First Win For Rosberg

Nico Rosberg led for the majority of the China Grand Prix to claim his first ever victory in Formula One. Jenson Button was catching the Mercedes but a botched pit-stop on lap 39 allowed the young German to get away. In a brilliant last eight laps, Kimi Raikkonen lost 12-places from second and Sebastian Vettel would also end up losing places to Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber to finish in fifth.

The news before the race saw Jean-Eric Vergne start from the pits in the Toro Rosso. From the start, Button had moved up to third with Hamilton up to fifth. Sergio Perez had managed to get up to sixth and Felipe Massa had moved two places up to tenth. The Red Bulls were the biggest losers from the start as Webber had dropped to eighth whereas Vettel slumped to 14th.

The pitting strategy played a huge part in the race and Webber was the first come in as early as lap seven. That was followed by Vettel and Kamui Kobayashi three laps later. Raikkonen and Hamilton came in on lap 11 and the McLaren managed to pass the Lotus and the Finn also ended up coming out behind Webber in tenth. The only retirement of the race came on lap 13 when Michael Schumacher's pit stop didn't go well, the right front tyre had failed to be put on properly and the Mercedes, who was sitting in second, had to pull out as Button overtook him. Vettel's early pit allowed him to overtake Sergio Perez in tenth after the Mexican pitted on lap 16.

Webber was again the first to pit on lap 22 but this time the McLaren's followed quickly to allow Hamilton to keep his place. Fernando Alonso came in on lap 28 but ended up finding himself behind the chasing pack before Raikkonen ended up behind the Ferrari from his stop a lap later. But Ferrari's favouritism seemed to show once again on lap 31 when Massa was told to let Alonso ahead of him into eighth. 

Rosberg came in again on lap 35 which allowed Button to take the lead, it was also the lap where Webber came in for his third stop. Four laps later, Button had pitted but the left rear wouldn't come off and the McLaren had to wait before finally coming out in sixth. Alonso would go off the track on lap 43 during an attempted overtake and that cost him as he subsequently fell to 11th.

On lap 49, Raikkonen was second, Vettel third, Button fourth, Hamilton fifth and Webber sixth. By the end of that lap, Raikkonen had hit the virtual wall for his tyres and was passed by his rivals. Three laps later and the Finn was way down in tenth but Button had managed to overtake Vettel and secure second place. On lap 55 Vettel was passed by Hamilton before Webber took fourth in final lap ahead of his teammate. Race result:

1.Rosberg (Mercedes), 2.Button (McLaren), 3.Hamilton (McLaren), 4.Webber (Red Bull), 5.Vettel (Red Bull), 6.Grosjean (Lotus), 7.Senna (Williams), 8.Maldonado (Williams), 9.Alonso (Ferrari), 10.Kobayashi (Sauber), 11.Perez (Sauber), 12.Di Resta (Force India), 13.Massa (Ferrari), 14.Raikkonen (Lotus), 15.Hulkenberg (Force India), 16.Vergne (Toro Rosso), 17.Ricciardo (Toro Rosso), 18.Petrov (Caterham), 19.Glock (Marussia), 20.Pic (Marussia), 21.De La Rosa (HRT), 22.Karthikeyan (HRT), 23.Kovalainen (Caterham) DNF: Schumacher (Mercedes)