The Monaco Grand Prix 2011 was the 6th round of the 2011 F1 season, and took place at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte-Carlo, Monaco, on May 29th.
Sebastian Vettel won the race from the pole, followed by Fernando Alonso, and Jenson Button completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 43 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 15-17: 5 stops
- Laps 24-29: 7 stops
- Laps 32-34: 12 stops
- Laps 52-56: 5 stops
The fastest pit stop was Lewis Hamilton's, stopping the clock at 19.347 seconds during his pit stop on lap 43, while the slowest one was was Paul di Resta's, who stopped the clock at 47.226 seconds, 27.879 seconds slower than Hamilton, 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
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, Sebastian Vettel, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
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17Michael Schumacher
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-Sebastian Vettel
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3Timo Glock
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15Felipe Massa
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9Vitaly Petrov
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7Vitantonio Liuzzi
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7Kamui Kobayashi
2 stops
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1Mark Webber
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2Fernando Alonso
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3Heikki Kovalainen
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5Jarno Trulli
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10Pastor Maldonado
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5Narain Karthikeyan
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1Jaime Alguersuari
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2Rubens Barrichello
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7Nick Heidfeld
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6Sébastien Buemi
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6Jérôme d'Ambrosio
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7Adrian Sutil
3 stops
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1Jenson Button
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4Nico Rosberg
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1Paul di Resta
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3Lewis Hamilton
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 4.67 positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy gained 4.2 positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 0.25 positions.
Despite of the average possitons gained or lost, and considering a deeper analysis of the performance of each strategy, we consider the 2 stops strategy as the optimal for this race, even if Sebastian Vettel managed to win the race making 1 stop.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Circuit de Monaco, 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, Pastor Maldonado, and Felipe Massa, both had to retire due to an accident, Vitaly Petrov, and Jaime Alguersuari, both retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars, Michael Schumacher, who suffered an engine malfunction on lap 32, Timo Glock, who suffered a suspension problem on lap 30, and Sergio Pérez, who was injured on lap 0.
Accident
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Pastor MaldonadoLap 73
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Felipe MassaLap 32
Collision
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Vitaly PetrovLap 67
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Jaime AlguersuariLap 66
Engine
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Michael SchumacherLap 32
Suspension
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Timo GlockLap 30
Injury
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Sergio PérezLap 0
Qualifying
Sebastian Vettel managed to get the pole position by 0.441 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:13.556. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Jenson Button.
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 5 out of the 9 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.