2011 Brazilian Grand Prix

The 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 Grande Prêmio Petrobras do Brasil 2011) was a Formula One motor race held on 27 November 2011 at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, Interlagos, in São Paulo, Brazil. It was the nineteenth and final round of the 2011 Formula One season. The 71-lap race was won by Red Bull Racing driver Mark Webber taking his only win of the season. Sebastian Vettel, Webber's teammate finished in second place to complete Red Bull's third 1–2 of the season; Jenson Button finished in third position, to complete the podium for the McLaren team.

2011 Brazilian Grand Prix
Race 19 of 19 in the 2011 Formula One World Championship
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Race details
Date 27 November 2011
Official name Formula 1 Grande Prêmio Petrobras do Brasil 2011
Location Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo, Brazil
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.309 km (2.677 miles)
Distance 71 laps, 305.909 km (190.083 miles)
Weather

Fine

Air Temp 24 °C (75 °F)
Track Temp 43 °C (109 °F)[1]
Pole position
Driver Red Bull Racing-Renault
Time 1:11.918
Fastest lap
Driver Australia Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault
Time 1:15.324 on lap 71
Podium
First Red Bull Racing-Renault
Second Red Bull Racing-Renault
Third McLaren-Mercedes
Lap leaders

It was the 326th and final race for 11-time Grand Prix winner and most experienced Formula One driver at that point in history, Rubens Barrichello, and the 256th and last race for Jarno Trulli. This would also prove to be the final Grand Prix for Vitantonio Liuzzi, Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari, as well as the last race for Renault until the 2016 Australian Grand Prix.

Report

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Background

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After replacing Jaime Alguersuari during the first Friday practice session in South Korea and Sébastien Buemi during the same session in Abu Dhabi, Formula Renault 3.5 runner-up Jean-Éric Vergne once again drove for Toro Rosso on Friday morning, after a statement announced he would take the place of "whichever of the Toro Rosso drivers has the least points";[2] Vergne ultimately replaced Buemi.[3] Having completed the sufficient amount of mileage in order to acquire an FIA Super Licence at the Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi, Jan Charouz took part in first practice for HRT, replacing Vitantonio Liuzzi.[3][4] Luiz Razia drove in the place of Jarno Trulli at Lotus, while Romain Grosjean replaced Vitaly Petrov at Renault and Nico Hülkenberg drove Adrian Sutil's Force India.[3] With Liuzzi and Trulli on the sidelines, the first practice session became the first time since the 2005 United States Grand Prix that an Italian driver had not taken part in a timed session.

The circuit included one Drag Reduction System (DRS) zone, located along Reta Oposta.[5] The detection point was located in the middle of the second corner, with the activation point 70 metres (230 ft) beyond the exit of Curva do Sol, creating a DRS zone of 600 metres (2,000 ft). According to FIA race director Charlie Whiting, Reta Oposta was chosen for the DRS zone because "the main straight usually gives a good enough opportunity to overtake anyway, [and] we don't want to make it too easy [to pass]".[5]

After experimenting with a new compound of soft tyre during free practice in Abu Dhabi, Pirelli announced that the tyre would be used for the race in Brazil.[6]

Qualifying

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Rubens Barrichello finished fourteenth for Williams in his 326th and final race in Formula One.

Vettel took pole position, his fifteenth of the season, breaking Nigel Mansell's record from 1992, for the number of pole positions in a season. Webber qualified in second place, just one tenth of a second slower than his Red Bull teammate. The two McLarens took over the second row of the grid, with Button ahead of Hamilton. Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg were on the third row of the grid, separated by half a second. Felipe Massa, Alonso's Ferrari teammate, qualified seventh ahead of Adrian Sutil, Bruno Senna and Michael Schumacher (who didn't set a time).

Race

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Felipe Massa became the first Ferrari driver since Ivan Capelli in 1992 to complete a season without a podium.

Vettel lead the race after the start, but conceded the lead to Webber when his gearbox started causing him trouble. Vettel remained second in the race though, while Webber took his first, and only, win of the season. None of the other teams could match the pace of Red Bull in the race. Button managed to complete the podium with third position after being overtaken by Alonso early on in the race, but repassing him near the end. Alonso eventually finished fourth whilst Hamilton retired with a gearbox issue. Massa completed the year with a fifth-place finish. Sutil, Rosberg, di Resta, Kobayashi and Petrov completed the points scoring positions.[7]

Bruno Senna received a drive through penalty after colliding with Michael Schumacher at the entry of the "Senna S" on lap 10.

Post-race

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Jenson Button's podium meant that he stayed second in the Drivers' Championship, while Webber's victory meant he overtook Alonso to become third. Despite both their drivers finishing well inside the points scoring positions, Force India did not manage to overturn Renault's points total to take fifth place in the standings, and were left just four points behind. Kamui Kobayashi scored two points for Sauber to ensure that they kept seventh place in the standings as well.

Classification

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Qualifying

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Pos No Driver Constructor Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Grid
1 1   Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:13.664 1:12.446 1:11.918 1
2 2   Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:13.467 1:12.658 1:12.099 2
3 4   Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:13.281 1:12.820 1:12.283 3
4 3   Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:13.361 1:12.811 1:12.480 4
5 5   Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:13.969 1:12.870 1:12.591 5
6 8   Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:14.083 1:12.569 1:13.050 6
7 6   Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:14.269 1:13.291 1:13.068 7
8 14   Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:13.480 1:13.261 1:13.298 8
9 9   Bruno Senna Renault 1:14.453 1:13.300 1:13.761 9
10 7   Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:13.694 1:13.571 no time 10
11 15   Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:13.733 1:13.584 11
12 11   Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:14.117 1:13.801 12
13 19   Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:14.225 1:13.804 13
14 18   Sébastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:14.500 1:13.919 14
15 10   Vitaly Petrov Renault 1:13.859 1:14.053 15
16 16   Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:14.571 1:14.129 16
17 17   Sergio Pérez Sauber-Ferrari 1:14.430 1:14.182 17
18 12   Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1:14.625 18
19 20   Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1:15.068 19
20 21   Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1:15.358 20
21 23   Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1:16.631 21
22 22   Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 1:16.890 22
23 25   Jérôme d'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1:17.019 23
24 24   Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:17.060 24
107% time: 1:18.410
Source:[8]

Race

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Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 2   Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 71 1:32:17.464 2 25
2 1   Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 71 +16.983 1 18
3 4   Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 71 +27.638 3 15
4 5   Fernando Alonso Ferrari 71 +35.048 5 12
5 6   Felipe Massa Ferrari 71 +1:06.733 7 10
6 14   Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 70 +1 Lap 8 8
7 8   Nico Rosberg Mercedes 70 +1 Lap 6 6
8 15   Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 70 +1 Lap 11 4
9 16   Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 70 +1 Lap 16 2
10 10   Vitaly Petrov Renault 70 +1 Lap 15 1
11 19   Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 70 +1 Lap 13
12 18   Sébastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 70 +1 Lap 14
13 17   Sergio Pérez Sauber-Ferrari 70 +1 Lap 17
14 11   Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 70 +1 Lap 12
15 7   Michael Schumacher Mercedes 70 +1 Lap 10
16 20   Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 69 +2 Laps 19
17 9   Bruno Senna Renault 69 +2 Laps 9
18 21   Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 69 +2 Laps 20
19 25   Jérôme d'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 68 +3 Laps 23
20 22   Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 68 +3 Laps 22
Ret 23   Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 61 Alternator 21
Ret 3   Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 46 Gearbox 4
Ret 12   Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 26 Spin 18
Ret 24   Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 21 Wheel 24
Source:[9]

Championship standings after the race

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  • Bold text and an asterisk indicates the World Champions.
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

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  1. ^ "FORMULA 1 GRANDE PRÊMIO PETROBRAS DO BRASIL 2011 (Race)". Formula1.com. Formula One Group. 27 November 2011. Archived from the original on 30 January 2012. Retrieved 31 March 2012.
  2. ^ Beer, Matt (12 October 2011). "Toro Rosso to run Jean-Eric Vergne in Friday practice at three Grands Prix". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  3. ^ a b c "Webber fastest for Red Bull at Interlagos". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 25 November 2011. Archived from the original on 27 November 2011. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  4. ^ Elizalde, Pablo (24 November 2011). "Jan Charouz to drive for HRT during first practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  5. ^ a b Elizalde, Pablo (23 November 2011). "Single DRS zone for the Brazilian Grand Prix". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  6. ^ "Team to race new soft compound from Pirelli in Brazilian Grand Prix". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. 21 November 2011. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
  7. ^ "World Motor Sport Council: 03/11/2010". fia.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 3 November 2010. Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2011.
  8. ^ "FORMULA 1 GRANDE PRÊMIO PETROBRAS DO BRASIL 2011 – Qualifying Results". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 26 October 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
  9. ^ "FORMULA 1 GRANDE PRÊMIO PETROBRAS DO BRASIL 2011 – Race Results". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 15 January 2015. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
  10. ^ a b "Brazil 2011 – Championship • STATS F1". statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
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2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
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2012 Australian Grand Prix
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2010 Brazilian Grand Prix
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2012 Brazilian Grand Prix