Sebastian Vettel wins wet 2009 Chinese Grand Prix

April 19, 2009

Red Bull Racing driver Sebastian Vettel won the rainy 2009 Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai, China. His teammate Mark Webber came second with a substantial gap of more than 10 seconds. Vettel's first win for Toro Rosso was the wet race at Monza last year.

This season's debutant Brawn GP team drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello were less quick than in two previous races, finishing after the Red Bull cars.

McLaren-Mercedes driver Heikki Kovalainen profited from his teammate's error, finishing in front of Lewis Hamilton; the pair took fifth and sixth places respectively.

Timo Glock came seventh for Toyota, while his teammate Jarno Trulli was taken out by Robert Kubica's BMW Sauber when it smashed into the rear of Trulli's Toyota.

Sébastien Buemi closed the top eight, bringing one point for Toro Rosso. Buemi's teammate Sébastien Bourdais finished eleventh.

The start and the first eight laps behind the safety car forced Fernando Alonso, who qualified second for Renault yesterday, to pit and drop down to the last place. He finished ninth ahead of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.

Adrian Sutil's Force India slipped on the wet track and was taken out from the sixth place after Hamilton pushed on him in attempt to regain the position lost to Sutil.

Button and Barrichello now lead the championship with 21 and 15 points apiece. Vettel and Glock behind them with ten points, others less. Constructor's standings are currently led by the Brawn-Mercedes team with 36 points, Red Bull and Toyota come up at some distance of 16.5 and 17.5 points behind.