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The German Grand Prix 2011 was the 10th round of the 2011 F1 season, and took place at the Nürburgring in Nürburg, Germany, on July 24th.
Lewis Hamilton won the race after starting in the 2nd position, followed by Fernando Alonso, and Mark Webber, who originally had the pole position, completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 50 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 14-17: 8 stops
- Laps 20-24: 10 stops
- Laps 35-37: 4 stops
- Laps 48-51: 9 stops
The fastest pit stop was Michael Schumacher's, stopping the clock at 19.930 seconds during his pit stop on lap 56, while the slowest one was was Karun Chandhok's, who stopped the clock at 31.879 seconds, 11.949 seconds slower than Schumacher, 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 3 stops.
The race winner, Lewis Hamilton, was on a 3 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
2Vitantonio Liuzzi
-
15Jenson Button
2 stops
-
4Sergio Pérez
-
9Sébastien Buemi
-
1Pastor Maldonado
-
8Kamui Kobayashi
-
3Daniel Ricciardo
-
2Adrian Sutil
-
2Timo Glock
-
1Vitaly Petrov
-
4Jaime Alguersuari
-
1Paul di Resta
-
3Jérôme d'Ambrosio
-
2Heikki Kovalainen
3 stops
-
-Karun Chandhok
-
2Mark Webber
-
1Nico Rosberg
-
2Michael Schumacher
-
1Lewis Hamilton
-
2Fernando Alonso
-
1Sebastian Vettel
-
-Felipe Massa
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy gained 2.83 positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 0.13 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 Lewis Hamilton 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 Nürburgring, 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, Vitantonio Liuzzi, who suffered from electrical problems on lap 37, Jenson Button, who experienced an hydraulic malfunction on lap 35, Rubens Barrichello, who had an oil leak on lap 16, and Nick Heidfeld, who retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars on lap 9.
Electrical
-
Vitantonio LiuzziLap 37
Hydraulics
-
Jenson ButtonLap 35
Oil leak
-
Rubens BarrichelloLap 16
Collision
-
Nick HeidfeldLap 9
Qualifying
Mark Webber managed to get the pole position by 0.055 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:30.079. 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 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 7 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.