Eventually, let's go back three weeks ago, to the Chinese Grand Prix. I am talking (writing?) about Formula One. This story was a long long time ago.. Before the ash cloud, before the hung parliament, the "Con-Dem nation of the nation", etc..
For the third time this season (in four races), rain added spice to the show; this time during the race, while the qualifying session stayed dry. Now, my stars:
BUTTON: I must admit that I would not believe Button able to be so good so far this season alongside Lewis Hamilton. Button has been simply perfect. At the beginning of the race, he took the right tyre choice, as in Australia. Then he achieved what he had to do to win his second race this season: driving on a wet track with dry tyres for few laps, overtaking Rosberg and resisting to Hamilton. Jenson Button is definitely not as quick or spectacular as Hamilton but he has all the other qualities of a champion: race intelligence, tyre preservation. Since his title last year, he also is in another man: he has nothing to prove or to lose anymore. It is a great asset for him in the race for the title. ***
HAMILTON: After a little deception in qualifying, he came back perfectly in the pace during the race. He attacked everytime, despite the strategic mistakes of his team. He overtook an impressive amount of drivers. Perfect. He could just not do anything against Button who took too much advance at the begining of the race. He deserves 3 stars anyway. ***
ROSBERG: Once again, he did a great job considering his car. With the same strategy as Button. He just could not resist to the McLaren boys despite a little mistake. It is a good result enough for him to show his domination against his team-mate. **
ALONSO: He also suffered some strategic problem but showed a great pace and attack to point at a good final position. His season seems perfect at the moment as he always get the maximum of the situation he is in, whatever difficult they are. His move on Massa whilst coming into the pit was very important for the psychological domination inside the team. **
KUBICA: With the same strategy as Button and Rosberg, he secured a very good result considering the performance of his car. He is really showing well for getting a better car next year. Unless Renault improves even better. A good end of the race showed him able to resist the very fast RedBull of Vettel. *
VETTEL: Very fast on a dry track but on the wet, Vettel did seem to be at ease. Maybe because his car's setup was ready for dry. At the end, despite several good overtakings, the result does not look very impressive. His pole was brilliant anyway. *
PETROV: For the first time this season, everything happened well for the Russian and he eventually got a great result he deserved. More impressive, his end of the race was just WOWW as he overtook three very quick cars and drivers: Massa, Schumacher and Webber! Amazing! **
WEBBER: Nowhere, considering his car.
SCHUMACHER: His only satisfaction could be his overtaking of former team-mate Massa at the end of the race.
MASSA: The Brazilian has been heavily dominated by Alonso again in China. Especially in the pits and in qualifying. Ouch!
THE OTHERS: Nothing to say, really. They are out of the points and I did not have anything particularly important nor interesting to tell about them.
The new ranking gives now:
VETTEL 9
KUBICA 8
ALONSO 6
BUTTON 6
HAMILTON 6
ROSBERG 4
MASSA 3
ALGUERSUARI 3
SUTIL 2
PETROV 2
LIUZZI 1
BARRICHELLO 1
WEBBER 1
HULKENBERG 1
