Shanghai International
17-19th April 2009
Lap Distance 5.451 Km
Race 56 Laps 305.066 Km
Sebastian Vettel won a dramatic Chinese Grand Prix in demanding wet conditions after a cool and calculating drive to his 2nd victory. Vettel's win was the first for Red Bull Racing, and to round off a fantastic day for the team Mark Webber followed him home in 2nd place in the sister car. Tha race started under the safety car and stayed that way until lap 8 when Vettel led the field away in very wet conditions, leading for much of the race and only being headed as the pit stop sequences played out. Mark Webber also drove a great race battling with Jenson Button throughout and securing a well deserved 2nd place podium finish. Jenson Button finished 3rd after a solid drive and although he was never far away from the Red Bull cars he didn't have the pace to threaten them seriously on this occasion. Rubens Barrichello also drove well to bring his car safely home in 4th albeit some 64s behind the winner at the flag. The McLarens of Kovalainen and Hamilton ended the race 5th and 6th with Hamilton having a lurid time spinning several times along the way. Timo Glock took 7th for Toyota and Rookie Sebastian Buemi performed superbly for Toro Rosso claiming the last point in 8th place. Poor Adrian Sutil was on course to finish 6th when he lost his Force India on lap 51 heavily damaging the front end but emerging unscathed. Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen rounded out the top 10. It was another bleak day for Ferrari with Massa retiring on lap 23 making it the worst start to a season for the team for 27 years. There were many off track excursions during the race but the most dramatic incident was when a slow moving Jarno Trulli was hit from behind by Robert Kubica's BMW, with Kubica's car being launched over the rear of the Toyota. Trulli's race was ended but remarkably Kubica continued after having a new nose fitted and ended the race in 13th place, testament to the strength of the modern F1 cars. Red Bull must now be considered a force to be reckoned with especially as they ran this race with no twin deck diffuser and no KERS.
Jenson Button stamped his authority on the second of today's free practice sessions, seeing off a late determined challenge from 2009's 'Friday man' Nico Rosberg who split the dominant Brawn GP cars with Rubens Barrichello 3rd fastest. The Red Bull cars of Webber and Vettel ran well finishing in 4th and 5th places, with Webber just keeping his new team mate in his place for the moment. Rounding out the top 6 was the Toyota of Jarno Trulli. Lewis Hamilton could not repeat his earlier strong performance in the final session, ending up 13 fastest with team mate Kovalainen ahead on this occasion with 9th place. The Ferraris of Massa and Raikkonen continued to struggle for pace, running without KERS and ending the final session of the day down in 12th and 14th places. The earlier session saw Lewis Hamilton and McLaren return to form with an interim diffuser and revised front wing fitted following the FIA's ruling earlier this week. Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello were 2nd and 3rd fastest. It was another difficult session for Ferrari with Raikkonen and Massa way down in 16th an 18th places in the order. McLaren did not have the modified diffuser design fitted to Kovalainen's car.
Sebastian Vettel secured the first ever pole position for the Red Bull Team in Shanghai today. To underline their strong form Mark Webber was 3rd fastest, having been edged off the front row of the grid in the dying moments of the final shoot out by Fernando Alonso, the Renault clearly all the better for a new twin diffuser. Brawn GP was denied the limelight today but nonetheless still start the race from the front end of the grid, with Barrichello 4th and Button 5th fastest. Qualifying master Jarno Trulli rounded out the top 6 in the Toyota. Nico Rosberg secured a creditable 7th for Williams ahead of Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton's McLaren. Rookie Sebastian Buemi brought a smile to the faces of the Toro Rosso team with a fantastic 10th place. Interestingly some big names fell by the wayside today, notably Felipe Massa in Q2, Heikki Kovalainen Q2 and both of the BMW's of Nick Heidfeld, eliminated in Q2 and Robert Kubica who faired worse going out in Q1 after having had the KERS device removed from his car. Red Bull is beginning to show some real potential, and surely a win beckons. Later today the FIA will release the starting weights of the cars and this will provide a deeper insight into what has been a fascinating prelude to tomorrow's race.
01 L Hamilton
1m 37.334s
02 J Button
1m 37.45s
03 R Barrichello
1m 37.566s
04 H Kovalainen
1m 37.672s
05 M Webber
1m 37.752s
06 J Trulli
1m 37.764s
07 N Rosberg
1m 37.86s
08 T Glock
1m 37.894s
09 F Alonso
1m 38.089s
10 S Bourdais
1m 38.195s
11 K Raikkonen
1m 38.223s
12 S Vettel
1m 38.274s
13 S Buemi
1m 38.307s
14 A Sutil
1m 38.319s
15 F Massa
1m 38.418s
16 N Heidfeld
1m 38.456s
17 G Fisichella
1m 38.46s
18 R Kubica
1m 38.463s
19 K Nakajima
1m 38.73s
20 N Piquet
1m 38.825s
01 S Vettel
1m 36.184s
02 F Alonso
1m 36.381s
03 M Webber
1m 36.466s
04 R Barrichello
1m 36.493s
05 J Button
1m 36.532s
06 J Trulli
1m 36.835s
07 N Rosberg
1m 37.397s
08 K Raikkonen
1m 38.089s
09 L Hamilton
1m 38.595s
10 S Buemi
1m 39.321s
Eliminated Q2
11 N Heidfeld
1m 35.975s
12 H Kovalainen
1m 36.032s
13 F Massa
1m 36.033s
14 T Glock
1m 36.066s
15 K Nakajima
1m 36.193s
Eliminated Q1
16 S Bourdais
1m 36.906s
17 N Piquet
1m 36.908s
18 R Kubica
1m 36.966s
19 A Sutil
1m 37.669s
20 G Fisichella
1m 37.672s
01 J Button
1m 35.679s
02 N Rosberg
1m 35.704s
03 R Barrichello
1m 35.881s
04 M Webber
1m 36.105s
05 S Vettel
1m 36.167s
06 J Trulli
1m 36.217s
07 K Nakajima
1m 36.377s
08 T Glock
1m 36.548s
09 H Kovalainen
1m 36.674s
10 S Bourdais
1m 36.8s
11 A Sutil
1m 36.829s
12 F Massa
1m 36.847s
13 L Hamilton
1m 36.941s
14 K Raikkonen
1m 37.054s
15 S Buemi
1m 37.219s
16 N Piquet
1m 37.273s
17 R Kubica
1m 37.491s
18 N Heidfeld
1m 37.544s
19 F Alonso
1m 37.638s
20 G Fisichella
1m 37.75s
01 N Rosberg
1m 36.133s
02 J Trulli
1m 36.272s
03 L Hamilton
1m 36.33s
04 J Button
1m 36.463s
05 N Piquet
1m 36.464s
06 F Massa
1m 36.528s
07 H Kovalainen
1m 36.547s
08 K Nakajima
1m 36.56s
09 K Raikkonen
1m 36.568s
10 R Barrichello
1m 36.642s
11 N Heidfeld
1m 36.702s
12 R Kubica
1m 36.742s
13 S Buemi
1m 36.742s
14 S Bourdais
1m 36.834s
15 M Webber
1m 37.33s
16 S Vettel
1m 37.349s
17 A Sutil
1m 37.534s
18 G Fisichella
1m 37.732s
19 F Alonso
1m 38.003s
20 T Glock
1m 39.11s
©First4F1.com 2009 All Rights Reserved
01 S Vettel
02 M Webber
03 J Button
04 R Barrichello
05 H Kovalainen
06 L Hamilton
07 T Glock
08 S Buemi
09 F Alonso
10 K Raikkonen
11 S Bourdais
12 N Heidfeld
13 R Kubica
14 G Fisichella
15 N Rosberg
16 N Piquet
Retired
L19 J Trulli
L23 F Massa
L44 K Nakajima
L51 A Sutil
Fastest Lap
R Barrichello
1m 52.592s L 42
