The fourth round in the 2010 Formula One World Championship is fast approaching, and boy has the 2010 season been a blast.With a lacklustre opening race the Sakhir International Circuit in Bahrain, Fernando Alonso won on his debut for Ferrari. However, the Australian Grand Prix in Albert Park, Melbourne, beat all the criticisms from Bahrain and produced one of the best Grand Prix of recent years. The eventual winner was the reigning World Champion, Jenson Button for McLaren, who made the right call to switch to slick tyres from intermediates and won the race, after Sebastian Vettel crashed out with a loss of power second was Robert Kubica, for Renault, in a highly impressive display.
The Malaysian Grand Prix was also a very good race, with qualifying extra wet. The McLaren's and Ferrari's made the wrong call in the 1st qualifying session, consequently ending up at the back of the grid. Mark Webber and Sebastain Vettel locked out the front row for the first time for Red Bull. In the race, Vettel overtook Webber into the first corner and won the race, while Lewis Hamilton had a good race, finishing sixth. The championship leader, Fernando Alonso, however, had had clutch problems all race and his engine gave up 2 laps from the end.
Drivers
| 1 | Felipe Massa | Brz | Ferrari | 39 |
| 2 | Fernando Alonso | Spa | Ferrari | 37 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ger | Red Bull-Renault | 37 |
| 4 | Jenson Button | GB | McLaren-Mercedes | 35 |
| 5 | Nico Rosberg | Ger | Mercedes GP | 35 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | GB | McLaren-Mercedes | 31 |
| 7 | Robert Kubica | Pol | Renault | 30 |
| 8 | Mark Webber | Aus | Red Bull-Renault | 24 |
| 9 | Adrian Sutil | Ger | Force India-Mercedes | 10 |
| 10 | Michael Schumacher | Ger | Mercedes GP | 9 |
| 11 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Ita | Force India-Mercedes | 8 |
| 12 | Rubens Barrichello | Brz | Williams-Cosworth | 5 |
| 13 | Jaime Alguersuari | Spa | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 2 |
| 14 | Nico Hulkenberg | Ger | Williams-Cosworth | 1 |
| 15 | Sebastien Buemi | Swi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 0 |
| 16 | Pedro de la Rosa | Spa | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | 0 |
| 17 | Heikki Kovalainen | Fin | Lotus-Cosworth | 0 |
| 18 | Karun Chandhok | Ind | Hispania-Cosworth | 0 |
| 19 | Lucas di Grassi | Brz | Virgin-Cosworth | 0 |
| 20 | Bruno Senna | Brz | Hispania-Cosworth | 0 |
| 21 | Jarno Trulli | Ita | Lotus-Cosworth | 0 |
| 22 | Timo Glock | Ger | Virgin-Cosworth | 0 |
| 23 | Vitaly Petrov | Rus | Renault | 0 |
| 24 | Kamui Kobayashi | Jpn | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | 0 |
Constructors
| 1 | Ferrari | 76 |
| 2 | McLaren-Mercedes | 66 |
| 3 | Red Bull-Renault | 61 |
| 4 | Mercedes GP | 44 |
| 5 | Renault | 30 |
| 6 | Force India-Mercedes | 18 |
| 7 | Williams-Cosworth | 6 |
| 8 | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 2 |
| 9 | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | 0 |
| 10 | Lotus-Cosworth | 0 |
| 11 | Hispania-Cosworth | 0 |
| 12 | Virgin-Cosworth | 0 |
Let's have a look for what the Chinese Grand Prix has in store this weekend.
Qualifying
Every pole position this season has been taken by a Red Bull car, Sebastian Vettel in Bahrain and Australia, and Mark Webber in Malaysia. This makes Red Bull a good candidate for pole position this weekend. Ferrari and McLaren had terrible qualifying in Malaysia and they'll want to bounce back here. Michael Schumacher has been outclassed by his team mate Nico Rosberg in every qualifying and race this season, so he's going to be motivated to do well here. Schumacher has one in here once, in 2006. Nico Rosberg had an extremely good weekend at Malaysia, qualifying 2nd and finishing 3rd. This is a driver who is on a role at the moment and don't expect it to stop any time soon!
Robert Kubica has done fantastically well this season, out performing his Renault car. The Renault team think this car is a race winning car and reckon they can challenge Mercedes as 'the fourth team' this season. Expect Kubica to do well and his rookie team mate, Vitaly Petrov, to be up their too.
Race
The Chinese Grand Prix is a relatively new track, meaning that overtaking may be hard to come by. Last year, we had a very wet race, ending with Red Bull scoring their first ever 1-2. Weather wise, we are expecting much of the same this year, with heavy rain expected on race day in China.
However, no driver has won this Grand Prix twice, which makes the race a bit problematique. Out of the top 4, going by this rule, only Jenson Button, Felipe Massa, Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg have a chance of winning this race. But going by the recent pace of the Red Bull's and the Ferrari's, you can't say for sure who will win the race. If it rains, it's anybody's game. No one outside the top 3 in qualigying has ever won this race, making qualifying seemingly important. Going by team statistics alone, Ferrari have notched up 3 wins at this circuit, each through Rubens Barrichello, Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen.
Anyhow, it will be an exciting race at Shanghai, China, and we may well have a new championship leader after the race.
I will also do reviews of both qualifying and the race, be sure to read them after each session.
