2011 Brazilian Grand Prix

Report

Background

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"; Vergne ultimately replaced Buemi. 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. 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. 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. The detection point was located in the middle of the second corner, with the activation point 70 m beyond the exit of Curva do Sol, creating a DRS zone of 600 m. 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]".

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.

Qualifying

Vettel took pole position, his fifteenth of the season, breaking Nigel Mansell's record from , 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

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.

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

Post-race

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

Qualifying

Race

Final championship standings

;Drivers' Championship standings

;Constructors' Championship standings

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
• Bold text indicates the 2011 World Champions.

References

References

1. (27 November 2011). "FORMULA 1 GRANDE PRÊMIO PETROBRAS DO BRASIL 2011 (Race)". [[Formula One Group]].
2. Beer, Matt. (12 October 2011). "Toro Rosso to run Jean-Eric Vergne in Friday practice at three Grands Prix". [[Haymarket Group.
3. (25 November 2011). "Webber fastest for Red Bull at Interlagos". [[Formula One Group.
4. Elizalde, Pablo. (24 November 2011). "Jan Charouz to drive for HRT during first practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix". [[Haymarket Group.
5. Elizalde, Pablo. (23 November 2011). "Single DRS zone for the Brazilian Grand Prix". [[Haymarket Group.
6. (21 November 2011). "Team to race new soft compound from Pirelli in Brazilian Grand Prix". [[Haymarket Group.
7. (3 November 2010). "World Motor Sport Council: 03/11/2010". [[Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile]].
8. "FORMULA 1 GRANDE PRÊMIO PETROBRAS DO BRASIL 2011 – Qualifying Results". formula1.com.
9. "FORMULA 1 GRANDE PRÊMIO PETROBRAS DO BRASIL 2011 – Race Results". formula1.com.
10. "Brazil 2011 – Championship • STATS F1".