China in Numbers

China, Shanghai. 3rd race of the season and another race of 'firsts'. If last month in Malaysia we saw Checo Perez achieve his first ever podium, this time it was Nico Rosberg who finally ended up on pole for the 1st time on Saturday and then went on to win his first ever race on Sunday. He got off to an excellent start, looked after his tyres perfectly following a 2 stop strategy and, 111 F1 Grands Prix after his debut, he managed to cross the line first. Untouchable Rosberg. A deserved 1st win.

So Rosberg becomes the 5th driver to achieve the pole position and then go on to win the race in China (the 4 other drivers are Barrichello in 2004, Alonso in 2005, Hamilton in 2008 and Vettel in 2009). It was the German's first ever win and Mercedes' 1st win since 1955... When Ross Brawn was only 1 year old! Nico also becomes the 8th driver to win in China, joining Button, Vettel, Raikkonen, Alonso, Schumacher, Barrichello and Hamilton (the only one to have won twice here), as well as the 4th to achieve a Chinese pole position (Vettel has the most with 3, followeed by Hamilton and Alonso with 2 and Barrichello with 1).

Still more about Nico. He becomes the 3rd son to have won a race after his father after Graham/Damon Hill and Gilles/Jacques Villeneuve. And with his first pole and win in China, he becomes the 11th driver on the 2012 grid to have achieved a pole and the10th to win a race.

So after 3 races in 2012 we already have 3 different winners (Button, Alonso and Rosberg) in 3 different teams (McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes). 17 out of the 24 drivers have already scored points and they all know what that feels like except for Marussia's Charles Pic who has never scored a point in F1. Lewis Hamilton is the only driver on the grid to have been on the podium on all 3 times this season, while Mark Webber has outqualified his team mate Sebastian Vettel every time this season and beat him in the last 2 races this season. Schumacher was on his way to his 1st podium since his comeback but in the end he became the only driver to not finish the race.

Williams have more than 3 times the total of points they achieved last year (18). McLaren is leading the Constructors Championship with 88 points, with its drivers Lewis and Jenson 1st and 2nd. Mercedes have jumped up to 5th after their 1st win of the season in China, while Ferrari in 3rd position rely totally on Fernando Alonso's talent as Felipe Massa still hasn't scored a single point yet.

Marussia is the most reliable of the bottom 3 teams, having finished all 3 races with both cars this season. Something Caterham only achieved for the first time this season here in China. Lotus still hasn't been able to finish a race with both their cars in the points, something that Williams achieved precisely this weekend in China, with Bruno 7th and Pastor 8th.

No break. Next we move on to Bahrain. The 4th race of the season and the 8th time the race will be held here. Ferrari is the team that curiously have won the most times in Bahrain, a total of 4, even though it doesn't look like they will make it 5, at least this year. Even though with Alonso, anything is possible!