Before the start of this season, many of us, myself very much included, wrote Jenson Button off as a title outsider and envisaged his annihilation by fellow British champion Hamilton. How wrong we were. 4 races in and Jenson is on top of the heap, having added today's grand prix to his Australian success after another excellent wet-weather drive.
Qualifying, which was perfectly dry, served as a reminder as to the imperious form of the Red Bull machines, with Vettel and Webber locking out the front row between them in that order. Despite pace in Q1 and Q2, the McLarens could only muster 5th and 6th, with Alonso and Rosberg separating the British cars from the Red Bulls. Next came Massa, from Kubica and Schumacher who was first to admit he had serious work to do to be a genuine contender.
Come the race itself, Alonso was somewhat anxious to get going, as evidenced by his jump start that saw him lead the way by a suspiciously large margin from Vettel and Webber. Predictably, the Spaniard would eventually be slapped with a drive-through penalty as the rest of the pack followed through the first series of bends in virtually grid order, until a multi-car collision unfolded. Liuzzi lost control of his Force India mount under braking, sending him careering into the hapless Sauber of Kobayashi and Toro Rosso of Buemi, the former thus maintaining his perfect non-finish record this season.
The safety car was hastily scrambled as a result of this, incidentally just as the drizzle that had looming over the circuit since just before the start turned into 'Where's my umbrella?' style-rain as ITV's Ted Kravitz put it. That meant the entire field, which started on slicks, dived into the pits (including Hamilton who had a late change of mind having driven halfway round the final turn) with the exception of Rosberg, Button, the two Renaults, the sole surviving Sauber of De La Rosa, and Kovalainen's Lotus.
As the safety car retired back into the pits after the debris was cleared, Rosberg led the pack whilst Kovalainen was unsurprisingly swallowed up by the pack. At first, it seemed as if the switch to Intermediates was the wise move, yet the leaders were able to hold on with slicks as the rain let up slightly, burning out the inters within laps. This meant just about everyone who made the swap was back the pits before long, with Hamilton and Vettel proceeding to partake in a spot of speed-limited drag racing as they exited their pit boxes simultaneously. Despite investigation, the stewards took no action as it would turn out.
Rosberg, Button and Kubica thus enjoyed a healthy margin over the rest after Petrov fell back and De La Rosa's Sauber expired having ran promisingly in 5th place. Schumacher ran in 5th, ahead of Hamilton, Vettel and Webber who'd sauntered up through the pack since their stops, including some dicing for position with Sutil. It wasn't long before the battle we'd all been waiting for three years commenced: Schumacher versus Hamilton. Sadly, with the 7-time champion strangely struggling in the conditions, Hamilton made short work of him before resuming his battle from Malaysia with Petrov ahead. The Brit was careful not to repeat his weaving tactics that saw him lambasted by his fellow drivers in the driver's meeting prior to the race.
Back at the front, Rosberg squandered the advantage he'd built up by running wide, allowing Button to close within striking distance of the German. Sure enough, at the hairpin, Button nipped past the Mercedes to lead the race. Not long after, the rain began to intensify once more, this time definitely making the intermediate the tyre to be on. Schumacher and Webber were first to oblige, followed by leaders Button, Rosberg and Kubica one lap later, and then Hamilton and Vettel after another lap.
After another safety car thanks to Alguersauri damaging his front wing, Button made headway at the front. Hamilton nudged Webber wide at the restart costing the Aussie several places. It didn't take long for him to repeat his earlier passes on Schumacher and Petrov too, and laps later he would seize 3rd position from the other Renault in what was becoming a stellar drive. Conversely, it was turning into a wretched day for Schumacher as he slipped behind erstwhile polesitter Vettel and Alonso who had recovered well from his early drive-through for jumping the start.
The leaders all pitted once more in light of degrading rubber, with Hamilton jumping Rosberg for 2nd, having been hassling him hard in the laps before. Further down the road, Alonso continued his charge by passing Kubica for 4th place, with Vettel behind ahead of teammate Webber who profited from an earlier stop than his rivals. Having spun a while ago from 5th place, Petrov was able to steam up the inside of Schumacher who simply had no answer for the Russian, promptly falling back another place after former teammate Massa followed the Petrov past him.
None of this action however prevented Jenson Button taking the chequered for the second time in four races, proving he is the man to beat in changing conditions. Hamilton completed the McLaren 1-2, with Rosberg making it an all Mercedes-powered podium with another impressive drive. Alonso finished in a spirited 4th having made a grand total of 5 pitstops, ahead of Kubica, Vettel, Petrov, Webber, Massa and the much-maligned Schumacher. Sutil and Barrichello finished just outside the points, ahead of Alguersauri, Kovalainen, Hulkenberg and perennial tail-enders Senna and Chandhok. Trulli's Lotus suffered a break-down part way into the race, as did di Grassi, whilst the sister Virgin of Glock failed to start at all.
So, another action-packed the race delivered another worthy winner. With Button pulling 10 points clear of his closest rivals in the championship, he has surely vindicated his risky decision to part ways with Brawn and join McLaren. Hamilton will surely be scratching his head over how to even the score with his teammate before it's too late...
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