2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Previous←	2011 Indian Grand Prix
Round	18 of 2011
Next→	2011 Brazilian Grand Prix
The Yas Marina Circuit in its original configuation
Race Details
Date	November 8, 2011
Official Name	III Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Location	Yas Marina Circuit Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Course	Permanent Racing Facility 5.554 km (3.451 mi)
Distance	55 laps, 305.47 km (189.810 mi)
Pole Position
Driver	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault
Time	1:38.841
Fastest Lap
Driver	Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault
Time	1:42.612 on lap 51
Podium
First	Lewis Hamilton
Second	Fernando Alonso
Third	Jenson Button
Lap Leaders

The 2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, or formally the III Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is the 18th and penultimate round of the 2011 Formula One Season. The race was held on the 13th of November. Sebastian Vettel, in his Red Bull-Renault took a record-equalling pole position (see Milestones section below), beating Lewis Hamilton's best lap time by 0.141 seconds. Williams had the worse qualifying in their history, locking out the back row.

In the race, Vettel's right rear tyre had a puncture before the second corner, forcing him off the track after just 400 metres, and after getting back to the pits, he retired. This left Hamilton in the lead, and only Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who managed to bring himself up to second by the end of lap one, was able to put up any challenge. Hamilton strolled to victory by eight seconds over Alonso. Jenson Button, despite mid-race KERS issues, completed the podium, meaning McLaren-Mercedes had two drivers on the podium, and Red Bull did not have one driver on the podium for the first time since the 2010 Korean Grand Prix, which was also Vettel's last non-finish. Mark Webber set the fastest lap, as he completed a three-stopper, meaning he was on the softer compound for the latter stages of the race, while everyone else used the harder medium compound and were not as quick as him.

Free Practice Overview

"DNP" means did not practice in that session

No.	Driver	Constructor	Fri 1		Fri 2		Sat
			Time	Pos	Time	Pos	Time	Pos
1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1:40.755	4	1:40.132	6	1:39.403	2
2	Mark Webber		1:40.389	2	1:40.103	5	1:39.427	3
3	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:40.403	3	1:39.586	1	1:38.976	1
4	Jenson Button		1:40.263	1	1:39.785	2	1:39.429	4
5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:40.801	5	1:39.971	3	1:39.661	5
6	Felipe Massa		1:41.260	6	1:39.980	4	1:40.183	7
7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1:43.389	15	1:40.553	7	1:40.938	10
8	Nico Rosberg		1:42.130	8	1:44.265	20	1:40.135	6
9	Bruno Senna	Renault	DNP		1:42.369	15	1:41.509	11
	Romain Grosjean		1:42.685	9	DNP		DNP
10	Vitaly Petrov		1:43.118	13	1:41.947	13	1:41.594	14
11	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	No time	24	1:42.798	16	1:43.861	19
12	Pastor Maldonado		1:43.255	14	1:42.910	17	1:42.025	17
14	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1:41.380	7	1:40.951	8	1:40.429	8
15	Paul di Resta		1:42.151	9	1:41.021	9	1:40.511	9
16	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	1:44.484	17	1:41.490	10	1:41.527	12
17	Sergio Pérez		1:44.412	16	1:41.565	11	1:41.566	13
18	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	DNP		1:41.680	12	1:41.622	15
	Jean-Éric Vergne		1:42.663	11	DNP		DNP
19	Jaime Alguersuari		1:42.377	10	1:41.983	14	1:41.855	16
20	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Renault	1:44.565	18	1:43.562	18	1:43.409	18
21	Jarno Trulli		1:44.898	19	1:44.050	19	No time	24
22	Daniel Ricciardo	HRT-Cosworth	1:46.532	21	1:46.328	24	1:45.302	23
23	Vitantonio Luizzi		1:46.385	20	1:46.249	23	1:45.302	21
24	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	1:48.024	22	1:45.486	21	1:45.262	20
25	Jérôme d'Ambrosio		DNP		1:46.142	22	1:45.509	22
	Robert Wickens		1:48.551	23	DNP		DNP

Qualifying Overview

Qualifying Times

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Q1		Q2		Q3 Time	Laps
				Time	Pos.	Time	Pos.
1	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1:40.478	4	1:38.516	2	1:38.141	16
2	3	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:39.782	1	1:38.434	1	1:38.622	15
3	4	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:40.227	3	1:39.097	5	1:38.631	14
4	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:40.167	2	1:38.821	3	1:38.858	19
5	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:41.380	10	1:39.058	4	1:39.058	16
6	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:41.592	13	1:39.623	7	1:39.695	20
7	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:41.120	8	1:39.420	6	1:39.773	17
8	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1:41.605	14	1:40.554	10	1:40.662	18
9	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1:40.595	5	1:40.205	8	1:40.768	17
10	15	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	1:41.064	7	1:40.414	9	No time	15
11	17	Sergio Pérez	Sauber-Ferrari	1:41.311	9	1:40.874			18
12	10	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	1:40.955	6	1:40.919			18
13	18	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:41.737	16	1:41.009			15
14	9	Bruno Senna	Renault	1:41.391	12	1:41.079			15
15	19	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:41.386	11	1:41.162			16
16	16	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	1:41.613	15	1:41.240			17
17	12	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Cosworth	1:42.258	17	1:41.760			13
18	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Renault	1:42.979					11
19	21	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Renault	1:43.884					11
20	24	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	1:44.515					9
21	22	Daniel Ricciardo	HRT-Cosworth	1:44.641					9
22	25	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Virgin-Cosworth	1:44.699					8
23	23	Vitantonio Luizzi	HRT-Cosworth	1:45.159					8
24	11	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	No time					0

Grid

Pos	Pos
Driver	Driver
______________
1	______________
Sebastian Vettel	2
______________	Lewis Hamilton
3	______________
Jenson Button	4
______________	Mark Webber
5	______________
Fernando Alonso	6
______________	Felipe Massa
7	______________
Nico Rosberg	8
______________	Michael Schumacher
9	______________
Adrian Sutil	10
______________	Paul di Resta
11	______________
Sergio Pérez	12
______________	Vitaly Petrov
13	______________
Sébastien Buemi	14
______________	Bruno Senna
15	______________
Jaime Alguersuari	16
______________	Kamui Kobayashi
17	______________
Heikki Kovalainen	18
______________	Jarno Trulli
19	______________
Timo Glock	20
______________	Daniel Ricciardo
21	______________
Jérôme d'Ambrosio	22
______________	Vitantonio Luizzi
23	______________
Pastor Maldonado*	24
	Rubens Barrichello*

* Pastor Maldonado and Rubens Barrichello were deducted 10 places for using a ninth engine this season.

Race Overview

Results

Pos	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Avg Speed	Grid	Pts
1	3	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	55	1:37:11.886	188.494	2	25
2	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	55	+ 8.457	188.221	5	18
3	4	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	55	+ 25.881	187.662	3	15
4	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	55	+ 35.784	187.345	4	12
5	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	55	+ 50.578	186.874	6	10
6	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	55	+ 52.317	186.819	7	8
7	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	55	+ 1:15.964	186.071	8	6
8	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	55	+ 1:17.122	186.034	9	4
9	15	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	55	+ 1:41.087	185.283	10	2
10	16	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	54	+ 1 Lap	185.017	16	1
11	17	Sergio Pérez	Sauber-Ferrari	54	+ 1 Lap	184.596	11
12	11	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	54	+ 1 Lap	184.573	24
13	10	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	54	+ 1 Lap	184.452	12
14	12	Pastor Maldonado*	Williams-Cosworth	54	+ 1 Lap	182.786	23
15	19	Jaime Alguersuari**	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	54	+ 1 Lap	182.746	15
16	9	Bruno Senna	Renault	54	+ 1 Lap	182.484	14
17	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Renault	54	+ 1 Lap	182.381	17
18	21	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Renault	53	+ 2 Laps	180.388	18
19	24	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	53	+ 2 Laps	179.444	19
20	23	Vitantonio Luizzi	HRT-Cosworth	53	+ 2 Laps	178.476	22
Ret	22	Daniel Ricciardo	HRT-Cosworth	48	Alternator	178.828	20
Ret	18	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	19	Hydraulics	179.160	13
Ret	25	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Virgin-Cosworth	18	Brakes	176.047	21
Ret	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1	Puncture	112.317	1

* Pastor Maldonado was penalised 30 seconds for ignoring blue flags (finished 14th).

** Jaime Alguersuari was penalised 20 seconds for ignoring blue flags (finished 15th).

Fastest Laps

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Lap	Time	Gap	Avg Speed	Race
1	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	51	1:42.612	—	194.854	4
2	4	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	51	1:43.154	0.542	193.831	3
3	3	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	51	1:43.461	0.849	193.255	1
4	16	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	47	1:43.521	0.909	193.143	10
5	10	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	52	1:43.673	1.061	192.860	13
6	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	41	1:43.914	1.302	192.413	2
7	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	55	1:43.993	1.381	192.267	6
8	19	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	47	1:44.093	1.481	192.082	15
9	15	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	49	1:44.120	1.508	192.032	9
10	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	51	1:44.288	1.676	191.723	5
11	11	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	50	1:44.438	1.826	191.448	12
12	17	Sergio Pérez	Sauber-Ferrari	41	1:44.566	1.954	191.213	11
13	12	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Cosworth	52	1:44.628	2.016	191.100	14
14	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	53	1:44.709	2.097	190.952	8
15	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	48	1:44.916	2.304	190.575	7
16	9	Bruno Senna	Renault	32	1:46.150	3.538	188.360	16
17	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Renault	50	1:46.610	3.998	187.547	17
18	18	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	17	1:47.094	4.482	186.700	Ret
19	21	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Renault	36	1:47.444	4.832	186.091	18
20	24	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	42	1:48.085	5.473	184.988	19
21	22	Daniel Ricciardo	HRT-Cosworth	35	1:48.274	5.662	184.665	Ret
22	23	Vitantonio Luizzi	HRT-Cosworth	52	1:49.242	6.630	183.029	20
23	25	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Virgin-Cosworth	16	1:51.196	8.584	179.812	Ret

Lap Leaders

Lap-by-Lap

Stint	Driver	Laps	Lap Count	Distance
1	Lewis Hamilton	01 – 16	16	88.749 km
2	Mark Webber	17 – 17	01	5.554 km
3	Lewis Hamilton	18 – 40	23	127.742 km
4	Fernando Alonso	41 – 43	03	16.662 km
5	Lewis Hamilton	44 – 55	12	66.648 km

Totals

Pos.	Driver	Laps	Distance
1	Lewis Hamilton	51	283.139 km
2	Fernando Alonso	03	16.662 km
3	Mark Webber	01	5.554 km

Milestones

• Sebastian Vettel equalled Nigel Mansell's record of 14 pole positions in the 1992 season.
• Vettel's 40th front row start.
• McLaren-Mercedes 10th front row start this season.
• Rubens Barrichello's 325th race entry (321st start).
• Mark Webber's 175th start.
• Bruno Senna's 25th race entry and start.
• Daniel Ricciardo's 10th race entry and start.
• Williams's 675th race, and worst ever qualifying.
• Lewis Hamilton led his 1000th lap on Lap 4 (now at 1047 laps)
• Fernando Alonso's and Ferrari's 10th podia of 2011.
• Vettel's puncture, which forced his retirement, meant he was unable to equal Michael Schumacher's record of the number of wins in one season (13 in 2004).

Standings

Pos.	DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP		CONSTRUCTORS CHAMPIONSHIP
1	Sebastian Vettel	374	Red Bull-Renault	607
2	Jenson Button	255	McLaren-Mercedes	482
3	Fernando Alonso	245	Ferrari	353
4	Mark Webber	233	Mercedes	159
5	Lewis Hamilton	227	Renault	72
6	Felipe Massa	108	Force India-Mercedes	57
7	Nico Rosberg	83	Sauber-Ferrari	42
8	Michael Schumacher	76	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	41
9	Vitaly Petrov	36	Williams-Cosworth	5
10	Nick Heidfeld	34	Lotus-Renault	0
11	Adrian Sutil	34	HRT-Cosworth	0
12	Kamui Kobayashi	28	Virgin-Cosworth	0
13	Jaime Alguersuari	26
14	Paul di Resta	23
15	Sébastien Buemi	15
16	Sergio Pérez	14
17	Rubens Barrichello	4
18	Bruno Senna	2
19	Pastor Maldonado	1
20	Pedro de la Rosa	0
21	Jarno Trulli	0
22	Heikki Kovalainen	0
23	Vitantonio Luizzi	0
24	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	0
25	Timo Glock	0
26	Narain Karthikeyan	0
27	Daniel Ricciardo	0
28	Karun Chandhok	0

Sources and other pages

• Official Results
• The race on Wikipedia
• The race on Manipe F1
• The race on BBC Sport

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This was the Formula 1 Wiki's Featured Article on 3 January 2012.