Did you enjoy yesterday’s Chinese GP? There was plenty of action in Shanghai and a some breakthroughs as well. For one, the season saw its first winner other than Sebastian Vettel in Lewis Hamilton. Another is Team Lotus joining the midfield, as declared by the team itself. Kovalainen’s T128 finished 16th, ahead of Sergio Perez (Sauber) and Pastor Maldonado (Williams), although the Sauber was competing higher up before he received a drive through penalty.

“That is our best ever performance,” the Finn said. “It’s not the highest place we’ve had but today we beat two midfield cars in a straight fight so I am very happy, with my performance and the performance of the whole team. We knew we would struggle in the cool conditions yesterday but today the temperatures rose and we expected to be able to put in the sort of race that would do justice to the pace that is in the car,” he added.

Tech chief Mike Gascoyne was equally happy. “That was an absolutely fantastic race from both drivers and from the pitcrew who performed brilliantly under huge pressure. It is very satisfying to have beaten two other midfield teams on track on pace and strategy and to be able to show that we have bridged the gap to the established teams.

“With the tyre degradation we were able to stick to two stops, which was always our plan and that allowed us to jump a couple of people, giving us our strongest race in F1. Additionally, we were only lapped once, right towards the end of the race, so I am very proud of the whole team today,” he beamed.

No statement from Tony Fernandes, but fellow Malaysian CEO Riad Asmat said: “I am actually lost for words. We were racing today, actually taking on teams who have been in the sport for many years, and even though there is a huge amount of work ahead of us, now we need to enjoy this moment, build on this feeling and keep moving forwards.”

Lewis Hamilton has won the Chinese GP, preventing Sebastian Vettel from scoring a hat trick of wins. The reigning World Champion finished second ahead of teammate Mark Webber, who drove an amazing race from P18 to a podium spot. The Aussie deserves more than a pat on the back for his battling display which saw him make successful moves on the front runners late in the race – he’s our driver of the day!

Jenson Button finished fourth for McLaren, ahead of Nico Rosberg (Mercedes GP Petronas) and the Ferraris of Massa and Alonso. The rest of the points scoring positions were filled by Michael Schumacher, Vitaly Petrov (Lotus Renault) and Kamui Kobayashi for Sauber.

At the tail end, Team Lotus’ Kovalainen finished 16th and ahead of the Sauber of Sergio Perez and the Williams of Pastor Maldonado, but Perez had a drive through penalty for a collision with Adrian Sutil. Behind them was Trulli, who was ahead of the Virgins and HRTs. There was only one retirement – Jaime Alguersuari lost his right rear tyre from a botched pit stop.

It was all action from the start, where the McLarens sprinted off the line to jump pole man Vettel. Nico Rosberg, starting fourth, had a go at Seb too, but failed. Button-Hamilton-Vettel was the front order for the early part of the race. Mark Webber, starting from P18 after yesterday’s qualifying nightmare, didn’t make much headway at the start as he battled with the Saubers and Williams.

This season’s Pirellis degrade faster, forcing pit stops for more action. And the pit stops played a big part in today’s results. Leader Button and Vettel dived in the pits the same time for their first stop, and Jenson made a mistake by driving into Red Bull’s slot! He realised it soon after, but those wasted seconds saw Vettel jump him. McLaren’s bad pit stop day was followed by Massa jumping Hamilton shortly after.

It wasn’t that straightforward to watch in the middle part, as drivers with different strategies merged on track. Some such as Vettel and the Ferraris chose two stops while the others like Rosberg switched from two to three stops. The McLarens did three stops as well, and that looks like the better option on hindsight. The fresh tyres of Hamilton and Button saw them overtake Massa and Rosberg in the final stages of the race.

Button took considerably more time than his teammate in passing Massa/Rosberg, which left Lewis to do a sole pursuit of Vettel. He caught up pretty soon after and the duo served up a nice duel, with Lewis finally succeeding on lap 52, four laps from the finish. Without KERS (again) and on worn tyres, Vettel was the target of Button, but he couldn’t get close enough.

Meanwhile, Mark Webber was making a late charge, but unlike in Malaysia, his attack paid off handsomely in Shanghai. Successive moves on Massa, Rosberg and Button gave him a deserved third. He got within striking distance of Jenson on the second last lap and made a move at turn 14. Button fought back and looked good to retake him, but Mark managed to make it stick. If he had a few more laps, Vettel would have been in danger!

Outside of the front runners, Schumacher was involved in a few duels, first with Alonso and then with Webber. Toro Rosso’s good qualifying result didn’t turn into a good race day – both Alguersuari and Buemi had poor starts before the former retired. Force India’s Paul di Resta also had quite a bit of camera time. He outdrove Sutil but finished just out of the points.

The changes made this season – KERS, DRS, tyres with shorter life – seems to have successfully injected more racing action so far. Next stop is Turkey on May 8.

World champion Sebastian Vettel continued his early season form by taking the third pole position in as many races at the Chinese GP. He lapped the Shanghai circuit in 1m33.706s and will share the front row with McLaren’s Jenson Button, who was 0.715 sec behind the German. Button just outqualified teammate Lewis Hamilton, who was third, while Nico Rosberg brought cheer to the Mercedes GP Petronas camp with a strong fourth.

The Ferraris of Alonso and Massa will occupy the third row. Another team that will be delighted with today’s showing is Scuderia Toro Rosso, which had both cars in Q3. Jaime Alguersuari lines up on the grid in seventh while Seb Buemi is in ninth. They sandwich Force India’s Paul di Resta. Looks like these “midfield teams” that Team Lotus is aiming to challenge have progressed by a fair bit!

The unfortunate Vitaly Petrov of Lotus Renault is in tenth place. 13 minutes into Q2, the Russian’s black/gold car stopped just before turn 6 after he set the fourth fastest time so far, causing officials to stop the session. His time proved to be good enough to enter Q3, but there’s no more car to do so. Let’s hope they can fix the issue in time.

When the session restarted, there was an almighty scramble at the pit exit, and Massa managed to lead the pack and set a good time. It was like a snake, and those at the tail were affected by traffic. Those who fell out in Q2 include the Saubers, both Williams, Sutil, Nick Heidfeld and Michael Schumacher.

Earlier, Q1 saw the usual six drivers from Lotus, Virgin and HRT eliminated, but they were joined by a high profile name in Mark Webber. The Aussie Red Bull driver was sent out at the end on hard tyres to save a result, but he couldn’t improve and will start in 18th tomorrow – shocking!

Of the other six cars, Heikki Kovalainen of Lotus was the fastest with a 1m37.894s lap, ahead of teammate Trulli. The Virgins were next, ahead of the two HRTs, who managed to get inside the 107% time.

Will Vettel make it a hat-trick of wins tomorrow, or will McLaren have a say in that? Tune in to find out, but only if you have Astro, unfortunately.