 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
| 2011 European Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 8 of 19 in the2011 Formula One World Championship
| |||||
 The Valencia Street Circuit | |||||
| Race details | |||||
| Date | 26 June 2011 | ||||
| Official name | 2011 Formula 1 Grand Prix of Europe | ||||
| Location | Valencia Street Circuit,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 | Red Bull Racing-Renault | ||||
| Time | 1:36.975 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | |||
| Time | 1:41.852 on lap 53 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Red Bull Racing-Renault | ||||
| Second | Ferrari | ||||
| Third | Red Bull Racing-Renault | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The2011 European Grand Prix (officially the2011 Formula 1 Grand Prix of Europe)[3] was aFormula Onemotor race held on 26 June 2011 at theValencia Street Circuit inValencia,Spain. The race, which was the eighth round of the2011 Formula One season, was won by defending world drivers' champion and championship leaderSebastian Vettel, who was driving aRed Bull Racing car. Vettel, who started from pole position, also recorded the fastest lap of the race on lap 53, giving him ahat-trick.[4] After a race-long battle,Ferrari driverFernando Alonso and Vettel's teammateMark Webber finished the race in second and third respectively. The race was notable for having thefewest retirements and the most finishers ever in a Formula One Grand Prix with all 24 cars starting the race also finishing the race with no retirements.
As a consequence of the race, Vettel extended his lead in the Drivers' Championship standings to 77 points overJenson Button and Webber. By finishing first and third, Red Bull extended their Constructors' Championship standings lead to 89 points over nearest rivalsMcLaren.
In the week leading up to theSpanish Grand Prix, FIA race directorCharlie Whiting announced that the Canadian Grand Prix would see the introduction of a secondarydrag 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 theBritish 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 supplierPirelli'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 theBritish Grand Prix and proved to be temporary. InGermany all the teams returned to use what was commonly referred to as Valencia specification, or Valencia-spec diffusers. The concept was eventually banned for2012.
InCanada,Sebastian Vettel had lengthened his Drivers' Championship lead to 60 points. He had 161 points, and nearest title contendersJenson Button, winner of the last Grand Prix,Red Bull Racing teammateMark Webber and the secondMcLaren ofLewis Hamilton had 101, 94 and 85 respectively in second, third and fourth positions.Fernando Alonso'sFerrari had crashed out inMontreal, likewise Hamilton, and stayed on 69 points in fifth. Red Bull led the Constructors' table with 255 points, McLaren were in second with 186 and Ferrari were in third with 101.Renault were fourth with 60 andMercedes were fifth with 52.
In the first free practice session,Mark Webber was the fastest car on track by eight-tenths of a second ahead ofRenault'sVitaly Petrov,Fernando Alonso, andLewis Hamilton forMcLaren made it four different cars in the top four.Nick Heidfeld, in the second Renault, completed the top five, ahead ofFelipe Massa andJenson Button. Championship leaderSebastian Vettel was down in sixteenth place, two and half seconds off the pace of Webber.Karun Chandhok, who filled in forJarno Trulli atLotus was the only of the 24 drivers not to set a time.Nico Hülkenberg filled in forPaul di Resta atForce India andDaniel Ricciardo tookNarain Karthikeyan's seat atHRT.
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 fellowGerman,Michael Schumacher, was fourth. The remainingRed Bull Racing,McLaren,Ferrari,Mercedes and the twoRenaults completed the top ten places.Jaime Alguersuari was the only driver not to set a time in the session. Trulli, di Resta and Karthikeyan all returned to their seats for the session. In the sole Saturday session, Vettel set the quickest time ahead of Alonso, Massa, Webber, Button,Nico Rosberg, Hamilton, Schumacher, Petrov and then Heidfeld.
Sebastian Vettel took his seventh pole position from eight races in 2011, closely followed by Red Bull teammate,Mark Webber, who completed the front row. The second and third fastest qualifying teams followed – theMcLarens ofLewis Hamilton (third) andJenson Button (sixth) split by the twoFerraris ofFernando Alonso ahead of teammateFelipe Massa. TheMercedes cars were seventh and eighth withNico Rosberg in front ofMichael Schumacher. After that, theRenaults andForce Indias fought to make the top 10 – one of each going through – they were followed by a similar battle between theSaubers andWilliams cars.Sébastien Buemi was the oneToro Rosso in Q2, ending up seventeenth, with teammateJaime Alguersuari eighteenth. The back three rows on the grid were filled up by the new teams –Narain Karthikeyan qualifying last and almost a second behindVitantonio Liuzzi.
The race was very hot, the average temperature around 47 °C (117 °F).
At the startSebastian Vettel led from pole, with teammateMark Webber behind.Felipe Massa had a good start from fifth, driving straight between and pastLewis Hamilton andFernando Alonso at Turn 1; but because Massa looked down the outside of Webber at Turn 2, Alonso could get back in front of Massa on the inside of Turn 3. Bad starts from theMcLarens meant Hamilton dropped from third to fifth, andJenson Button dropped from sixth to seventh – behindNico 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 theFerraris had made great improvements sinceCanada 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 firstDRS zone, on the inside of Turn 12. However, in the pit stops,Red Bull Racing strategy got Webber back in front. Ferrari later used the pit stops to get Alonso back in front of Webber. A radio message to Webber, telling him to go slower due to gearbox troubles ensured Alonso's second place.
Michael Schumacher finished a disappointing 17th after a misjudgement from him, when he exited the pits, where he ploughed his front wing into the side ofVitaly Petrov'sRenault. This meant he had to pit again the following lap demoting him to 17th, where he stayed on a circuit notoriously difficult to overtake on. Although, Schumacher admitted after the race that seventh and eighth was the maximum for the twoMercedes cars.Sergio Pérez preserved his tyres so he only had to pit once, he finished eleventh after starting in sixteenth. HisSauber teammate,Kamui Kobayashi, finished in sixteenth place, the first time in2011 he did not finish in the top ten. For the second race in a rowJaime Alguersuari justified his position in Toro Rosso by finishing eighth from eighteenth on the grid. Another driver on a good race was Mark Webber, calling it his "best race this year", although he was still beaten by teammate Vettel, who took his sixth victory from eight races.
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 the2011 Chinese Grand Prix, which ended with only one retirement. The Grand Prix is notable as it was only the fourth World Championship Grand Prix where there were no retirements, the others being the1961 Dutch Grand Prix (fifteen starters), the2005 United States Grand Prix (six starters) and the2005 Italian Grand Prix (twenty starters).HRT driverNarain Karthikeyan finished the race in last place and recorded the lowest finishing position in Formula One history, having already earned the distinction previously in the season with his 23rd position finish in the aforementioned Chinese Grand Prix.
Thetrack was criticised by former Formula One driverMartin 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]
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.
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.
| Previous race: 2011 Canadian Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2011 season | Next race: 2011 British Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2010 European Grand Prix | European Grand Prix | Next race: 2012 European Grand Prix |
