Shanghai: Jenson Button won the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday and took over the Formula One championship lead by beating his teammate Lewis Hamilton in a 1-2 finish for McLaren.
In a chaotic race of rapidly changing weather conditions, forcing most drivers to pit at least four times, 2009 world champion Button benefited from another canny tire strategy, as he necessitated only two stops while Hamilton had four.
"It was a tricky race out there and again we called it right," Button said. "It was not just about being quick, it's about reading the conditions."
Mercedes' Nico Rosberg finished third. The German driver took over the lead when he and Button elected to stay out on dry-weather tires while most others went to wets and soon realized they had to switch back onto dry tires.
Rosberg held the lead until lap 19 when he ran wide as his tires degraded.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso took the lead at the start, but was soon penalized for jumping the lights and given a drive-through penalty. He finished fourth after five trips to pitlane.
Renault's Robert Kubica finished fifth and his teammate Vitaly Petrov earned his first ever F1 points by taking seventh.
Separating the Renault pair was pole sitter Sebstian Vettel. The Red Bull driver was shuffled back by his hasty change to wet tires and reversion to dries, and thereafter was never a winning chance.
His Red Bull teammate Mark Webber made the same strategy error and finished eighth, ahead of Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Mercedes' Michael Schumacher.
After four rounds of the season, Button leads the drivers' standings on 60 points, ahead of Rosberg on 50. Hamilton and Alonso were level third on 49 points.
McLaren also took over the lead in the constructors' standings, on 109, ahead of Ferrari on 90. Mercedes jumped to third on 78 ahead of Red Bull on 73.
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