2011 Belgian Grand Prix

 2011 Belgian Grand Prix

Racing data
12th of 19 races in the 2011 Formula 1 World Championship
Surname:	LXVII Belgian Grand Prix
Date:	August 28, 2011
Place:	spa
Course:	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Length:	308.052 km in 44 laps of 7.004 km
Pole position
Driver:	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault
Time:	1: 48.298 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault
Time:	1: 49.883 min (lap 33)
Podium
First:	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault
Second:	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault
Third:	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes

The 2011 Belgian Grand Prix took place on August 28th at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Spa and was the twelfth race of the 2011 Formula 1 World Championship .

Reports

background

After the German Grand Prix , Sebastian Vettel led the drivers' standings with 85 points ahead of Mark Webber and 88 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton . Red Bull-Renault led the constructors' championship with 103 points ahead of McLaren-Mercedes and 168 points ahead of Ferrari .

At the Belgian Grand Prix, Pirelli provided the drivers with medium (white) and soft (yellow) tire compounds , as well as intermediates (light blue) and full wets (orange) for wet conditions .

In the run-up to 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 driver in Formula 1 and took over the Renault cockpit from Nick Heidfeld .

With Michael Schumacher (six times), Felipe Massa and Hamilton (once each) three former winners competed for this Grand Prix.

Schumacher celebrated his 20th Formula 1 anniversary at this race. He started his first Grand Prix at the Belgian Grand Prix on August 25, 1991.

training

In the first free practice session, 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 the 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 from Heikki Kovalainen . The second free practice was again characterized by changing conditions. First, the track dried out, so that all the drivers drove on slicks for a while. Webber was the fastest driver under these conditions, ahead of Fernando Alonso and Button. About 30 minutes before the end of the training it started to rain again, so that the times could no longer be improved. This training took over Nico Hülkenberg the Force India of Adrian Sutil . In the third free practice session, which took place in the rain, Webber was again the fastest pilot. Hamilton and Jaime Alguersuari followed in second and third place .

Qualifying

Adrian Sutil's demolished VJM04

Qualifying took place under changing weather conditions. In the first part of qualifying, the track dried up, but shortly before the end it started to rain again. Button set the fastest time under these conditions. Schumacher was eliminated before setting a time and failed to qualify. The HRT pilots and Jérôme D'Ambrosio also failed because of the 107 percent rule . Since they had driven a sufficient amount of time in training, all four pilots were subsequently given permission to take off. In addition, Timo Glock , Jarno Trulli and Paul di Resta did not make it into the next segment. The second section was interrupted by Sutil after an accident. Alonso posted the fastest time. In addition to Sutil, the Williams pilots as well as Kovalainen, Button, Kamui Kobayashi and Sébastien Buemi were eliminated. In the third section the drivers used slicks and Vettel took 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 straight ahead of Eau Rouge. While Hamilton received a warning, Maldonado was moved five positions back.

run

After all other units took place under changing weather conditions, the race remained dry throughout. In the run-up to the race, several teams, including Red Bull, asked the FIA to get new tires for the race because their tires were blistered after qualifying. However, the FIA ​​refused to replace the tires.

At the start, Vettel initially retained the lead. Rosberg, who started from fifth place, took second place. On the Kemmel Straight, Rosberg finally managed to take over the lead from Vettel. Rosberg's team-mate Schumacher also got off to a good start in the Grand Prix and improved by nine positions. Webber did not have a good start to the race, falling from 3rd to 15th. There was already a collision in the first corner. Senna, who started the race from seventh place, missed the braking point in La Source and drove into the car in Alguersuari, who had started from sixth. While Senna made it back to the pits and continued the race after a repair, Alguersuari parked his car with a broken suspension.

At the top, Vettel managed to overtake Rosberg on the third lap. Behind Rosberg were the Ferrari drivers Massa and Alonso, who had previously passed Hamilton. At the end of the third lap, the first regular pit stops with Webber and Button took place. While Vettel pulled away from Rosberg in the following laps, Massa and Alonso dueled for third place. Alonso finally managed to overtake Massa on the exit of the Rivage. Hamilton, who was behind the two drivers, took advantage of the duel between the two Ferrari drivers and also passed Massa.

Vettel finally pitted on the fifth lap, whereby Rosberg took the lead again. After another round, however, he had to admit defeat to Alonso. Alonso also pitted a little later, which meant that Hamilton took the lead. Alonso was overtaken by Webber after his pit stop shortly before the Eau Rouge . One lap later, he made up for his position with an overtaking maneuver. In contrast to Alonso, who continued to ride on soft tires, Webber opted for the medium compound during his early stop. Meanwhile, there was a duel between Buemi and Sergio Pérez . After Buemi initially defended an attempt to overtake Pérez at Les Combes , the two touched at this point on the next lap. Buemi's rear wing was so badly damaged that he had to give up at the pits. Pérez drove on and was given a drive-through penalty.

After Hamilton pitted on lap ten, Vettel took over the lead of the race. Hamilton then put pressure on Kobayashi, who had not yet been to the pits. At the exit of the raidillon , Hamilton finally passed Kobayashi. Since he was still behind Kobayashi at the DRS measuring point, he was allowed to flatten his rear wing in the DRS zone, which was on the Kemmel Straight at this Grand Prix, in contrast to Kobayashi. However, he was unable to implement this advantage and Kobayashi managed to stay close behind Hamilton on the straight. When turning into the bend, the two pilots finally collided with each other. While Kobayashi drove on, Hamilton hit the wall and stopped in the run-off zone. Since Hamilton was initially unable to leave his car on his own, the safety car was sent out onto the track. A little later, however, he got out on his own. Hamilton was subsequently criticized by several former racing drivers such as Marc Surer . Surer said: “Sorry, but he didn't hit him in the back, Lewis pulled over. Unfortunately, it was Lewis' mistake. He misjudged it in the rearview mirror, believed he was ahead - but it wasn't. "

Vettel used the safety car phase for his second pit stop and thereby fell behind Alonso and Webber, who did not pit. Before the restart, Daniel Ricciardo gave up the race because he felt vibrations in the rear area. At the restart, Vettel initially passed Webber and took over the lead from Alonso one lap later. While the first three positions initially remained unchanged, Button, who had meanwhile dropped to 19th place, made up positions. At first he suddenly overtook Vitali Petrow and Pérez, then he passed Schumacher, Sutil, Massa and Rosberg and took fourth place within a few laps.

Before the next pit stops came, Pérez retired due to a defect. While Vettel and Alonso switched to medium tires at the final stops and Webber stayed on medium tires, Button, who had already used medium tires, switched to soft tires. In the following laps Alonso was no longer able to set competitive times for the top positions on the harder tire compound and he was overtaken by Webber and Button one after the other. The first four places didn't change afterwards either and Vettel won another Grand Prix after three races without a win.

In fifth position, there was finally an internal team change for the Mercedes drivers, as Schumacher drove past Rosberg. While Rosberg was on the harder tire compound and had to save fuel, Schumacher had soft tires. Sutil finished in seventh place. Massa, who made an additional stop because of a puncture, improved to eighth place shortly before the finish line, as he benefited from a mistake by Petrov. Petrov eventually finished ninth ahead of Maldonado, who scored his first world championship point.

In the world championship, both Vettel and Red Bull-Renault increased their lead.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Red Bull Racing	01	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull RB7	Renault 2.4 V8	P
	02	Mark Webber
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	03	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren MP4-26	Mercedes-Benz 2.4 V8	P
	04th	Jenson Button
Scuderia Ferrari	05	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari 150 ° Italia	Ferrari 2.4 V8	P
	06th	Felipe Massa
Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team	07th	Michael sSchumacher	Mercedes MGP W02	Mercedes-Benz 2.4 V8	P
	08th	Nico Rosberg
Lotus Renault GP	09	Bruno Senna	Renault R31	Renault 2.4 V8	P
	10	Vitaly Petrov
AT&T Williams	11	Rubens Barrichello	Williams FW33	Cosworth 2.4 V8	P
	12	Pastor Maldonado
Force India F1 Team	14th	Adrian Sutil	Force India VJM04	Mercedes-Benz 2.4 V8	P
		Nico Hulkenberg
	15th	Paul di Resta
Sauber F1 Team	16	Kamui Kobayashi	Clean C30	Ferrari 2.4 V8	P
	17th	Sergio Perez
Scuderia Toro Rosso	18th	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso STR6	Ferrari 2.4 V8	P
	19th	Jaime Alguersuari
Team Lotus	20th	Karun Chandhok	Lotus T128	Renault 2.4 V8	P
		Heikki Kovalainen
	21st	Jarno Trulli
HRT F1 team	22nd	Daniel Ricciardo	HRT F111	Cosworth 2.4 V8	P
	23	Vitantonio Liuzzi
Marussia Virgin Racing	24	Timo Glock	Virgin MVR-02	Cosworth 2.4 V8	P
	25th	Jérôme D'Ambrosio

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b} Hulkenberg took over the Force India with the number 14 for the second free practice. Sutil drove the vehicle for the remainder of the race weekend.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Chandhok drove the Lotus with the number 20 in the first free practice. Kovalainen then took over the vehicle for the rest of the race weekend.

Classifications

Qualifying

Item	driver	constructor	Q1	Q2	Q3	begin
01	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	2: 03.029	2: 03.317	1: 48.298	01
02	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	2: 03.008	2: 02.823	1: 48.730	02
03	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	2: 02.827	2: 03,302	1: 49.376	03
04th	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	2: 05.834	2: 04.507	1: 50.256	04th
05	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	2: 05.091	2: 03.723	1: 50.552	05
06th	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	2: 05.419	2: 04.561	1: 50.773	06th
07th	Bruno Senna	Renault	2: 05.047	2: 04.452	1: 51.121	07th
08th	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	2: 04.450	2: 02.768	1: 51.251	08th
09	Sergio Perez	Clean Ferrari	2: 06.284	2: 04.625	1: 51.374	09
10	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	2: 05.292	2: 03.466	1: 52.303	10
11	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	2: 04.744	2: 04.692	-	11
12	Kamui Kobayashi	Clean Ferrari	2: 07.194	2: 04.757	-	12
13	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	2: 01.813	2: 05.150	-	13
14th	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	2: 05.720	2: 07.349	-	14th
15th	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	2: 06,000	2: 07.777	-	15th
16	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Cosworth	2: 05.621	2: 08.106	-	21st
17th	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus Renault	2: 06.780	2: 08.354	-	16
18th	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	2: 07.758	-	-	17th
19th	Jarno Trulli	Lotus Renault	2: 08.773	-	-	18th
20th	Timo Glock	Virgin Cosworth	2: 09.566	-	-	19th
107 percent time : 2: 10.339 min (based on Q1 best time of 2: 01.813 min)
DNQ	Jérôme D'Ambrosio	Virgin Cosworth	2: 11.601	-	-	20th
DNQ	Vitantonio Liuzzi	HRT-Cosworth	2: 11.616	-	-	22nd
DNQ	Daniel Ricciardo	HRT-Cosworth	2: 13.077	-	-	23
DNQ	Michael sSchumacher	Mercedes	no time	-	-	24

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r} racing cars with KERS
2. ↑ Maldonado was relocated five positions back for causing a collision.

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap
01	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	44	3	1: 26: 44.893	01	1: 50,451 (36th)
02	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	44	2	+ 3.741	03	1: 49.883 (33.)
03	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	44	3	+ 9.669	13	1: 50.062 (39.)
04th	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	44	2	+ 13.022	08th	1: 51.107 (41st)
05	Michael sSchumacher	Mercedes	44	3	+ 47.464	24	1: 51.137 (34.)
06th	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	44	2	+ 48.674	05	1: 52.263 (39.)
07th	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	44	2	+ 59.713	15th	1: 52.591 (33.)
08th	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	44	3	+1: 06.079	04th	1: 51.564 (42nd)
09	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	44	2	+1: 11.917	10	1: 52.432 (34th)
10	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Cosworth	44	2	+1: 17.615	21st	1: 53,362 (43rd)
11	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	44	2	+1: 23.994	17th	1: 53.223 (32nd)
12	Kamui Kobayashi	Clean Ferrari	44	2	+1: 31.976	12	1: 53.871 (35.)
13	Bruno Senna	Renault	44	3	+1: 32.985	07th	1: 53,585 (39.)
14th	Jarno Trulli	Lotus Renault	43	2	+ 1 lap	18th	1: 54,571 (38th)
15th	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus Renault	43	3	+ 1 lap	16	1: 54.051 (35th)
16	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	43	3	+ 1 lap	14th	1: 50.424 (42nd)
17th	Jérôme D'Ambrosio	Virgin Cosworth	43	2	+ 1 lap	20th	1: 56.319 (38th)
18th	Timo Glock	Virgin Cosworth	43	4th	+ 1 lap	19th	1: 56,540 (37th)
19th	Vitantonio Liuzzi	HRT-Cosworth	43	2	+ 1 lap	22nd	1: 58.061 (42nd)
-	Sergio Perez	Clean Ferrari	27	3	DNF	09	1: 54.244 (26.)
-	Daniel Ricciardo	HRT-Cosworth	13	1	DNF	23	1: 59.831 (10.)
-	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	12	1	DNF	02	1: 55.647 ( 08th)
-	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	06th	0	DNF	11	1: 56.790 ( 04th)
-	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	00	0	DNF	06th	-

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r} racing cars with KERS

World Cup stands after the race

The first ten of the race got 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 point (s) respectively.

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 259 02  Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 167 03  Fernando Alonso Ferrari 157 04th  Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 149 05  Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 146 06th  Felipe Massa Ferrari 74 07th  Nico Rosberg Mercedes 56 08th  Michael sSchumacher Mercedes 42 09  Vitaly Petrov Renault 34 10  Nick Heidfeld Renault 34 11  Kamui Kobayashi Clean Ferrari 27 12  Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 24 13  Sébastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 12 14th  Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 10

Item driver constructor Points 15th  Sergio Perez Clean Ferrari 8th 16  Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 8th 17th  Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 4th 18th  Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1 19th  Pedro de la Rosa Clean Ferrari 0 20th  Jarno Trulli Lotus Renault 0 21st  Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 0 22nd  Bruno Senna Renault 0 23  Jérôme D'Ambrosio Virgin Cosworth 0 24  Heikki Kovalainen Lotus Renault 0 25th  Timo Glock Virgin Cosworth 0 26th  Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 0 27  Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 0 28  Karun Chandhok Lotus Renault 0

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Red Bull-Renault 426 02  McLaren-Mercedes 295 03  Ferrari 231 04th  Mercedes 98 05  Renault 68 06th  Clean Ferrari 35

Item constructor Points 07th  Force India-Mercedes 32 08th  Toro Rosso-Ferrari 22nd 09  Williams-Cosworth 5 10  Lotus Renault 0 11  HRT-Cosworth 0 12  Virgin Cosworth 0

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Pirelli nominates future mixtures" (Motorsport-Total.com on August 3, 2011)
2. ^ "FIA declares Eau Rouge a DRS exclusion zone" (Motorsport-Total.com on August 22, 2011)
3. ↑ "Blast: Senna replaces Heidfeld in Spa!" (Motorsport-Total.com on August 24, 2011)
4. ↑ "Jordan: Schumacher shouldn't miss the jump" (Motorsport-Total.com on August 24, 2011)
5. ↑ "Anniversary Schumacher: Best time in first free practice" (Motorsport-Total.com on August 26, 2011)
6. ^ "GP Belgium in Spa-Francorchamps / 1st free practice" (Motorsport-Total.com on August 26, 2011)
7. ^ "GP Belgium in Spa-Francorchamps / 2nd free practice" (Motorsport-Total.com on August 26, 2011)
8. ^ "GP Belgium in Spa-Francorchamps / 3rd free practice" (Motorsport-Total.com on August 27, 2011)
9. ↑ "Spa-Francorchamps: All 24 cars at the start" (Motorsport-Total.com on August 27, 2011)
10. ↑ "Only warned:" Black eye "for Hamilton" (Motorsport-Total.com on August 27, 2011)
11. ^ "Despite the formation of bubbles: No new tires for Vettel & Co." (Motorsport-Total.com on August 28, 2011)
12. ^ "Formula 1 - The mysterious Buemi-Perez-Crash" (Motorsport-Magazin.com on August 30, 2011)
13. ↑ "Red Bull dominant: Vettel wins ahead of Webber" (Motorsport-Total.com on August 28, 2011)
14. ↑ "HRT: A weekend for a thick skin" (Motorsport-Total.com on August 28, 2011)
15. ^ "Bad luck with Sauber" (Motorsport-Total.com on August 28, 2011)
16. ↑ "Mercedes: Great anniversary race for Schumacher" (Motorsport-Total.com on August 28, 2011)
17. ↑ "Ferrari without a chance: The Achilles heel hurts" (Motorsport-Total.com on August 28, 2011)

Web links

Commons : Belgian Grand Prix 2011  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Weekend statistics at Motorsport-Total.com