The Belgian Grand Prix 2011 was the 12th round of the 2011 F1 season, and took place at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Spa, Belgium, on August 28th.
Sebastian Vettel won the race from the pole, followed by Mark Webber, and Jenson Button completing the podium with an expectacular comeback, all the way from the 13th position of the grid.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 52 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 3-6: 6 stops
- Laps 8-14: 20 stops
- Laps 29-33: 16 stops
The fastest pit stop was Timo Glock's, stopping the clock at 13.914 seconds during his pit stop on lap 6, while the slowest one was was Rubens Barrichello's, who stopped the clock at 47.753 seconds, 33.839 seconds slower than Glock, during his pit stop on lap 40.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
The race was not obvious in terms of pit stop strategy, with different teams and different drivers choosing to make anywhere from 1 to 4 stops.
The race winner, Sebastian Vettel, was on a 3 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
20Lewis Hamilton
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2Daniel Ricciardo
2 stops
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1Mark Webber
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4Fernando Alonso
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1Nico Rosberg
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3Vitantonio Liuzzi
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1Vitaly Petrov
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11Pastor Maldonado
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8Adrian Sutil
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4Jarno Trulli
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3Jérôme d'Ambrosio
-
-Kamui Kobayashi
-
6Paul di Resta
3 stops
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6Bruno Senna
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1Heikki Kovalainen
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10Jenson Button
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19Michael Schumacher
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-Sebastian Vettel
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11Sergio Pérez
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4Felipe Massa
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2Rubens Barrichello
4 stops
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1Timo Glock
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy gained 3.64 positions on average, the ones on a 3 stops strategy gained 2.57 positions on average, while those on a 4 stops strategy lost an average of 1 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 2 stops strategy was the best option, even if Sebastian Vettel managed to win the race making 3 stops.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There were some incidents during the race, with 5 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Sergio Pérez, who suffered a suspension problem on lap 27, Daniel Ricciardo, who suffered an engine malfunction on lap 13, Lewis Hamilton, and Jaime Alguersuari, both retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars, and Sébastien Buemi, who took damage to the rear wing of the car on lap 6.
Suspension
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Sergio PérezLap 27
Engine
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Daniel RicciardoLap 13
Collision
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Lewis HamiltonLap 12
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Jaime AlguersuariLap 0
Rear wing
-
Sébastien BuemiLap 6
Qualifying
Sebastian Vettel managed to get the pole position by 0.432 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:48.298. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Lewis Hamilton.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and 10 out of the 17 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that all of the drivers that took place in Q3 managed to improve their times in this last session.