F1: You can breath out now

The big question over this weekend's premier motorsport event is why they are not all like this. And the answer is simple: top speeds were lower.

Much will be made of the argument that the drivers and teams were constantly having to revise their tyre strategies as drizzle, dry, drizzle, dry, rain, dry conditions impacted on grip levels and sent some drivers scurrying for frequent changes while others stayed on whatever boots they had on, choosing to drive around the conditions and to be on the right tyres most of the time rather than trying to be on the right tyres all the time and failing. It was a little like the riddle: which clock is most right: one that is stopped or one that is five minutes slow. Answer, the one that is stopped is right twice a day, the other is always wrong.

Jenson Button opted to be mostly right although by the end of the race it was looking as if he would have benefited from new tyres 15 laps from the end. But he could not blink because at that point, a tyre stop would have brought Nico Rosberg - using the same strategy, right up to him and if Rosberg did not also stop, he may have taken over the lead. And as conditions worsened, Button decided having a battle with anyone wasn't a good idea. He eventually finished just ahead of his team-mate Lewis Hamilton who stopped over and over again, showing that neither strategy was significantly better than the other. But for both of them, their intermediate tyres were worn down to zero tread: their last few laps were like driving on ice. First Button, then Hamilton slithered into high-risk areas only to keep their cars on the road until their team told them to cool it. Anyone who thinks these two won't race each other needs to watch the last ten laps of the Shanghai race: Button calculating how slowly he could go and remain ahead, Hamilton yanking Button's chain getting closer then dropping back. Crashing into each other would be bad: making your team-mate lose concentration and slide off: that's kudos and part of the game both men are clearly enjoying playing with each other.

Petrov is making a name for himself as someone who is no regarder of reputations. Having tussled with Hamilton in Malaysia, he saw off a lacklustre Michael Schumacher who has still failed to shine, raising one wag to ask if he would soon be getting trouble with his neck.

Lotus surprised not just because Kovalainen finished but because he finished ahead of a Williams.

For some, the race was settled at the first corner: pole sitter Vettel was tardy off the line, second place man Webber did better. But Alonso fumbled not his start but his stopping: he shot off long (in racing terms) before the red lights went out and by the first corner had upset the Red Bulls' lines and was almost half a second ahead by the end of the first group of corners. As the stewards deliberated Alonso's fate, the rains came, a safety car came out after a tail-end smash brought a very early and expensive end to the races of Kamui Kobayashi’s BMW Sauber and Sebastien Buemi’s Toro Rosso and then Alonso was not allowed to serve the penalty until after racing re-started. As most drivers headed for intermediate tyres, Rosberg and Button inherited P1 and 2 driving on slicks. It was an inspired decision and soon they were several seconds ahead of the pack as the track dried and the "inters" chewed themselves up.

Hamilton demonstrated his prowess as he sat behind a Sutil / Vettel battle, waited for them to distract each other then slithered past both on a very unconventional line. In fact, Hamilton spent most of his time off-line: he had tremendous front-end grip which meant he could turn in sharper than anyone else: his preferred overtaking line was to approach corners high, wait for his quarry to slither wide on the normal racing line, then slingshot up the inside, a move he made stick several times, always on right hand corners. But as the race wore on, he paid the price for this daring and his front left wore far more than his other tyres leading to unbalanced cornering.

Alguersuari, having somehow whacked his front wing, brought out the safety car for a combination of debris on the racing line and the fact that he drove over it and destroyed it completely on the narrow part of the pit-lane access. The resulting safety car brought the field back onto Button's tail: he had had a comfortable gap back to Rosberg. And it brought Hamilton back into contention from 40 seconds behind, causing a spectacular comeback drive.

But Hamilton's position was left in the balance. A bit of a dust-up in the pit lane had led to some wheel-banging with Vettel - and Hamilton being forced into the marked-off safety area. Both teams released their drivers at the same time but Hamilton got wheelspin and Vettel, from the pit behind, pulled alongside. The stewards said they would decide after the event and they interviewed both drivers, reviewed videos and decided that both were at fault so reprimanded both, leaving the result to stand.

Pedro de la Rosa gets the bad luck of the day award: he stayed with Button and Rosberg on slicks to put his Sauber into a great position - then his Ferrari engine blew up. That's the third Ferrari engine to let go in three weeks - two of them being in Alonso's car.

The race was marked by slipstreaming and overtaking, by daring dives and immensely skilful driving. Why aren't they all like this? The simple answer is that the conditions made driving difficult and so talent excelled but also that speeds were lower. Cars were limited to a broadly similar speed by their ability to work on setup. And - this is most important - the lower speeds meant less turbulence from the car in front. Slipstreaming was back in F1. And F1 delivered on a promise it all too often breaks.