In the Mirrors: Chinese GP

In October 2008, Lewis Hamilton won a dreary Chinese Grand Prix, with the two Ferrari's following him home to set up the exciting championship finale that was the Brazilian Grand Prix. Just six months later, all that has changed, and a new order has emerged.

Yes, the order at the back of the grid is very different to that of half a year ago.

Once again, Ferrari struggle to get anywhere. The McLaren's are still off the pace, but seem to be improving. BMW Sauber seem to have gone backwards from their pace in Australia.

But at least Nelson Piquet keeps some continuity by circulating around the back of the pack, with the occasional crash to spice things up.

Lets start with qualifying, and this weeks surprise failure to make session two: Robert Kubica. After eventually deciding against KERS, he only managed to qualify in 18th position, which is surprising considering he was looking good for at least a podium in Australia three weeks ago.

The two Force India's, Sebastien Bourdais and Nelson Piquet joined him on the sidelines, with these four looking like they will be the drivers that will be propping up the grid for the majority of the races this year.

Session two manages to eliminate Timo Glock, who's Toyota wasn't looking as great as it has been in the opening two races. Given recent performances, the other four aren't too much of a surprise.

Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton made the top ten, and didn't make much of an impression. Despite qualifying 10th, a big thumbs up to Sebastien Buemi for a good quality effort, vastly outperforming his team-mate.

The start of the race, and the safety car powers off into an early lead. Rain continues to fall, with several drivers having off-track moments before quickly rejoining.

Sadly, the safety car fails to capitalise on its early lead, and can't pull enough of an advantage over Sebastian Vettel, who quickly retakes the lead when the safety car is ordered to pit.

Jarno Trulli is steadily falling down the order, becoming an easy target for the other drivers. When Robert Kubica stumbles upon the Italian, the two collide, and amazingly the BMW is able to carry on, after stopping for some repairs.

The safety car makes another appearance, and Trulli is unlucky to just miss the pitlane, forcing him to do another lap. During the safety car period, Massa's Ferrari decides that the throttle should be shut down for no particular reason, ending the Brazilian's promising race.

Driver after driver has an off track moment, sliding wide at corners as the rain carries on throughout the length of the race. Nelson Piquet takes out a polystyrene advertising board, and breaking the nose of the Renault.

Towards the end of the race, Adrian Sutil is once again looking set for a decent haul of points for Force India in wet conditions, and once again he retires a short distance from the end. This time, however, it is of his own making.

Despite a good qualifying, Fernando Alonso's strategy doesn't pay off, and he finishes outside of the points. So too does Kimi Raikkonen, who is starting to look like he just doesn't care anymore. The McLaren's have a good race to get a double points finish, with Heikki Kovalainen completing his first racing lap of the year.

With the exception of Force India and Nelson Piquet, the rear of the grid is looking a lot different in 2009. Once Piquet is fired during the course of the season, the order may change again.

It would just be nice if I didn't have to write about Ferrari in these articles...