Race three was held under rainy skies in Shanghai, China. The race was started under a yellow flag and a safety car to continue this season’s trend of not having a clean start to finish race. More yellow flags and another safety car appearance after a couple of crashes by Sutil and Trulli caused more delays during the race.
All of the careful race planning and strategy that went into the amazing finish at qualifying was pretty much destroyed. This race could have been won by anyone. However, this was finally Red Bull’s moment with Vettel and Webber taking the team to a one – two finish.
Race Results:
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Grid | Points |
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 1 | 10 |
| 2 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 3 | 8 |
| 3 | Jenson Button | Brawn-Mercedes | 5 | 6 |
| 4 | Rubens Barrichello | Brawn-Mercedes | 4 | 5 |
| 5 | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren-Mercedes | 12 | 4 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 9 | 3 |
| 7 | Timo Glock | Toyota | 19 | 2 |
| 8 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 10 | 1 |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 2 | |
| 10 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 8 | |
| 11 | Sebastien Bourdais | STR-Ferrari | 15 | |
| 12 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 11 | |
| 13 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 17 | |
| 14 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Force India-Mercedes | 20 | |
| 15 | Nico Rosberg | Williams-Toyota | 7 | |
| 16 | Nelsinho Piquet | Renault | 16 | |
| 17 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 18 | |
| Ret | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams-Toyota | 14 | |
| Ret | Felipe Massa | BMW Sauber | 13 | |
| Ret | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 6 |
The only controversy that is left swirling around is whatever the outcome may be for the McLaren team after next Wednesday’s meeting with the World Motor Sport Council in Paris. Although, McLaren has apologized and fired the main people involved in the lying scandal, they may still face some serious penalties. They could be facing a hefty fine, suspension from Spain and Monaco, exclusion from the Championship or any combination of the three. Depending on what decision is made by the WMSC, McLaren could also face the possibility of having some of its major sponsors pullout. Personally, I think a fine with a one race suspension for Hamilton may be adequate punishment. I don’t feel that the entire team should suffer for a mistake made by a few players. It would be especially unfair for Heikki Kovalainen. That’s my two cents on the topic, anyway.
We are off to Bahrain for the next race. I’m fairly sure that we should be able to avoid the rain.
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