Stat Attack: China (post-race)

Overtaking

Going by the rules set in an overtaking investigation we carried out in 2007 (here), only one race in the last 20 years has had more overtaking moves than the Chinese Grand Prix.

Hamilton led the way in China with 10 passes, followed by Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa with eight each. Heikki Kovalainen was passed the most, 15 times, while Michael Schumacher was a victim eight times.

Race notes

• Three of this year's four races have now ended in a one-two - and each time for a different team (Ferrari in Bahrain, Red Bull in Malaysia and now McLaren in China).

• The result was McLaren's first one-two since the 2007 Italian Grand Prix and the first one-two for British drivers since the 1999 Austrian GP (Eddie Irvine and David Coulthard).

• Rain affected the Chinese GP for the fourth time in the last five years.

• Jenson Button because the seventh different winner in the seven races held at Shanghai.

• McLaren posted a race fastest lap for the first time in exactly two years - since the 2008 Chinese GP.

• Nico Rosberg finished on the podium in back-to-back races for the first time in his career.

• Vitaly Petrov scored his maiden points and made it to the end of a grand prix for the first time, as both Renaults finished in the points for the first time since the 2008 Chinese GP.

• A Red Bull didn't lead an F1 race for the first time in six events, although in China that was as a result of Fernando Alonso's jump start.

• Felipe Massa has finished further down in each race so far this year: second in Bahrain, third in Australia, seventh in Malaysia and ninth in China.

• Sauber has completed less than a quarter of the total race distance so far this year, and Kamui Kobayashi less than one tenth.

• Mercedes-powered cars swept the podium for only the second time in Formula 1 history. The first occasion being the 1955 British GP (Stirling Moss, Juan Manuel Fangio and Karl Kling).

Qualifying notes

• Red Bull claimed its fourth straight pole position of 2010. The last team to achieve that feat was Ferrari in 2007, when it went on the win both the drivers' and constructors' championships.

• Lewis Hamilton was outqualified by Jenson Button for the third race in a row. That is only the second time Hamilton has suffered that, the other being Monaco to Britain 2009.

Predictable dry runs

The dry qualifying sessions so far this season have been quite predictable. At Shanghai, seven of the 24 drivers qualified in the same position as they had in Bahrain and Australia.

The same 10 drivers reached Q3 in China as in Bahrain, and only Jaime Alguersuari and Vitantonio Liuzzi switched places in Q2.