F1 – RED BULL 1-2 IN CHINA

27 May 2013

  Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber dominated a very wet Chinese Grand Prix with the German scoring Red Bull’s first ever Grand Prix victory. Due to the weather the race started under the safety car and once Fernando Alonso has pitted and rejoined at the rear of the field, the two Red Bull drivers were never seriously threatened.

  On a much heavier fuel load, championship leader Jenson Button was able to get between the leading pair during the mid race laps and held Webber up enough for Vettel to have a comfortable run to the flag.Webber and Button had a thrilling scrap for a few laps after Mark’s first stop. Webber rejoined behind the Brawn car and after a few laps of pressure Button ran wide at the end of the back straight. Webber nipped through and began to build a lead but then ran wide at the last turn himself, allowing Button back through. As in Malaysia though, Webber was in no mood to sit behind someone he was clearly faster than and he stormed around the outside of Button through turn seven to reclaim the position. Button then had no answer to the Red Bulls' pace and finished a distant third, ahead of his Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello.

   Front row starter Fernando Alonso, who had qualified on a minimal fuel load, had his day ruined when Renault opted to bring him in for refuelling at the end of the caution, allowing Red Bull to run one-two when the race finally got underway.

 

  Vettel and Webber quickly pulled away from the two Brawn drivers with Barrichello making the better start until he ran wide at the final corner on lap ten. The Brawns were fuelled longer than the Red Bulls, but did not have the pace to capitalise on it before the safety car reappeared on lap 18 when Robert Kubica plowed over the back of Jarno Trulli's Toyota at the final corner. The rear of the Toyota was totally destroyed and it was to everyone’s surprise that Kubica was able to continue after replacing his nose cone.

 

  McLaren had a solid, if not very fast race with Kovalainen coming home in fifth place ahead of his team-mate Hamilton in sixth. Lewis had had a rather wild afternoon with no less than five spins and it was only good luck that he did not hit anything. In contrast poor Adrian Sutil would have finished ahead of Hamilton except for his one spin when he aquaplaned into the barriers with just five laps to go. Will Force India ever get its first points?

 

  Timo Glock came home in seventh, with Buemi completing the scorers after an excellent drive that saw him run as high as fourth in the opening stint. Had the safety car not handed the one-stopping cars an advantage, the two-stopping Buemi would have been celebrating a top five finish. 

 

  Ferrari had another shocker with Raikkonen finishing a lowly 10th, struggling with a nervous car and spending most of the race being overtaken. Hamilton overtook Kimi three times. Felipe Massa's car ground to a halt while running third during the second safety car period although his place was only due to others pitting. Ferrari has now had its worst start to a season since 1981, the last time it had failed to score in the first three races of a championship.

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RESULTS

 

Pos  Driver                   Team                                        Time

 1.    Vettel                   Red Bull-Renault                      1h57:43.485

 2.    Webber                Red Bull-Renault                      +    10.970

 3.    Button                  Brawn GP-Mercedes               +    44.975

 4.    Barrichello            Brawn GP-Mercedes               +  1:03.704

 5.    Kovalainen           McLaren-Mercedes                 +  1:05.102

 6.    Hamilton               McLaren-Mercedes                 +  1:11.866

 7.    Glock                   Toyota                                     +  1:14.476

 8.    Buemi                   Toro Rosso-Ferrari                  +  1:16.439

 9.   Alonso                  Renault                                     +  1:24.309

10.  Raikkonen             Ferrari                                      +  1:31.750

11.  Bourdais                Toro Rosso-Ferrari                  +  1:34.156

12.  Heidfeld                BMW Sauber                           +  1:35.834

13.  Kubica                  BMW Sauber                           +  1:46.853

14.  Fisichella               Force India-Mercedes              +     1 lap

15.  Rosberg                Williams-Toyota                       +     1 lap

16.  Piquet                    Renault                                    +    2 laps

Not classified/retirements:

Driver                           Team                                        Laps

Sutil                              Force India-Mercedes              51

Nakajima                     Williams-Toyota                       44

Massa                          Ferrari                                      23

Trulli                             Toyota                                     19

 

 Fastest lap: Barrichello, 1:52.592 

CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

Drivers:                                    Constructors:              

1.  Button                    21        1.  Brawn GP-Mercedes          36 

2.  Barrichello              15        2.  Red Bull-Renault                 19.5 

3.  Glock                     10        3.  Toyota                                18.5 

4.  Vettel                     10        4.  McLaren-Mercedes            8 

5.  Webber                  9.5       5.  Renault                                4 

6.  Trulli                       8.5       6.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari             4 

7.  Alonso                   4          7.  BMW Sauber                      4 

8.  Heidfeld                 4          8.  Williams-Toyota                  3.5 

9.  Hamilton                 4      

10.  Kovalainen            4      

11.  Rosberg                3.5      

12.  Buemi                    3      

13.  Bourdais                1