Race 2010 Chinese Grand Prix

fernando alonso battled way fourth after drive-through penalty jump-starting

the race started under conditions classified light rain , several drivers gambling on wet set in anticipation of heavier rain. timo glock forced start pit lane alongside teammate lucas di grassi after team failed lower him front jack on grid in time warmup lap. glock returned pits, never started after engine failure manifested itself. hispania s karun chandhok started pits after team changed parts overnight.

the start of race saw pole man sebastian vettel overtaken teammate mark webber , jump starting fernando alonso.

the first lap marked ferrari s fernando alonso shooting lead third on grid, beating front-row starting red bulls of mark webber , polesitter sebastian vettel. however, replays showed jumped start, first time in career, , earned himself drive-through penalty. elsewhere, there incident @ turn six, when force india s vitantonio liuzzi spun under braking , launched himself backwards sauber of kamui kobayashi, joined timo glock second driver retire every race far in 2010. sébastien buemi eliminated in accident, while williams nico hülkenberg forced take evasive action avoid being knocked out himself. accident saw deployment of safety car , first round of pit stops intermediate tyres rain intensified. mercedes nico rosberg, reigning world champion jenson button , renaults of robert kubica , vitaly petrov opted stay out, filling first 4 positions on track. lotus heikki kovalainen stayed out , ran high sixth place, first time 1 of year s new teams had run in points-scoring position season. di grassi retired on lap 8 clutch failure.

although intermediate tyres provided increase in speed, rain did not intensify , every driver running on them forced pit again, giving rosberg, button, kubica , petrov healthy buffer. meanwhile, championship contenders sebastian vettel, lewis hamilton, fernando alonso , mark webber forced carve way through field. forecasted rain approached, pit lane became scene of further drama, alonso , massa racing position @ pit lane entrance, while hamilton , vettel released pit bays – next 1 – @ same time, resulting in 2 cars driving side-by-side length of lane before hamilton yielded. both drivers reprimanded stewards, though no further action taken. on lap 19, mistake on part of circuit saw button reel rosberg in, world champion taking lead on straight.

pedro de la rosa experienced no luck after retiring in laps whilst running in sixth.

the advantage of button, rosberg , kubica – petrov gradually fell off pace within striking distance of more experienced competitors – negated when jaime alguersuari had encounter backmarker damaged front wing. pitted new nose cone, wing fell off, scattering debris across circuit , forcing safety car deployed once again. top ten when safety car introduced were: button, rosberg, kubica, petrov, michael schumacher, webber, hamilton, vettel, adrian sutil , recovering alonso. championship leader felipe massa down in 12th. when safety car withdrew, button given control of field between safety car s exit , start/finish line. button slowed near halt @ bottom hairpin, bunching field , causing controversy when mark webber forced off circuit @ final bend. lead driver has right drive fast or slow chooses when gains control of race, no action taken. webber, quite furious, lost 6 places , rejoined 12th.

vitaly petrov scored first points of season finishing seventh.

at restart, there immediate mayhem , action. hamilton eased schumacher on inside @ sixth turn, , went after , passed petrov well. vettel made mistake going first turn lost out sutil , alonso. hamilton on charge, passing kubica third, , started close in on second-placed rosberg. sutil passed schumacher on straight, both of them passed charging alonso , vettel. vitaly petrov had spin @ turn ten let alonso , vettel through. alonso , vettel started reel in fourth-placed kubica. hamilton passed rosberg same manoeuvre embarrassed schumacher, rosberg did not take lying down, , passed him on next turn reclaim position. final round of pitstops took place, , hamilton able jump rosberg. similarly, alonso came ahead of kubica.

the final phase of race run under increasingly heavy rain across part of circuit, dry line started appear along main straight. front runners fell established running order, petrov became fastest driver of final phase preservation of tyres allowed him power past alguersuari, schumacher , webber in final ten laps. felipe massa got himself points passing jaime alguersuari tenth.

the race saw rain, , of run on intermediate tyres.

button won race, becoming first repeat winner of 2010 season, continuing chinese grand prix s record of producing different winner each year , claiming championship lead. hamilton crossed line second, giving mclaren first one-two since 2007 italian grand prix. first 1-2 2 british drivers since 1999 austrian grand prix, eddie irvine won ahead of david coulthard, , first 1-2 2 english drivers since 1969 monaco grand prix, graham hill won ahead of piers courage. nico rosberg salvaged final podium position second race in succession in mercedes take second in championship, ten points behind button. mercedes-engined cars filled first 3 placings first time since 1955 british grand prix, event first 4 cars home mercedes works entries. alonso, kubica , vettel claimed fourth, fifth , sixth, while petrov s late moves saw him finish seventh, scoring , russia s first world championship points ever. webber limped home eighth on worn tyres, while massa stole ninth former teammate schumacher. heikki kovalainen best of new teams, bringing lotus home in fourteenth place ahead of hülkenberg – first time in 2010 new team had finished ahead of established 1 on track – , 2 hispanias, bruno senna beating teammate chandhok 2 laps.