Michael Schumacher's run of wins was ended in a race where he sat on pole in 2001 by a British driver in a McLaren, in the third race of the season. 10 years later something extremely similar occured.
And on Saturday, Vettel was 7 tenths clear. 5 laps from home he was leading. But Red Bull's race pace is never as good as their qualifying pace, and Lewis Hamilton was on newer tyres.
It is interesting that none of Lewis' race winning overtakes past Massa, Button, Rosberg and Vettel were in the DRS zone. His ability to bounce back from a poor race was again proved exceptional.
It is rare indeed for Button to outqualify Hamilton, and he will be disappointed by the fact his team-mate jumped him in the race. He also marked Charlie Chaplin's birthday yesterday with a moment of slapstick in the pit lane when he pulled into the wrong garage!
Webber, meanwhile, showed that qualifying poorly is fine if you've got all your tyres. On fresh rubber, his fastest lap was 1.4s clear of the next best as he came marauding through the field on his 3 fresh sets of options. From a moronic P18, he finished only a couple of seconds behind his polesitting team-mate.
Ross Brawn, meanwhile, continues to show his strategic brilliance. Mercedes' early stops saw Schumacher vault up to 6th position, and Rosberg to appear in the lead! It was unlikely that Nico would ever have the pace of the McLarens and he finished in "best of the rest" position in 5th. Schumacher was much better, but still compares unfavourably to his team-mate.
Ferrari went the wrong way on strategy and took the two-stop route. Felipe Massa was able to be in 2nd place after the third stops of the various silver cars and fell to 6th position after a race where he probably maximised his possibilities. His team-mate, Fernando Alonso, was much slower and fought with Schumacher in the next group, lucky to get over the line ahead of him in 7th. It is the first time since the start of 2010 that Felipe has looked as good in comparison to his team-mate.
The promise of Lotus Renault in the first two races was not in evidence in Shanghai. A mad, damaging practice session was ill-preparation. The car of Petrov stopping in Q2 caught out Heidfeld more than anyone else; at least Singapore 2008 is behind them! The Russian took the points for 9th, Heidfeld looked poor. Mr. Consistency has looked anything but.
Tenth was another points score for the continually impressive Kamui Kobayashi. He carried the Sauber flag after his team-mate played dodgems and the resulting penalty put him behind the Team Lotus of Kovalainen.
Yet again, pending a steward's decision, Paul di Resta looked the best of the Force. Adrian Sutil, unchallenged in that seat for the last 3 years, needs to look over his shoulder at Hulkenburg, and he needs to start competing better with di Resta!
Toro Rosso's double Q3 was far more promising than their race. Buemi seemed to have been overtaken by a hell of a lot of people in the race, and a 13th place finish was not brilliant. Jaime Alguersuari's wandering wheel was a daft mistake, and left him as the only car not running at the end.
Williams were 2 seconds clear of Team Lotus in qualifying, but Maldonado was beaten by Kovalainen on pace. When Juan Pablo Montoya edged Kimi Raikkonen in the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix, did we see Williams last victory? It seems to be getting worse every year. Barrichello was able to beat Buémi, and Trulli took up his customary position of 5th-last finisher.
In back of the grid news, d'Ambrosio outqualified and outraced Glock, while Liuzzi passed Karthikeyan at the end despite his penalty for jumping the start. They all finished 2 laps down, but we're not talking 107% any more!
So despite the car being reassembled on the grid, McLaren and Hamilton took a well-deserved win. DRS worked well, Pirelli's tyres spiced things up more than Bridgestone can dream, and Vettel isn't going to win all the races. He still took those 18 points though, but today the second team got its strategy right, and took the laurels.
And on Saturday, Vettel was 7 tenths clear. 5 laps from home he was leading. But Red Bull's race pace is never as good as their qualifying pace, and Lewis Hamilton was on newer tyres.
It is interesting that none of Lewis' race winning overtakes past Massa, Button, Rosberg and Vettel were in the DRS zone. His ability to bounce back from a poor race was again proved exceptional.
It is rare indeed for Button to outqualify Hamilton, and he will be disappointed by the fact his team-mate jumped him in the race. He also marked Charlie Chaplin's birthday yesterday with a moment of slapstick in the pit lane when he pulled into the wrong garage!
Webber, meanwhile, showed that qualifying poorly is fine if you've got all your tyres. On fresh rubber, his fastest lap was 1.4s clear of the next best as he came marauding through the field on his 3 fresh sets of options. From a moronic P18, he finished only a couple of seconds behind his polesitting team-mate.
Ross Brawn, meanwhile, continues to show his strategic brilliance. Mercedes' early stops saw Schumacher vault up to 6th position, and Rosberg to appear in the lead! It was unlikely that Nico would ever have the pace of the McLarens and he finished in "best of the rest" position in 5th. Schumacher was much better, but still compares unfavourably to his team-mate.
Ferrari went the wrong way on strategy and took the two-stop route. Felipe Massa was able to be in 2nd place after the third stops of the various silver cars and fell to 6th position after a race where he probably maximised his possibilities. His team-mate, Fernando Alonso, was much slower and fought with Schumacher in the next group, lucky to get over the line ahead of him in 7th. It is the first time since the start of 2010 that Felipe has looked as good in comparison to his team-mate.
The promise of Lotus Renault in the first two races was not in evidence in Shanghai. A mad, damaging practice session was ill-preparation. The car of Petrov stopping in Q2 caught out Heidfeld more than anyone else; at least Singapore 2008 is behind them! The Russian took the points for 9th, Heidfeld looked poor. Mr. Consistency has looked anything but.
Tenth was another points score for the continually impressive Kamui Kobayashi. He carried the Sauber flag after his team-mate played dodgems and the resulting penalty put him behind the Team Lotus of Kovalainen.
Yet again, pending a steward's decision, Paul di Resta looked the best of the Force. Adrian Sutil, unchallenged in that seat for the last 3 years, needs to look over his shoulder at Hulkenburg, and he needs to start competing better with di Resta!
Toro Rosso's double Q3 was far more promising than their race. Buemi seemed to have been overtaken by a hell of a lot of people in the race, and a 13th place finish was not brilliant. Jaime Alguersuari's wandering wheel was a daft mistake, and left him as the only car not running at the end.
Williams were 2 seconds clear of Team Lotus in qualifying, but Maldonado was beaten by Kovalainen on pace. When Juan Pablo Montoya edged Kimi Raikkonen in the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix, did we see Williams last victory? It seems to be getting worse every year. Barrichello was able to beat Buémi, and Trulli took up his customary position of 5th-last finisher.
In back of the grid news, d'Ambrosio outqualified and outraced Glock, while Liuzzi passed Karthikeyan at the end despite his penalty for jumping the start. They all finished 2 laps down, but we're not talking 107% any more!
So despite the car being reassembled on the grid, McLaren and Hamilton took a well-deserved win. DRS worked well, Pirelli's tyres spiced things up more than Bridgestone can dream, and Vettel isn't going to win all the races. He still took those 18 points though, but today the second team got its strategy right, and took the laurels.