What. A. Race. There's really no other way to start talking about the Chinese Grand Prix.

This was a race not just for the enthusiasts, but one for everyone and anyone to enjoy. For the first time in years nearly all of the 24 men who have the privilege to be behind the wheels of the world's fastest cars seemed to remember they weren't just drivers - they were racers.

There were scenes more akin to rallying as the multi-million pound machines went wheel to wheel, the drivers battling for positions as if their lives depended on it. Sometimes this meant contact between the cars or even flying off the track as the drivers fought to find a way past each other.

In the case of Mark Webber, it literally was flying as he clipped a kerb at turn 13 and sent the front of the car into the air. Thankfully it was a relatively minor incident, especially compared to his gut-wrenching 190mph somersault through the air at the European Grand Prix in 2010. Having said that, he admitted after the race the landing still hurt.

The exception to the drama that took over the track was Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg who took home a deserved first time win. The German drove a flawless race from pole after he dominated Saturday's qualifying, beating his nearest rivals time by half a second.

In a sport where even hundredths of a second make all the difference, the stunning margin meant nobody could touch him, not even his seven-time world champ team mate Michael Schumacher.

The win was even more surprising as for the last two races the Mercedes cars have been chewing up their tyres much faster than others on the track. This weekend the tyres seemed to hold up well.

Also, the team's modified DRS system, which many believed was the cause of their superior straight line speed, was almost useless for Rosberg due to the fact he was the front runner and therefore had few chances to use it. To operate their DRS drivers must be within one second of the car in front of them.

Nevertheless Rosberg crossed the line a full 20 seconds in front of second place Jenson Button, an impressive feat by any standards.

His teammate Schumacher had a less successful race. Despite the Silver Arrows, as the Mercedes cars are known, locking out the front row to start the race in P1 and P2, Schumacher's first pit stop ended in disaster.

The automated stop-and-go lights at his garage stop turned green before the front right tyre had been secured and he was forced to retire during lap 13.

Other world champions were equally unhappy this weekend as well. Shockingly, Sebastian Vettel didn't even make it through to the final qualifying session on Saturday and lined up to start the race in P11.

A terrible start then meant he ended up in P15 at the end of the first lap. He radioed the team a few laps later complaining that he was "nowhere on the straights". However, preserving his tyres and adopting a two-stop strategy, one less than nearly all the other front runners, meant he eventually crossed the line in P5, just behind his team mate Mark Webber who managed a brave overtake right at the end of the race.

Oddly, Vettel chose to run an old spec setup this weekend compared to Webber who had updates on his. According to reports Vettel wasn't comfortable with the changes and opted to stay with the old design, a decision many will now think was a mistake, especially when Red Bull's chief technical officer is Adrian Newey, widely regarded as a genius when it comes to designing Formula 1 cars.

Returning ex-world champion Kimi Raikkonen had been holding fast in second place for a most of the later stage of the race. However his worn Pirelli tyres eventually caused him to lose traction and speed, and left him a sitting duck as all the battling cars behind him sped past.

The sudden degradation of the Pirelli tyres has caused commentators to coin the phrase they "fall off the cliff", and unfortunately Raikkonen was a perfect example of how quickly that can happen. He went from P2 to P14 in a matter of a few minutes and stayed there for until he reached the chequered flag.

The McLaren's had hoped they could compete for a win on Sunday, and at one point it looked as if Button could bring the fight to Rosberg at the front, but a disastrous final pit stop for the Brit put paid to those plans.

Mechanics struggled to attach the left rear tyre meaning the usual three second pit stop turned into a nine second thumb twiddler. It meant that when Button was eventually released he fed back into traffic in P6 and had to work his way through the pack again.

Hamilton meanwhile should have started the race from P2 but a gearbox change meant he was issued with a five-place grid penalty. Each car must run the same gearbox for at least five weekends or incur the penalty.

He ended up starting the race from P7, and in a pre-race interview he said he wasn't expecting a win. However, he drove a solid race finally crossing the line in third place, stretching McLaren's lead in the constructors championship.

The Ferraris seemed to return to their old struggling ways this weekend as well, with Fernando Alonso only qualifying in P9 and Felipe Massa in P12. Despite his best efforts, Alonso could only manage to maintain that position as a race result and Massa only finished in P13, behind the Force India of Paul Di Resta.

Like Hamilton, the Scot drove a good, solid race managing to keep his cool in the madness of the on-track frenzy finishing ahead of his team mate Nico Hulkenberg.

The entertainment of the weekend was a welcome change after the serious discussions that had been taking place during the week around the Bahrain Grand Prix, which is due to be held this coming weekend.

There were murmurings over the last few weeks that some teams were uncomfortable at the prospect of racing in the country while there was on-going civil unrest. The moral and security concerns seemed to be the main worries and there was speculation that the race would be cancelled at the 11th hour.

However after a meeting with F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone the decision has been taken to race, with added security to ease some concerns. There are still question marks about whether this is the right decision, and the media has been full of speculation and opinions on the topic.

Bernie Ecclestone insists the sport can be used to bring the country together but some clearly disagree with this: a member of the Williams team's catering staff allegedly had her contract terminated when she refused to go to Bahrain on moral grounds.

Williams would have been forced to let her go to stop other members of staff boycotting the race, but it highlights the difficulty and delicacy of the situation all the more clear. Only time will tell whether Formula 1 heading to Bahrain is the right plan.