Posted on 06/23/2011 6:13:20 PM PDT by Chode
2011 EUROPEAN GRAND PRIX
Venue: Valencia, Spain
Date: Sunday 26 June
Lap length: 3.367 miles
Race laps: 57
2010 winner: Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
First grand prix: 2008
Fri Sunny 28c
Sat Sunny 29c
Sun Sunny 30c
The guy gets a chick from Kentucky and the Euros are trashing her?
Lew will have to send her new boss Simon Cowell to kick their @ss.
It’s a loooong lap. And worth every cent of the fee.
http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2011/860/6865/
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 1:39.116 | 1:37.305 | 1:36.975 | 15 |
| 2 | 2 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 1:39.956 | 1:38.058 | 1:37.163 | 19 |
| 3 | 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:39.244 | 1:37.727 | 1:37.380 | 13 |
| 4 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:39.725 | 1:37.930 | 1:37.454 | 20 |
| 5 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:38.413 | 1:38.566 | 1:37.535 | 20 |
| 6 | 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:39.453 | 1:37.749 | 1:37.645 | 14 |
| 7 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:39.266 | 1:38.373 | 1:38.231 | 15 |
| 8 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:39.198 | 1:38.365 | 1:38.240 | 18 |
| 9 | 9 | Nick Heidfeld | Renault | 1:39.877 | 1:38.781 | 17 | |
| 10 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1:39.329 | 1:39.034 | 14 | |
| 11 | 10 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 1:39.690 | 1:39.068 | 14 | |
| 12 | 15 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1:39.852 | 1:39.422 | 16 | |
| 13 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1:39.602 | 1:39.489 | 19 | |
| 14 | 16 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:40.131 | 1:39.525 | 17 | |
| 15 | 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth | 1:39.690 | 1:39.645 | 10 | |
| 16 | 17 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:39.494 | 1:39.657 | 13 | |
| 17 | 18 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 1:39.679 | 1:39.711 | 8 | |
| 18 | 19 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 1:40.232 | 5 | ||
| 19 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Renault | 1:41.664 | 10 | ||
| 20 | 21 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Renault | 1:42.234 | 9 | ||
| 21 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:42.553 | 9 | ||
| 22 | 23 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT-Cosworth | 1:43.584 | 10 | ||
| 23 | 25 | Jerome d'Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 1:43.735 | 6 | ||
| 24 | 22 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | 1:44.363 | 9 | ||
| Q1 107% Time | 1:45.301 |
Sebastian Vettel has seized his eighth pole position from seven Grand Prix weekends in 2011. The German leads an all-Red Bull front row for Sunday’s European Grand Prix in Valencia, with McLaren and Ferrari occupying positions three to six. As the second home driver, Jaime Alguersuari could manage no more than Q1 elimination.
With Jaime Alguersuari being knocked out at the earliest possible point for the third consecutive race, Jarno Trulli spun his Lotus at the final corner and missed a chance to out-qualify team-mate Heikki Kovalainen. With Timo Glock 21st, Vitantonio Liuzzi was able to lodge his Hispania between the two Virgin Racing cars. Webber found himself in a lowly 16th after being baulked by traffic on his quickest lap.
The second phase of the hour was punctuated by a red flag stoppage, with Pastor Maldonado having encountered a technical problem and being forced to stop between Turns 18 and 19. With Rubens Barrichello locking up and running wide at the final corner, this left the Williams duo in 13th and 15th places, each ahead of a Sauber.
Sébastien Buemi could drive to no more than 17th and therefore joins Alguersuari on the ninth row, with Paul di Resta recovering from only ten minutes of track time on Friday to qualify 12th. Ahead, there was a surprise as Adrian Sutil moved ahead of Renault’s Vitaly Petrov and into the top ten shootout.
In a bid to save tyres, Sutil elected not to run in Q3 and therefore starts tenth; this strategy was shadowed by Renault, who brought ninth-placed Heidfeld in after just one lap. After Michael Schumacher expressed his worries on Friday, the seven-time Champion failed to rise above eighth, with team-mate Nico Rosberg managing seventh – just nine thousandths of a second quicker – on his only run.
The battle for pole was seemingly a fight between Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren, although Webber’s clinching of second place bumped Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso down to Row 2, with the quickest still being some four tenths off Vettel’s pole time. With the leading Ferrari and McLaren cars having abandoned their final runs, the German did likewise. Behind, Felipe Massa was able to improve on his final run to demote Jenson Button to sixth.
Vettel’s achievement marks his second consecutive pole in Valencia and 22nd career pole position. He is currently tenth in the all-time pole position standings.
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w00t...!!!
what happen to Schumacher?
he's getting long in the tooth...
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Sebastian Vettel has picked up his sixth victory from eight races in 2011 by winning Sunday’s European Grand Prix in Valencia, comfortably leading home local favourite Fernando Alonso and team-mate Mark Webber. Second Spanish driver Jaime Alguersuari enjoyed another eighth place as all 24 cars finished for the first time.
Once again, temperatures were up in Valencia on Sunday for what is Europe’s first weekend since the official start of summer. With ambient readings of 28°C (82°F), the track already reached temperatures of 45°C (113°F) when the red lights went out at two o’clock.
A clean start brought no incidents, with the pair of Ferraris enjoying lightning getaways and both challenging Webber for second place. Towards the back of the field, a rocket start for Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus allowed the Finn to contend with a number of midfield cars.
With Vettel pulling out an immediate lead of over two seconds, Jenson Button made the most of Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes by shooting his McLaren up the inside of Turn 2 on the sixth lap. The 2009 Champion, who experienced a quiet afternoon, remained ahead of the German for sixth and seventh places, not being able to make the most of Felipe Massa for a top five slot. The Brazilian, incidentally, was fortunate not to lose significant ground after a left-rear wheel problem in the pits.
The second Mercedes of Michael Schumacher ran into Vitaly Petrov’s’ Renault exiting the pits on the 15th tour. With a broken front wing, the seven-time World Champion – who finished fourth last time out in Canada – was forced to coast back in before finishing the race in 17th position. As Petrov also dropped down the field, team-mate Nick Heidfeld salvaged something for the Enstone-based squad by picking up the final point in tenth.
An inspired strategy by Alguersuari allowed the Catalan to collect four points for the second time in two weeks. From 18th on the grid, the Toro Rosso driver overhauled team-mate Sébastien Buemi and a selection of other rivals by pitting twice as opposed to the general three-spot plan; using the new Medium compound tyre and forced to defend from Adrian Sutil for the final handful of laps, the Barcelona man was clearly delighted with his result.
At the sharp end, Vettel was only headed during the pit-stop period, with Felipe Massa also enjoying a brief time at the front of the 57-lap race. After overtaking Webber in a brave attempt at Turn 12 on Lap 21, Alonso lost second at the second round of stops before retaking the place as the Australian – self-admittedly – pitted too early third time round.
Not only has Vettel now become the first driver in Formula 1 history to finish in either first or second place across the opening eight races of a season, but Valencia 2011 also marks the first time all cars have finished since Italy 2005 and that 24 competitors have taken the chequered flag.
Vettel hails ‘faultless’ weekend
Sebastian Vettel was overjoyed after taking his sixth win of the season in Valencia on Sunday, leading home Ferrari rival Fernando Alonso and Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber who dropped off in the closing stages due to a gearbox problem. The reigning Champion’s lead never looked under threat after a strong start from pole position, with the German going on to describe his weekend as ‘faultless’.
"Maybe from the outside, at least for myself, it looked like a boring race," Vettel explained. "But I enjoy it so much when it’s between you and the car every single lap, and of course I had some pressure from behind at various times because the strategy was a little bit different from Mark and from Fernando.
"Sometimes they were pitting earlier, sometimes later and even though I had a gap before the stop I came out of the garage and they were quite close again. I was pushing hard but judging the tyres, trying to imagine what the end of the stint could be like, trying to foresee the strategy.
"For some reason I enjoy this track, last year I had a very sooth weekend and again this year from beginning to the end. The team has done a phenomenal job preparing the car, even though we come here every year and we say ‘this might be tricky’ because this track maybe isn’t 100 percent made for us, with no real fast corners.
"But still, we managed to put everything together and it was faultless this weekend so I’m very happy with the result."
Webber: My fault I lost second place
Mark Webber was blaming nobody but himself after losing second place to Fernando Alonso in Sunday's European Grand Prix. Having been passed by the Ferrari on Lap 21, the Australian was able to move ahead at the second round of pit-stops. However, Webber then fell back to the final podium spot as the third and final stops took place.
“I think we should have, but in the end we didn’t,” the Red Bull driver said in the post-race press conference when asked if he could have finished second today.
“It was a good race with Fernando and was probably my best race of the year, to be honest. We tried to go as fast as possible and manage the tyres.
“It was my fault, basically – I was worried about Fernando coming underneath me around the stops and it was not known how the Medium tyres would perform. I lost out and it was my fault to miss second today, as Fernando stayed out longer.
“At the end the gearbox was playing up, but we had a massive gap back to the McLarens so we were able to coast to the end.”
The British Grand Prix, Round 9 of 2011, will be staged at Silverstone in a fortnight’s time
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Michael Schumacher believes he could have added to his championship points tally if it wasn’t for an incident with Renault’s Vitaly Petrov in Valencia on Sunday. The Mercedes GP driver damaged his front wing after making contact with the Russian on Lap 15, forcing another visit to the pit lane en route to 17th place at the chequered flag.
"Not a very satisfying race for me today," the seven-time Champion began. "The outcome was decided after Lap 15 when I slid into Petrov and lost the points I could perhaps have achieved.
"Our race pace should have allowed me to finish more or less where I started, but that is only speculation after the incident. I saw Petrov quite late, even though I was aware that he was coming, and tried to brake as late as possible and go round the corner with him.
"But when I wanted to draw back, I locked the front wheel and slipped into him, which was clearly my mistake. From then onwards, the race was done and I just had to drive the car over the finish line. We will now look ahead to Silverstone which is one of our home races."
Team-mate and compatriot Nico Rosberg, who claimed six points, added: "I'm happy with my seventh place today as that is the maximum that we could have achieved and we got everything out of the car. It was great to overtake Jenson (Button) at the start, and we made the right strategy choice to go for three stops.
"The introduction of DRS was a positive for the race here in Valencia, and we saw some nice overtaking moves. Now we need to keep pushing for our two home races to close the gap to the fastest teams. I'm sure the whole team will work very hard before Silverstone, and I look forward to racing in front of so many people from the team and their families."
Petrov: Luckily, I saw Schumacher coming
Vitaly Petrov was pleased to have spotted Michael Schumacher in his wing mirrors during Sunday’s European Grand Prix in Valencia, with the Mercedes having exiting the pits and lightly tagged the back of his Renault. As the Russian - who was not affected by the incident – went on to claim 15th place, team-mate Nick Heidfeld picked up the final point in tenth.
“The incident with Schumacher did not cause a puncture,” Petrov explained after the race. “He seemed to exit the pits very quickly and did not seem to be able to stop his car coming into the first corner. Luckily, I saw him in my mirror but there was still some contact. We need to sit down now and carefully analyse where and why we are losing pace so we can have a better race at Silverstone.”
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Thanx for that update.
That tire is a hoot. I’m certain that’s driving around on the marbles after the race was over. As far as I understand they do that deliberately so as to ensure the car is above minimum weight specs (by picking up all the detritus they can on their tires).
Translation: Cold tires poor grip as Schumacher came out of the pit
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I'm not thrilled when it's broadcast on the local FOX affiliate twice a year
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How much weight do you think they're picking up on all 4 times by doing that? A kilo? That's how tight those cars are; they want to make sure they're legal weight after the race.
F1 cars are made of carbon fiber and other ultra-lightweight materials so every bit of weight is significant.
I think ??? the minimum start weight is 620 kg (1,367 lb) including the driver & fluids - I seem to remember Shell was working on light weight fuels for Ferrari
At the end of a race when the fuel is low, the tires are worn, the brake pads and discs have worn down and the driver has lost weight through loss of fluids, the overall package must still weigh at least 600kgs ???
They engineer their weights to such a degree that once a race is over every little bit of weight counts.
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