Kimi Raikkonen went from a podium to a point-less finish in the space of 10 laps as his tyre strategy proved to be the wrong one.
Raikkonen was running as high as second as Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix entered its final stint, albeit over 20 seconds down on Mercedes' Nico Rosberg.
However, the Lotus driver had opted for a two-stop strategy, which may have worked in getting up to second, but it didn't work in allowing him to keep it as those on three-stoppers came storming by.
Raikkonen, who had been one of the first of the two-stoppers to pit, could do absolutely nothing to keep those with fresher tyres at bay.
The 2007 World Champ finished the grand prix down in 14th place, over 50s behind race winner Rosberg.
"We tried to run two stops but we ran out of the tyres in the end," said the Finn.
"We tried but it didn't pay off today.
"There are two choices and we took another one, we thought it was going to work out but it didn't."
But while the two stops did not work for Raikkonen, they did for his team-mate Romain Grosjean who finished in sixth place after winning an exciting battle with Bruno Senna, Pastor Maldonado and Fernando Alonso.
"It was pretty good, I am very pleased for myself and the team. It looked like Formula Three at times but it was tough out there."
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