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25px UAE  2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Race details
Race 18 of 19 in the 2011 Formula One season
Circuit Yas-Island.svg
Date 13 November 2011
Official name 2011 Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Location Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Course Yas Marina Circuit
5.554 km (3.451 mi)
Distance 55 laps, 305.470 km (189.805 mi)
Weather Fine and Dry

Air Temp 25°C (77°F)[1]

Pole position
Driver 25px Germany Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault
Time 1:38.481
Fastest lap
Driver 25px Australia Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault
Time 1:42.612 on lap 51
Podium
First 25px Great Britain Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
Second 25px Spain Fernando Alonso Ferrari
Third 25px Great Britain Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes

The 2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (formally the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix) was the eighteenth and penultimate round of the 2011 Formula One season. It was held on 13 November 2011 at the Yas Marina Circuit on Yas Island, a man-made island on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.[2] It was the third running of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. As is customary with the race, it was the only twilight Grand Prix of the 2011 Formula One season, with a start time of 17:00 local time.

The race was won by McLaren's Lewis Hamilton. Second was Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, with Jenson Button coming third in the other McLaren.

Sebastian Vettel, having won both of the previous iterations of the race for Red Bull-Renault, had been in pole position, but retired after a puncture in the first lap, near the second corner, which was his first retirement since the 2010 Korean Grand Prix, where he encountered a problem with his engine. As a result, this prevented him from equalling Michael Schumacher's record of 13 wins in one season, but Vettel did equal Nigel Mansell's 1992 record of 14 pole positions in one season. This was also the only race of 2011 in which neither Red Bull finished on the podium, as Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber finished fourth.

Report[]

Background[]

Vitantonio Liuzzi returned to Hispania for the race, having been replaced by Narain Karthikeyan for the Indian Grand Prix to make way for him to drive in front of his home crowd.[3]

Williams driver Pastor Maldonado took a ten-place grid penalty for exceeding his engine quota for the season.[4] Drivers are entitled to use up to eight engines over the course of the season without penalty, but Maldonado's eighth and final engine was damaged beyond repair when he retired from the 2011 Indian Grand Prix.

In the week before the race, it was announced that the teams would trial several new compounds of tyre rubber in Friday practice, to offer tyre supplier Pirelli more feedback on their planned 2012 tyre compounds.[5] Tyre supplier Pirelli brought its white-banded medium compound tyre as the harder "prime" tyre and the yellow-banded soft compound as the softer "option" compound, as opposed to the previous year where Bridgestone brought the red-banded super-soft compound as the option.[6]

Formula Renault 3.5 Series champion Robert Wickens and runner-up Jean-Éric Vergne drove during free practice; Vergne drove for Toro Rosso,[7] while Wickens drove for Virgin in place of Jérôme d'Ambrosio.[8] GP2 Series champion Romain Grosjean also drove during free practice, for Renault.[9]

The circuit included two DRS zones, each with their own independent detection points.[10] The first detection point was located just before the Turn 7 hairpin, with its corresponding activation point positioned halfway down the long back straight; the second detection point was set after the exit of Turn 9, with its activation point adjacent to the secondary pit lane at Turn 10.[11]

The drivers' representative on the stewards panel for the Grand Prix weekend was Derek Warwick.

Free practice[]

The first practice session saw Jenson Button set the fastest lap time, one tenth of a second ahead of Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton had set the early pace, using Pirelli's experimental development tyres, but Webber and Sebastian Vettel surpassed him, and Button set his fastest lap time as the session drew to a close. Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa experienced several off-track excusions between them. Romain Grosjean set a faster lap time than team-mate Vitaly Petrov, though Petrov was forced to abandon his car during his final run with engine troubles. Rubens Barrichello was also forced out with technical problems, failing to set a lap time.

The second session was known for two separate incidents at Turn 1; Vettel spun and became stuck in the outside barrier early in the session, while Alonso crashed at the same place. Hamilton went on to set the fastest time, two-tenths faster than Button's fastest time in the first session.

Qualifying[]

Qualifying began with dusk approaching in Abu Dhabi, with Vettel looking to equal Nigel Mansell's record of 14 poles in a season. In the first session Rubens Barrichello had an oil leak, therefore unable to set a lap time, but was allowed to race. He joined the Lotuses, HRTs and Virgins in failing to make it to the second part of qualifying. In the second qualifying session, which took place as the sun went down, there was a red flag mid way, due to a loose bollard, which Massa drove over but escaped without damage. When the bollard was removed the session resumed. Sauber, Renault, Toro Rosso, and the remaining Williams car of Pastor Maldonado were all knocked out. Pastor Maldonado had been given a 10 place grid penalty for a ninth engine, so started in 23rd, just in front of his team-mate on the back row of the grid. Hamilton led most of the final qualifying session, only to be beaten to pole position by Vettel, on Vettel's last lap. The order then followed with Button in 3rd, Webber 4th, then Alonso, Massa, Rosberg, Schumacher, Sutil, and di Resta, having not set a time in order to save tyres for the race.

Race[]

Vettel led into the first corner, but an unexplained puncture on his left rear tyre caused him to spin off the track at Turn 2 and suffer his first retirement of the season. Hamilton led the race afterwards, and won the race mostly untroubled. Alonso finished second after he overtook Button on lap 1, Button eventually finished third. Webber dropped to behind Alonso at the start, but remained fourth after Vettel's retirement. He battled with Button throughout the race, but to no avail, eventually finishing fourth. He was followed by Felipe Massa, the two Mercedes, the two Force Indias, and the two Saubers - with Kobayashi taking the final point and Pérez missing out in eleventh. Jérôme d'Ambrosio, Sébastien Buemi and Daniel Ricciardo were the other retirements of the race.

Classification[]

Qualifying[]

Pos No Driver Constructor Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Grid
1 1 25px Germany Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:40.478 1:38.516 1:38.481 1
2 3 25px Great Britain Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:39.782 1:38.434 1:38.622 2
3 4 25px Great Britain Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:40.227 1:39.097 1:38.631 3
4 2 25px Australia Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:40.167 1:38.821 1:38.858 4
5 5 25px Spain Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:41.380 1:39.058 1:39.058 5
6 6 25px Brazil Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:41.592 1:39.623 1:39.695 6
7 8 25px Germany Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:41.120 1:39.420 1:39.773 7
8 7 25px Germany Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:42.605 1:40.554 1:40.662 8
9 14 25px Germany Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:40.595 1:40.205 1:40.768 9
10 15 25px Great Britain Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:41.064 1:40.414 no time 10
11 17 25px Mexico Sergio Pérez Sauber-Ferrari 1:41.311 1:40.874 11
12 10 25px The flag of the Russian Federation Vitaly Petrov Renault 1:40.955 1:40.919 12
13 18 25px Switzerland Sébastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:41.737 1:41.009 13
14 9 25px Brazil Bruno Senna Renault 1:41.391 1:41.079 14
15 19 25px Spain Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:41.386 1:41.162 15
16 16 25px Japan Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:41.613 1:41.240 16
17 12 25px The flag of Venezuela Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1:42.258 1:41.760 23 1
18 20 25px Finland Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1:42.979 17
19 21 25px Italy Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1:43.884 18
20 24 25px Germany Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:44.515 19
21 22 25px Australia Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 1:44.641 20
22 25 25px Belgium Jérôme d'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1:44.699 21
23 23 25px Italy Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1:45.159 22
107% time: 1:46.766
24 11 25px Brazil Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth no time 24 2
Notes
  1. – Pastor Maldonado was given a ten-place grid penalty for using his ninth engine of the season, exceeding the limit of eight engines.[4]
  2. – Rubens Barrichello failed to set a lap time after his team discovered an oil leak following an engine change. As he had set practice times within 107% of the fastest driver's time, he was given permission to start the race.[12]

Race[]

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 3 25px Great Britain Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 55 1:37:11.886 2 25
2 5 25px Spain Fernando Alonso Ferrari 55 +8.457 5 18
3 4 25px Great Britain Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 55 +25.871 3 15
4 2 25px Australia Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 55 +35.784 4 12
5 6 25px Brazil Felipe Massa Ferrari 55 +50.578 6 10
6 8 25px Germany Nico Rosberg Mercedes 55 +52.317 7 8
7 7 25px Germany Michael Schumacher Mercedes 55 +1:15.964 8 6
8 14 25px Germany Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 55 +1:17.122 9 4
9 15 25px Great Britain Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 55 +1:41.087 10 2
10 16 25px Japan Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 54 +1 Lap 16 1
11 17 25px Mexico Sergio Pérez Sauber-Ferrari 54 +1 Lap 11
12 11 25px Brazil Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 54 +1 Lap 24
13 10 25px The flag of the Russian Federation Vitaly Petrov Renault 54 +1 Lap 12
14 12 25px The flag of Venezuela Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 54 +1 Lap 3 23
15 19 25px Spain Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 54 +1 Lap 3 15
16 9 25px Brazil Bruno Senna Renault 54 +1 Lap 14
17 20 25px Finland Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 54 +1 Lap 17
18 21 25px Italy Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 53 +2 Laps 18
19 24 25px Germany Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 53 +2 Laps 19
20 23 25px Italy Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 53 +2 Laps 22
Ret 22 25px Australia Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 47 Alternator 20
Ret 18 25px Switzerland Sébastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 18 Hydraulics 13
Ret 25 25px Belgium Jérôme d'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 17 Brakes 21
Ret 1 25px Germany Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1 Puncture 1
Notes
3 – Pastor Maldonado (30 seconds) and Jaime Alguersuari (20 seconds) were given time penalties for ignoring blue flags, but did not alter their respective finishing positions.[13]

Standings after the race[]

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos. Driver Points
Nuvola single chevron right.svg 1 25px Germany Sebastian Vettel 374
Nuvola single chevron right.svg 2 25px Great Britain Jenson Button 255
Nuvola single chevron right.svg 3 25px Spain Fernando Alonso 245
Nuvola single chevron right.svg 4 25px Australia Mark Webber 233
Nuvola single chevron right.svg 5 25px Great Britain Lewis Hamilton 227
Constructors' Championship standings
Pos. Constructor Points
Nuvola single chevron right.svg 1 25px Austria Red Bull-Renault 607
Nuvola single chevron right.svg 2 25px Great Britain McLaren-Mercedes 482
Nuvola single chevron right.svg 3 25px Italy Ferrari 353
Nuvola single chevron right.svg 4 25px Germany Mercedes 159
Nuvola single chevron right.svg 5 25px Great Britain Renault 72
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References[]

  1. "2011 FORMULA 1 ETIHAD AIRWAYS ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX (Race)". Formula1.com (Formula One Group). 13 November 2011. http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2011/847/6927/live_timing_popup.html. Retrieved 31 March 2012. 
  2. "World Motor Sport Council: 03/11/2010". fia.com (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile). 3 November 2010. http://www.fia.com/en-GB/mediacentre/pressreleases/wmsc/2010/Pages/wmsc_031110.aspx. Retrieved 27 October 2011. 
  3. Tremayne, Sam (22 October 2011). "Narain Karthikeyan says racing at home will be a surreal experience". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/95612. Retrieved 25 October 2011. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 Elizalde, Pablo (1 November 2011). "Maldonado to get grid penalty in Abu Dhabi for using ninth engine of the season". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/95833. Retrieved 1 November 2011. 
  5. Noble, Jonathan (7 November 2011). "Teams to try experimental soft tyre compound in Abu Dhabi". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/95997. Retrieved 7 November 2011. 
  6. "Pirelli announce tyre choices for remaining races". Formula1.com (Formula One Group). 7 October 2011. http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2011/10/12604.html. Retrieved 31 March 2012. 
  7. Beer, Matt (12 October 2011). "Toro Rosso to run Jean-Eric Vergne in Friday practice at three grands prix". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/95272. Retrieved 12 October 2011. 
  8. "Virgin to run Wickens in Abu Dhabi practice". Formula1.com (Formula One Administration). 7 November 2011. http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2011/11/12749.html. Retrieved 7 November 2011. 
  9. "Grosjean to drive Renault on remaining Fridays". gpupdate.net (GPUpdate). 29 October 2011. http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/270592/grosjean-to-drive-renault-on-remaining-fridays/. Retrieved 11 November 2011. 
  10. "2011 Abu Dhabi GP – Preview". fia.com (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile). 8 November 2011. http://www.fia.com/en-GB/mediacentre/pressreleases/f1releases/2011/Pages/f1-preview-abd.aspx. Retrieved 9 November 2011. 
  11. "Abu Dhabi preview – DRS to dial up electric Yas Marina". Formula1.com (Formula One Administration). 10 November 2011. http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2011/11/12764.html. Retrieved 12 November 2011. 
  12. Strang, Simon (12 November 2011). "Barrichello hit by engine problems as he completes worst qualifying of his career". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/96139. Retrieved 13 November 2011. 
  13. "Maldonado, Alguersuari hit with penalties". Yahoo! Eurosport (TF1 Group). 13 November 2011. http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/13112011/66/maldonado-alguersuari-hit-penalties.html. Retrieved 14 November 2011. 

External links[]



Previous race:
2011 Indian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
2011 season
Next race:
2011 Brazilian Grand Prix
Previous race:
2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Next race:
2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
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