Jenson Button catapulted himself to first place in the formula one driver’s championship with an incredible drive and 1st place at the Chinese Grand Prix. Jenson Button now leads the championship table with 60 points. Teammate and fellow Briton Lewis Hamilton took second place at the Chinese Grand Prix to make it a McLaren 1-2.

Lewis Hamilton had his brush with the wrong side of the F1 law when he almost took out Sebastien Vettel in the pits. He later blamed the incident on painted advertisements on the tarmac which  reduce grip. It was another matter that to remain wheel to wheel with Vettel he actually was on the wrong side of the driveway. They briefly touched wheels and Hamilton again came into focus for dangerous driving that is becoming his trademark. Sebastien Vettel of the Red Bull team did not mince words while blaming Lewis Hamilton :

“At the stop I was ahead. I don’t know why he pulled to the left and was keen to touch me,” Sebastien Vettel said.

“His front wing was at my rear wheel. I hoped I didn’t get a puncture from that .I don’t really understand why he did that as I was a bit ahead of him and had the advantage. He didn’t have to make contact.” The German added

Jenson Button had a less eventful race by comparison, only looking uncomfortable once when he lost the grip at the hairpin of turn 6 as a result of aquaplaning. Jenson Button called the victory special after the race showing his mastery of the wet track and good judgement in choosing the right tyres.

“This is so special,”  Jenson Button said.

“For me it is my best victory. Every time that you win I think it becomes your best victory, but this one was very special as it was very tough conditions. I had a job keeping it on the road at the end and the great thing is our pace was good. It wasn’t just the luck of calling the weather.” he added

Nico Rosberg finished third for the Mercedes GP team while teammate Michael Schumacher again struggled and finished 10th. Adrian Sutil had a decent race in his Force India car finishing 11th.

The Ferrari team had a mixed race with Fernando Alonso finishing 4th and teammate Felipe Massa finishing a dismal but still points earning 9th.

Final classification of the 2010 Chinese Formula One Grand Prix :

  1. Jenson Button (Britain)       McLaren 1hr 46mins 42.163secs
  2. Lewis Hamilton (Britain)      McLaren           +00:01.530
  3. Nico Rosberg (Germany)        Mercedes           00:09.484
  4. Fernando Alonso (Spain)       Ferrari            00:11.869
  5. Robert Kubica (Poland)        Renault            00:22.213
  6. Sebastian Vettel (Germany)    Red Bull           00:33.310
  7. Vitaly Petrov (Russia)        Renault            00:47.600
  8. Mark Webber (Australia)       Red Bull           00:52.172
  9. Felipe Massa (Brazil)         Ferrari            00:57.796
 10. Michael Schumacher (Germany)  Mercedes           01:01.749
 11. Adrian Sutil (Germany)        Force India        01:02.874
 12. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil)   Williams           01:03.665
 13. Jaime Alguersuari (Spain)     Toro Rosso         01:11.416
 14. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland)   Lotus                  1 lap
 15. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany)    Williams               1 lap
 16. Bruno Senna (Brazil)          HRT                   2 laps
 17. Karun Chandhok (India)        HRT                   4 laps
 Ret.  Jarno Trulli (Italy)          Lotus                30 laps
 Ret.  Lucas Di Grassi (Brazil)      Virgin               48 laps
 Ret.  Pedro de la Rosa (Spain)      BMW Sauber           49 laps
 Ret.  Sebastien Buemi (Switzerland) Toro Rosso           56 laps
 Ret.  Kamui Kobayashi (Japan)       BMW Sauber           56 laps
 Ret.  Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy)     Force India          56 laps
 Ret.  Timo Glock (Germany)          Virgin               56 laps

Image : McLaren Media