Key Moments: Chinese Grand Prix

Home » F1 Blog » April 21 2010 at 23:02 | posted by Martin Porter | What do you think? Add a comment here

Key Moments: Chinese Grand Prix

Many drivers will be sitting in airport lounges around the world today pondering what they could have done differently during the Chinese Grand Prix. It was a chaotic race in which everyone but the winner could have managed a better result.

When the driver who finishes fourth makes five visits to the pits, it's a good sign that anyone on the grid had the potential to score decent points.

Winning the Chinese Grand Prix required quick laps when they counted backed up by the right strategic decisions. Jenson Button was the driver who best rose to the challenge and he was given the opportunity to claim victory during a few keys moments in the race.

Lap 2

Many teams predicted that rain would fall at the start of the Grand Prix and it duly arrived on the first lap. Only three drivers stopped for intermediate tyres at the end of lap one, but another ten drivers stopped at the end of lap two. Everyone was faced with a crucial decision at that point of the race. The track was suitable for dry tyres but the rain was expected to continue and that would render intermediates the only option. Drivers could either stay on the best rubber for the track at that very moment, or they could switch to wet weather tyres and bank on the expected rain. Jenson decided to stay on the slicks figuring that he was better off to use the dry tyres until forced to do otherwise. Five other drivers (Rosberg, Kubica, Petrov, De La Rosa and Kovalainen) made the same decision and this provided them with a huge advantage when the intermediates used by everyone else started burning up. Jenson's call to stay on dry tyres at the end of lap two thrust him well ahead of the Ferraris, both Red Bulls, and his teammate.

Lap 19

After the initial round of early pitstops Nico Rosberg took the Grand Prix lead. The gap between Nico in first place and Button in second remained stable at around five seconds, but on lap 19 Rosberg made a simple driving error heading into turn 11. He locked his rear brakes approaching the corner and ran wide on the exit. This mistake gave Rosberg a poor down the long back straight and Button seized the opportunity to get ahead. This moment of the Grand Prix proved crucial for Jenson because it gave him the lead without having to put up a fight. Button would have been able pass Rosberg later in the race, but the fact that he got by when Nico made a mistake meant the German never held him up in a battle for position. Any delay whilst fighting the Mercedes would have cost Button dearly later in the Grand Prix during his tussle with Lewis Hamilton.

Laps 43 - 50

Button also had to overcome pressure from his teammate in the dying stages of the race. With 14 laps to go Jenson had a 3 second lead over Hamilton who had come from a long way behind. However, Button had managed his tyres well and was able to respond to the pressure. On lap 43 the gap between the two McLaren drivers stabilised, and then Jenson started pulling away. After seven laps Button's lead was over ten seconds and this buffer was crucial when the rain started falling again. Lewis was faster in the slipperier conditions and was just 1.5 seconds behind his teammate at the chequered flag. If Jenson had not built up that ten second advantage on lap 50 he would have been forced to defend track position against Lewis and it's unlikely that he would have held onto the lead.

It is the second race out of four that Jenson Button has won by making the right decisions at the right time, and he's given some of his rivals something to think about on their long trip home.

Buy Chinese Grand Prix tickets from our Formula 1 tickets section.

Posted by Martin Porter. - Follow him on twitter @mpondaweb.