Jenson Button celebrated his second win for McLaren in just fourth race for the team after on this day in 2010 as he and Hamilton excelled in the wet conditions and beat Red Bull and Ferrari drivers in 2010 Chinese GP.
Massa led the drivers’ championship after the first three races in the 2010 F1 season, but four points separated the first five drivers while nine points separated the top nine.
Red Bull locked out the front row – Sebastian Vettel was the fastest (1:34.558), Mark Webber was 0.248 seconds behind his teammate and Fernando Alonso in Ferrari was third.
But at the start, Alonso started too early for the first time in his F1 career, and had to drive through the pitlane to serve the penalty, and the track conditions were dry with just a bit of rain. Some drivers moved to intermediate tyres, and some, like Button, Rosberg and Kubica, risked and profited by staying on the dry weather tyres as the rain soon stopped.
Start of the 2010 Chinese GP – Alonso jumps the start to take the lead from Red Bull drivers (Photo: Ferrari)Button, Rosberg and Kubica lost their advantage when the Alguersuari collided with the backmarker and caused the safety car deployment. Webber was a victim of Button controversial tactics behind the safety car as he was pushed out of the track in the last corner and fell from 6th to 12th.
Hamilton passed Schumacher, Petrov and Kubica and was third behind Rosberg, but when he tried to overtake him in the turn 6, as well as Schumacher, Rosberg repassed him in the next corner. Hamilton later passed Rosberg through the pits, just as Alonso passed Kubica.
In the final stage of the race, with more heavy rain, and Petrov managed to overtake Alguersuari, Schumacher and Webber in the last ten rounds while Massa won the last point with overtaking move on Alguersuari.
Button won and became the first driver to win twice in 2010 and took the championship lead while McLaren took the leading position in the constructors’ championship.
Button celebrates his second McLaren win in just four races to take the championship lead, but he won’ win again in 2010 (Photo: McLaren)STARTING GRID
| 1 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull/Renault | 1:34.558 | – |
| 2 | 6 | Mark Webber | Red Bull/Renault | 1:34.806 | 0.248 |
| 3 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:34.913 | 0.355 |
| 4 | 4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:34.923 | 0.365 |
| 5 | 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren/Mercedes | 1:34.979 | 0.421 |
| 6 | 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren/Mercedes | 1:35.034 | 0.476 |
| 7 | 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:35.180 | 0.622 |
| 8 | 11 | Robert Kubica | Renault | 1:35.364 | 0.806 |
| 9 | 3 | M.Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:35.646 | 1.088 |
| 10 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India/Mercedes | 1:35.963 | 1.405 |
| 11 | 9 | R.Barrichello | Williams/Cosworth | 1:35.748 | 1.190 |
| 12 | 17 | J.Alguersuari | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1:36.047 | 1.489 |
| 13 | 16 | Sébastien Buemi | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1:36.149 | 1.591 |
| 14 | 12 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1:36.311 | 1.753 |
| 15 | 23 | Kamui Kobayashi | BMW Sauber/Ferrari | 1:36.422 | 1.864 |
| 16 | 10 | Nico Hülkenberg | Williams/Cosworth | 1:36.647 | 2.089 |
| 17 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | BMW Sauber/Ferrari | 1:37.020 | 2.462 |
| 18 | 15 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India/Mercedes | 1:37.161 | 2.603 |
| 19 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin/Cosworth | 1:39.278 | 4.720 |
| 20 | 18 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus/Cosworth | 1:39.399 | 4.841 |
| 21 | 19 | H.Kovalainen | Lotus/Cosworth | 1:39.520 | 4.962 |
| 22 | 25 | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin/Cosworth | 1:39.783 | 5.225 |
| 23 | 21 | Bruno Senna | HRT/Cosworth | 1:40.469 | 5.911 |
| 24 | 20 | Karun Chandhok | HRT/Cosworth | 1:40.578 | 6.020 |
RESULTS
| 1 | 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren/Mercedes | 56 | 1:46:42.163 | |
| 2 | 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren/Mercedes | 56 | 1:46:43.693 | 1.530 |
| 3 | 4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 56 | 1:46:51.647 | 9.484 |
| 4 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 56 | 1:46:54.032 | 11.869 |
| 5 | 11 | Robert Kubica | Renault | 56 | 1:47:04.376 | 22.213 |
| 6 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull/Renault | 56 | 1:47:15.473 | 33.310 |
| 7 | 12 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 56 | 1:47:29.763 | 47.600 |
| 8 | 6 | Mark Webber | Red Bull/Renault | 56 | 1:47:34.335 | 52.172 |
| 9 | 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 56 | 1:47:39.959 | 57.796 |
| 10 | 3 | M.Schumacher | Mercedes | 56 | 1:47:43.912 | 1:01.749 |
| 11 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India/Mercedes | 56 | 1:47:45.037 | 1:02.874 |
| 12 | 9 | R.Barrichello | Williams/Cosworth | 56 | 1:47:45.828 | 1:03.665 |
| 13 | 17 | J.Alguersuari | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 56 | 1:47:53.579 | 1:11.416 |
| 14 | 19 | H.Kovalainen | Lotus/Cosworth | 55 | 1:47:52.460 | 1 Lap |
| 15 | 10 | Nico Hülkenberg | Williams/Cosworth | 55 | 1:48:01.537 | 1 Lap |
| 16 | 21 | Bruno Senna | HRT/Cosworth | 54 | 1:48:28.179 | 2 Laps |
| 17 | 20 | Karun Chandhok | HRT/Cosworth | 52 | 1:47:39.011 | 4 Laps |
| (18) | 18 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus/Cosworth | 26 | 1:05:28.755 | Hydraulics |
| (19) | 25 | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin/Cosworth | 8 | 31:22.863 | Clutch |
| (4) | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | BMW Sauber/Ferrari | 7 | 14:41.203 | Engine |
| 16 | Sébastien Buemi | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 0 | Collision | ||
| 23 | Kamui Kobayashi | BMW Sauber/Ferrari | 0 | Collision | ||
| 15 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India/Mercedes | 0 | Collision | ||
| 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin/Cosworth | 0 | DNS | ||
Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton – 1:42.061 (lap 13)
DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
| 1 | Jenson Button | 60 | 6 | 25 | 4 | 25 |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | 50 | 10 | 10 | 15 | 15 |
| 3 | Fernando Alonso | 49 | 25 | 12 | – | 12 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | 49 | 15 | 8 | 8 | 18 |
| 5 | Sebastian Vettel | 45 | 12 | – | 25 | 8 |
| 6 | Felipe Massa | 41 | 18 | 15 | 6 | 2 |
| 7 | Robert Kubica | 40 | – | 18 | 12 | 10 |
| 8 | Mark Webber | 28 | 4 | 2 | 18 | 4 |
| 9 | Adrian Sutil | 10 | – | – | 10 | – |
| 10 | Michael Schumacher | 10 | 8 | 1 | – | 1 |
| 11 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | 8 | 2 | 6 | – | – |
| 12 | Vitaly Petrov | 6 | – | – | – | 6 |
| 13 | Rubens Barrichello | 5 | 1 | 4 | – | – |
| 14 | Jaime Alguersuari | 2 | – | – | 2 | – |
| 15 | Nico Hülkenberg | 1 | – | – | 1 | – |
CONSTRUCTORS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
| 1 | McLaren/Mercedes | 109 | 21 | 33 | 12 | 43 |
| 2 | Ferrari | 90 | 43 | 27 | 6 | 14 |
| 3 | Red Bull/Renault | 73 | 16 | 2 | 43 | 12 |
| 4 | Mercedes | 60 | 18 | 11 | 15 | 16 |
| 5 | Renault | 46 | – | 18 | 12 | 16 |
| 6 | Force India/Mercedes | 18 | 2 | 6 | 10 | – |
| 7 | Williams/Cosworth | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | – |
| 8 | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 2 | – | – | 2 | – |
| 9 | BMW Sauber/Ferrari | 0 | – | – | – | – |
| 10 | Lotus/Cosworth | 0 | – | – | – | – |
| 11 | HRT/Cosworth | 0 | – | – | – | – |
| 12 | Virgin/Cosworth | 0 | – | – | – | – |
