2011 Chinese Grand Prix

The 2011 Chinese Grand Prix (formally the 2011 Formula 1 UBS Chinese Grand Prix)[2] was a Formula One motor race held on 17 April 2011 at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai, People's Republic of China. It was the third round of the 2011 Formula One season. The 56-lap race was won by McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton after starting from third on the grid, also becoming the first ever multiple winner of the Chinese Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel finished second in a Red Bull Racing, having started from pole position, and teammate Mark Webber completed the podium, in third place having started eighteenth.[3]

2011 Chinese Grand Prix
Race 3 of 19 in the 2011 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 17 April 2011
Official name 2011 Formula 1 UBS Chinese Grand Prix
Location Shanghai International Circuit
Shanghai, People's Republic of China
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.451 km (3.387 mi)
Distance 56 laps, 305.066 km (189.559 mi)
Weather

Fine and Dry[1] Air Temp 22 °C (72 °F)[1]


Track Temp 32 °C (90 °F) dropping to 26 °C (79 °F)[1]
Pole position
Driver
Red Bull Racing-Renault
Time 1:33.706
Fastest lap
Driver Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault
Time 1:38.993 on lap 42
Podium
First
McLaren-Mercedes
Second
Red Bull Racing-Renault
Third
Red Bull Racing-Renault

As a consequence of the race, Vettel's lead in the World Drivers' Championship was cut to 21 points by Hamilton, who moved into second place in the championship. Hamilton's McLaren teammate Jenson Button, who finished fourth in China, fell 9 points behind Hamilton in third, a single point ahead of Webber. In the World Constructors' Championship, Red Bull's championship lead was also cut from 24 points to 20 by McLaren, with Ferrari a further 35 points behind in third position after drivers Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso finished in sixth and seventh places respectively.

Report

Background

Heading into the race, Sebastian Vettel led the Championship on the maximum 50 points after winning the first two races. Jenson Button was in second place in the standings after a 2nd and a 6th that put him on 26 points - just over half Vettel's total, and almost a race win behind. The other McLaren of Lewis Hamilton and yet to reach the podium, Mark Webber, were third and fourth respectively, both on 22 points. Fernando Alonso was fifth with 20 points, followed by Heidfeld on 17, Massa on 16 and Petrov on 15. In both races thus far in 2011 the podium had featured Vettel as the winner, a McLaren in second place and a Renault in third.

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought its silver-banded hard compound tyre as the harder "prime" tyre and the yellow-banded soft compound as the softer "option" compound. This was the same tyre selection that Bridgestone had chosen bring to the Chinese Grand Prix for the previous year.[4][5]

In the Constructors' table, Red Bull Racing led with 72 points, one and a half times McLaren's score (48), and double Ferrari's (36). Despite having two podiums, Renault were still behind Ferrari; but only just - with 30 points - and were putting up a good fight for the time being. Sauber were fifth in the standings, with 6 points, Toro Rosso and Force India had 4, and Mercedes had 2. By this point of the season, Williams were yet to finish a race.

Qualifying

Sebastian Vettel took a comfortable pole position in qualifying, with the second placed Jenson Button 0.7 seconds behind him and Button's McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton in third. Mark Webber had a torrid session, eliminated in the first part of qualifying after electrical problems in the earlier free practice, placing him 18th on the starting grid.[6]

Nico Rosberg in his Mercedes found himself fourth, Rosberg also recorded the fastest time of the first part of the qualifying session. Behind him were the Ferraris of Alonso and Massa, who had been unable to keep up with the pace of Red Bull or McLaren, Alonso recording a time almost a second off Vettel's pole position lap. Vitaly Petrov recorded a time in part two that got him through to the final part of qualifying, however, his car developed problems and stopped on the track, meaning he was unable to take part in the final session and would take the tenth place on the grid.[6]

Race

Lewis Hamilton faced a stressful situation just minutes before the start of the race; a fuel problem with his car meant that if he had started his journey to the grid just 35 seconds later, he would have had to start from the pit-lane.[7] Hamilton however, went on to a thrilling three-stop race, overtaking his two-stopping rival and World Drivers' Championship leader Sebastian Vettel on lap 52 of the 56 lap race.[7] Vettel had had a poor start to his race, being beaten on the first lap by both McLarens, with Jenson Button initially holding the upper hand, but his teammate Hamilton putting in a series of fastest laps that would ultimately give him victory to Button's fourth-place finish.[8] Also Hamilton performed an overtake on his teammate in Turn 1, about the midpoint of the race to take second place.

Mark Webber drove a spectacular race from 18th on the starting grid to bring his Red Bull to the chequered flag in 3rd position, beating Jenson Button for the final podium place on only the last lap.[8] Button had made a terrible mistake on the 15th lap when bringing his car into the pits, stopping in the Red Bull pit before being waved off by the Red Bull mechanics into his own McLaren pit one place ahead. The mistake cost Button time, as it did for Sebastian Vettel who was also coming into the pits and had to wait behind Button for him to realise his error; although Button entered the pits in the lead, but exited behind Vettel.[7] Jaime Alguersuari lost a wheel on his exit from the pits on lap 10, forcing his retirement from the race.[8] He was the race's only retirement, meaning that this race set the record for the most finishers (23). The record was beaten later in the season, in Valencia, where all 24 starters finished the race.

The race cut Sebastian Vettel's championship lead to 21 points from second placed Lewis Hamilton, with Red Bull constructors lead to McLaren falling to 20 points. Hamilton was ecstatic after his victory, saying "It was one of the best races I've experienced. It feels amazing to be able to bring home a victory for the guys in the factory."[8]

Classification

Qualifying
Pos No Driver Constructor Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Grid
1 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:35.674 1:34.776 1:33.706 1
2 4 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.924 1:34.662 1:34.421 2
3 3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.091 1:34.486 1:34.463 3
4 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:35.272 1:35.850 1:34.670 4
5 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:35.389 1:35.165 1:35.119 5
6 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:35.478 1:35.437 1:35.145 6
7 19 Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:36.133 1:35.563 1:36.158 7
8 15 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:35.702 1:35.858 1:36.190 8
9 18 Sébastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:36.110 1:35.500 1:36.203 9
10 10 Vitaly Petrov Renault 1:35.370 1:35.149 no time1 10
11 14 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:36.092 1:35.874 11
12 17 Sergio Pérez Sauber-Ferrari 1:36.046 1:36.053 12
13 16 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:36.147 1:36.236 13
14 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:35.508 1:36.457 14
15 11 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:35.911 1:36.465 15
16 9 Nick Heidfeld Renault 1:35.910 1:36.611 16
17 12 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1:36.121 1:36.956 17
18 2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:36.468 18
19 20 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1:37.894 19
20 21 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1:38.318 20
21 25 Jérôme d'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1:39.119 21
22 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:39.708 22
23 23 Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1:40.212 23
24 22 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1:40.445 24
107% time: 1:41.941
Source:[9]

Notes

  1. ^ – Vitaly Petrov stopped on track during Q2. While the lap time he posted managed to get him into Q3, he was not able to take further part in the qualifying session.

Race
Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 56 1:36:58.226 3 25
2 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 56 +5.198 1 18
3 2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 56 +7.555 18 15
4 4 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 56 +10.000 2 12
5 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 56 +13.448 4 10
6 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 56 +15.840 6 8
7 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 56 +30.622 5 6
8 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 56 +31.026 14 4
9 10 Vitaly Petrov Renault 56 +57.404 10 2
10 16 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 56 +1:03.273 13 1
11 15 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 56 +1:08.757 8
12 9 Nick Heidfeld Renault 56 +1:12.739 16
13 11 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 56 +1:30.189 15
14 18 Sébastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 56 +1:30.671 9
15 14 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 55 +1 Lap 11
16 20 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 55 +1 Lap 19
17 17 Sergio Pérez Sauber-Ferrari 55 +1 Lap 12
18 12 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 55 +1 Lap 17
19 21 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 55 +1 Lap 20
20 25 Jérôme d'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 54 +2 Laps 21
21 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 54 +2 Laps 22
22 23 Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 54 +2 Laps 23
23 22 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 54 +2 Laps 24
Ret 19 Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 9 Wheel 7
Source:[10]

Championship standings after the race
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
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gollark: Am I misunderstanding environments? Probably.
gollark: `env` here contains modified FS functions. The `init` thing there os.runs shell. Inside said shell, the FS functions are normal.```lualocal env = make_environment(root_directory, overlay, API_overrides)if type(init) == "table" and init.URL then init = fetch(init.URL) endlocal out, err = load(init or fetch "https://pastebin.com/raw/wKdMTPwQ", "@init.lua", "t", env)```
gollark: Also, it doesn't, as tables are hashtables or whatever.
gollark: So what?

References
  1. "2011 FORMULA 1 UBS CHINESE GRAND PRIX (Race)". formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 17 April 2011. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
  2. "2011 Formula 1 UBS Chinese Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. Archived from the original on December 25, 2010. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
  3. Holt, Sarah (17 April 2011). "Lewis Hamilton storms to China victory over Red Bulls". BBC Sport. BBC. Archived from the original on March 5, 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
  4. "Pirelli announce tyre choices for remaining races". Formula1.com. Formula One Group. 7 October 2011. Archived from the original on September 29, 2013. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
  5. "Bridgestone announce tyre compounds for remaining races". Formula1.com. Formula One Group. 7 September 2010. Archived from the original on April 19, 2012. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
  6. Holt, Sarah (16 April 2011). "Sebastian Vettel beats McLaren in Chinese GP qualifying". BBC News. Archived from the original on 29 April 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
  7. Weaver, Paul (17 Apr 2011). "Lewis Hamilton wins thrilling Chinese grand prix". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
  8. Brett, Oliver (17 April 2011). "Chinese Grand Prix as it happened". BBC News. Archived from the original on 27 May 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
  9. "2011 FORMULA 1 UBS CHINESE GRAND PRIX - Qualifying Results". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 8 July 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
  10. "2011 FORMULA 1 UBS CHINESE GRAND PRIX - Race Results". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 January 2015. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
  11. "China 2011 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
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