Chinese Grand Prix Review

Consider the fact that, until this year, Shanghai had been a genuine hoodoo track for the great German. Wet conditions throughout the weekend distinctly did not suit Michael's Bridgestones, to the point where he was the only user of the Japanese rubber in the top 12 in qualifying. Even in the race, unlike in Hungary, there was no period when the Bridgestones were devastatingly superior over the Michelins. At best the Bridgestones had a slight edge, at worst they could not hold a candle to the French tyres.

And yet, by a perfect drive that combined cunning, patience, smoothness, aggression when needed, and some degree of good fortune, Schumi finds himself in the championship lead (thanks to a results count-back admittedly) for the first time in almost two years, and with one hand on that miracle swansong title that would round off his career in flourishing style. By contrast, Fernando Alonso is in unfamiliar territory, no longer holding the points lead for the first time since after the Australian GP in 2005.

A number of factors affected the outcome of this race. The first was, of course, the weather. No rain fell from just before race start until the last few laps. In fully wet conditions, Michelin had a clear advantage. On the other hand, a drying track brought Bridgestone back into the equation. But, if thinks Michael lucked into this win thanks to the weather, even on a drying track the two tyre makers were fairly evenly matched. The most that can be said is that the weather didn't disadvantage Ferrari.

Then their tyre management. Hungary had shown that wearing a set of intermediates to near-slicks on a drying track could pay great dividends. There was some degree of luck involved in this, but also much skill and judgment to manage the pace of wearing down the inters, and also to coincide that process, and the timing of switching to dries, with pit strategy and the ever-changing track conditions. For example, one-stoppers found their work undone by having to make a second stop, purely for dry tyres.

In each of these respects Michael and Ferrari proved masterful. Gone was the desperation of Budapest; here was a patient, thoughtful Schumi who ensured he got into the top 10 in qualifying, and who applied the right amount of caution in the early laps even though he was losing time to Alonso. When he came into his own, cleared the Hondas and caught the R26s, reducing a gap of 25 seconds to nothing in 14 laps, he took his time and did not attempt any ill-conceived move that would hurt his tyres.

Once Giancarlo Fisichella passed his team-mate, Michael pulled his daring move on Alonso at turn 2 that could only be described as opportunistic, before maintaining a ballet-like smoothness behind Fisichella without getting flustered. He then gunned his out-lap, having pitted for fuel and dries a lap before the Renault, and made an equally incisive move on Fisi when the Italian struggled badly for grip upon exiting the pit lane. From there it was a matter of pacing to the flag. Schumi had been simply brilliant.

Alonso and Fisichella's drives proved that, while some may have more raw speed than Michael these days, perhaps there's still none who can match the German for overall class. Whether due to set-up or his aggressive turn-in style, Fernando burned his fronts by his early pace, and having had to change them only, found his new inters giving him no grip on a drying track. Add his cross-threaded rear right wheel nut at his second stop, and his late-race surge was all in vain, plus he could not conserve his engine for Suzuka.

Fisichella, on the other hand, possibly drove a better first two-thirds of the race than Alonso, for he preserved his tyres to keep them on at the first stop, and he deservedly took the lead. Alonso was so slow, there was no point for Fisi to protect his team-mate simply by holding station and blocking Michael. It was the right tactic for Renault to get Fisi to try to win. But the same style that maintained his tyres also proved too tentative when he emerged on dries after his second stop, allowing Michael to gobble him up.

With Schumacher, Raikkonen and the Renaults battling for the podium places, it came down to the Hondas, BMWs and Pedro de la Rosa in the second McLaren to fight for the remaining points. There were signs that de la Rosa may have matched Raikkonen's pace, but he had been inadvertently held up by Rubens Barrichello in qualifying, and on race day he was stuck amongst the similarly two-stopping Hondas, and in truth outshone by the Japanese cars sporting their refreshing change of livery.

For once this season, Barrichello seemed to have a definite edge over Jenson Button, despite both having strong reputations in the wet. Button also killed his rear tyres early in the race, possibly through having too much rear downforce, and by pitting as early as possible it compromised his afternoon. It took him the rest of the race to claw back up to his team-mate, before another off-track moment late on seemed to seal his fate. Only in the last-minute shower did Jenson come into his own, on dries on the slippery surface.

First he picked off de la Rosa once again, before closing inexorably on Barrichello and finally passing him, although he was helped by the fact that Nick Heidfeld, ahead of them both, was being ludicrously held up by Christijan Albers and Takuma Sato. On fuel strategy alone, the BMWs had trumped both Honda and de la Rosa. Heidfeld and Robert Kubica copied the Pole's Monza tactics by running long and one-stopping only, and mid-race looked handily placed to defeat the two-stoppers.

Except that Kubica then changed to dries when the track was nowhere near ready, whether it was a horrendous but brave rookie mistake on his part or a call from his team. His embarrassing out-lap, ending in almost sideswiping his crew as he came back in, made it clear that Heidfeld had no choice but to stay on his wearing inters, except that that obliged the German to make a second unscheduled stop later on for tyres only. Even so, Nick remained ahead of the Hondas and a fine 4th place looked to be his.

It all ended in tears at the hairpin on the last lap. What on earth was Sato doing in the middle of the track, not moving over one way or the other? Heidfeld boxed himself by staying on the racing line on the outside, allowing Button to swoop opportunistically. Barrichello then lost his nerve in the last lap mayhem, braked way too late, and punted the BMW, allowing de la Rosa to inherit 5th, with a noseless Rubens claiming 6th, and an irate Heidfeld demoted to 7th with his rear right wheel perpendicular to the car!

Nick had not handled the last lap all that smartly, but he had every right to feel as though he had fallen victim to some Honda conspiracy, although in truth there probably was none and it was pure coincidence that one of the recalcitrant roadblocks happened to be a Honda-powered Super Aguri. What is it with Sato and his late-season brain fades? Last year, he racked up two 'Reject of the Race' awards in three races en route to a 'Reject of the Year' title.

After a generally commendable season, first he lost his head in his collision with Tiago Monteiro at Indy, and despite his clear advantage over new team-mate Sakon Yamamoto, he has been making heavy weather of leaving Sakon in his wake recently. In Shanghai he covered himself in ignominy, half-spinning early on to avoid contact with Yamamoto (who incidentally finished a GP for the first time), and then his late-race lunacy that culminated in his disqualification - and yet another 'Reject of the Race' gong.

Having touched Red Bull's new race driver Robert Doornbos at the first corner, it had been a great recovery drive by Kubica in the first half of the race, but having undone all his hard work by that incorrect tyre choice mid-race, the last point for 8th was still up for grabs. By rights, it probably should have gone to Felipe Massa in the second Ferrari, who, although he remains unconvincing in the wet, at least kept his car on the road more regularly than he did in similar conditions in Hungary.

REJECT OF THE RACE
Takuma Sato
Back to his old tricks during the last laps

Massa's dive down the inside at the hairpin may have been slightly adventurous, but he wasn't entirely to blame as Coulthard did close the door and probably was not aware Felipe was there. All in all, a racing incident, but it put the Ferrari out and gave DC handling woes that eventually dropped him behind Webber. The Australian's two-stop plan had got him onto dries at just the right time, and he scored his first point since San Marino and ended Williams' points drought that had started in Spain in May.

Webber, reinstated as a director of the Grand Prix Drivers Association, had driven a very convincing race. Despite being on Bridgestones early on, he picked off Coulthard and Vitantonio Liuzzi with clinical if unconventional moves inside at turn 8, and then saw off Scott Speed in the second Toro Rosso. That set him up with good track position to make his strategy work. Despite starting 14th and 15th respectively, when they made their first stops, Webber was 5th, and Nico Rosberg was still 14th ...

Rosberg, whose debut season started with that bright performance in Bahrain, has seen his form plateau as the year has progressed. There have remained the occasional sparks, and of course his unreliable Williams has let him down far too many times, but perhaps more gradual improvement could have been expected. As things have turned out, Heidfeld remains the only man to have held his own as Webber's team-mate. Nico still has a good future ahead of him, but he has not got up to Mark's level yet.

The other contenders who, early on at least, looked to be in with a shout for points were the impressive Toro Rossos. With their flatter torque curves thanks to their V10s, which they will leave behind at the end of the year as one of the Red Bull teams gets Ferrari engines while the other gets Renaults, they were right in the mix in the top 10 early on. Speed, in particular, caught the eye with his 11th place in qualifying and his terrific start that had him in 8th in the opening laps.

The less said about the Toyotas the better. Theirs was a shocking performance on their Bridgestones, as neither Jarno Trulli or Ralf Schumacher extracted any level of grip and pace from their intermediates when the Ferraris and Webber were able to do so. For both to retire from mechanical problems put the icing on a miserable weekend, but it was also a kind of mercy killing. Toyota team boss John Howett is talking up a podium result at Suzuka. It will take a big turnaround an major attrition for that to happen.

Which just leaves the Dutch connection. Doornbos impressed in qualifying by making it into the top 10 on his Red Bull race debut, but his was an overly cautious race after his first lap nosecone change, when a bit more controlled aggression was required. Robert has been around the F1 traps for three seasons now, first with Jordan, then Minardi, and now Red Bull, but the paddock perception is that he's a competent gap-filler who can be safely overlooked, when perhaps he actually has more ability than meets the eye.

In their first race meeting fully in charge, Spyker MF1 showed up with a new livery of patriotic Dutch orange, but in the gloom of the weekend only succeeded in turning their McLaren look-a-likes into Ferrari look-a-likes. Albers was out of sorts, copping two penalties including one for his role in the last lap melee, while Monteiro continued his disappointing season by spinning out - yet another error in a rather up-and-down year for last year's Mr Reliable, as his F1 future hangs in the balance.