2011 Indian Grand Prix
Encyclopedia
The 2011 Indian Grand Prix, formally the 2011 Formula 1 Airtel Grand Prix of India, was a Formula One
motor race
that was held on 30 October 2011 at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida
, Uttar Pradesh
, India
. It was the seventeenth round of the 2011 Formula One season
, and the first Formula One Grand Prix to take place on the Indian subcontinent
.
The race, contested over 60 laps, was won by Red Bull
's Sebastian Vettel
, after leading every lap of the race from pole position
. Jenson Button
finished in second place for McLaren
, and Fernando Alonso
completed the podium for Ferrari
, in third position.
in association with teams, was deliberately designed to be one of the fastest on the calendar, with projected lap times of less than one minute and twenty seconds. The circuit was officially homologated
on 1 September 2011. At 1060 metres, the circuit's main straight is among the longest in Formula One. The pit lane has also been described in similar terms at over 600 metres in length. Time spent in the pitlane is expected to be an important factor in determining race strategies. The race will see the return of two Drag Reduction System (DRS) zones and two detection points, as was the case at the . The first zone will encompass the length of the pit straight, with the detection point on the exit to the penultimate corner; the second zone will take in the second half of the long back straight, with its dectection point located just before the apex of the third corner.
Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan
will return to HRT for the race, having been replaced by Daniel Ricciardo
since Silverstone
. Ricciardo was moved to Vitantonio Liuzzi
's car for the race, while Karthikeyan took Ricciardo's regular car, the car he started the season in. Fellow Indian driver Karun Chandhok had received support from Team Lotus team principal Tony Fernandes
to take part in the race, though he conceded that the ultimate decision did not rest with him. On the Tuesday before the race, it was announced that Chandhok would not be racing in the Grand Prix, but would still run during Friday free practice.
Upon arrival at the circuit, teams reported several issues with construction, including power outages, some infrastructure being "incomplete", and a colony of bats living in the pit building. Faced with criticism over the morality of hosting a race in a developing nation, Mercedes GP
team principal Ross Brawn
praised the circuit, describing the decision to host a race in India as "the right one" and pointing out the benefits the sport would bring to the country. Brawn also relayed the positive response to the circuit layout from teams and drivers. Other personalities within the paddock were less complimentary, with commentator Martin Brundle
describing the commentary booth as a "cell" with no window and "nowhere near [the] track", while team engineers reported that there was no gas connection available, the plumbing to the paddock was incomplete, and the entire circuit was still being powered by generators and did not have a continuous electricity supply.
Vitaly Petrov
was given a five-place grid penalty for causing an avoidable collision with Michael Schumacher
at the .
The race was Felipe Massa
's 150th Grand Prix start.
Another 900 tonnes of cargo, including 30,000 Litres of high octane petrol was shipped in via sea.
The total value of the cargoes is Rs 150 crore (EUR 22.16).
When the session restarted, the two Force India
cars, Karun Chandhok's Lotus and the Hispania of Narain Karthikeyan
were queued at the end of pit lane, waiting to be the first cars to take to the circuit. Although most drivers prefer to do an "installation lap", pitting at the end of their first lap of the circuit, Chandhok remained out to set the first flying lap time of the circuit. Michael Schumacher
and Jenson Button
were the early leaders of the session, while Fernando Alonso
's car succumbed to a loss of power halfway through the session. The track surface was noticeably dusty, and despite becoming cleaner as the session wore on, the drivers struggled for grip and several ran wide. Jaime Alguersuari
fell victim to this lack of grip, spinning into the barriers at the far end of the circuit fifteen minutes before the chequered flag fell. Pastor Maldonado
was also forced out when his Cosworth
engine exploded. He had narrowly avoided a collision with Chandhok in pit lane moments before, after Chandhok spun when attempting to lay rubber down in the Lotus pit bay so as to allow the team's drivers a faster getaway from the concrete apron. When the session ended, Lewis Hamilton
was fastest, half a second ahead of Sebastian Vettel
and Mark Webber
. Hamilton however, had set his time when yellow flags had been shown in the final sector for Pastor Maldonado's stricken Williams, and was given a three-place grid penalty. Sauber
's Sergio Pérez
received a three-place penalty for a similar offence.
The second session saw Felipe Massa
top the timesheets, 0.088 seconds ahead of Vettel, and 0.224 seconds ahead of team-mate Alonso, who had recovered from his mechanical fault in the first session. Several drivers ran off the road, with Turns 6 and 7 proving to be particularly troublesome as Vitaly Petrov
, Kamui Kobayashi
, Sébastien Buemi
and Adrian Sutil
all went off there. Pastor Maldoando experienced further trouble when he spun into the gravel at Turn 9, though his car could be retrieved in time for him to complete the session. The session was red-flagged with forty minutes remaining when Jérôme d'Ambrosio
crashed at Turn 12; having run wide at Turn 11, he had gone too far onto the slippery kerbing on the inside of Turn 12 and spun when he applied too much power. Although the crash itself was heavy enought to destroy his rear wing and rear suspension, the damage was largely cosmetic. Jaime Alguersuari
was suspected of ignoring yellow flags at Turn 9 and was referred to the race stewards, but escaped penalty when the team provided telemetry that demonstrated that he had slowed down.
The third and final practice session saw some of the fastest lap times of the weekend thus far; this was a by-product of dust being cleaned from the circuit and drivers becoming familiar with the circuit layout. Vettel finished fastest, becoming the first person to set a time faster than 1:25.00, and comfortably inside the projected lap times claimed by Pirelli
. Button was second, ahead of Mark Webber
and Lewis Hamilton. The new front wing of the Ferrari
cars attracted significant attention, with commentators observing it to "flutter", rapidly vibrating and sparking off the circuit surface, particularly under braking into Turn 4. This phenomenon attracted the attention of the FIA's technical delegates, and the problem was noticed to have stopped when the team replaced the front wing on Felipe Massa's car.
set the fastest time of the session, while Timo Glock
was forced out early with a gearbox problem. Glock failed to set a time within 107% of Petrov, and therefore needed permission to enter the race. Permission was ultimately granted on the basis that Glock had set times through free practice that were well within 107% of the fastest times in those sessions. Jenson Button experienced early troubles when he reported that his car lacked rear grip, and he was sixteenth in the final few minutes of the session, just ahead of Michael Schumacher in seventeenth and Kamui Kobayashi in eighteenth. Both of them had demonstrated lap times faster than that of Button's, placing Button in danger of being eliminated. Button was forced to use a set of option tyres earlier than planned in order to advance to Q2, even though Kobyashi ultimately aborted his final flying lap, meaning Button would have been safe whether he had stayed in the pits or not. Michael Schumacher was impeded on his final lap through Turns 10 and 11 by Narain Karthikeyan
, who later received a five-place penalty for the infringement. Kobayashi, Heikki Kovalainen
, Jarno Trulli
, Daniel Ricciardo
, Karthikeyan, Jérôme d'Ambrosio
and Timo Glock
were all eliminated, although those positions were subject to change once grid penalties were applied.
The second qualifying period was topped by Sebasitan Vettel, who remained the only driver of the weekend to break the 1:25.000 barrier. Jaime Alguersuari
and Vitaly Petrov set identical lap times to the thousandth of a second, with both drivers recording a lap time of 1:26.319, and finishing the session in tenth and eleventh place respectively. Alguersuari advanced to the third and final qualifying period by virtue of having set his lap time before Petrov. Petrov finished the session eleventh, which became sixteenth when his penalty from the was applied. Michael Schumacher qualified twelfth after complaining of a vibration in the rear of the car, ahead of Paul di Resta
, Pastor Maldonado
, Bruno Senna
, Rubens Barrichello
, Petrov and Sergio Pérez
in seventeenth. Pérez was later moved back to twentieth place, having earned a three-place penalty for ignoring yellow flags in practice, and started the race behind team-mate Kobayashi and the Team Lotus cars of Kovalainen and Trulli.
The third and final session saw the top four drivers separated by just one tenth of a second. Vettel set the early pace, ahead of Hamilton, Mark Webber
and Fernando Alonso
. Having used a set of soft tyres ealy, Jenson Button elected to do just one flying lap at the end of the session, finishing fifth after Felipe Massa crashed out in front of him and forcing Button to slow down. Massa hit the high kerb on the inside of Turn 8, breaking his suspension and sending him into the wall, damaging his front wing. There was some contention as to whether Button's lap time was legal, as he had set his fastest (and only) lap time while yellow flags were displayed for Massa's crash. Button maintained that he had slowed down as soon as he saw the accident, but that he was following too closely to Massa at the time of the accident to have seen the yellow flags; by the time the marshalls had reacted, Button had already passed the marshall station. The stewards took no action against him. Massa's accident also disrupted the final laps of Webber, Hamilton and Alonso, giving Sebastian Vettel his thirteenth pole position of the season. Hamilton finished second, which became fifth once his penalty was applied. Webber qualified third ahead of Alonso and Button, with Massa sixth and Nico Rosberg
seventh, the final driver to have set a lap time. Adrian Sutil
would start the race in eighth place, having taken to the circuit to record sector times, but without actually completing a lap. Sébastien Buemi
and Jaime Alguersuari
were ninth and tenth, making the race the first time all four cars owned by Red Bull
had started in the top ten.
After grid penalties had been applied, just seven drivers – Vettel, Massa, Rosbserg, Sutil, Buemi, Alguersuari and Glock – started the race in the positioned they had actually qualified in.
driver Dan Wheldon
and MotoGP
rider Marco Simoncelli
, who died in motor racing accidents over the previous two weekends. Sebastian Vettel
retained the lead from the start, while Jenson Button
also had a good start, jumping Fernando Alonso
down into turn 1. He then managed to pass Mark Webber
on the back straight to be second by the end of the first lap. By comparison, his McLaren
teammate Lewis Hamilton
dropped down behind Felipe Massa
to sixth at the start. Michael Schumacher
was another to make a good start, jumping up to eighth, just behind Mercedes
teammate Nico Rosberg
, having started eleventh. Bruno Senna
, having started fourteenth, now rounded out the points-scoring positions in 10th place, behind Adrian Sutil
.
Meanwhile, behind the leading pack, carnage ensued. Rubens Barrichello
made slight contact with his Williams teammate Pastor Maldonado
. The Brazilian then speared sidewards and collected Kamui Kobayashi
. As the Sauber
driver returned to the track, he hit Timo Glock
. Maldonado's car was undamaged, and he continued, while Barrichello pitted for a new front wing and also continued. Kobayashi, meanwhile, pulled off on the back straight, and Glock retired his Virgin
two laps later with suspension damage. There was also contact at turn 3, as Narain Karthikeyan
hit the back of Jarno Trulli
's Lotus, spinning the Italian off the track. Trulli pitted for repairs and continued, but he was slow for the rest of the race.
On lap 9, Jaime Alguersuari
successfully completed an overtaking manoeuvre on Senna, with the aid of the DRS, to move into tenth place. The Renault
driver was passed just a couple of laps later by Alguersuari's Toro Rosso
teammate Sébastien Buemi
. Pastor Maldonado suffered a gearbox failure on lap 13 and became the race's third retirement. However, he parked the Williams far enough off the race track to avoid a safety car. The following lap, Alguersuari continued his charge up the field, passing Adrian Sutil's Force India
to take ninth place.
The pitstops began for the top ten on lap 17, as Webber, Alonso, Hamilton and Alguersuari all pitted. Alonso emerged behind Michael Schumacher, but was able to quickly pass the Mercedes driver. The following lap, Massa and Rosberg both pitted to restore the positions up front. After the leaders, Vettel and Button, also pitted, the order from before the pitstops was exactly restored, with the exception of Bruno Senna, who was now in tenth having not yet pitted. When he did, Sebastien Buemi had managed to jump in front of Sutil in the pit stops.
Shortly afterwards, the race's major talking point occurred when Lewis Hamilton attempted to pass Felipe Massa in turn five. As had happened already four times before in the 2011 season – in Monaco
, Silverstone
, Singapore
and Suzuka
– the two cars collided. Massa continued without damage but was later awarded a drive through penalty for the incident. Hamilton, meanwhile, was forced to return to the pits to change his front wing. On the same lap, Sébastien Buemi retired his Toro Rosso with an engine failure, maintaining the relatively high level of attrition in the race. At the end of that lap, then, Massa remained in fifth place, but Rosberg, Schumacher and Alguersuari were promoted to sixth, seventh and eighth places respectively. Hamilton was now ninth after his adventures, with Sutil promoted to tenth by Buemi's retirement.
When Massa took his drive through penalty, he dropped down behind the two Mercedes cars. Meanwhile, Hamilton passed Alguersuari for eighth, leaving the McLaren and the Ferrari nose to tail once again. However, it was only one lap before Massa suffered a suspension failure, just as he had suffered in qualifying, as he this time broke the left front suspension of his Ferrari
on the kerb and retired from the race. This left, on lap 32, Hamilton in seventh, Alguersuari back to eighth and Sutil and Sergio Pérez
, who had been having a quiet race for Sauber
, rounding out the points. The second round of pitstops saw far less action than the first, with the exception of Alonso's better stop allowing him to emerge ahead of Mark Webber's Red Bull
in the battle for third place. Also, Bruno Senna was now in ninth, due to being on a different pit stop strategy. Senna pitted four laps from the end, allowing Sutil and Pérez back into their ninth and tenth place.
The race finished, therefore, with Vettel comfortably ahead of Button and Alonso holding off a charge from Webber to round out the podium. Michael Schumacher led home teammate Nico Rosberg for a strong fifth place, while Hamilton was the last unlapped runner in seventh. Alguersuari's eighth place allowed Toro Rosso to draw level with Sauber in the chase for seventh in the constructors' championship, with Sutil leading Pérez home in the last two points scoring positions. Vettel completed his first career Grand Chelem with the race's fastest lap on the final lap, having led every lap from pole position prior to doing so.
team principal and Formula One Teams Association
chairman Martin Whitmarsh
denied the claims, stating that the teams were exploring their options and were confident of finding a resolution. On 14 September, the race organizers JPSI offered to pay the customs tax if necessary. The Indian government later relented, offering the sport an exemption from paying the tax altogether. The Supreme Court
sought an explanation from the Uttar Pradesh government for granting the tax exemption to Jaypee Group. The notices were issued by the apex court on the basis of a public interest litigation, which challenged the exemption of entertainment and luxury tax for organising the Formula One event. On 21 October, the Supreme Court enacted a temporary injunction to end the dispute, stipulating that the event organisers would deposit 25% of ticket money into a separate account until the court judged the validity of the entertainment tax exemption granted for the event by the Uttar Pradesh government.
driver Nico Rosberg
and "half" of the HRT team – had their visa
applications rejected. A senior FIA
figure was quoted as saying that if the extended visa processing period continued, then up to ninety percent of people involved in the sport would be unable to attend the race. Ten days before the race, Team Lotus driver Heikki Kovalainen
reported via Twitter
that he was still in the process of signing documents to enter the country, labelling the process as "a joke" and describing it as needlessly complex. Despite concerns over the application process, no teams reported that their personnel had been denied entry to the country.
Notes:
Constructors' Championship standings
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
motor race
Auto racing
Auto racing is a motorsport involving the racing of cars for competition. It is one of the world's most watched televised sports.-The beginning of racing:...
that was held on 30 October 2011 at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida
Greater Noida
Greater Noida is located in the Gautam Budh Nagar district of the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh . It is under the purview of the National Capital Region of India...
, Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. It was the seventeenth round of the 2011 Formula One season
2011 Formula One season
The 2011 Formula One season was the 62nd FIA Formula One season. The original calendar consisted of twenty rounds, including the inaugural running of the Indian Grand Prix before the cancellation of the Bahrain Grand Prix. Pirelli returned to the sport as tyre supplier for all teams, taking over...
, and the first Formula One Grand Prix to take place on the Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
.
The race, contested over 60 laps, was won by Red Bull
Red Bull Racing
Red Bull Racing is a Formula One racing team based in Milton Keynes, England which currently holds an Austrian licence. It is, along with Scuderia Toro Rosso, one of two teams owned by beverage company Red Bull GmbH. The team have won two Constructors' Championship titles, in and , becoming the...
's Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel is a German Formula One racing driver, currently driving for Red Bull Racing. He is the current World Champion, having won the championship in and ....
, after leading every lap of the race from pole position
Pole position
The term "pole position", as used in motorsports, comes from the horse racing term where the number one starter starts on the inside next to the inside pole. The term made its way, along with several other customs, to auto racing. In circuit motorsports, a driver has pole position when he or she...
. Jenson Button
Jenson Button
Jenson Alexander Lyons Button MBE is a British Formula One driver currently signed to McLaren. He was the 2009 World Drivers' Champion.Button began karting at the age of eight and achieved early success, before progressing to car racing in the British Formula Ford Championship and the British...
finished in second place for McLaren
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup...
, and Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz is a Spanish Formula One racing driver and a two-time World Champion, who is currently racing for Ferrari....
completed the podium for Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing....
, in third position.
Background
The circuit, designed by Hermann TilkeHermann Tilke
Hermann Tilke is a German engineer and auto racer, who has designed numerous Formula One motor racing circuits.-Racing:...
in association with teams, was deliberately designed to be one of the fastest on the calendar, with projected lap times of less than one minute and twenty seconds. The circuit was officially homologated
Homologation (motorsport)
In motorsports, homologation is the approval process a vehicle, race track or standardised part must go through to race in a given league or series. The regulations and rules that must be met are generally set by the series' sanctioning body...
on 1 September 2011. At 1060 metres, the circuit's main straight is among the longest in Formula One. The pit lane has also been described in similar terms at over 600 metres in length. Time spent in the pitlane is expected to be an important factor in determining race strategies. The race will see the return of two Drag Reduction System (DRS) zones and two detection points, as was the case at the . The first zone will encompass the length of the pit straight, with the detection point on the exit to the penultimate corner; the second zone will take in the second half of the long back straight, with its dectection point located just before the apex of the third corner.
Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan
Narain Karthikeyan
Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan , is the first Formula One motor racing driver from India. He has previously competed in A1GP, and the Le Mans Series. He made his Formula One debut in with the Jordan team, and was a WilliamsF1 test driver in and...
will return to HRT for the race, having been replaced by Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo is an Australian racing driver currently competing in Formula 1 for Hispania Racing. He won the British Formula Three Championship in 2009.-Formula Ford and Formula BMW:...
since Silverstone
2011 British Grand Prix
The 2011 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race, held on 10 July 2011, at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire, England, and won by Fernando Alonso....
. Ricciardo was moved to Vitantonio Liuzzi
Vitantonio Liuzzi
Vitantonio "Tonio" Liuzzi is an Italian race driver who is currently racing in Formula One for the HRT F1 Team. He has homes in Lugano, Switzerland and Pescara, Italy.-Karting:...
's car for the race, while Karthikeyan took Ricciardo's regular car, the car he started the season in. Fellow Indian driver Karun Chandhok had received support from Team Lotus team principal Tony Fernandes
Tony Fernandes
Tan Sri Anthony Francis Fernandes CBE is a Malaysian entrepreneur and the founder of Tune Air Sdn. Bhd., who introduced the first budget no-frills airline, AirAsia, to Malaysians with the tagline "Now everyone can fly"...
to take part in the race, though he conceded that the ultimate decision did not rest with him. On the Tuesday before the race, it was announced that Chandhok would not be racing in the Grand Prix, but would still run during Friday free practice.
Upon arrival at the circuit, teams reported several issues with construction, including power outages, some infrastructure being "incomplete", and a colony of bats living in the pit building. Faced with criticism over the morality of hosting a race in a developing nation, Mercedes GP
Mercedes GP
Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team, the trading name of Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Limited, is a British-based Formula One racing team and constructor, owned by Mercedes-Benz and racing under a German licence since the 2010 season....
team principal Ross Brawn
Ross Brawn
Ross James Brawn OBE is an English motorsport engineer and Formula One team principal. He has worked for a number of Formula One teams, serving as the technical director of the championship-winning Benetton and Ferrari teams. He took a sabbatical from the sport in 2007 but returned to F1 for the...
praised the circuit, describing the decision to host a race in India as "the right one" and pointing out the benefits the sport would bring to the country. Brawn also relayed the positive response to the circuit layout from teams and drivers. Other personalities within the paddock were less complimentary, with commentator Martin Brundle
Martin Brundle
Martin John Brundle is a British racing driver from England, known as a Formula One driver and as an F1 commentator for ITV Sport from 1997 to 2008, the BBC from 2009 to 2011 and Sky Sports from 2012....
describing the commentary booth as a "cell" with no window and "nowhere near [the] track", while team engineers reported that there was no gas connection available, the plumbing to the paddock was incomplete, and the entire circuit was still being powered by generators and did not have a continuous electricity supply.
Vitaly Petrov
Vitaly Petrov
Vitaly Alexandrovich Petrov is a Russian Formula One racing driver, currently driving for the Lotus Renault GP team. He is known as "Vyborg Rocket" in Russia. He is, to date, the only Russian to have competed in the Formula One World Championship....
was given a five-place grid penalty for causing an avoidable collision with Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher is a German Formula One racing driver for the Mercedes GP team. Famous for his eleven-year spell with Ferrari, Schumacher is a seven-time World Champion and is widely regarded as the greatest F1 driver of all time...
at the .
The race was Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He finished second in the Drivers' World Championship, and is under contract to race for Scuderia Ferrari until the end of the season.-Early years:...
's 150th Grand Prix start.
Logistics
Five 747-400F jets were flown into IGIA (Indira Ghandi International Airport) with the 24 F1 cars onboard. The total weight of the air-cargo was 600 tonnes.Another 900 tonnes of cargo, including 30,000 Litres of high octane petrol was shipped in via sea.
The total value of the cargoes is Rs 150 crore (EUR 22.16).
Equipment
4 Sterling Generators were used to provide reliable electricity for the circuit during the weekend. The 40,000 litres of diesel to power them was supplied by Indian Oil.Free Practice
The first Friday practice session was stopped after just five minutes when a stray dog found its way onto the circuit. The session was red-flagged while the dog was led away, and re-opened within five minutes.When the session restarted, the two Force India
Force India
Sahara Force India Formula One Team, the trading name of Force India Formula One Team Limited, is a Formula One racing team based in Silverstone, United Kingdom which currently holds an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 2007 when a consortium led by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and...
cars, Karun Chandhok's Lotus and the Hispania of Narain Karthikeyan
Narain Karthikeyan
Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan , is the first Formula One motor racing driver from India. He has previously competed in A1GP, and the Le Mans Series. He made his Formula One debut in with the Jordan team, and was a WilliamsF1 test driver in and...
were queued at the end of pit lane, waiting to be the first cars to take to the circuit. Although most drivers prefer to do an "installation lap", pitting at the end of their first lap of the circuit, Chandhok remained out to set the first flying lap time of the circuit. Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher is a German Formula One racing driver for the Mercedes GP team. Famous for his eleven-year spell with Ferrari, Schumacher is a seven-time World Champion and is widely regarded as the greatest F1 driver of all time...
and Jenson Button
Jenson Button
Jenson Alexander Lyons Button MBE is a British Formula One driver currently signed to McLaren. He was the 2009 World Drivers' Champion.Button began karting at the age of eight and achieved early success, before progressing to car racing in the British Formula Ford Championship and the British...
were the early leaders of the session, while Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz is a Spanish Formula One racing driver and a two-time World Champion, who is currently racing for Ferrari....
's car succumbed to a loss of power halfway through the session. The track surface was noticeably dusty, and despite becoming cleaner as the session wore on, the drivers struggled for grip and several ran wide. Jaime Alguersuari
Jaime Alguersuari
Jaime Víctor Alguersuari Escudero , is a Spanish racing driver who became the youngest Formula One driver to start a Grand Prix in history at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix. Alguersuari is the first driver to be born in the 1990s to compete in Formula One....
fell victim to this lack of grip, spinning into the barriers at the far end of the circuit fifteen minutes before the chequered flag fell. Pastor Maldonado
Pastor Maldonado
Pastor Rafael Maldonado Motta is a Venezuelan Formula One driver. Before making his Formula One debut in 2011, he won the 2010 GP2 championship.-Formula Renault:...
was also forced out when his Cosworth
Cosworth
Cosworth is a high performance engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in engines and electronics for automobile racing , mainstream automotive and defence industries...
engine exploded. He had narrowly avoided a collision with Chandhok in pit lane moments before, after Chandhok spun when attempting to lay rubber down in the Lotus pit bay so as to allow the team's drivers a faster getaway from the concrete apron. When the session ended, Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton, MBE is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the McLaren team. He was the Formula One World Champion.Hamilton was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire...
was fastest, half a second ahead of Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel is a German Formula One racing driver, currently driving for Red Bull Racing. He is the current World Champion, having won the championship in and ....
and Mark Webber
Mark Webber
Mark Alan Webber is an Australian Formula One driver.After some racing success in Australia, Webber moved to the United Kingdom in 1995 to further his motorsport career...
. Hamilton however, had set his time when yellow flags had been shown in the final sector for Pastor Maldonado's stricken Williams, and was given a three-place grid penalty. Sauber
Sauber
Sauber F1 Team is a Swiss Formula One team. It was founded in the 1970s by Peter Sauber, who progressed through hillclimbing and the World Sportscar Championship to reach Formula One in 1993....
's Sergio Pérez
Sergio Pérez
Sergio Pérez Mendoza , also known as "Checo" Pérez, is a Mexican racing driver of Spanish descent, currently racing for Sauber in the 2011 Formula One season...
received a three-place penalty for a similar offence.
The second session saw Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He finished second in the Drivers' World Championship, and is under contract to race for Scuderia Ferrari until the end of the season.-Early years:...
top the timesheets, 0.088 seconds ahead of Vettel, and 0.224 seconds ahead of team-mate Alonso, who had recovered from his mechanical fault in the first session. Several drivers ran off the road, with Turns 6 and 7 proving to be particularly troublesome as Vitaly Petrov
Vitaly Petrov
Vitaly Alexandrovich Petrov is a Russian Formula One racing driver, currently driving for the Lotus Renault GP team. He is known as "Vyborg Rocket" in Russia. He is, to date, the only Russian to have competed in the Formula One World Championship....
, Kamui Kobayashi
Kamui Kobayashi
is a Japanese racing driver. He has competed in the GP2 Series, won the GP2 Asia Series, and made his Formula One debut with Toyota in the final two races of when he replaced Timo Glock after the German was injured in a crash during qualifying for the...
, Sébastien Buemi
Sébastien Buemi
Sébastien Olivier Buemi is a Swiss racing driver, who competes for Scuderia Toro Rosso in Formula One.-Formula BMW:...
and Adrian Sutil
Adrian Sutil
-Biography:Sutil is the son of professional musicians Monika, a German, and Jorge, a Uruguayan. He has two brothers named Daniel and Raphael. He weighs 165 pounds and is 6 feet tall. A talented pianist, Sutil started karting at 14 before moving up to Swiss Formula Ford 1800 in 2002...
all went off there. Pastor Maldoando experienced further trouble when he spun into the gravel at Turn 9, though his car could be retrieved in time for him to complete the session. The session was red-flagged with forty minutes remaining when Jérôme d'Ambrosio
Jérôme d'Ambrosio
Jérôme d'Ambrosio is a Belgian racing driver of Italian descent. He is driving for Marussia Virgin Racing during the 2011 Formula One World Championship.-Karting:...
crashed at Turn 12; having run wide at Turn 11, he had gone too far onto the slippery kerbing on the inside of Turn 12 and spun when he applied too much power. Although the crash itself was heavy enought to destroy his rear wing and rear suspension, the damage was largely cosmetic. Jaime Alguersuari
Jaime Alguersuari
Jaime Víctor Alguersuari Escudero , is a Spanish racing driver who became the youngest Formula One driver to start a Grand Prix in history at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix. Alguersuari is the first driver to be born in the 1990s to compete in Formula One....
was suspected of ignoring yellow flags at Turn 9 and was referred to the race stewards, but escaped penalty when the team provided telemetry that demonstrated that he had slowed down.
The third and final practice session saw some of the fastest lap times of the weekend thus far; this was a by-product of dust being cleaned from the circuit and drivers becoming familiar with the circuit layout. Vettel finished fastest, becoming the first person to set a time faster than 1:25.00, and comfortably inside the projected lap times claimed by Pirelli
Pirelli
Pirelli & C. SpA is a diverse multinational company based in Milan, Italy. The company, the world’s fifth largest tyre manufacturer, is present in over 160 countries, has 20 manufacturing sites around the world and a network of around 10,000 distributors and retailers.Founded in Milan in 1872,...
. Button was second, ahead of Mark Webber
Mark Webber
Mark Alan Webber is an Australian Formula One driver.After some racing success in Australia, Webber moved to the United Kingdom in 1995 to further his motorsport career...
and Lewis Hamilton. The new front wing of the Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing....
cars attracted significant attention, with commentators observing it to "flutter", rapidly vibrating and sparking off the circuit surface, particularly under braking into Turn 4. This phenomenon attracted the attention of the FIA's technical delegates, and the problem was noticed to have stopped when the team replaced the front wing on Felipe Massa's car.
Qualifying
Qualifying began with the observation that many of the drivers using the softer option tyres drove a slower flying lap to generate heat into the tyres, before starting a faster flying lap. Vitaly PetrovVitaly Petrov
Vitaly Alexandrovich Petrov is a Russian Formula One racing driver, currently driving for the Lotus Renault GP team. He is known as "Vyborg Rocket" in Russia. He is, to date, the only Russian to have competed in the Formula One World Championship....
set the fastest time of the session, while Timo Glock
Timo Glock
Timo Glock is a German motor racing driver, currently driving in Formula One for the Virgin Racing team. At the 2004 Canadian Grand Prix, standing in for Giorgio Pantano who had a contract dispute with Jordan Grand Prix, he joined a select group of drivers who have scored a World Championship...
was forced out early with a gearbox problem. Glock failed to set a time within 107% of Petrov, and therefore needed permission to enter the race. Permission was ultimately granted on the basis that Glock had set times through free practice that were well within 107% of the fastest times in those sessions. Jenson Button experienced early troubles when he reported that his car lacked rear grip, and he was sixteenth in the final few minutes of the session, just ahead of Michael Schumacher in seventeenth and Kamui Kobayashi in eighteenth. Both of them had demonstrated lap times faster than that of Button's, placing Button in danger of being eliminated. Button was forced to use a set of option tyres earlier than planned in order to advance to Q2, even though Kobyashi ultimately aborted his final flying lap, meaning Button would have been safe whether he had stayed in the pits or not. Michael Schumacher was impeded on his final lap through Turns 10 and 11 by Narain Karthikeyan
Narain Karthikeyan
Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan , is the first Formula One motor racing driver from India. He has previously competed in A1GP, and the Le Mans Series. He made his Formula One debut in with the Jordan team, and was a WilliamsF1 test driver in and...
, who later received a five-place penalty for the infringement. Kobayashi, Heikki Kovalainen
Heikki Kovalainen
Heikki Johannes Kovalainen is a Finnish Formula One racing driver who spent the 2008 and 2009 seasons with British based team McLaren and the 2010 and 2011 seasons with Team Lotus....
, Jarno Trulli
Jarno Trulli
Jarno Trulli is an Italian Formula One racing driver. He has been a regular in Formula One since 1997, driving for Minardi, Prost, Jordan, Renault and Toyota. He won the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix for Renault, his only Grand Prix victory to date. He is known for being a qualification expert...
, Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo is an Australian racing driver currently competing in Formula 1 for Hispania Racing. He won the British Formula Three Championship in 2009.-Formula Ford and Formula BMW:...
, Karthikeyan, Jérôme d'Ambrosio
Jérôme d'Ambrosio
Jérôme d'Ambrosio is a Belgian racing driver of Italian descent. He is driving for Marussia Virgin Racing during the 2011 Formula One World Championship.-Karting:...
and Timo Glock
Timo Glock
Timo Glock is a German motor racing driver, currently driving in Formula One for the Virgin Racing team. At the 2004 Canadian Grand Prix, standing in for Giorgio Pantano who had a contract dispute with Jordan Grand Prix, he joined a select group of drivers who have scored a World Championship...
were all eliminated, although those positions were subject to change once grid penalties were applied.
The second qualifying period was topped by Sebasitan Vettel, who remained the only driver of the weekend to break the 1:25.000 barrier. Jaime Alguersuari
Jaime Alguersuari
Jaime Víctor Alguersuari Escudero , is a Spanish racing driver who became the youngest Formula One driver to start a Grand Prix in history at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix. Alguersuari is the first driver to be born in the 1990s to compete in Formula One....
and Vitaly Petrov set identical lap times to the thousandth of a second, with both drivers recording a lap time of 1:26.319, and finishing the session in tenth and eleventh place respectively. Alguersuari advanced to the third and final qualifying period by virtue of having set his lap time before Petrov. Petrov finished the session eleventh, which became sixteenth when his penalty from the was applied. Michael Schumacher qualified twelfth after complaining of a vibration in the rear of the car, ahead of Paul di Resta
Paul di Resta
Paul di Resta is a British racing driver from Scotland, currently competing in Formula One with Force India. He is also a former DTM champion.-Personal life:...
, Pastor Maldonado
Pastor Maldonado
Pastor Rafael Maldonado Motta is a Venezuelan Formula One driver. Before making his Formula One debut in 2011, he won the 2010 GP2 championship.-Formula Renault:...
, Bruno Senna
Bruno Senna
Bruno Senna Lalli is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver and the nephew of the late three-time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna. His mother is Ayrton's older sister, Viviane. His father, Flávio Lalli, died in a motorcycle crash in 1996. He wears a slightly modified version of his uncle's...
, Rubens Barrichello
Rubens Barrichello
Rubens Gonçalves "Rubinho" Barrichello is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He is currently racing for Williams F1.Barrichello has scored the seventh highest points total in Formula One history. Barrichello drove for Ferrari from to , as Michael Schumacher's teammate, enjoying considerable...
, Petrov and Sergio Pérez
Sergio Pérez
Sergio Pérez Mendoza , also known as "Checo" Pérez, is a Mexican racing driver of Spanish descent, currently racing for Sauber in the 2011 Formula One season...
in seventeenth. Pérez was later moved back to twentieth place, having earned a three-place penalty for ignoring yellow flags in practice, and started the race behind team-mate Kobayashi and the Team Lotus cars of Kovalainen and Trulli.
The third and final session saw the top four drivers separated by just one tenth of a second. Vettel set the early pace, ahead of Hamilton, Mark Webber
Mark Webber
Mark Alan Webber is an Australian Formula One driver.After some racing success in Australia, Webber moved to the United Kingdom in 1995 to further his motorsport career...
and Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz is a Spanish Formula One racing driver and a two-time World Champion, who is currently racing for Ferrari....
. Having used a set of soft tyres ealy, Jenson Button elected to do just one flying lap at the end of the session, finishing fifth after Felipe Massa crashed out in front of him and forcing Button to slow down. Massa hit the high kerb on the inside of Turn 8, breaking his suspension and sending him into the wall, damaging his front wing. There was some contention as to whether Button's lap time was legal, as he had set his fastest (and only) lap time while yellow flags were displayed for Massa's crash. Button maintained that he had slowed down as soon as he saw the accident, but that he was following too closely to Massa at the time of the accident to have seen the yellow flags; by the time the marshalls had reacted, Button had already passed the marshall station. The stewards took no action against him. Massa's accident also disrupted the final laps of Webber, Hamilton and Alonso, giving Sebastian Vettel his thirteenth pole position of the season. Hamilton finished second, which became fifth once his penalty was applied. Webber qualified third ahead of Alonso and Button, with Massa sixth and Nico Rosberg
Nico Rosberg
Nico Erik Rosberg is a racing driver for the Mercedes GP Formula One team. He races under the German flag in Formula One, although he competed for Finland earlier in his career...
seventh, the final driver to have set a lap time. Adrian Sutil
Adrian Sutil
-Biography:Sutil is the son of professional musicians Monika, a German, and Jorge, a Uruguayan. He has two brothers named Daniel and Raphael. He weighs 165 pounds and is 6 feet tall. A talented pianist, Sutil started karting at 14 before moving up to Swiss Formula Ford 1800 in 2002...
would start the race in eighth place, having taken to the circuit to record sector times, but without actually completing a lap. Sébastien Buemi
Sébastien Buemi
Sébastien Olivier Buemi is a Swiss racing driver, who competes for Scuderia Toro Rosso in Formula One.-Formula BMW:...
and Jaime Alguersuari
Jaime Alguersuari
Jaime Víctor Alguersuari Escudero , is a Spanish racing driver who became the youngest Formula One driver to start a Grand Prix in history at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix. Alguersuari is the first driver to be born in the 1990s to compete in Formula One....
were ninth and tenth, making the race the first time all four cars owned by Red Bull
Red Bull
Red Bull is an energy drink sold by the Austrian Red Bull GmbH, created in 1987 by the Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz. In terms of market share, Red Bull is the most popular energy drink in the world, with 3 billion cans sold each year. Dietrich Mateschitz was inspired by an already...
had started in the top ten.
After grid penalties had been applied, just seven drivers – Vettel, Massa, Rosbserg, Sutil, Buemi, Alguersuari and Glock – started the race in the positioned they had actually qualified in.
Race
Before the race, a minute's silence was held in memory of IndyCarIndyCar Series
The IZOD IndyCar Series is the premier level of American open wheel racing. The current championship, founded by Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony George, began in 1996 as a competitor to CART known as the Indy Racing League . Citing CART's increasing reliance on expensive machinery and...
driver Dan Wheldon
Dan Wheldon
Daniel Clive "Dan" Wheldon was a British racing driver from England. He was the 2005 Indy Racing League IndyCar Series champion, and winner of the Indianapolis 500 in both 2005 and 2011...
and MotoGP
Grand Prix motorcycle racing
Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix is the premier championship of motorcycle road racing currently divided into three distinct classes: 125cc, Moto2 and MotoGP. The 125cc class uses a two-stroke engine while Moto2 and MotoGP use four-stroke engines. In 2010 the 250cc two-stroke was replaced...
rider Marco Simoncelli
Marco Simoncelli
Marco Simoncelli was an Italian motorcycle racer. He competed in the Road Racing World Championship for 10 years from 2002 to 2011. He started in the 125cc class before moving up to the 250cc class in 2006. He won the 250cc World Championship with Gilera in 2008. After four years in the...
, who died in motor racing accidents over the previous two weekends. Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel is a German Formula One racing driver, currently driving for Red Bull Racing. He is the current World Champion, having won the championship in and ....
retained the lead from the start, while Jenson Button
Jenson Button
Jenson Alexander Lyons Button MBE is a British Formula One driver currently signed to McLaren. He was the 2009 World Drivers' Champion.Button began karting at the age of eight and achieved early success, before progressing to car racing in the British Formula Ford Championship and the British...
also had a good start, jumping Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz is a Spanish Formula One racing driver and a two-time World Champion, who is currently racing for Ferrari....
down into turn 1. He then managed to pass Mark Webber
Mark Webber
Mark Alan Webber is an Australian Formula One driver.After some racing success in Australia, Webber moved to the United Kingdom in 1995 to further his motorsport career...
on the back straight to be second by the end of the first lap. By comparison, his McLaren
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup...
teammate Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton, MBE is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the McLaren team. He was the Formula One World Champion.Hamilton was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire...
dropped down behind Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He finished second in the Drivers' World Championship, and is under contract to race for Scuderia Ferrari until the end of the season.-Early years:...
to sixth at the start. Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher is a German Formula One racing driver for the Mercedes GP team. Famous for his eleven-year spell with Ferrari, Schumacher is a seven-time World Champion and is widely regarded as the greatest F1 driver of all time...
was another to make a good start, jumping up to eighth, just behind Mercedes
Mercedes GP
Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team, the trading name of Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Limited, is a British-based Formula One racing team and constructor, owned by Mercedes-Benz and racing under a German licence since the 2010 season....
teammate Nico Rosberg
Nico Rosberg
Nico Erik Rosberg is a racing driver for the Mercedes GP Formula One team. He races under the German flag in Formula One, although he competed for Finland earlier in his career...
, having started eleventh. Bruno Senna
Bruno Senna
Bruno Senna Lalli is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver and the nephew of the late three-time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna. His mother is Ayrton's older sister, Viviane. His father, Flávio Lalli, died in a motorcycle crash in 1996. He wears a slightly modified version of his uncle's...
, having started fourteenth, now rounded out the points-scoring positions in 10th place, behind Adrian Sutil
Adrian Sutil
-Biography:Sutil is the son of professional musicians Monika, a German, and Jorge, a Uruguayan. He has two brothers named Daniel and Raphael. He weighs 165 pounds and is 6 feet tall. A talented pianist, Sutil started karting at 14 before moving up to Swiss Formula Ford 1800 in 2002...
.
Meanwhile, behind the leading pack, carnage ensued. Rubens Barrichello
Rubens Barrichello
Rubens Gonçalves "Rubinho" Barrichello is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He is currently racing for Williams F1.Barrichello has scored the seventh highest points total in Formula One history. Barrichello drove for Ferrari from to , as Michael Schumacher's teammate, enjoying considerable...
made slight contact with his Williams teammate Pastor Maldonado
Pastor Maldonado
Pastor Rafael Maldonado Motta is a Venezuelan Formula One driver. Before making his Formula One debut in 2011, he won the 2010 GP2 championship.-Formula Renault:...
. The Brazilian then speared sidewards and collected Kamui Kobayashi
Kamui Kobayashi
is a Japanese racing driver. He has competed in the GP2 Series, won the GP2 Asia Series, and made his Formula One debut with Toyota in the final two races of when he replaced Timo Glock after the German was injured in a crash during qualifying for the...
. As the Sauber
Sauber
Sauber F1 Team is a Swiss Formula One team. It was founded in the 1970s by Peter Sauber, who progressed through hillclimbing and the World Sportscar Championship to reach Formula One in 1993....
driver returned to the track, he hit Timo Glock
Timo Glock
Timo Glock is a German motor racing driver, currently driving in Formula One for the Virgin Racing team. At the 2004 Canadian Grand Prix, standing in for Giorgio Pantano who had a contract dispute with Jordan Grand Prix, he joined a select group of drivers who have scored a World Championship...
. Maldonado's car was undamaged, and he continued, while Barrichello pitted for a new front wing and also continued. Kobayashi, meanwhile, pulled off on the back straight, and Glock retired his Virgin
Virgin Racing
Marussia Virgin Racing, the trading name of Virgin Racing Limited, is a Russian owned Formula One racing team based in the United Kingdom and racing on a Russian licence, which made its debut in the 2010 Formula One season. It was granted entry as Manor Grand Prix on 12 June 2009, as one of four...
two laps later with suspension damage. There was also contact at turn 3, as Narain Karthikeyan
Narain Karthikeyan
Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan , is the first Formula One motor racing driver from India. He has previously competed in A1GP, and the Le Mans Series. He made his Formula One debut in with the Jordan team, and was a WilliamsF1 test driver in and...
hit the back of Jarno Trulli
Jarno Trulli
Jarno Trulli is an Italian Formula One racing driver. He has been a regular in Formula One since 1997, driving for Minardi, Prost, Jordan, Renault and Toyota. He won the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix for Renault, his only Grand Prix victory to date. He is known for being a qualification expert...
's Lotus, spinning the Italian off the track. Trulli pitted for repairs and continued, but he was slow for the rest of the race.
On lap 9, Jaime Alguersuari
Jaime Alguersuari
Jaime Víctor Alguersuari Escudero , is a Spanish racing driver who became the youngest Formula One driver to start a Grand Prix in history at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix. Alguersuari is the first driver to be born in the 1990s to compete in Formula One....
successfully completed an overtaking manoeuvre on Senna, with the aid of the DRS, to move into tenth place. The Renault
Renault F1
Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking...
driver was passed just a couple of laps later by Alguersuari's Toro Rosso
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Scuderia Toro Rosso , also known simply as Toro Rosso or by its abbreviation STR, is an Italian Formula One racing team...
teammate Sébastien Buemi
Sébastien Buemi
Sébastien Olivier Buemi is a Swiss racing driver, who competes for Scuderia Toro Rosso in Formula One.-Formula BMW:...
. Pastor Maldonado suffered a gearbox failure on lap 13 and became the race's third retirement. However, he parked the Williams far enough off the race track to avoid a safety car. The following lap, Alguersuari continued his charge up the field, passing Adrian Sutil's Force India
Force India
Sahara Force India Formula One Team, the trading name of Force India Formula One Team Limited, is a Formula One racing team based in Silverstone, United Kingdom which currently holds an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 2007 when a consortium led by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and...
to take ninth place.
The pitstops began for the top ten on lap 17, as Webber, Alonso, Hamilton and Alguersuari all pitted. Alonso emerged behind Michael Schumacher, but was able to quickly pass the Mercedes driver. The following lap, Massa and Rosberg both pitted to restore the positions up front. After the leaders, Vettel and Button, also pitted, the order from before the pitstops was exactly restored, with the exception of Bruno Senna, who was now in tenth having not yet pitted. When he did, Sebastien Buemi had managed to jump in front of Sutil in the pit stops.
Shortly afterwards, the race's major talking point occurred when Lewis Hamilton attempted to pass Felipe Massa in turn five. As had happened already four times before in the 2011 season – in Monaco
2011 Monaco Grand Prix
The 2011 Monaco Grand Prix, formally the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2011, was held on 29 May 2011 at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Sixth round of the 2011 Formula One season, the 78 lap race was won by the championship leader, Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel who started from...
, Silverstone
2011 British Grand Prix
The 2011 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race, held on 10 July 2011, at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire, England, and won by Fernando Alonso....
, Singapore
2011 Singapore Grand Prix
The 2011 Singapore Grand Prix, formally the 2011 Formula 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix, was a Formula One motor race that was held on 25 September 2011 at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore. It was the fourteenth round of the 2011 Formula One season, and the twelfth time the Singapore...
and Suzuka
2011 Japanese Grand Prix
The 2011 Japanese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race that was held on 9 October 2011 at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Japan. It was the fifteenth round of the 2011 Formula One season, and the thirty-eighth time the Japanese Grand Prix had been held...
– the two cars collided. Massa continued without damage but was later awarded a drive through penalty for the incident. Hamilton, meanwhile, was forced to return to the pits to change his front wing. On the same lap, Sébastien Buemi retired his Toro Rosso with an engine failure, maintaining the relatively high level of attrition in the race. At the end of that lap, then, Massa remained in fifth place, but Rosberg, Schumacher and Alguersuari were promoted to sixth, seventh and eighth places respectively. Hamilton was now ninth after his adventures, with Sutil promoted to tenth by Buemi's retirement.
When Massa took his drive through penalty, he dropped down behind the two Mercedes cars. Meanwhile, Hamilton passed Alguersuari for eighth, leaving the McLaren and the Ferrari nose to tail once again. However, it was only one lap before Massa suffered a suspension failure, just as he had suffered in qualifying, as he this time broke the left front suspension of his Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing....
on the kerb and retired from the race. This left, on lap 32, Hamilton in seventh, Alguersuari back to eighth and Sutil and Sergio Pérez
Sergio Pérez
Sergio Pérez Mendoza , also known as "Checo" Pérez, is a Mexican racing driver of Spanish descent, currently racing for Sauber in the 2011 Formula One season...
, who had been having a quiet race for Sauber
Sauber
Sauber F1 Team is a Swiss Formula One team. It was founded in the 1970s by Peter Sauber, who progressed through hillclimbing and the World Sportscar Championship to reach Formula One in 1993....
, rounding out the points. The second round of pitstops saw far less action than the first, with the exception of Alonso's better stop allowing him to emerge ahead of Mark Webber's Red Bull
Red Bull Racing
Red Bull Racing is a Formula One racing team based in Milton Keynes, England which currently holds an Austrian licence. It is, along with Scuderia Toro Rosso, one of two teams owned by beverage company Red Bull GmbH. The team have won two Constructors' Championship titles, in and , becoming the...
in the battle for third place. Also, Bruno Senna was now in ninth, due to being on a different pit stop strategy. Senna pitted four laps from the end, allowing Sutil and Pérez back into their ninth and tenth place.
The race finished, therefore, with Vettel comfortably ahead of Button and Alonso holding off a charge from Webber to round out the podium. Michael Schumacher led home teammate Nico Rosberg for a strong fifth place, while Hamilton was the last unlapped runner in seventh. Alguersuari's eighth place allowed Toro Rosso to draw level with Sauber in the chase for seventh in the constructors' championship, with Sutil leading Pérez home in the last two points scoring positions. Vettel completed his first career Grand Chelem with the race's fastest lap on the final lap, having led every lap from pole position prior to doing so.
Taxation dispute
Six weeks before the Grand Prix, reports emerged that the race was under threat from the Indian government seeking to tax a share of the teams' earnings. Under the system used by Formula One, teams that place in the top ten in the final World Constructors' Championship standings receive a percentage of money paid to Formula One Management for television rights. In accordance with Indian tax law, it was reported that the Indian government believed it was entitled to levy taxes on these earnings because the teams competed in India. This led to suggestions that the teams could boycott the race, though McLarenMcLaren
McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup...
team principal and Formula One Teams Association
Formula One Teams Association
The Formula One Teams Association is a group of Formula One teams that was formed at a meeting in Maranello on 29 July 2008. This organisation gives the teams a united voice in their ongoing discussions with the FIA and The Formula One Group regarding the future of Formula One. It is headed by...
chairman Martin Whitmarsh
Martin Whitmarsh
Martin Whitmarsh is the CEO of McLaren Racing, a subsidiary company of the McLaren Group and Chief Operating Officer of that group, as well as Team Principal of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, following Ron Dennis' retirement on 1 March 2009...
denied the claims, stating that the teams were exploring their options and were confident of finding a resolution. On 14 September, the race organizers JPSI offered to pay the customs tax if necessary. The Indian government later relented, offering the sport an exemption from paying the tax altogether. The Supreme Court
Supreme Court of India
The Supreme Court of India is the highest judicial forum and final court of appeal as established by Part V, Chapter IV of the Constitution of India...
sought an explanation from the Uttar Pradesh government for granting the tax exemption to Jaypee Group. The notices were issued by the apex court on the basis of a public interest litigation, which challenged the exemption of entertainment and luxury tax for organising the Formula One event. On 21 October, the Supreme Court enacted a temporary injunction to end the dispute, stipulating that the event organisers would deposit 25% of ticket money into a separate account until the court judged the validity of the entertainment tax exemption granted for the event by the Uttar Pradesh government.
Status of visa applications
Further complications arose when several figures within the Formula One paddock – reported to be Mercedes GPMercedes GP
Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team, the trading name of Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Limited, is a British-based Formula One racing team and constructor, owned by Mercedes-Benz and racing under a German licence since the 2010 season....
driver Nico Rosberg
Nico Rosberg
Nico Erik Rosberg is a racing driver for the Mercedes GP Formula One team. He races under the German flag in Formula One, although he competed for Finland earlier in his career...
and "half" of the HRT team – had their visa
Visa (document)
A visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
applications rejected. A senior FIA
Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile is a non-profit association established as the Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users...
figure was quoted as saying that if the extended visa processing period continued, then up to ninety percent of people involved in the sport would be unable to attend the race. Ten days before the race, Team Lotus driver Heikki Kovalainen
Heikki Kovalainen
Heikki Johannes Kovalainen is a Finnish Formula One racing driver who spent the 2008 and 2009 seasons with British based team McLaren and the 2010 and 2011 seasons with Team Lotus....
reported via Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
that he was still in the process of signing documents to enter the country, labelling the process as "a joke" and describing it as needlessly complex. Despite concerns over the application process, no teams reported that their personnel had been denied entry to the country.
Qualifying
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |  Sebastian VettelSebastian Vettel Sebastian Vettel is a German Formula One racing driver, currently driving for Red Bull Racing. He is the current World Champion, having won the championship in and .... |
Red Bull Red Bull Racing Red Bull Racing is a Formula One racing team based in Milton Keynes, England which currently holds an Austrian licence. It is, along with Scuderia Toro Rosso, one of two teams owned by beverage company Red Bull GmbH. The team have won two Constructors' Championship titles, in and , becoming the... -Renault Renault Sport F1 Renault Sport F1 is the current incarnation of Renault's involvement in Formula 1. It was born at the end of 2010, when the carmaker sold the 25 per cent final share property from its Enstone-based team, Renault F1, to major stockholder Genii Capital but kept for itself the control of its... |
1:26.218 | 1:24.657 | 1:24.178 | 1 |
| 2 | 3 |  Lewis HamiltonLewis Hamilton Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton, MBE is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the McLaren team. He was the Formula One World Champion.Hamilton was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire... |
McLaren McLaren McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup... -Mercedes |
1:26.563 | 1:25.019 | 1:24.474 | 5 |
| 3 | 2 |  Mark WebberMark Webber Mark Alan Webber is an Australian Formula One driver.After some racing success in Australia, Webber moved to the United Kingdom in 1995 to further his motorsport career... |
Red Bull Red Bull Racing Red Bull Racing is a Formula One racing team based in Milton Keynes, England which currently holds an Austrian licence. It is, along with Scuderia Toro Rosso, one of two teams owned by beverage company Red Bull GmbH. The team have won two Constructors' Championship titles, in and , becoming the... -Renault Renault Sport F1 Renault Sport F1 is the current incarnation of Renault's involvement in Formula 1. It was born at the end of 2010, when the carmaker sold the 25 per cent final share property from its Enstone-based team, Renault F1, to major stockholder Genii Capital but kept for itself the control of its... |
1:26.473 | 1:25.282 | 1:24.508 | 2 |
| 4 | 5 |  Fernando AlonsoFernando Alonso Fernando Alonso Díaz is a Spanish Formula One racing driver and a two-time World Champion, who is currently racing for Ferrari.... |
Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
1:26.774 | 1:25.158 | 1:24.519 | 3 |
| 5 | 4 | Jenson Button Jenson Button Jenson Alexander Lyons Button MBE is a British Formula One driver currently signed to McLaren. He was the 2009 World Drivers' Champion.Button began karting at the age of eight and achieved early success, before progressing to car racing in the British Formula Ford Championship and the British... |
McLaren McLaren McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup... -Mercedes |
1:26.225 | 1:25.299 | 1:24.950 | 4 |
| 6 | 6 |  Felipe MassaFelipe Massa Felipe Massa is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He finished second in the Drivers' World Championship, and is under contract to race for Scuderia Ferrari until the end of the season.-Early years:... |
Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
1:27.012 | 1:25.522 | 1:25.122 | 6 |
| 7 | 8 | Nico Rosberg Nico Rosberg Nico Erik Rosberg is a racing driver for the Mercedes GP Formula One team. He races under the German flag in Formula One, although he competed for Finland earlier in his career... |
Mercedes Mercedes GP Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team, the trading name of Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Limited, is a British-based Formula One racing team and constructor, owned by Mercedes-Benz and racing under a German licence since the 2010 season.... |
1:26.364 | 1:25.555 | 1:25.451 | 7 |
| 8 | 14 | Adrian Sutil Adrian Sutil -Biography:Sutil is the son of professional musicians Monika, a German, and Jorge, a Uruguayan. He has two brothers named Daniel and Raphael. He weighs 165 pounds and is 6 feet tall. A talented pianist, Sutil started karting at 14 before moving up to Swiss Formula Ford 1800 in 2002... |
Force India Force India Sahara Force India Formula One Team, the trading name of Force India Formula One Team Limited, is a Formula One racing team based in Silverstone, United Kingdom which currently holds an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 2007 when a consortium led by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and... -Mercedes |
1:26.271 | 1:26.140 | no time | 8 |
| 9 | 18 |  Sébastien BuemiSébastien Buemi Sébastien Olivier Buemi is a Swiss racing driver, who competes for Scuderia Toro Rosso in Formula One.-Formula BMW:... |
Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso , also known simply as Toro Rosso or by its abbreviation STR, is an Italian Formula One racing team... -Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
1:26.608 | 1:26.161 | no time | 9 |
| 10 | 19 | Jaime Alguersuari Jaime Alguersuari Jaime Víctor Alguersuari Escudero , is a Spanish racing driver who became the youngest Formula One driver to start a Grand Prix in history at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix. Alguersuari is the first driver to be born in the 1990s to compete in Formula One.... |
Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso , also known simply as Toro Rosso or by its abbreviation STR, is an Italian Formula One racing team... -Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
1:26.557 | 1:26.319 | no time | 10 |
| 11 | 10 |  Vitaly PetrovVitaly Petrov Vitaly Alexandrovich Petrov is a Russian Formula One racing driver, currently driving for the Lotus Renault GP team. He is known as "Vyborg Rocket" in Russia. He is, to date, the only Russian to have competed in the Formula One World Championship.... |
Renault Renault F1 Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking... |
1:26.189 | 1:26.319 | 16 | |
| 12 | 7 | Michael Schumacher Michael Schumacher Michael Schumacher is a German Formula One racing driver for the Mercedes GP team. Famous for his eleven-year spell with Ferrari, Schumacher is a seven-time World Champion and is widely regarded as the greatest F1 driver of all time... |
Mercedes Mercedes GP Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team, the trading name of Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Limited, is a British-based Formula One racing team and constructor, owned by Mercedes-Benz and racing under a German licence since the 2010 season.... |
1:26.790 | 1:26.337 | 11 | |
| 13 | 15 | Paul di Resta Paul di Resta Paul di Resta is a British racing driver from Scotland, currently competing in Formula One with Force India. He is also a former DTM champion.-Personal life:... |
Force India Force India Sahara Force India Formula One Team, the trading name of Force India Formula One Team Limited, is a Formula One racing team based in Silverstone, United Kingdom which currently holds an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 2007 when a consortium led by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and... -Mercedes |
1:26.864 | 1:26.503 | 12 | |
| 14 | 12 |  Pastor MaldonadoPastor Maldonado Pastor Rafael Maldonado Motta is a Venezuelan Formula One driver. Before making his Formula One debut in 2011, he won the 2010 GP2 championship.-Formula Renault:... |
Williams-Cosworth Cosworth Cosworth is a high performance engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in engines and electronics for automobile racing , mainstream automotive and defence industries... |
1:26.829 | 1:26.537 | 13 | |
| 15 | 9 | Bruno Senna Bruno Senna Bruno Senna Lalli is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver and the nephew of the late three-time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna. His mother is Ayrton's older sister, Viviane. His father, Flávio Lalli, died in a motorcycle crash in 1996. He wears a slightly modified version of his uncle's... |
Renault Renault F1 Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking... |
1:26.766 | 1:26.651 | 14 | |
| 16 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello Rubens Barrichello Rubens Gonçalves "Rubinho" Barrichello is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He is currently racing for Williams F1.Barrichello has scored the seventh highest points total in Formula One history. Barrichello drove for Ferrari from to , as Michael Schumacher's teammate, enjoying considerable... |
Williams-Cosworth Cosworth Cosworth is a high performance engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in engines and electronics for automobile racing , mainstream automotive and defence industries... |
1:27.479 | 1:27.247 | 15 | |
| 17 | 17 |  Sergio PérezSergio Pérez Sergio Pérez Mendoza , also known as "Checo" Pérez, is a Mexican racing driver of Spanish descent, currently racing for Sauber in the 2011 Formula One season... |
Sauber Sauber Sauber F1 Team is a Swiss Formula One team. It was founded in the 1970s by Peter Sauber, who progressed through hillclimbing and the World Sportscar Championship to reach Formula One in 1993.... -Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
1:27.249 | 1:27.562 | 20 | |
| 18 | 16 |  Kamui KobayashiKamui Kobayashi is a Japanese racing driver. He has competed in the GP2 Series, won the GP2 Asia Series, and made his Formula One debut with Toyota in the final two races of when he replaced Timo Glock after the German was injured in a crash during qualifying for the... |
Sauber Sauber Sauber F1 Team is a Swiss Formula One team. It was founded in the 1970s by Peter Sauber, who progressed through hillclimbing and the World Sportscar Championship to reach Formula One in 1993.... -Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
1:27.876 | 17 | ||
| 19 | 20 |  Heikki KovalainenHeikki Kovalainen Heikki Johannes Kovalainen is a Finnish Formula One racing driver who spent the 2008 and 2009 seasons with British based team McLaren and the 2010 and 2011 seasons with Team Lotus.... |
Lotus-Renault Renault Sport F1 Renault Sport F1 is the current incarnation of Renault's involvement in Formula 1. It was born at the end of 2010, when the carmaker sold the 25 per cent final share property from its Enstone-based team, Renault F1, to major stockholder Genii Capital but kept for itself the control of its... |
1:28.565 | 18 | ||
| 20 | 21 |  Jarno TrulliJarno Trulli Jarno Trulli is an Italian Formula One racing driver. He has been a regular in Formula One since 1997, driving for Minardi, Prost, Jordan, Renault and Toyota. He won the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix for Renault, his only Grand Prix victory to date. He is known for being a qualification expert... |
Lotus-Renault Renault Sport F1 Renault Sport F1 is the current incarnation of Renault's involvement in Formula 1. It was born at the end of 2010, when the carmaker sold the 25 per cent final share property from its Enstone-based team, Renault F1, to major stockholder Genii Capital but kept for itself the control of its... |
1:28.752 | 19 | ||
| 21 | 23 | Daniel Ricciardo Daniel Ricciardo Daniel Ricciardo is an Australian racing driver currently competing in Formula 1 for Hispania Racing. He won the British Formula Three Championship in 2009.-Formula Ford and Formula BMW:... |
HRT-Cosworth Cosworth Cosworth is a high performance engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in engines and electronics for automobile racing , mainstream automotive and defence industries... |
1:30.216 | 23 | ||
| 22 | 22 |  Narain KarthikeyanNarain Karthikeyan Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan , is the first Formula One motor racing driver from India. He has previously competed in A1GP, and the Le Mans Series. He made his Formula One debut in with the Jordan team, and was a WilliamsF1 test driver in and... |
HRT-Cosworth Cosworth Cosworth is a high performance engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in engines and electronics for automobile racing , mainstream automotive and defence industries... |
1:30.238 | 24 | ||
| 23 | 25 |  Jérôme d'AmbrosioJérôme d'Ambrosio Jérôme d'Ambrosio is a Belgian racing driver of Italian descent. He is driving for Marussia Virgin Racing during the 2011 Formula One World Championship.-Karting:... |
Virgin Virgin Racing Marussia Virgin Racing, the trading name of Virgin Racing Limited, is a Russian owned Formula One racing team based in the United Kingdom and racing on a Russian licence, which made its debut in the 2010 Formula One season. It was granted entry as Manor Grand Prix on 12 June 2009, as one of four... -Cosworth Cosworth Cosworth is a high performance engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in engines and electronics for automobile racing , mainstream automotive and defence industries... |
1:30.866 | 21 | ||
| 107% time: 1:32.222 | |||||||
| 24 | 24 | Timo Glock Timo Glock Timo Glock is a German motor racing driver, currently driving in Formula One for the Virgin Racing team. At the 2004 Canadian Grand Prix, standing in for Giorgio Pantano who had a contract dispute with Jordan Grand Prix, he joined a select group of drivers who have scored a World Championship... |
Virgin Virgin Racing Marussia Virgin Racing, the trading name of Virgin Racing Limited, is a Russian owned Formula One racing team based in the United Kingdom and racing on a Russian licence, which made its debut in the 2010 Formula One season. It was granted entry as Manor Grand Prix on 12 June 2009, as one of four... -Cosworth Cosworth Cosworth is a high performance engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in engines and electronics for automobile racing , mainstream automotive and defence industries... |
1:34.046 | 22 | ||
Notes:
- – Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Pérez were given three-place grid penalties for ignoring yellow flags during the first practice session.
- – Vitaly Petrov was given a five-place grid penalty for causing an accident with Michael Schumacher at the . Although Petrov and Jaime AlguersuariJaime AlguersuariJaime Víctor Alguersuari Escudero , is a Spanish racing driver who became the youngest Formula One driver to start a Grand Prix in history at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix. Alguersuari is the first driver to be born in the 1990s to compete in Formula One....
set identical lap times in Q2, Alguersuari advanced to Q3 because he had set his lap time three minutes before Petrov. - – Daniel Ricciardo was given a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.
- – Narain Karthikeyan was given a five-place grid penalty for impeding Michael Schumacher during Q1.
Race
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel Sebastian Vettel Sebastian Vettel is a German Formula One racing driver, currently driving for Red Bull Racing. He is the current World Champion, having won the championship in and .... |
Red Bull Red Bull Racing Red Bull Racing is a Formula One racing team based in Milton Keynes, England which currently holds an Austrian licence. It is, along with Scuderia Toro Rosso, one of two teams owned by beverage company Red Bull GmbH. The team have won two Constructors' Championship titles, in and , becoming the... -Renault Renault Sport F1 Renault Sport F1 is the current incarnation of Renault's involvement in Formula 1. It was born at the end of 2010, when the carmaker sold the 25 per cent final share property from its Enstone-based team, Renault F1, to major stockholder Genii Capital but kept for itself the control of its... |
60 | 1:30:35.002 | 1 | 25 |
| 2 | 4 | Jenson Button Jenson Button Jenson Alexander Lyons Button MBE is a British Formula One driver currently signed to McLaren. He was the 2009 World Drivers' Champion.Button began karting at the age of eight and achieved early success, before progressing to car racing in the British Formula Ford Championship and the British... |
McLaren McLaren McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup... -Mercedes |
60 | +8.433 | 4 | 18 |
| 3 | 5 | Fernando Alonso Fernando Alonso Fernando Alonso Díaz is a Spanish Formula One racing driver and a two-time World Champion, who is currently racing for Ferrari.... |
Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
60 | +24.301 | 3 | 15 |
| 4 | 2 | Mark Webber Mark Webber Mark Alan Webber is an Australian Formula One driver.After some racing success in Australia, Webber moved to the United Kingdom in 1995 to further his motorsport career... |
Red Bull Red Bull Racing Red Bull Racing is a Formula One racing team based in Milton Keynes, England which currently holds an Austrian licence. It is, along with Scuderia Toro Rosso, one of two teams owned by beverage company Red Bull GmbH. The team have won two Constructors' Championship titles, in and , becoming the... -Renault Renault Sport F1 Renault Sport F1 is the current incarnation of Renault's involvement in Formula 1. It was born at the end of 2010, when the carmaker sold the 25 per cent final share property from its Enstone-based team, Renault F1, to major stockholder Genii Capital but kept for itself the control of its... |
60 | +25.529 | 2 | 12 |
| 5 | 7 | Michael Schumacher Michael Schumacher Michael Schumacher is a German Formula One racing driver for the Mercedes GP team. Famous for his eleven-year spell with Ferrari, Schumacher is a seven-time World Champion and is widely regarded as the greatest F1 driver of all time... |
Mercedes Mercedes GP Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team, the trading name of Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Limited, is a British-based Formula One racing team and constructor, owned by Mercedes-Benz and racing under a German licence since the 2010 season.... |
60 | +1:05.421 | 11 | 10 |
| 6 | 8 | Nico Rosberg Nico Rosberg Nico Erik Rosberg is a racing driver for the Mercedes GP Formula One team. He races under the German flag in Formula One, although he competed for Finland earlier in his career... |
Mercedes Mercedes GP Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team, the trading name of Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Limited, is a British-based Formula One racing team and constructor, owned by Mercedes-Benz and racing under a German licence since the 2010 season.... |
60 | +1:06.851 | 7 | 8 |
| 7 | 3 | Lewis Hamilton Lewis Hamilton Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton, MBE is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the McLaren team. He was the Formula One World Champion.Hamilton was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire... |
McLaren McLaren McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup... -Mercedes |
60 | +1:24.183 | 5 | 6 |
| 8 | 19 | Jaime Alguersuari Jaime Alguersuari Jaime Víctor Alguersuari Escudero , is a Spanish racing driver who became the youngest Formula One driver to start a Grand Prix in history at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix. Alguersuari is the first driver to be born in the 1990s to compete in Formula One.... |
Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso , also known simply as Toro Rosso or by its abbreviation STR, is an Italian Formula One racing team... -Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
59 | +1 Lap | 10 | 4 |
| 9 | 14 | Adrian Sutil Adrian Sutil -Biography:Sutil is the son of professional musicians Monika, a German, and Jorge, a Uruguayan. He has two brothers named Daniel and Raphael. He weighs 165 pounds and is 6 feet tall. A talented pianist, Sutil started karting at 14 before moving up to Swiss Formula Ford 1800 in 2002... |
Force India Force India Sahara Force India Formula One Team, the trading name of Force India Formula One Team Limited, is a Formula One racing team based in Silverstone, United Kingdom which currently holds an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 2007 when a consortium led by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and... -Mercedes |
59 | +1 Lap | 8 | 2 |
| 10 | 17 | Sergio Pérez Sergio Pérez Sergio Pérez Mendoza , also known as "Checo" Pérez, is a Mexican racing driver of Spanish descent, currently racing for Sauber in the 2011 Formula One season... |
Sauber Sauber Sauber F1 Team is a Swiss Formula One team. It was founded in the 1970s by Peter Sauber, who progressed through hillclimbing and the World Sportscar Championship to reach Formula One in 1993.... -Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
59 | +1 Lap | 20 | 1 |
| 11 | 10 | Vitaly Petrov Vitaly Petrov Vitaly Alexandrovich Petrov is a Russian Formula One racing driver, currently driving for the Lotus Renault GP team. He is known as "Vyborg Rocket" in Russia. He is, to date, the only Russian to have competed in the Formula One World Championship.... |
Renault Renault F1 Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking... |
59 | +1 Lap | 16 | |
| 12 | 9 | Bruno Senna Bruno Senna Bruno Senna Lalli is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver and the nephew of the late three-time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna. His mother is Ayrton's older sister, Viviane. His father, Flávio Lalli, died in a motorcycle crash in 1996. He wears a slightly modified version of his uncle's... |
Renault Renault F1 Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking... |
59 | +1 Lap | 14 | |
| 13 | 15 | Paul di Resta Paul di Resta Paul di Resta is a British racing driver from Scotland, currently competing in Formula One with Force India. He is also a former DTM champion.-Personal life:... |
Force India Force India Sahara Force India Formula One Team, the trading name of Force India Formula One Team Limited, is a Formula One racing team based in Silverstone, United Kingdom which currently holds an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 2007 when a consortium led by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and... -Mercedes |
59 | +1 Lap | 12 | |
| 14 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen Heikki Kovalainen Heikki Johannes Kovalainen is a Finnish Formula One racing driver who spent the 2008 and 2009 seasons with British based team McLaren and the 2010 and 2011 seasons with Team Lotus.... |
Lotus-Renault Renault Sport F1 Renault Sport F1 is the current incarnation of Renault's involvement in Formula 1. It was born at the end of 2010, when the carmaker sold the 25 per cent final share property from its Enstone-based team, Renault F1, to major stockholder Genii Capital but kept for itself the control of its... |
58 | +2 Laps | 18 | |
| 15 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello Rubens Barrichello Rubens Gonçalves "Rubinho" Barrichello is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He is currently racing for Williams F1.Barrichello has scored the seventh highest points total in Formula One history. Barrichello drove for Ferrari from to , as Michael Schumacher's teammate, enjoying considerable... |
Williams-Cosworth Cosworth Cosworth is a high performance engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in engines and electronics for automobile racing , mainstream automotive and defence industries... |
58 | +2 Laps | 15 | |
| 16 | 25 | Jérôme d'Ambrosio Jérôme d'Ambrosio Jérôme d'Ambrosio is a Belgian racing driver of Italian descent. He is driving for Marussia Virgin Racing during the 2011 Formula One World Championship.-Karting:... |
Virgin Virgin Racing Marussia Virgin Racing, the trading name of Virgin Racing Limited, is a Russian owned Formula One racing team based in the United Kingdom and racing on a Russian licence, which made its debut in the 2010 Formula One season. It was granted entry as Manor Grand Prix on 12 June 2009, as one of four... -Cosworth Cosworth Cosworth is a high performance engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in engines and electronics for automobile racing , mainstream automotive and defence industries... |
57 | +3 Laps | 21 | |
| 17 | 22 | Narain Karthikeyan Narain Karthikeyan Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan , is the first Formula One motor racing driver from India. He has previously competed in A1GP, and the Le Mans Series. He made his Formula One debut in with the Jordan team, and was a WilliamsF1 test driver in and... |
HRT-Cosworth Cosworth Cosworth is a high performance engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in engines and electronics for automobile racing , mainstream automotive and defence industries... |
57 | +3 Laps | 24 | |
| 18 | 23 | Daniel Ricciardo Daniel Ricciardo Daniel Ricciardo is an Australian racing driver currently competing in Formula 1 for Hispania Racing. He won the British Formula Three Championship in 2009.-Formula Ford and Formula BMW:... |
HRT-Cosworth Cosworth Cosworth is a high performance engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in engines and electronics for automobile racing , mainstream automotive and defence industries... |
57 | +3 Laps | 23 | |
| 19 | 21 | Jarno Trulli Jarno Trulli Jarno Trulli is an Italian Formula One racing driver. He has been a regular in Formula One since 1997, driving for Minardi, Prost, Jordan, Renault and Toyota. He won the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix for Renault, his only Grand Prix victory to date. He is known for being a qualification expert... |
Lotus-Renault Renault Sport F1 Renault Sport F1 is the current incarnation of Renault's involvement in Formula 1. It was born at the end of 2010, when the carmaker sold the 25 per cent final share property from its Enstone-based team, Renault F1, to major stockholder Genii Capital but kept for itself the control of its... |
55 | +5 Laps | 19 | |
| Ret | 6 | Felipe Massa Felipe Massa Felipe Massa is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He finished second in the Drivers' World Championship, and is under contract to race for Scuderia Ferrari until the end of the season.-Early years:... |
Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
32 | Suspension | 6 | |
| Ret | 18 | Sébastien Buemi Sébastien Buemi Sébastien Olivier Buemi is a Swiss racing driver, who competes for Scuderia Toro Rosso in Formula One.-Formula BMW:... |
Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso , also known simply as Toro Rosso or by its abbreviation STR, is an Italian Formula One racing team... -Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
24 | Engine | 9 | |
| Ret | 12 | Pastor Maldonado Pastor Maldonado Pastor Rafael Maldonado Motta is a Venezuelan Formula One driver. Before making his Formula One debut in 2011, he won the 2010 GP2 championship.-Formula Renault:... |
Williams-Cosworth Cosworth Cosworth is a high performance engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in engines and electronics for automobile racing , mainstream automotive and defence industries... |
12 | Gearbox | 13 | |
| Ret | 24 | Timo Glock Timo Glock Timo Glock is a German motor racing driver, currently driving in Formula One for the Virgin Racing team. At the 2004 Canadian Grand Prix, standing in for Giorgio Pantano who had a contract dispute with Jordan Grand Prix, he joined a select group of drivers who have scored a World Championship... |
Virgin Virgin Racing Marussia Virgin Racing, the trading name of Virgin Racing Limited, is a Russian owned Formula One racing team based in the United Kingdom and racing on a Russian licence, which made its debut in the 2010 Formula One season. It was granted entry as Manor Grand Prix on 12 June 2009, as one of four... -Cosworth Cosworth Cosworth is a high performance engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in engines and electronics for automobile racing , mainstream automotive and defence industries... |
2 | Collision damage | 22 | |
| Ret | 16 | Kamui Kobayashi Kamui Kobayashi is a Japanese racing driver. He has competed in the GP2 Series, won the GP2 Asia Series, and made his Formula One debut with Toyota in the final two races of when he replaced Timo Glock after the German was injured in a crash during qualifying for the... |
Sauber Sauber Sauber F1 Team is a Swiss Formula One team. It was founded in the 1970s by Peter Sauber, who progressed through hillclimbing and the World Sportscar Championship to reach Formula One in 1993.... -Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
0 | Collision | 17 |
Standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings| Pos | Driver | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel Sebastian Vettel Sebastian Vettel is a German Formula One racing driver, currently driving for Red Bull Racing. He is the current World Champion, having won the championship in and .... |
374 |
| 2 | Jenson Button Jenson Button Jenson Alexander Lyons Button MBE is a British Formula One driver currently signed to McLaren. He was the 2009 World Drivers' Champion.Button began karting at the age of eight and achieved early success, before progressing to car racing in the British Formula Ford Championship and the British... |
240 |
| 3 | Fernando Alonso Fernando Alonso Fernando Alonso Díaz is a Spanish Formula One racing driver and a two-time World Champion, who is currently racing for Ferrari.... |
227 |
| 4 | Mark Webber Mark Webber Mark Alan Webber is an Australian Formula One driver.After some racing success in Australia, Webber moved to the United Kingdom in 1995 to further his motorsport career... |
221 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton Lewis Hamilton Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton, MBE is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the McLaren team. He was the Formula One World Champion.Hamilton was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire... |
202 |
Constructors' Championship standings
| Pos | Constructor | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Red BullRed Bull Racing Red Bull Racing is a Formula One racing team based in Milton Keynes, England which currently holds an Austrian licence. It is, along with Scuderia Toro Rosso, one of two teams owned by beverage company Red Bull GmbH. The team have won two Constructors' Championship titles, in and , becoming the... -Renault Renault Sport F1 Renault Sport F1 is the current incarnation of Renault's involvement in Formula 1. It was born at the end of 2010, when the carmaker sold the 25 per cent final share property from its Enstone-based team, Renault F1, to major stockholder Genii Capital but kept for itself the control of its... |
595 |
| 2 | McLaren McLaren McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup... -Mercedes |
442 |
| 3 | Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing.... |
325 |
| 4 | Mercedes Mercedes GP Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team, the trading name of Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Limited, is a British-based Formula One racing team and constructor, owned by Mercedes-Benz and racing under a German licence since the 2010 season.... |
145 |
| 5 | Renault Renault F1 Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking... |
72 |
- Bold Text indicates World Champion.
- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.