2011 Belgian Grand Prix
The Grand Prix of Belgium 2011 was held on 28 August at the Circuit de Spa -Francorchamps in Spa instead and was the twelfth race of the Formula 1 2011 season.
- 3.1 qualifying
- 3.2 race
- 4.1 Drivers' Championship
- 4.2 Constructors' Championship
Reports
Background
After the Grand Prix of Germany Sebastian Vettel led the drivers' championship with 85 points ahead of Mark Webber and 88 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Red Bull -Renault resulted in the constructors' championship with 103 points ahead of McLaren -Mercedes with 168 points ahead of Ferrari.
At the Grand Prix of Belgium presented Pirelli riders the tire compounds medium ( white) and soft (yellow), as well as for wet conditions Intermediates (light blue ) and Full - Wets (orange ) are available.
In preparation for the Grand Prix weekend, the use of the Drag Reduction System ( DRS ) for the Eau Rouge was prohibited.
Bruno Senna returned to this race as a race driver in Formula 1 and took over the Renault cockpit of Nick Heidfeld.
With Michael Schumacher ( six times ), Felipe Massa and Hamilton (once each ) were three former winners of this Grand Prix.
Schumacher celebrated his 20 -year-old Formula 1 anniversary in this race. In the Belgian Grand Prix on 25 August 1991, he launched his first Grand Prix.
Training
In the first free practice Schumacher set the fastest time ahead of his teammate Nico Rosberg. However, the two Mercedes drivers were the only ones who had achieved a time on a dry track. Jenson Button was the fastest pilot in the rain and the third fastest of the training session. In this training Karun Chandhok took over the Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen. The second free practice session was dominated again by changing conditions. First, the track dried, so that all drivers set a time on slicks. Webber under these conditions was the fastest rider in front of Fernando Alonso and Button. About 30 minutes before the end of training, it began to rain again, leading to better times was no longer possible. In this training took over Nico Hülkenberg the Force India of Adrian Sutil. In the third free practice session, which was held under rain, Webber was again the fastest rider. On the second and third place followed by Hamilton and Jaime Alguersuari.
Qualifying
The qualifying session was held under changing weather conditions. In the first part of the session the track dried first, just before the end, however, it started raining again. Button set the fastest time under these conditions. Schumacher retired before he had set a time and did not manage to qualify. The HRT pilots and Jérôme D' Ambrosio failed due to the 107 percent rule. As they had driven a sufficient time in training, all four pilots were given permission to start later. In addition, managed Timo Glock, Jarno Trulli and Paul di Resta not into the next segment. The second section was interrupted by an accident of Sutil. Alonso scored the fastest time. Besides Sutil retired from the Williams driver and Kovalainen, Button, Kamui Kobayashi and Sebastien Buemi. In the third section, the pilots used slicks and Vettel scored pole position ahead of Hamilton and Webber.
After qualifying an incident between Hamilton and Pastor Maldonado was investigated. The two pilots had touched on the line before Eau Rouge. While Hamilton was given a warning, Maldonado was offset by five positions to the rear.
Race
After all the other units took place under changing weather conditions, it remained dry in the race throughout. In advance of the race asked several teams, including Red Bull, at the FIA on to get new tires for the race, because their tires had after qualifying bubbles. The FIA refused to replace the tire off, however.
At the start Vettel kept the lead at first. The second place took over the launching of fifth place Rosberg. Finally, on the Kemmel straight succeeded Rosberg also to take over the lead from Vettel. Also Rosberg's team-mate Schumacher started well in the Grand Prix and improved by nine positions. Not a good start to the race had Webber, who dropped from 3rd to 15th. Already at the first corner, there was a collision. Senna, who started the race from seventh place, missed the braking point in the La Source and drove in Alguersuari, who had started from position six, in the car. While Senna managed back to the pits and the race after repairs continued Alguersuari turned his car with broken suspension from.
At the top there Vettel managed to overtake Rosberg in the third round. Behind Rosberg were at this time the Ferrari drivers Massa and Alonso, who had previously passed each of Hamilton. At the end of the third round finally occurred the first regular pit stops with Webber and Button. While Vettel settled out in the following rounds of Rosberg, Massa and Alonso dueled for third place. Alonso finally managed exit of the Rivage to overtake Massa. Hamilton was lying behind the two pilots, use the duel of the two Ferrari drivers and also walked past Massa.
Vettel eventually went in the fifth round to the pits, so Rosberg again took the lead. After another round, however, he was beaten Alonso. Even Alonso shortly after went to the box, which Hamilton took the lead. Alonso was overtaken by his pit stop shortly before Eau Rouge by Webber. One lap later he made the position by overtaking good again. In contrast to Alonso, who was still on soft tires on the road, Webber had chosen in his early stop for the medium compound. Meanwhile, there was a duel between Buemi and Sergio Pérez. After Buemi initially defended an overtaking of Pérez in Les Combes, touched the two in the next round at this point. This Buemi's rear wing was damaged so badly that he had to give up in the pits. Pérez drove on and was penalized with a drive-through penalty.
After Hamilton was down in the tenth round to the pits, Vettel took the lead of the race. Hamilton then made pressure on Kobayashi, who had not been in the pits. Output of the Raidillon Hamilton finally passed by Kobayashi. Since he was located at DRS measurement point still behind Kobayashi, he was allowed on the DRS zone, which was at this Grand Prix on the Kemmel straight, flat face his rear wing in contrast to Kobayashi. However, he could not realize this advantage and Kobayashi managed to close on the line to stay behind Hamilton. When turning into the corner, the two pilots finally collided. While Kobayashi drove on, hit Hamilton in the wall and remained in the run-off area available. Since Hamilton his car initially could not leave on their own, the safety car was sent out on the track. He got a little later, however, from their own. Hamilton was then criticized by several former racing like Marc Surer. Surer had this to say: "Sorry, but that's not it drove him back, but Lewis has pulled over. Unfortunately it was Lewis' fault. He has misjudged the rearview mirror, believed that he is the front - but he was not. "
Vettel use the safety car phase for his second pit stop and fell back behind Alonso and Webber by who did not go to the box. Even before restarting Daniel Ricciardo gave up the race because he felt vibrations in the rear area. At the restart, Vettel went first past Webber and took a lap later the leadership of Alonso. While the first three positions remained unchanged initially, made button that was temporarily dropped back to 19th place, good positions. First, he overtook at once Vitaly Petrov and Perez, after he passed Schumacher, Sutil, Massa and Rosberg took over and within a few laps in fourth place.
Before the next pit stops came Pérez fell out with a defect. While Vettel and Alonso changed at the final stops on the medium tires and Webber stayed on medium tires, changed Button, who had already used the medium tire on soft tires. In the following rounds succeeded Alonso on the harder tire compound not to drive competitive times for the top places and he was successively overtaken by Webber and Button. The first four places then no longer be changed also and Vettel decided after three winless race again a Grand Prix for themselves.
Finally, on the fifth position it still came to a team-internal change in the Mercedes drivers, as Schumacher drove past Rosberg. While Rosberg on the harder tire compound was traveling and had to save fuel, Schumacher had soft tires. On the seventh, Sutil finished the race. Massa, who lodged an extra stop due to a puncture, improved just before the finish line in eighth place, as it benefited from an error by Petrov. Petrov was ninth before finally Maldonado, who scored his first World Championship point.
In the World Cup, both Vettel and Red Bull -Renault increased its leadership.
Message list
Classifications
Qualifying
Race
WM stands after the race
, The first ten of the race were 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 point (s).