| 2011 Spanish Grand Prix | |||||
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Race 5 of 19 in the2011 Formula One World Championship
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 Circuit de Catalunya | |||||
| Race details | |||||
| Date | 22 May 2011 | ||||
| Official name | Formula 1 Gran Premio de España Santander 2011[1] | ||||
| Location | Circuit de Catalunya,Montmeló,Catalonia,Spain[2] | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 4.655 km (2.892 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 66 laps, 307.104 km (190.826 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Mainly sunny, Fine and Dry[3][4]Air Temp 27 °C (81 °F)[4] Track Temp 33 °C (91 °F) to 44 °C (111 °F)[4] | ||||
| Attendance | 78,300 | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Red Bull Racing-Renault | ||||
| Time | 1:20.981 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | |||
| Time | 1:26.727 on lap 52 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Red Bull Racing-Renault | ||||
| Second | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
| Third | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The2011 Spanish Grand Prix, formally theFormula 1 Gran Premio de España Santander 2011,[1] was aFormula One motor race that was held on 22 May 2011 at theCircuit de Catalunya inMontmeló,Spain.[5] It was the fifth round of the2011 Formula One season. The 66-lap race was won by the championship leader,Red Bull Racing'sSebastian Vettel after starting from second on the grid.McLaren'sLewis Hamilton finished in second place, and his teammateJenson Button completed the podium in third position.[6]
As a consequence of the race, Vettel extended his lead in theWorld Drivers' Championship to 41 points over Hamilton.Mark Webber, who started the race frompole position, finished fourth in the race but he maintained third place in the championship, 10 points behind second-place Hamilton, and six ahead of Button. In theWorld Constructors' Championship, Red Bull extended their championship lead to 47 points over McLaren, withFerrari a further 63 points behind in third position, after onlyFernando Alonso reached the finish for the team, in fifth position.Sergio Pérez finished 9th and became the first driver fromMexico to score a point sinceHéctor Rebaque in the1981 Dutch Grand Prix.
Heading into the race,Sebastian Vettel led theDrivers' Championship with 93 points, 35 more thanLewis Hamilton on 58 points, who had 3 more thanMark Webber on 55 points. Other championship rivals throughout the season,Jenson Button andFernando Alonso were fourth and fifth on 46 and 41 respectively.
Tyre supplierPirelli brought its silver-banded hard compound tyre as the harder "prime" tyre and the yellow-banded soft compound as the softer "option" compound. This was the same tyre selection that Bridgestone had chosen to bring to the Spanish Grand Prix for the past two years.[7][8][9]
In theConstructors' Championship,Red Bull Racing held an advantage of 43 points overMcLaren, with 148 points to McLaren's 105.Ferrari were a further 40 points behind McLaren on 65 points, and were building a gap fromRenault – on 42 points - who were now having to fend offMercedes GP who were on 26 points.
Ferrari introduced a new rear wing for the race, which came under scrutiny from the stewards and was subsequently banned.[10]
The first practice session saw upgrades by every single team,[11] and took place in sunny conditions. Mark Webber led at the end of the first practice, 1.007 seconds ahead of his teammate Sebastian Vettel, withNico Rosberg in third place in theMercedes.[12]
In the second practice session, Webber topped the timesheets again, this time with Lewis Hamilton coming second splitting the Red Bulls with Vettel in third.[13]
In the third practice session, Vettel topped the timesheets despite electrical problems that limited his running.Nick Heidfeld's car suffered a fire, causing extensive damage to his car that could not be fixed in time for the qualifying session.
In qualifying, Mark Webber took his first pole of the season, with his teammate Vettel, who had been unable to use his KERS during the session, behind him in second. In third and fifth places were the McLarens of Hamilton and Button, split by the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso. Further down the grid Team Lotus celebrated their first ever entry to the second qualifying session on a dry track, with Heikki Kovalainen qualifying 15th, ahead of both Force Indias.[14]
Heidfeld was unable to set a qualifying time, however, he was allowed to participate in the race due to having set competitive times in practice prior to the accident. This was a similar situation to the previous race inTurkey whereKamui Kobayashi had not posted a qualifying time, but had been allowed entry due to his consistent lap times within the 107% time during practice.
Fernando Alonso made a perfect start to the race, overtaking both Red Bulls and Hamilton into the first corner to the cheers of the Spanish fans, and leading the race until lap 18. However, Alonso faded after the first round of pitstops where Sebastian Vettel took the lead, a position which he held to the end of the race in spite of the efforts of Lewis Hamilton, who fought him all the way to the close, finishing only 0.6 seconds behind the winner, with his teammate Button over half a minute behind in third. Button had used a three-stop strategy instead of a four-stop strategy, like most other drivers, to get ahead of Webber and Alonso. On lap 31, Liuzzi's car stopped near the Pirelli tunnel due to a gearbox failure, forcing his retirement.
Mark Webber came in fourth, after spending much of the race behind Fernando Alonso, only overtaking him on the 39th lap when the Spaniard pitted. Kovalainen crashed on lap 51, damaging the left side and wheels of his car. On Lap 57, Massa, struggling with his gearbox, beached his car in the Turns 6 and 7 chicane while running tenth, his game was over. Despite starting in the pits, behind all the other cars, Nick Heidfeld had a successful race, bringing his car home in the points with an eighth-place finish. After saving a set of tyres by not setting a Q3 time, Michael Schumacher finished sixth ahead of teammate Rosberg. The race was notable for Ferrari's lack of pace on the prime tyre with Alonso slipping from first to fifth in the pit stops alone.Sergio Pérez scored his first Formula One points with ninth place, after he was disqualified from seventh place at theAustralian Grand Prix.
Notes:
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| Previous race: 2011 Turkish Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2011 season | Next race: 2011 Monaco Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2010 Spanish Grand Prix | Spanish Grand Prix | Next race: 2012 Spanish Grand Prix |
