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The Indian Grand Prix 2011 was the 17th round of the 2011 F1 season, and took place at the Buddh International Circuit in Uttar Pradesh, India, on October 30th.
Sebastian Vettel won the race from the pole, followed by Jenson Button, and Fernando Alonso completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 47 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 1-3: 6 stops
- Laps 15-19: 12 stops
- Laps 21-22: 4 stops
- Laps 30-35: 7 stops
- Laps 45-47: 5 stops
- Laps 54-56: 4 stops
The fastest pit stop was Felipe Massa's, stopping the clock at 14.919 seconds during his pit stop on lap 30, while the slowest one was was Daniel Ricciardo's, who stopped the clock at 42.529 seconds, 27.610 seconds slower than Massa, during his pit stop on lap 32.
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
We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 2 stops. Only 2 drivers tried a 1 stop, and 5 drivers tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Sebastian Vettel, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
1Timo Glock
-
12Sébastien Buemi
2 stops
-
10Sergio Pérez
-
-Rubens Barrichello
-
5Vitaly Petrov
-
1Adrian Sutil
-
2Mark Webber
-
-Fernando Alonso
-
2Jaime Alguersuari
-
1Nico Rosberg
-
2Jenson Button
-
6Michael Schumacher
-
-Sebastian Vettel
-
4Heikki Kovalainen
-
2Bruno Senna
-
7Narain Karthikeyan
-
5Jérôme d'Ambrosio
3 stops
-
-Jarno Trulli
-
1Paul di Resta
-
2Lewis Hamilton
-
14Felipe Massa
-
5Daniel Ricciardo
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy gained 2.73 positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 0.5 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.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Buddh International 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 6 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Felipe Massa, who suffered a suspension problem on lap 32, Sébastien Buemi, who suffered an engine malfunction on lap 24, Pastor Maldonado, who experienced issues with the gearbox on lap 12, and Timo Glock, and Kamui Kobayashi, both retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars.
Suspension
-
Felipe MassaLap 32
Engine
-
Sébastien BuemiLap 24
Gearbox
-
Pastor MaldonadoLap 12
Collision
-
Timo GlockLap 2
-
Kamui KobayashiLap 0
Qualifying
Sebastian Vettel managed to get the pole position by 0.296 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:24.178. 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 15 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.