The Brazilian Grand Prix 2011 was the 19th round of the 2011 F1 season, and took place at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo, Brazil, on November 27th.
Mark Webber won the race after starting in the 2nd position, followed by Sebastian Vettel, who originally had the pole position, and Jenson Button completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 58 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 12-22: 24 stops
- Laps 30-35: 8 stops
- Laps 38-45: 15 stops
- Laps 51-54: 4 stops
The fastest pit stop was Bruno Senna's, stopping the clock at 14.029 seconds during his pit stop on lap 18, while the slowest one was was Michael Schumacher's, who stopped the clock at 25.481 seconds, 11.452 seconds slower than Senna, during his pit stop on lap 10.
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, Mark Webber, was on a 3 stops strategy.
1 stop
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5Pastor Maldonado
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-Timo Glock
2 stops
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1Nico Rosberg
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3Paul di Resta
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2Sébastien Buemi
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4Sergio Pérez
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4Jérôme d'Ambrosio
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2Daniel Ricciardo
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2Felipe Massa
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7Kamui Kobayashi
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2Jaime Alguersuari
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-Vitantonio Liuzzi
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2Jarno Trulli
3 stops
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5Michael Schumacher
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5Vitaly Petrov
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2Adrian Sutil
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-Jenson Button
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1Fernando Alonso
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18Lewis Hamilton
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2Rubens Barrichello
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1Sebastian Vettel
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3Heikki Kovalainen
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1Mark Webber
4 stops
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8Bruno Senna
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy gained 2.7 positions on average, the ones on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 0.44 positions, while those on a 4 stops strategy lost an average of 8 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 Mark Webber 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 Autódromo José Carlos Pace, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 4 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Pastor Maldonado, and Timo Glock, all of whom had to retire, and Lewis Hamilton, who experienced issues with the gearbox on lap 46.
Retired
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Vitantonio LiuzziLap 61
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Pastor MaldonadoLap 26
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Timo GlockLap 21
Gearbox
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Lewis HamiltonLap 46
Qualifying
Sebastian Vettel managed to get the pole position by 0.181 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:11.918. Mark Webber was right behind him, helping Red Bull score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.
The second line fo the grid was dominated by McLaren, with Jenson Button in third position, and Lewis Hamilton in fourth.
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 16 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 6 out of the 9 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.