Rosberg's Maiden Victory at the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix

Mercedes' Nico Rosberg claimed his first victory today at the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix with a clean run from flag to flag., Rosberg was able to hold off Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton for his first race win in his six years in Formula One.

But Mercedes' day was slightly tainted with Michael Schumacher retiring with a loose front wheel after his first pit stop. But it was all smiles in the team's garage when Rosberg crossed the finish line. There was extra satisfaction as the W03 defied its critics, who had argued before (the race) that that it would not look after its tyres. In the end, the W03 certainly did.

At the end of the race, Rosberg was able to cross the line a full 0:20.6 seconds ahead of Jenson Button (who ended his race in second). The race to the finish would have been much closer but on his final pit stop (9.7 seconds) Button felt as if he robbed the crowds of a grandstand finish,

"Before that our race pace was good, especially on the harder of the two tyres, I had some really good battles out there. And then at my last stop, I stopped on the marks and we had a problem with the rear of the car so I was stopped there for nine or ten seconds I think it was. It was a pity because when I exited the pits I had four cars in front of me, cars that I wouldn't have been racing and I would have had a nice, clear track to hopefully hunt down Nico. It was a big gap but you're going to give it a go."

This weekend in China, we were able to see one of the most exciting races in quite some time. It isn't very often that the majority of the racing was done during the middle section of the race. Normally this is the time when the teams are advising their driver's to turn down the engines to conserve fuel, but not this week!

What was even more surprising was that the last eight laps where the most entertaining. With a mutli-way fight for second, their excitement increased. In 2011, this was the point during the race that all cameras where on the race leader. This year, this race it was not so. With Nico Rosberg essentially coasting to his maiden win, he was vacant from the screens.

Three laps left and the action really started. Buttin was able to overtake the double world champion, Sebastian Vettel, and then Lewis Hamilton and teammate Mark Webber, had him in their sights. Watching the race, you could see Vettel starting to struggle. It wasn't long after that both Hamilton and Webber were able to pass.

Given, if the race was even one lap longer, the finish order would have been completely different. Webber would have gone head-to-head with Hamilton and Vettel would have had to try and hold off the Lotus of Romain Grosjean.

Nico Rosberg	Winner     Fan's Choice
Jenson Button	2nd
Lewis Hamilton	3rd
Mark Webber	P4
Sebastian Vettel	P5
Romain Grosjean	P6
Bruno Senna	P7
Pastor Maldonado	P8
Fernando Alonso	P9
Kamui Kobayashi	P10
Sergio Perez	P11
Paul di Resta	P12
Felipe Massa	P13
Kimi Räikkönen	P14
Nico Hulkenberg	P15
Jean-Éric Vergne	P16
Daniel Ricciardo	P17
Vitaly Petrov	P18 (+1 lap)
Timo Glock	P19 (+1 lap)
Charles Pic	P20 (+1 lap)
Pedro de la Rosa	P21 (+1 lap)
Narain Karthikeyan	P22 (+2 lap)
Heikki Kovalainen	P23 (+3 lap)
Michael Schumacher	Retired (wheel)

In one week time, the Formula One paddock is set to be in Bahrain.