The race film: Vettel master of the rain

After dry testing, rain came to the Shanghai circuit for the race. The race direction decides to start behind the safety car. Despite this, several drivers spun in the first few laps! Adrian Sutil, Nico Rosberg and Fernando Alonso take advantage of this to load their single-seaters with gasoline even before the ?real? departure. The gamble was daring for the Spaniard, who found himself at the back of the pack when the race was finally launched on the 8th lap.

Instantly, the Red Bull de Hag and Webber escape in front of the Brawn GP of Barrichello and Button. The leader of the World Championship takes the advantage over his teammate on the 11th lap. As is often the case in these conditions, the spectacle is complete on the track. While Hamilton makes a mistake and falls to 10th place, Sébastien Buemi distinguished himself by taking the advantage over Raikkonen then Trulli. The young Swiss is in 5th place on the 14th lap! Also to his advantage, Felipe Massa moved up to 6th place.

Mark Webber is first to refuel on lap 15; the Australian comes out of the stands between Massa and Trulli. Vettel, who has improved the fastest lap three times in a row, stops one lap later. He returns to the track behind Button and Barrichello, around fifteen seconds behind the leader.

On the 18th lap, Robert Kubica collided with the rear of the Toyota by Trulli. The Pole manages to return to his stand. With a new nose, he returns to the track while the safety car returns to the track to allow the marshals to clear the debris. Button, Barrichello and Buemi? whose wing is damaged following contact with Vettel? take the opportunity to mark their first stop.

On the 20th of 56 laps, Vettel is in the lead ahead of Button, Massa, Webber, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Barrichello, Kovalainen, Bourdais and Buemi. Both Ferrari, both McLaren and Bourdais, however, did not make their first save. While the safety car is still on the track, Felipe Massa stops his F60 on the side of the track: the Brazilian retires and leaves China with a still empty odometer.

The race resumed on lap 22, just after Sébastien Bourdais spun. Lewis Hamilton quickly attacks Kimi Raikkonen. Author of a splendid overtake from the outside, the World Champion took 4th position behind the trio Vettel / Button / Webber. Much faster than Button, Vettel escapes in the lead. At the halfway mark, Sebastian has 9?? ahead of Jenson. Fifth, Raikkonen refuels for the first time.

On the 30th lap, Jenson Button misses at the end of the straight. He pulls straight and allows Webber to take 2nd place. Not discouraged however, Jenson regained the advantage shortly after, but it was ultimately Webber who had the last word.

Lewis Hamilton finally stops on the 33rd lap, imitated shortly after by Heikki Kovalainen. Starting with a lot of fuel, the McLarens will be able to make do with just one stop. It was then Alonso?s turn to score a second short stop. Kubica, who could aim for the points despite his clash with Trulli, has to change his front wing again.

Sebastian Vettel makes his second stop on lap 37. He starts again behind Webber and Button. The track remains very tricky, as evidenced by the spins of Sébastien Bourdais and Fernando Alonso. Adrian Sutil, on the other hand, remembers everyone at the end. The Force India driver is 7th even though he has already completed his two refuelings. Two laps after Vettel, Webber pitted to start third.

The rain is less intense at this time and the trajectory dries out. For the first time, Vettel managed to lap under 1:53??. Stuck in the wake of Button's Brawn, the Red Bull driver dismounted and regained the lead with authority, without even waiting for his opponent to refuel.

With ten laps to go, Vettel leads with 16?? ahead of Webber and 33?? on Button. Fourth, Barrichello is under threat from Kovalainen. Hamilton indeed made a mistake, followed by another spin which allowed Adrian Sutil to take 6th position! Alas, the beautiful story of the Force India driver ends when he loses control of his car and leaves the track five laps from the checkered flag. This allows Sébastien Buemi to get into the points.

Sebastian Vettel therefore crossed the finish line as the big winner ahead of his teammate Mark Webber. Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello perform another very good operation for the Brawn GP team. Fifth, Heikki Kovalainen opened his points tally by finishing ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton. Timo Glock brings back two points for Toyota. Sébastien Buemi is also rewarded with the point for 8th place. His teammate Sébastien Bourdais finished in 11th place.