Race, Spanish Grand Prix, Circuit De Catalunya, Barcelona
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A hard fought battle between the top four runners to win the race. It was Sebastian Vettel who claim the victory in the end. Record of 10 straight wins from the driver in pole position has been broken. The remarkable performance from the top 2 teams. They lapped all the drivers ( teams ).
Only Red Bulls and Mclarens finished the leading lap while all other teams were lapped by the Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.
The race started with Fernando Alonso taking the lead on the first corner from 4th but soon after the second pitstop, it faded and a new race leader was Lewis Hamilton. After the third pitstop, Sebastian Vettel took command. After the fourth pitstop, it was a clear battle between Sebastian Vettel in lead to Lewis Hamilton in chase. Hamilton tried to get pass Vettel for almost 13laps.
Button drove exceptionally well to be on podium after being dropped to 10th on the opening lap. A better strategy by Mclaren paid them a hard fought 2nd and 3rd position. They could have been the winner but Red Bull pace is exceptional. Mclaren had an extra soft tyres in the kitty that helped them to have tactical advantage over others while Red Bull KERS problem is still haunting them particularly Mark Webber, they still managed to perform. Their KERS failed to work for few laps in between the race.
Mark Webber who started on pole, could not able to hold on to the 10 year record at Barcelona. DRS and Pirelli have changed F1 completely. But in the end, Webber fought for podium position but could not able to convert it properly.
Fernando Alonso was able to cheer the Spanish fan as he took the lead from Webber from 4th to 1st on the starting Turn 1 of the race and hold on to lead the race for 2 pitstops. But Red Bull and Mclaren pace outqualified Ferrari's. The rear wing change and use of extra set of tyres during qualifying cost them the podium.
7 times world champion Michael Schumacher, drove exceptionally well to shut the mouth of his critics, as he would probably have enjoyed the race today. Those who were thinking that Michael will be retiring next year, are now clear about his future in F1. He has outpaced his younger teammate Nico Rosberg and finished just ahead of him for 6th. Mercedes have improved a lot from last race. They were off the pace from the top 3 but they really are catching up them quickly. Michael on the initial lap climbed to 6th position and thereby hold on to that position in the race. Rosberg also holds his 7th position from Felipe Massa during the race. But Massa had some issues with his car and had to retire from the race in the later stage.
Nick Heidfeld proved himself a brilliant driver as he finished 8th on a circuit where overtaking is really difficult after starting from the last position.
Rookie Sergio Perez outpaced his teammate to finish 9th just ahead of him. Sauber took the last championship point. They have improved a lot. Petrov was not able to convert to the points today after starting from 6th position.
Force India specially Paul Di Resta drove exceptionally well, even though their car was struggling all weekend and were able to finish 12th and 13th. Paul Di Resta was able to reach 6th position during the race two times but could not convert it to points after the pitstop.
It was a bad day for Toro Rosso as Buemi and Alguersuari failed to score and finished 14th and 16th respectively separated by Pastor Maldonado.
Rookie Maldonado who qualified in 9th position could not able to convert it into the first points for Williams. As Williams continue to struggle. Barrichello was way down at 17th.
Jarno Trulli was the only Lotus to finish the race after Heikki Kovalainen met with an accident in a similar fashion as Lewis Hamilton did last year. Lotus improvement failed to put them with midfielders as they struggled during the race.
Then came the two Virgin at the back with Indian Driver Narain Karthikeyan was the last driver to finish the race at 21st position.
The Spanish Grand Prix was a mouth watering race for some. It has surely given fans to cheer for overtaking on such a hard circuit. People are looking forward to Monaco next week. As everyone would be waiting to see the magic of KERS, DRS and Pirelli in Monaco Grand Prix.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Laps | Time | Pits | Grid | Points |
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull - Renault | 66 | 1hr 39min 03.301sec | 4 | 2 | 25 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mclaren - Mercedes | 66 | +0.6sec | 4 | 3 | 18 |
| 3 | Jenson Button | Mclaren - Mercedes | 66 | +35.0sec | 3 | 5 | 15 |
| 4 | Mark Webber | Red Bull - Renault | 66 | +47.9sec | 4 | 1 | 12 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 65 | + 1 Lap | 4 | 4 | 10 |
| 6 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes GP | 65 | + 1 Lap | 3 | 10 | 8 |
| 7 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes GP | 65 | + 1 Lap | 3 | 7 | 6 |
| 8 | Nick Heidfeld | Renault | 65 | + 1 Lap | 3 | 24 | 4 |
| 9 | Sergio Perez | Sauber - Ferrari | 65 | + 1 Lap |
3 | 12 | 2 |
| 10 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber - Ferrari | 65 | + 1 Lap | 3 | 24 | 1 |
| 11 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 65 | + 1 Lap | 3 | 6 | |
| 12 | Paul Di Resta | Force India - Mercedes | 65 | + 1 Lap | 3 | 16 | |
| 13 | Adrian Sutil | Force India - Mercedes | 65 | + 1 Lap | 3 | 17 | |
| 14 | Sebastien Buemi | STR - Ferrari | 65 | + 1 Lap | 3 | 11 | |
| 15 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams - Cosworth | 65 | + 1 Lap | 4 | 9 | |
| 16 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR - Ferrari | 64 | + 2 Laps | 4 | 13 | |
| 17 |
Rubens Barrichello | Williams - Cosworth | 64 | + 2 Laps | 4 | 19 | |
| 18 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus - Renault | 64 | + 2 Laps | 3 | 18 | |
| 19 | Timo Glock | Virgin - Cosworth | 63 | + 3 Laps | 3 | 20 | |
| 20 | Jerome d'Ambrosio | Virgin - Cosworth | 62 | + 4 Laps | 3 | 23 | |
| 21 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT - Cosworth | 61 | + 5 Laps | 3 | 22 | |
| Ret | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 58 | + 8 Laps | 3 | 8 | |
| Ret | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus - Renault | 48 | + 18 Laps | 3 | 15 | |
| Ret | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT - Cosworth | 28 | + 38 Laps | 1 | 21 | |
| Fastest Lap - Lewis Hamilton, Mclaren - 1min 26.727sec on Lap 52 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lap Record - Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari (2008) - 1min 21.670sec | |||||||
| F1 2011 Season Drivers Standing | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | 118 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | 77 |
| 3 | Mark Webber | 67 |
| 4 | Jenson Button | 61 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | 51 |
| 6 | Nico Rosberg | 26 |
| 7 | Nick Heidfeld | 25 |
| 8 | Felipe Massa | 24 |
| 9 | Vitaly Petrov | 21 |
| 10 | Michael Schumacher | 14 |
| 11 | Kamui Kobayashi | 9 |
| 12 | Sebastien Buemi | 6 |
| 13 | Adrian Sutil | 2 |
| 14 | Sergio Perez | 2 |
| 15 | Paul Di Resta | 2 |
| Constructors Standing for 2011 Season | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Red Bull | 185 |
| 2 | Mclaren | 138 |
| 3 | Ferrari | 75 |
| 4 | Renault | 46 |
| 5 | Mercedes GP | 40 |
| 6 | Sauber | 11 |
| 7 | Toro Rosso | 6 |
| 8 | Force India | 4 |
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