First consecutive win for Rubens
Brazilian Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello has won the inaugural China GP at Shangai. Despite only being 3 seconds in front of second positioned Button he was never really threatened. Third was Kimi Raikkonen, who was closely following Button.
The start looked to be promising as all drivers were heading towards an unusual long right hander. However no real accidents occured, but as soon as all came out of it, it became clear both Renaults had won 2 places, Button got stuck after Massa's Sauber and Olivier Panis was only in front of world champion Micheal Schumacher. The Toyota had problems getting away from the grid, while Schumacher started from the pitlane after an engine change.
As they all moved towards their first stop, Montoya saw his strong performance during the start stopped after being blocked behind Villeneuve. The other Renault driver Alonso meanwhile got company of a strong Button who managed to get past Massa a few laps earlier. Raikkonen had by that time also decreased his gap with leader Barrichello to less than a second.
Pitstops generally did not create many changes in position, and apart from a failed strategical early pitstop of Raikkonen to pass Barrichello at the front, nothing really happened there. Button however managed to gain positions as he was on a two stop strategy (just like M. Schumacher), contrary to most cars being on three.
Michael Schumacher was forced to fight his way up through the field. A spin, a coming together with the Jaguar of Christian Klien, who retired as a result, and a left rear punctured Bridgestone, put paid to any hope he may have had of finishing on the podium. The German had to be satisfied with 12th on the finish line while setting the fastest race lap of the race on the final lap.
His brother, Ralf Schumacher had a spin on lap 37 before diving into the pits to retire where the BMW WilliamsF1 team were not expecting him. Ralf had suffered a rear suspension problem after David Coulthard collided with him. The German was clearly angry about the incident.
Worth a note are both Bruni and Villeneuve. The first had lost a wheel during the race which caused his retirement after a rather dull race for him with the Minardi.
Returning 1997 champion Villeneuve may have some explaining to do about finishing only 11th with a Renault, as Alonso managed 4th. It was however clear that he was suffering heavy overstear under braking which often caused him trouble. He was also losing considerable time because of the inability to overtake. Last year at BAR he passed on average 4 cars during each race, where now he was clearly faster than Webber, but always seemed to lose area when coming very close to the Jaguar. To be continued...
Results are as follows:
1 R. Barrichello Ferrari 1:29:12.420 10
2 J. Button BAR + 1.035 8
3 K. Räikkönen McLaren + 1.469 6
4 F. Alonso Renault + 32.510 5
5 JP. Montoya Williams + 45.193 4
6 T. Sato BAR + 54.791 3
7 G. Fisichella Sauber + 1:05.464 2
8 F. Massa Sauber + 1:20.080 1
9 D. Coulthard McLaren + 1:20.619 0
10 M. Webber Jaguar + 1 laps 0
11 J. Villeneuve Renault + 1 laps 0
12 M. Schumacher Ferrari + 1 laps 0
13 N. Heidfeld Jordan + 1 laps 0
14 O. Panis Toyota + 1 laps 0
15 T. Glock Jordan + 1 laps 0
16 Z. Baumgartner Minardi + 3 laps 0
17 G. Bruni Minardi + 18 laps dnf
18 R. Schumacher Williams + 19 laps dnf
19 R. Zonta Toyota + 20 laps dnf
20 C. Klien Jaguar + 44 laps dnf
