| 2011 Turkish Grand Prix | |||||
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Race 4 of 19 in the2011 Formula One World Championship
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| Race details | |||||
| Date | 8 May 2011 | ||||
| Official name | 2011 Formula 1 DHL Turkish Grand Prix[1] | ||||
| Location | Istanbul Park,Tuzla,Turkey | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 5.338 km (3.317 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 58 laps, 309.396 km (192.250 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Sunny, Fine and Dry[2]Air Temp 17 °C (63 °F)[2] Track Temp 35 °C (95 °F) dropping to 30 °C (86 °F)[2] | ||||
| Attendance | 25,000 | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Red Bull Racing-Renault | ||||
| Time | 1:25.049 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | |||
| Time | 1:29.703 on lap 48 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Red Bull Racing-Renault | ||||
| Second | Red Bull Racing-Renault | ||||
| Third | Ferrari | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The2011 Turkish Grand Prix, formally the2011 Formula 1 DHL Turkish Grand Prix,[1] was aFormula One motor race held on 8 May 2011 atIstanbul Park inTuzla, nearIstanbul,Turkey.[3] It was the fourth round of the2011 Formula One season. The 58-lap race was won by the championship leader,Red Bull Racing'sSebastian Vettel after starting frompole position. His teammateMark Webber finished in second place, andFerrari'sFernando Alonso completed the podium in third position.[4]
As a consequence of the race, Vettel extended his lead in theWorld Drivers' Championship to 34 points overMcLaren'sLewis Hamilton, who finished the race in fourth position. Webber's second-place finish moved him into third place in the championship, 4 points behind Hamilton in third, and nine ahead ofJenson Button, who was sixth in Turkey. In theWorld Constructors' Championship, Red Bull extended their championship advantage to 43 points over McLaren, with Ferrari a further 40 points behind in third position.
It was the last Turkish Grand Prix until2020, when theCOVID-19 pandemic caused disruption to the schedule.
With Turkey being the first European race of the season, several teams introduced upgrades to their cars in order to aid with their respective performances on the grid.Williams introduced improvements to help with the handling of their car, having suffered a testing start to the season with no points at the first three races.[5]Virgin Racing's aerodynamic updates were bit-part, as onlyTimo Glock received the package withJérôme d'Ambrosio's package due to be ready for theSpanish Grand Prix.[6]Hispania Racing set their sights on trying to overhaul Virgin Racing, by introducing updates to theircar for the second successive race.[6] Other teams to introduce packages wereMcLaren,Renault,Ferrari andMercedes as they all strived to move closer on overall pace toRed Bull Racing, who were confident that they had rectified theKERS problems that had hampered their performance over the first few races.[6]
Several teams made driver changes for the first practice session.Nico Hülkenberg substituted forAdrian Sutil atForce India, whileDaniel Ricciardo drove in the place ofJaime Alguersuari atScuderia Toro Rosso.Karun Chandhok took part once again, replacingHeikki Kovalainen atLotus.
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 Turkish Grand Prix for the past two years.[7][8][9] They also changed the design of their tyres. From now on they carry new and more prominent colour markings on the sidewalls.[10]
Before the race,Sebastian Vettel led the World Drivers' Championship with 68 points, 21 ahead of his nearest rival at the time -Lewis Hamilton - who was on 47 points. Hamilton had cut Vettel's lead from 24 to 21 points after winning his first race of the year, and also the first Vettel did not win, inChina.Jenson Button was third in the standings with 38 points, 1 ahead ofMark Webber who had scored his first podium of the year when he drove from 18th to 3rd in China, three weeks previously.Fernando Alonso'sFerrari was still relatively slow compared to what it would be later in the year - and Ferrari hadn't been on the podium yet - he was fifth in the standings with just 26 points, 2 ahead of teammateMassa.
Red Bull Racing were the only team over 100 points and therefore lead the Constructors' Championship on 105.McLaren were the only other team to have a podium at all three races and were in second place on 85 points. Ferrari had less than half of Red Bull on 50 points, but were still in third place.Renault andMercedes GP were fourth and fifth with 32 and 16 points respectively.
The opening session was run in wet conditions – the first competitive session in whichPirelli's wet weather tyres had been used in the season[11] – whereFerrari'sFernando Alonso was quickest by 1.4 seconds ahead of theMercedes cars ofNico Rosberg andMichael Schumacher in second and third places respectively, with the only other drivers within two seconds of Alonso being theRenaults ofNick Heidfeld andVitaly Petrov, andKamui Kobayashi'sSauber. However, due to the conditions, many teams opted for conservative running withMcLaren running the fewest laps; their pairing ofJenson Button andLewis Hamilton completing five laps between them. Championship leaderSebastian Vettel caused a red flag during the session after spinning into the barrier; he put his right-rear wheel over the kerb at the exit of Turn 8 and thus ended the session – as well as his day's running – in 17th place.
The second session was held in drying conditions, where Button was marginally quickest ahead of Rosberg, the only drivers to record a sub-1:27 lap time. After sitting out the first session save for an exploratory lap, Hamilton ran 31 laps in the second session and finished third ahead of Schumacher andMark Webber, who ran mainly long-distance stints during the session.[12] Morning pacesetter Alonso was eleventh after a hydraulic problem limited track running, while on track, he had a spin at Turn 6.[13]Pastor Maldonado crashed hisWilliams into the barrier, having run wide on the exit of Turn 8, and spun out on a damp patch.Virgin Racing's Jérôme d'Ambrosio later received a five-place grid penalty for ignoring yellow flags in the area of Maldonado's accident.[14]
The third session saw the top four places taken by the Red Bull and Mercedes cars; Vettel finishing as the fastest driver ahead of Schumacher by 0.001 seconds. Webber was almost four tenths adrift in third, just edging out Rosberg in fourth, after recovering from a high-speed spin at Turn 8 during the session, while McLaren wound up fifth and sixth with Button getting the better of Hamilton.
The first session started withKamui Kobayashi having a mechanical fault on his first flying lap, meaning that he was unable to post a qualifying time, but the race stewards ultimately decided to allow him to take part in the race.[15] By the end of the session, bothLotuses were eliminated, withHeikki Kovalainen ending the session half a second behindRubens Barrichello's Williams, who had been 17th. D'Ambrosio outqualified his teammate Glock on-track but with his grid penalty, he would start the race from last place.Vitantonio Liuzzi also outqualified Glock, withNarain Karthikeyan recording the slowest time, 1.7 seconds within the107% benchmark.
The second session saw Vettel return to the top of the timesheets, recording the first instance of a sub-1:26 lap time all weekend. Rosberg also broke into the 1:25s as he ended the second part in second place ahead of Hamilton and Webber. A late lap from Nick Heidfeld saw him qualify for the final session at the expense ofRubens Barrichello.Adrian Sutil outqualified hisForce India teammatePaul di Resta as they ended the session in twelfth and thirteenth places, with di Resta escaping a penalty for missing the weighbridge.[15] Maldonado andSergio Pérez were next on the grid ahead of theToro Rosso pair, withSébastien Buemi getting the better ofJaime Alguersuari by three tenths.
The third period saw the Red Bull cars only attempt a single run at the start of the session, in order to save tyres for the race, with Vettel ending the session over four tenths of a second clear from Webber; it was Vettel's fifth consecutive pole, the first driver to record five in succession since Fernando Alonso did so in2006.[16] Rosberg finished third, moving ahead of Lewis Hamilton on his final run, with Alonso in fifth having not improved on his first run time.Jenson Button qualified in sixth place for McLaren, followed by Vitaly Petrov in the Renault and Schumacher in the second Mercedes in eighth. Heidfeld andFelipe Massa completed the top ten, with Massa failing to record a time, abandoning his only run in Q3 due to a mistake and elected to save tyres for the race.[17]
All the drivers started except for Timo Glock, who lost fifth gear prior to the race. Sebastian Vettel led the race from the start, with a lead of 6 seconds by the time he took his first pitstop on lap 10.[4] Behind him there were battles, with Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber fighting for second place in the closing laps, the victory falling to Webber giving Red Bull a one-two result.[4] Behind Webber and Alonso, Hamilton and Button fought for fourth place, with Hamilton getting the upper hand, and Nico Rosberg later slipping in between the pair, taking fifth from Button when Button's tyres were degrading massively on the last stint. Paul di Resta made a bad pit exit with a loose wheel, and retired from the race.
The race, which had the most pitstops for a Grand Prix race ever (over 80) and the most overtaking moves since 1983,[18] extended Sebastian Vettel's lead in the world championship standings to 93 points to second placed Hamilton's 59. In the constructors' standings, Red Bull increased their tally to 148 points to McLaren's 105, with Ferrari in third place with 65.[18]
Notes:
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The stewards have also ruled that Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi will be allowed to take part in the race despite failing to set a time in qualifying.
| Previous race: 2011 Chinese Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2011 season | Next race: 2011 Spanish Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2010 Turkish Grand Prix | Turkish Grand Prix | Next race: 2020 Turkish Grand Prix |
