The British Grand Prix 2011 was the 9th round of the 2011 F1 season, and took place at the Silverstone Circuit in Silverstone, UK, on July 10th.
Fernando Alonso won the race after starting in the 3rd position, followed by Sebastian Vettel, and Mark Webber, who originally had the pole position, completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 54 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 9-13: 22 stops
- Laps 24-28: 13 stops
- Laps 30-32: 8 stops
- Laps 35-41: 9 stops
The fastest pit stop was Sebastian Vettel's, stopping the clock at 23.137 seconds during his pit stop on lap 36, while the slowest one was was Paul di Resta's, who stopped the clock at 45.291 seconds, 22.154 seconds slower than Vettel, during his pit stop on lap 24.
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 2 to 3 stops.
The race winner, Fernando Alonso, was on a 3 stops strategy.
2 stops
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8Nick Heidfeld
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14Kamui Kobayashi
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2Sébastien Buemi
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2Vitaly Petrov
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2Rubens Barrichello
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4Timo Glock
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5Vitantonio Liuzzi
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5Jérôme d'Ambrosio
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3Nico Rosberg
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5Sergio Pérez
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8Jaime Alguersuari
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5Daniel Ricciardo
3 stops
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4Michael Schumacher
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15Jenson Button
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-Adrian Sutil
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7Pastor Maldonado
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2Mark Webber
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2Fernando Alonso
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6Lewis Hamilton
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9Paul di Resta
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-Sebastian Vettel
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1Felipe Massa
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy gained 4.7 positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 0.78 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 Fernando Alonso 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 Silverstone Circuit, 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, Jenson Button, who had problems with a wheel nut on lap 39, Sébastien Buemi, who had to retire due to an accident on lap 25, Kamui Kobayashi, who suffered an engine malfunction on lap 23, Jarno Trulli, who had an oil leak on lap 10, and Heikki Kovalainen, who experienced issues with the gearbox on lap 2.
Wheel nut
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Jenson ButtonLap 39
Accident
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Sébastien BuemiLap 25
Engine
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Kamui KobayashiLap 23
Oil leak
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Jarno TrulliLap 10
Gearbox
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Heikki KovalainenLap 2
Qualifying
Mark Webber managed to get the pole position by 0.032 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:30.399. Sebastian Vettel 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 Ferrari, with Fernando Alonso in third position, and Felipe Massa 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 all of the drivers that took place in Q2 improved their times in this second session.
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.