2011 European Grand Prix
2011 European Grand Prix | |||||
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Race 8 of 19 in the 2011 Formula One World Championship
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Race details | |||||
Date | 26 June 2011 | ||||
Official name | 2011 Formula 1 Grand Prix of Europe | ||||
Location |
Valencia, Spain | ||||
Course | Temporary street circuit | ||||
Course length | 5.419 km (3.367 miles) | ||||
Distance | 57 laps, 308.883 km (191.931 miles) | ||||
Weather |
Clear, Fine and Dry[1][2] Air Temp 27 °C (81 °F)[2] Track Temp 47 °C (117 °F)[2] | ||||
Pole position | |||||
Driver |
Renault | ||||
Time | 1:36.975 | ||||
Fastest lap | |||||
Driver | Sebastian Vettel |
Renault | |||
Time | 1:41.852 on lap 53 | ||||
Podium | |||||
First |
Renault | ||||
Second | Ferrari | ||||
Third |
Renault | ||||
Lap leaders |
The 2011 European Grand Prix (officially the 2011 Formula 1 Grand Prix of Europe)
As a consequence of the race, Vettel extended his lead in the Drivers' Championship standings to 77 points over Jenson Button and Webber. By finishing first and third, Red Bull extended their Constructors' Championship standings lead to 89 points over nearest rivals McLaren.
Report
Background
In the week leading up to the Spanish Grand Prix, FIA race director Charlie Whiting announced that the Canadian Grand Prix would see the introduction of a secondary drag reduction system (DRS) activation zone.[5] The plan for a secondary DRS zone would be continued at the European Grand Prix, with the first zone incorporating the long back straight on the approach to Turn 12, and the second zone using the stretch from Turns 14 to 17. Future use of a second DRS zone would depend on its success in Montreal and Valencia.
The FIA originally announced a ban on the off-throttle blown diffuser concept to be introduced at the British Grand Prix.[6] While the planned date for the ban was kept in effect, extra limitations were introduced for the race in Valencia.[7] This ban prohibits teams from running "extreme" engine maps in qualifying before reverting to a "safer" map for the race. The ban effectively means that teams are forced to run the same engine maps in both qualifying and the race.
The European Grand Prix also marked the race debut of Formula One tyre supplier Pirelli's medium-specification tyre compound.[8] The medium compound tyre was selected as the white-banded harder "prime" tyre and the yellow-banded soft compound as the softer "option" compound.[9]
This race was scheduled to be the last where off-throttle blown-diffusers were used; however the ban did not continue after the
In
Practice
In the first free practice session,
Alonso was the fastest man in the second session, once again narrowly followed by Hamilton. Vettel had moved himself up into third for this session, and fellow
Qualifying
Race
The race was very hot, the average temperature around 47 °C (117 °F).
At the start Sebastian Vettel led easily from pole, with teammate Mark Webber behind. Felipe Massa had a good start from fifth, driving straight between and past Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso at Turn 1; but because Massa looked down the outside of Webber at Turn 2, Alonso could cleverly get back in front of Massa on the inside of Turn 3. Bad starts from the McLarens meant Hamilton dropped from third to fifth, and Jenson Button dropped from sixth to seventh – behind Nico Rosberg. Button later retook sixth place from Rosberg a few laps later into Turn 2. Before the pit stops the order was now Vettel, Webber, Alonso, Massa, Hamilton, Button, Rosberg, Schumacher (the four fastest cars in the top eight spots).
It seemed like the Ferraris had made great improvements since Canada because their pace was at least equal to the McLarens, and significantly faster at some stages of the race. The McLarens had quiet races, Button stuck in sixth, while Hamilton used the undercut to get past Massa in the pit stops for fourth, where he would finish the race.
Fernando Alonso engaged in a race long battle with Mark Webber for second while Vettel stormed away into the distance. Early on in the race Alonso overtook Webber in the first
HRT driver Narain Karthikeyan finished the race in last place. Due to the lack of retirements during the race, Karthikeyan finished in 24th position. That is the lowest finishing position of any driver in a Grand Prix in Formula 1 history.
Post-race
After the race both McLaren drivers told the media that there was work to be done, particularly improvements in the aerodynamics of their car.[10][11]
The European Grand Prix had the most classified finishers (24) beating the record set in the 2011 Chinese Grand Prix. The Grand Prix is notable as it was only the fourth World Championship Grand Prix where there were no retirements, the others being the 1961 Dutch Grand Prix (fifteen starters), the 2005 United States Grand Prix (six starters) and the 2005 Italian Grand Prix (twenty starters).
The track was criticised by former Formula One driver Martin Brundle after the race, claiming its nature makes it difficult for drivers to overtake making the race boring.[12] Former Formula One commentator Murray Walker claimed "the race was the least eventful race of an action packed season".[13]
Classification
Qualifying
Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Grid |
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1 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Renault
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1:39.116 | 1:37.305 | 1:36.975 | 1 |
2 | 2 | Mark Webber | Renault
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1:39.956 | 1:38.058 | 1:37.163 | 2 |
3 | 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes
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1:39.244 | 1:37.727 | 1:37.380 | 3 |
4 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:39.725 | 1:37.930 | 1:37.454 | 4 |
5 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:38.413 | 1:38.566 | 1:37.535 | 5 |
6 | 4 | Jenson Button | Mercedes
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1:39.453 | 1:37.749 | 1:37.645 | 6 |
7 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:39.266 | 1:38.373 | 1:38.231 | 7 |
8 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:39.198 | 1:38.365 | 1:38.240 | 8 |
9 | 9 | Nick Heidfeld | Renault
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1:39.877 | 1:38.781 | no time | 9 |
10 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Mercedes
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1:39.329 | 1:39.034 | no time | 10 |
11 | 10 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault
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1:39.690 | 1:39.068 | 11 | |
12 | 15 | Paul di Resta | Mercedes
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1:39.852 | 1:39.422 | 12 | |
13 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth
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1:39.602 | 1:39.489 | 13 | |
14 | 16 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari
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1:40.131 | 1:39.525 | 14 | |
15 | 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth
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1:39.690 | 1:39.645 | 15 | |
16 | 17 | Sergio Pérez | Sauber-Ferrari
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1:39.494 | 1:39.657 | 16 | |
17 | 18 | Sébastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1:39.679 | 1:39.711 | 17 | |
18 | 19 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1:40.232 | 18 | ||
19 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Renault
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1:41.664 | 19 | ||
20 | 21 | Jarno Trulli | Renault
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1:42.234 | 20 | ||
21 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:42.553 | 21 | ||
22 | 23 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT-Cosworth
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1:43.584 | 22 | ||
23 | 25 | Jérôme d'Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:43.735 | 23 | ||
24 | 22 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth
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1:44.363 | 24 | ||
107% time : 1:45.301
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Source:[14]
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Race
Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
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1 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Renault
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57 | 1:39:36.169 | 1 | 25 |
2 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 57 | +10.891 | 4 | 18 |
3 | 2 | Mark Webber | Renault
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57 | +27.255 | 2 | 15 |
4 | 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes
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57 | +46.190 | 3 | 12 |
5 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 57 | +51.705 | 5 | 10 |
6 | 4 | Jenson Button | Mercedes
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57 | +1:00.065 | 6 | 8 |
7 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 57 | +1:38.090 | 7 | 6 |
8 | 19 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 56 | +1 Lap | 18 | 4 |
9 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Mercedes
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56 | +1 Lap | 10 | 2 |
10 | 9 | Nick Heidfeld | Renault
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56 | +1 Lap | 9 | 1 |
11 | 17 | Sergio Pérez | Sauber-Ferrari
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56 | +1 Lap | 16 | |
12 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth
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56 | +1 Lap | 13 | |
13 | 18 | Sébastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 56 | +1 Lap | 17 | |
14 | 15 | Paul di Resta | Mercedes
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56 | +1 Lap | 12 | |
15 | 10 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault
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56 | +1 Lap | 11 | |
16 | 16 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari
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56 | +1 Lap | 14 | |
17 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 56 | +1 Lap | 8 | |
18 | 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth
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56 | +1 Lap | 15 | |
19 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Renault
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55 | +2 Laps | 19 | |
20 | 21 | Jarno Trulli | Renault
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55 | +2 Laps | 20 | |
21 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 55 | +2 Laps | 21 | |
22 | 25 | Jérôme d'Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 55 | +2 Laps | 23 | |
23 | 23 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT-Cosworth
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54 | +3 Laps | 22 | |
24 | 22 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth
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54 | +3 Laps | 24 | |
Source:[15]
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Championship standings after the race
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
See also
References
- ^ "Weather History for Valencia Aeropuerto, Spain". Weather Underground. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
- ^ a b c "2011 FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX OF EUROPE (Race)". F1Standings. 26 June 2011. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
- ^ "Europe". Formula1.com. Archived from the original on 28 December 2011. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
- ^ Holt, Sarah (26 June 2011). "Sebastian Vettel beats Fernando Alonso in European GP". BBC Sport. BBC. Archived from the original on 13 March 2012. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
- ^ Straw, Edd (20 May 2011). "Double DRS zone from Canadian GP". Autosport. Retrieved 21 May 2011.
- ^ Scarborough, Craig (19 May 2011). "FIA: Ban on Aggressive off-throttle Engine maps". Scarbsf1. Craig Scarborough. Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
- ^ Noble, Jonathan (21 June 2011). "FIA in new engine mapping clampdown". Autosport. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
- ^ Elizalde, Pablo (21 June 2011). "Valencia race debut for medium tyres". Autosport. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
- ^ "Pirelli announce tyre choices for remaining races". Formula One. 7 October 2011. Archived from the original on 10 February 2012. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
- ^ "Lewis Hamilton plans to fight for Formula 1 title". BBC Sport. BBC. 27 June 2011. Retrieved 7 October 2011.
Aerodynamically I think we need an improvement for Silverstone because we're not moving forward and that's what we need to be concentrating on.
- ^ "Fernando Alonso concedes defeat in Formula 1 title race". BBC Sport. BBC. 27 June 2011. Retrieved 7 October 2011.
We need some really good upgrades. We need to get our heads down and come up with something – particularly aerodynamically, I think. We need to get our heads down and come up with something – particularly aerodynamically, I think. We need to take some risks.
- ^ Brundle, Martin (27 June 2011). "Martin Brundle on the European Grand Prix". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
- ^ Walker, Murray (29 June 2011). "Murray Walker's F1 season review part two". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
- ^ "2011 FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX OF EUROPE - Qualifying Results". Formula One. Archived from the original on 15 December 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
- ^ "2011 FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX OF EUROPE - Race Results". Formula One. Archived from the original on 3 January 2015. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
- ^ a b "Europe 2011 - Championship • STATS F1". statsf1.com. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
External links