Kimi Räikkönen picked up Ferrari's first points of the season in sixth, whilst Toyota's Timo Glock and Renault's Fernando Alonso finished in seventh and eighth position.

Brawn GP led the Chinese Grand Prix winners Red Bull Racing by 16½ points in the Constructors' Championship.

[5] Their previous worst start also came when they were Constructors' Champions; in the 1980 season the team scored no points until the fourth race, the 1980 United States Grand Prix West, where Jody Scheckter finished fifth.

[6] BMW Sauber decided to install KERS in Robert Kubica's car for the entire race weekend after it had been tested in free practice in China.

Red Bull's Mark Webber and the other Ferrari of Kimi Räikkönen shared the ninth fastest time, completing the top ten.

[8] Nico Rosberg was fastest in Friday's second practice session, topping the timesheets with a time of 1:33.339, followed by Fernando Alonso in the Renault and Jarno Trulli in the Toyota.

Adrian Sutil of Force India put in an impressive laptime to finish seventh in the standings, with Toyota's Timo Glock, Brawn's Rubens Barrichello, and Williams' Kazuki Nakajima rounding out the top 10.

Renault's Fernando Alonso managed seventh place, and behind him Felipe Massa, Nico Rosberg and Kimi Räikkönen completed the top ten.

Jarno Trulli was running second, but had to fight off Lewis Hamilton in the first corner, who had passed Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel from fifth on the grid after a flying start with the help of his KERS.

Further back in the field, there was damage sustained to the cars of Felipe Massa, Nick Heidfeld, Robert Kubica and Kazuki Nakajima, all of whom had to pit early to replace their front wings, whilst Heikki Kovalainen lost track position after running wide.

Glock, who had once led the race, had lost so much time on the tyres that he stayed behind Hamilton in seventh place even after the McLaren driver had completed his pit stop.

Vettel's pit stop on lap 18 placed him ahead of Hamilton, but just thirty metres behind the slower-lapping car of Trulli, preventing him from challenging Button for the lead.

[13] Nick Heidfeld equalled Michael Schumacher's record of 24 consecutive finishes, bringing home his BMW Sauber in 19th and last place.

[14] Alonso collapsed in the media room after a drinking water pump failed early in the race and an overheating problem behind his driver's seat left him extremely dehydrated and a first-degree burn behind his back.