The F1 jamboree comes to our neck of the woods this weekend, and petrolheads heading to Shanghai will be cheered by the closeness of the championship race. The five top drivers are within four points of each other. Drivers of four different teams are represented in that top five. It helps that the first three races have been won by different drivers from different teams.
This year, of course, the points system is very different. It's similar to MotoGP with 25 points for a win, 18 for second and 15 for the last step of the podium. Points are scored all the way down to 10th. The bigger differential was supposed to reward winning and encourage racing as opposed to holding station.
It was perhaps one of the rule changes that attracted the least column inches over the winter, yet was potentially one of the most radical. It could have meant a very different look to the championship. However, here's the bombshell: it hasn't. I've just scored the first three races with the old points scoring system, and it's come out exactly the same. Different points totals, of course, but Felipe Massa would still lead with Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel tied on points, as are Nico Rosberg and Jenson Button behind them.
Button himself made a good point after the Malaysian Grand Prix. He's already concluded that rather than encourage people to take risks to take the win it's rewarding consistency. The championship leader is Massa, who hasn't won a race yet. He has, however been on the podium twice. His Ferrari teammate Alonso may have won the first outing in Bahrain, but he has been punished by his failure to finish in Malaysia. The Red Bull drivers have also suffered at the hands of a fast but frail car.
One man who hasn't featured in this discussion about points so far is Michael Schumacher. Three races in and sixth place is his best so far. With nine points and standing 10th in the championship it's not been the triumphant return that the German or his fans had been hoping for.
The car that Brawn built hasn't been all that he might have wanted, but his teammate is leaving him for dead. Whatever the state of your car, you have to beat your teammate. So far Rosberg has out-qualified and out-raced him at every turn. In Malaysia, Rosberg was on the podium after starting the race on the front row.