2011 Indian Grand Prix

Fine and Dry

The 2011 Indian Grand Prix , formally the 2011 Formula 1 Airtel Grand Prix of India , was a Formula One motor race that was held on 30 October 2011 [ 3 ] at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida , Uttar Pradesh , India . It was the seventeenth round of the 2011 Formula One season and the first Formula One Grand Prix to take place in South Asia and first to take place in India .

The circuit, designed by Hermann Tilke in association with teams, was deliberately designed to be one of the fastest on the calendar, with projected lap times of less than one minute and twenty seconds. The circuit was officially homologated on 1 September 2011. [ 5 ] At 1060 metres, the circuit's main straight was among the longest in Formula One. The pit lane had also been described in similar terms at over 600 metres in length. Time spent in the pitlane was expected to be an important factor ...

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought its yellow-banded soft compound tyre as the "prime" tyre and the silver-banded hard compound as the "option" compound. This was the first and only race of the season where the prime tyre was the less durable than the option. [ 17 ]

Vitaly Petrov was given a five-place grid penalty for causing an avoidable collision with Michael Schumacher at the Korean Grand Prix . [ 19 ]

The first Friday practice session was stopped after just five minutes when a stray dog found its way onto the circuit. The session was red-flagged while the dog was led away, and re-opened within five minutes.

When the session restarted, the two Force India cars, Karun Chandhok 's Lotus and the Hispania of Narain Karthikeyan were queued at the end of pit lane, waiting to be the first cars to take to the circuit. Although most drivers prefer to do an "installation lap", pitting at the end of their first lap of the circuit, Chandhok remained out to set the first flying lap time of the circuit. Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button were the early leaders of the session, while Fernando Alonso 's car succum...

The second session saw Felipe Massa top the timesheets, 0.088 seconds ahead of Vettel, and 0.224 seconds ahead of teammate Alonso, who had recovered from his mechanical fault in the first session. Several drivers ran off the road, with Turns 6 and 7 proving to be particularly troublesome as Vitaly Petrov , Kamui Kobayashi , Sébastien Buemi and Adrian Sutil all went off there. Pastor Maldonado experienced further trouble when he spun into the gravel at Turn 9, though his car could be retrieved in...

The third and final practice session saw some of the fastest lap times of the weekend thus far; this was a by-product of dust being cleaned from the circuit and drivers becoming familiar with the circuit layout. Vettel finished fastest, becoming the first person to set a time faster than 1:25.00, and comfortably inside the projected lap times claimed by Pirelli . Button was second, ahead of Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton. The new front wing of the Ferrari cars attracted significant attention, wi...

The third and final session saw the top four drivers separated by just one tenth of a second. Vettel set the early pace, ahead of Hamilton, Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso . Having used a set of soft tyres early, Jenson Button elected to do just one flying lap at the end of the session, finishing fifth after Felipe Massa crashed out in front of him and forcing Button to slow down. Massa hit the high kerb on the inside of Turn 8, breaking his suspension and sending him into the wall, damaging his...

After grid penalties had been applied, just seven drivers – Vettel, Massa, Rosberg, Sutil, Buemi, Alguersuari and Glock – started the race in the positioned they had actually qualified in. [ citation needed ]

Meanwhile, behind the leading pack, carnage ensued. Rubens Barrichello made slight contact with his Williams teammate Pastor Maldonado . The Brazilian then speared sidewards and collected Kamui Kobayashi . As the Sauber driver returned to the track, he hit Timo Glock . Maldonado's car was undamaged, and he continued, while Barrichello pitted for a new front wing and also continued. Kobayashi, meanwhile, pulled off on the back straight, and Glock retired his Virgin two laps later with suspension ...

On lap 9, Jaime Alguersuari successfully completed an overtaking manoeuvre on Senna, with the aid of the DRS, to move into tenth place. The Renault driver was passed just a couple of laps later by Alguersuari's Toro Rosso teammate Sébastien Buemi . Pastor Maldonado suffered a gearbox failure on lap 13 and became the race's third retirement. However, he parked the Williams far enough off the race track to avoid a safety car. The following lap, Alguersuari continued his charge up the field, passin...

The pitstops began for the top ten on lap 17, as Webber, Alonso, Hamilton and Alguersuari all pitted. Alonso emerged behind Michael Schumacher, but was able to quickly pass the Mercedes driver. The following lap, Massa and Rosberg both pitted to restore the positions up front. After the leaders, Vettel and Button, also pitted, the order from before the pitstops was exactly restored, with the exception of Bruno Senna, who was now in tenth having not yet pitted. When he did, Sebastien Buemi had ma...

When Massa took his drive through penalty, he dropped down behind the two Mercedes cars. Meanwhile, Hamilton passed Alguersuari for eighth, leaving the McLaren and the Ferrari nose to tail once again. However, it was only one lap before Massa suffered a suspension failure, just as he had suffered in qualifying, as he this time broke the left front suspension of his Ferrari on the kerb and retired from the race. This left, on lap 32, Hamilton in seventh, Alguersuari back to eighth and Sutil and S...