            1. Webber has his strategy compromised by the team a lot. He should/could have won in Australia if they hadn’t messed up his strategy and waited for Vettel to come in.

              I’m happy to see they learned from that and today allowed him to come in earlier than Vettel. If it wasn’t for Vettel and Hamilton pushing him off after the restart, he might have done pretty well today too.

    2. I have a question: If Rosbergs team mate was anyone but Schumacher would there be rumours circulating of a replacement already?

      1. Bigbadderboom
        18th April 2010, 10:27

        I think that Mercedes and Schuey took a far longer view than 4 races on the development of The silver arrows team, In terms of under performance I think Mark Webber is under most pressure, he is by far the lesser value driver in terms of equipment available and points delivered, I think he is far guiltier of squandaring opportuniies.

        1. Mark Webber hasn’t signed a new contract yet, he’s under pressure because there’s a Red Bull signed driver in the WRC who’s supposedly somewhat decent in an F1 car…

      2. OMG, what a nonsense question. Of course not.

        1. If anything I think the Vettel/Webber partnership is everything an F1 team would want. Both competitive drivers that can win races, but one tends to perform better than the other. Red Bull would want a team that can do 1-2s rather than taking eachother out or an Alonso/Hamilton 2007 situation.

          (Hurts to say Vettel’s stronger than Webber cause i’m a big fan of Webber, and unless Vettel’s in the lead you never see him involved in anything)

          1. Good point Electrolite, best example of this sort of thing is Coulthard, McLaren kept him for longer than anyother drive in their history, because he could be quick when their title challenger was slow, win races an feel wanted but never actually be in contention to beat his teamate.

            Bar, poor Mika in 2001.

        2. No no, simmer down. I think you guys have interpreted it the wrong way.

          Disregard the Schumacher aspect, disregard the new team aspect. All I am saying is if a driver in a team was typically getting beaten this comprehensively after 4 rounds how long would it be before the media started circulating the rumours (key word there guys is rumour). I’m not saying the team would think this way, and I am aware the Mercedes is new with a long term plan (funny how all think they are knowledge supreme on the net), but it would be inevitable that someone would write an article questioning that persons position in a typical situation, which this is not.

      3. Yes. And regarding Webber, he is not being dusted off in qualifying and practice by his teammate, at the very least Webber is keeping RedBulls competition behind him in qualifying. Webber’s issues are his old foes of misjudgement and despair in the race, adn the teams “strategerie.” Schumacher is many tenths off Rosberg in all stages and conditions. If it were Button being so trounced by Hamilton, even iwth arguably low expections placed upon him, Button’s head would be on a platter already.

    3. Wow. Top 7 are all still within striking distance with one race win. Interesting that of the 4 big teams going into the season, Schumacher is by far the lowest in points.

      1. He had as much points as Webber if he hadnt problems in Malaysia and crash in Australia

        1. Yet Webber would have won in Australia if things had gone right.

    4. Great race!! Congrats to Jensen and Lewis. Great race by both… I must say it was quite sad watching Schumacher getting picked off time after time. He’s just not a contender.

      1. I think somethings not right on his car yet, you could visibly see that he couldn’t get traction out of the corners.

        1. yeah but remember him driving to second stuck in 5th, no car used to have a problem big enough.

          He’s just not what he used to be. Or he hasn’t got it back yet.

    5. Still think the title battle will be between Alonso and Vettel but Jenson has been inspired in the wet races this season and fully deserves the championship lead. Alonso has had a torrid few races though and but the recovery drives in today and in Aus were both pretty brilliant.

      1. It wont be Alonso juast got luck with the first win unlike Mclaren dominatin in the wet

        1. I’m not an Alonso fan, but he’s got the pace over Massa at the moment and with Ferrari’s potential to develop their car you would be Naive to count him out yet.

          I think Rosberg, despite doing really well, has had luck on his side, most others have had problems (Alonso’s engines for example)
          Not that his efforts and any less commendable due to it though.

          Maybe he did just get luck, but the same argument could be made for both Buttons wins.

        2. There is no way anyone should count out Alonso, in fact, he’s my tip for the title.

    6. What exciting races..the tyre poker did working well with McLaren..Hope Lewis will not get any penalty of that ex-pit incidents..he just agreat driver,we love him and his action…

    7. I am so glad Scummy came back to show the world he was never as good as we thought. He was just in a car that was streets ahead for years, and there was nobody to challenge him in between Hakkinnen and Alonso.

      1. lmao oh come be nice to seniors

        watching Petrov go past Schumi was priceless… I like Petrov, he’s getting into the groove having had little time to get used to F1

    8. keith can you make a championship points line graph for your next china analysis article?

      1. That would be good! Great idea Sato! :-D

    9. Everyone who bet on Button and Rosberg at this moment in time are laughing.

      odds from start of season:

      Button was around 12/1
      Rosberg was around 25/1

      Bookies are also chuckling at all the bets on Alonso, Schumacher and Hamilton since mostly all the f1 fans bet on them.

      Is there anymore doubt on what Rosberg can do now? He gave Hamilton a good duel in that race and got another podium to be 2nd in the WDC with a car that still isn’t 100%. Keep it going Rosberg I got £20 riding on you to get the WDC, and Spain should be the race when the Mercedes is finally ready to challege the 1st, and quite down the WUM’s.

      Roll on spain…..

    10. Button outqualifies teammate past two races, uses fewer tires, and is leading the championship without fighting in the pit lane or weaving on track. Hmm. Sounds like a worthy reigning champ to me. But I’m in the US so what do I know.

      1. nothing…….Lewis is the man and yeah all you,ve said about button is true but he’s boring ,sorry

        1. lol's at Lewis fanboys
          18th April 2010, 20:13

          “slowly claps” you nearly fooled us WUM but I would rather have a driver that can win then a driver who makes it “interesting” who crashes half the time.

    11. I hate the new points system.

      1. Its simply useless. Its like old*2,5=new
        Absolutely agree with u

        1. The main difference is that it gives more points to lower places. Which in fact puts even more emphasis on finishing rather than winning races.

          1. weal, it does seem to be making absolutley no differance at the moment, I think if it had been used last year only one lower order driver would have benefited.

            still it does have an extra incentive attached to the win so i’m still for it.

    12. I love how Rosberg is second overall. Good look to him.

      1. also! interesting to see that, if Schumacher had racked up only HALF as many points and Rosberg has by now, then Mercedes would be ahead of Red Bull in the WCC.

    13. I said before the championship started and I’ll repeat it here; I’d bet on Alonso or Rosberg. Obviously Vettel, Hamilton and Button are great drivers and really in the groove right now, but circumstance-fortune seem to be with those two. It will be tight between everyone, including Kubica and Massa, thank god, because we all needed a well fought and close WDC, but 2 things separate Alonso and Rosberg from the rest;
      Alonso has experience no other has; he has come from below (Minardi), earned his seat on a then invisible Renault (it was all about Schumacher back then) and won TWICE to dethrone Schumi. Then he had all the Hamilton deal, which screwed him royally and gave him a lesson in humility. He was de-moted and went back to being happy with a podium. Won races with that miserable Renault and now has a big old Ferrari in his hands. He’s hungry for glory again.
      And Rosberg… He is talented, has always been very consistent AND has Schumacher and Ross Brawn at his side. I just don’t understand the people who really thought Schumacher was there to fight for the title. That’s just plain silly and naive. He has a new role now, and he is doing it really well, in my opinion.

      1. I think it would be Naive to suggest Schumacher wasn’t there to win the championship… But I agree it should be good for Rosberg.

      2. Circumstance fortune? Hamilton was the (one of the) fastest all weekend! He made a mistake in Q3, but he was fastest in the race again.

        The Red Bull team and drivers are completely unable to deal with anything but perfect conditions. Still, if there are a few “normal” races in a row they will pull away easily.

        Same with Hamilton and Alonso. Button beat Hamilton with two clever pit stop deciscions. Not on race pace. Likewise Massa finished ahead of Alonso because Alonso had problems.

        We’ll see how things look after a few “normal” races.

        Don’t forget after the mess of the start in 2008 even Kubica was in the lead of the championship in a car that under normal conditions would be lucky to finish on the podium.

        It’s not going to be such a lottery for every race of the season. There will be more “normal” races than wet races like this.

        1. well said Patrikl

    14. Button wins 2 out of 4 and 10 points in the lead going into the European rounds. Who’d ‘a’ thunk it!

      1. We can find out, wait for the prediction results! ^^

      2. or two points with the old system!

    15. 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. Sutil made his last stop too late. Schumacher stopped a few laps earlier and going 5 seconds a lap faster he pulled out a 15 second gap to Sutil.

        Sutil closed right back up to Schumacher by the end of the race though.

    16. I think the Mercedes team find themselves in a very similar situation to what BMW-Sauber were in 2008.

      You have one driver (Rosberg ’10, Kubica ’08) who is up there picking up the points being dropped by faster cars and subsequently putting himself in championship contention.

      Then you have the other driver (Schumacher ’10, Heidfeld ’08) who we know can offer so much more, but the car just doesn’t seem to handle the way he wants it to and is therefore limiting his potential.

      Also, although the car is reasonably quick, it’s still lacking those extra few tenths needed to regularly challenge for wins (even though they may pick up the odd podium).

      It will be interesting to see whether Mercedes take the same decision BMW-Sauber did in 2008 and halt development mid-season to concentrate on next year’s car. Would be a shame for Rosberg if they did.

      1. This is a very interesting point, still both teams, an BMW rather more inexblicably than Mercedes seeing as BMW might actually had a chance had they been sensible, are making a mistake if you ask me. If you’ve never won a championship it doesn’t matter which one you win. The publicity money fans an sponsorship you’ll get from winning the driver massivley outway the benefits of the constructors.

      2. I think the main difference here is it’s not Mario Theyssen, it’s Ross Brawn. If there is one thing he is good at is winning. He’s been doing it for a long time now.

    17. Nice work by Rosberg to be where he is but he’s going to have to starting winning races to stay up there. After 4 races of the main protagonists finishing all over the points positions, his consistency has been rewarded, but once we get a few more double-winners Rosberg has to have won at least once to stay in touch with them.

      Heck, we won’t know until Silverstone what’s going on.

    18. If you take in to account the finishing positions then the non scoring drivers should be ordered like:

      Heikki Kovalainen
      Sebastien Buemi
      Karun Chandhok
      Bruno Senna
      Pedro de la Rosa
      Jarno Trulli
      Luca di Grassi
      Timo Glock
      Kamui Kobayashi

    19. go heikki… leader of wdc division 2

    20. Schumi_the_greatest
      19th April 2010, 9:37

      good pooint patrickl

      im glad im not the only 1 who has noticed although button has done very well by winning 2 races they both hinged on him getting the right call for tyres, which he deserves credit for doing, hamilton is only 11 points behind having had to make a comeback in the last 3 gps. Hes been the quicker of the 2 mclaren drivers. Shaping up to be a fascinating season already so close.

      vettel once again proves hes a long way from the being the complete driver the bbc would have you believe, great in qualifying and great when its dry leading from pole otherwise hes average im afraid

    21. That must be the first time a driver has gone from 1st to 6th in the championship!?

    22. Does anyone else feel that Heidfeld deserved the second Renault seat? Heidfeld consistently out performed Kubica at BMWSauber, and seeing how good the Renault is with Kubica behind the wheel made me wonder how Nick would be doing.

      1. Petrov did well at Shanghai, at this rate Heidfeld might have a better chance with the first Mercedes seat…

        1. Petrov has impressed, but so did Kobyashi last year, and we are still yet to see that. Although obviously Petrov has done well, I don’t think it’s really possible to say he is any better as a package than say, Hulkenburg or Jaime (I can spell his Surname) are at the moment,

          Are we possibly jumping the gun a bit.

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