The Hungarian Grand Prix 2011 was the 11th round of the 2011 F1 season, and took place at the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary, on July 31st.
Jenson Button won the race after starting in the 3rd position, followed by Sebastian Vettel, who originally had the pole position, and Fernando Alonso completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 88 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 10-13: 24 stops
- Laps 23-29: 22 stops
- Laps 39-44: 10 stops
- Laps 47-54: 23 stops
The fastest pit stop was Lewis Hamilton's, stopping the clock at 13.173 seconds during his pit stop on lap 56, while the slowest one was was Jérôme d'Ambrosio's, who stopped the clock at 49.849 seconds, 36.676 seconds slower than Hamilton, during his pit stop on lap 47.
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 6 stops.
The race winner, Jenson Button, was on a 3 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
5Jarno Trulli
2 stops
-
9Nick Heidfeld
-
13Michael Schumacher
3 stops
-
2Jenson Button
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4Paul di Resta
-
3Timo Glock
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1Sebastian Vettel
-
2Kamui Kobayashi
-
15Sébastien Buemi
-
6Jaime Alguersuari
-
4Daniel Ricciardo
4 stops
-
2Felipe Massa
-
-Vitaly Petrov
-
5Jérôme d'Ambrosio
-
2Fernando Alonso
-
2Nico Rosberg
-
6Adrian Sutil
-
5Sergio Pérez
5 stops
-
1Mark Webber
-
2Rubens Barrichello
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1Pastor Maldonado
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3Heikki Kovalainen
-
1Vitantonio Liuzzi
6 stops
-
2Lewis Hamilton
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 3 stops strategy gained 4.38 positions on average, the ones on a 4 stops strategy lost an average of 1.14 positions, the ones on a 5 stops strategy gained 1.25 positions on average, while those on a 6 stops strategy lost an average of 2 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 3 stops strategy was the best option.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Hungaroring, 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 8 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Heikki Kovalainen, who suffered a water leak on lap 55, Michael Schumacher, who experienced issues with the gearbox on lap 26, Nick Heidfeld, who saw the heat shield literally lit up in fire on lap 23, and Jarno Trulli, who had an oil leak on lap 17.
Water leak
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Heikki KovalainenLap 55
Gearbox
-
Michael SchumacherLap 26
Heat shield fire
-
Nick HeidfeldLap 23
Oil leak
-
Jarno TrulliLap 17
Qualifying
Sebastian Vettel managed to get the pole position by 0.163 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:19.815. 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 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 7 out of the 9 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.