The Italian Grand Prix 2011 was the 13th round of the 2011 F1 season, and took place at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Monza, Italy, on September 11th.

Sebastian Vettel won the race from the pole, followed by Jenson Button, and Fernando Alonso completing the podium.

Final results

1
-
VET
Sebastian Vettel
Red Bull
1:20:46.172
Finished
2
1
BUT
Jenson Button
McLaren
+9.590
Finished
3
1
ALO
Fernando Alonso
Ferrari
+16.909
Finished
4
2
HAM
Lewis Hamilton
McLaren
+17.417
Finished
5
3
MSC
Michael Schumacher
Mercedes
+32.677
Finished
6
-
MAS
Felipe Massa
Ferrari
+42.993
Finished
7
11
ALG
Jaime Alguersuari
Toro Rosso
+1 Lap
8
3
DIR
Paul di Resta
Force India
+1 Lap
9
1
SEN
Bruno Senna
Renault
+1 Lap
10
6
BUE
Sébastien Buemi
Toro Rosso
+1 Lap
11
3
MAL
Pastor Maldonado
Williams
+1 Lap
12
1
BAR
Rubens Barrichello
Williams
+1 Lap
13
7
KOV
Heikki Kovalainen
Lotus
+2 Laps
14
5
TRU
Jarno Trulli
Lotus
+2 Laps
15
6
GLO
Timo Glock
Virgin
+2 Laps
16
7
RIC
Daniel Ricciardo
HRT
+14 Laps
17
2
PER
Sergio Pérez
Sauber
Gearbox
18
1
KOB
Kamui Kobayashi
Sauber
Gearbox
19
7
SUT
Adrian Sutil
Force India
Hydraulics
20
15
WEB
Mark Webber
Red Bull
Accident
21
1
DAM
Jérôme d'Ambrosio
Virgin
Gearbox
22
15
PET
Vitaly Petrov
Renault
Collision
23
14
ROS
Nico Rosberg
Mercedes
Collision
24
-
LIU
Vitantonio Liuzzi
HRT
Collision
Show all

Race evolution

Pit Stops


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0
1
KOB
BAR
RIC
2
SEN
3
4
5
TRU
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
DIR
14
15
16
MSC
BUE
17
BUT
18
HAM
KOB
19
ALO
MAL
SEN
20
VET
ALG
GLO
RIC
21
MAS
KOV
22
23
24
TRU
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
DIR
32
BAR
33
BUT
34
ALO
HAM
35
VET
KOV
36
37
MSC
MAL
38
GLO
39
40
BUE
SEN
41
MAS
ALG
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53

There were a total of 35 pit stops during the race, but only 34 which can be considered "normal", since clearly had to resolve some serious issues during his pit stop on lap Array which took the team 16 minutes, 44.718 seconds.

The most popular pit stop windows were:

  • Laps 16-21: 14 stops
  • Laps 31-35: 7 stops
  • Laps 40-41: 4 stops

The fastest pit stop was Sebastian Vettel's, stopping the clock at 21.378 seconds during his pit stop on lap 35, while the slowest one was was Daniel Ricciardo's, who stopped the clock at 30.777 seconds, 9.399 seconds slower than Vettel, during his pit stop on lap 20.

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 Bruno Senna decided to try something different with a 3 stops strategy.

The race winner, Sebastian Vettel, was on a 2 stops strategy.

2 stops

  • 1
    Kamui Kobayashi
  • 1
    Rubens Barrichello
  • 7
    Daniel Ricciardo
  • 5
    Jarno Trulli
  • 3
    Paul di Resta
  • 3
    Michael Schumacher
  • 6
    Sébastien Buemi
  • 1
    Jenson Button
  • 2
    Lewis Hamilton
  • 1
    Fernando Alonso
  • 3
    Pastor Maldonado
  • -
    Sebastian Vettel
  • 11
    Jaime Alguersuari
  • 6
    Timo Glock
  • -
    Felipe Massa
  • 7
    Heikki Kovalainen

3 stops

  • 1
    Bruno Senna

Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy gained 3.21 positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 1 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 Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.

Incidents

The reace did not end without incidents... 9 drivers out of the original 24 who started did not managed to cross the finish line.

These included, Sergio Pérez, Kamui Kobayashi, and Jérôme d'Ambrosio, all of whom experienced issues with the gearbox, Adrian Sutil, who experienced an hydraulic malfunction on lap 9, Mark Webber, who had to retire due to an accident on lap 4, and Vitaly Petrov, Nico Rosberg, and Vitantonio Liuzzi, all of whom retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars.

Gearbox

  • Sergio Pérez
    Lap 32
  • Kamui Kobayashi
    Lap 21
  • Jérôme d'Ambrosio
    Lap 1

Hydraulics

  • Adrian Sutil
    Lap 9

Accident

  • Mark Webber
    Lap 4

Collision

  • Vitaly Petrov
    Lap 0
  • Nico Rosberg
    Lap 0
  • Vitantonio Liuzzi
    Lap 0

Qualifying

#1
VET
#2
HAM
#3
BUT
#4
ALO
#5
WEB
#6
MAS
#7
PET
#8
MSC
#9
ROS
#10
SEN
#11
DIR
#12
SUT
#13
BAR
#14
MAL
#15
PER
#16
BUE
#17
KOB
#18
ALG
#19
TRU
#20
KOV
#21
GLO
#22
DAM
#23
RIC
#24
LIU

Sebastian Vettel managed to get the pole position by 0.45 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:22.275. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Lewis Hamilton.

Q1

  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:23.976
  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:24.002
  • Jenson Button
    1:24.013
  • Fernando Alonso
    1:24.134
  • Mark Webber
    1:24.148
  • Vitaly Petrov
    1:24.486
  • Felipe Massa
    1:24.523
  • Nico Rosberg
    1:24.550
  • Paul di Resta
    1:24.574
  • Adrian Sutil
    1:24.595
  • Pastor Maldonado
    1:24.798
  • Kamui Kobayashi
    1:24.879
  • Bruno Senna
    1:24.914
  • Rubens Barrichello
    1:24.975
  • Michael Schumacher
    1:25.108
  • Sergio Pérez
    1:25.113
  • Sébastien Buemi
    1:25.164
  • Jaime Alguersuari
    1:25.334
  • Jarno Trulli
    1:26.647
  • Heikki Kovalainen
    1:27.184
  • Timo Glock
    1:27.591
  • Jérôme d'Ambrosio
    1:27.609
  • Daniel Ricciardo
    1:28.054
  • Vitantonio Liuzzi
    1:28.231

Q2

  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:22.914
  • Jenson Button
    1:23.031
  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:23.172
  • Nico Rosberg
    1:23.335
  • Fernando Alonso
    1:23.342
  • Mark Webber
    1:23.387
  • Michael Schumacher
    1:23.671
  • Felipe Massa
    1:23.681
  • Vitaly Petrov
    1:23.741
  • Bruno Senna
    1:24.157
  • Paul di Resta
    1:24.163
  • Adrian Sutil
    1:24.209
  • Rubens Barrichello
    1:24.648
  • Pastor Maldonado
    1:24.726
  • Sergio Pérez
    1:24.845
  • Sébastien Buemi
    1:24.932
  • Kamui Kobayashi
    1:25.065

Q3

  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:22.275
  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:22.725
  • Jenson Button
    1:22.777
  • Fernando Alonso
    1:22.841
  • Mark Webber
    1:22.972
  • Felipe Massa
    1:23.188
  • Vitaly Petrov
    1:23.530
  • Michael Schumacher
    1:23.777
  • Nico Rosberg
    1:24.477

Track evolution

Q1
-0.643
seconds faster
Q2
-0.19
seconds faster
Q3

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 9 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.