2011 Formula 1 : Button wins wet Hungarian Grand Prix

2011 Hungarian GP winner : Jenson Button - McLaren Mercedes, MP4-26

BUDAPEST : July 31, 2011 - Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes) made the right tyre choices in changeable conditions to lead in the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday.


The 2009 world champion won his first grand prix at this track and made his 200th Formula One start in this race. It was McLaren's fourth victory of the year with two wins apiece to Lewis Hamilton and Button.

As the rain came and went, race leader Hamilton was wrong-footed in his tyre choice and lost the lead. A drive-through penalty dropped him down to sixth but he recovered to fourth. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) was third with team mate Mark Webber fifth and Felipe Massa sixth.

Vettel retains the drivers' championship lead with 234 points, followed by team mate Webber on 149, Hamilton on 146 and Alonso one point behind. Red Bull continues to lead the constructors' championship on 383 with McLaren closing up slightly on 280. Ferrari has 215.

At the start, pole man Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) got to the first corner marginally ahead of Hamilton and Button who drew alongside his team mate and challenged for third place at Turns 2 and 3, but Hamilton hung on.

Nico Rosberg and Mercedes team mate Michael Schumacher both got ahead of the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard got alongside Schumacher but couldn't find a way past as both cars fishtailed in the slippery conditions.

The 26th Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring got under way under grey skies and a light drizzle. The air temperature was 17°C and the track just one degree warmer and the drivers had elected to start on intermediate tread patterns.

Sébastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) was carrying a five-place grid penalty for causing a collision with Nick Heidfeld (Renault) in the German Grand Prix last Sunday and started at the back of the field.

Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) ran off the track on the parade lap, showing that there was not much grip to be had on cold tyres.

Alonso drove around the outside of Schumacher and got past on the third lap.

Hamilton continued to challenge Vettel at every corner, drawing alongside but not finding enough grip to get past. Alonso got past the second Mercedes of Rosberg but he ran wide of f the track and allowed Rosberg to reclaim fourth place.

On lap four, the relentless pressure from behind by Hamilton paid off, and Vettel made a mistake, running wide and allowing the 2007 world champion past. With a clear track ahead of him, Hamilton quickly opened up a 5-second lead over the next couple of laps.

Button was just 1.7 sec behind Vettel and closing.

Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) was the first to make a pit stop for fresh tyres, choosing to return to the race on slicks, but he was battling for traction on the cold tyres. Button and di Resta were next to stop. A dry line had started to form on the racing line and Button was very careful to stay on it.

Race leader Hamilton pitted at the end of lap 11, also going out on slicks.

After all the leading drivers had pitted and their tyres were up to temperature, Button closed right up on second-placed Vettel and drove around him between Turns 1 and 2, taking second place and setting up a McLaren 1-2. Further back, Webber got past Alonso into fifth. He ran wide off the track in Turn 1 and very nearly lost the place back to Alonso, but survived.

On lap 16, Hamilton set a new fastest lap of the race - 1'28.893 - as he opened his lead over Button to 6.9 sec, with Vettel just 0.8 sec behind Button and within the DRS activation zone. Fifth-placed Alonso was close behind Webber and set a 1'28.814 before Hamilton replied with a 1'28.264 on lap 18.

As the weather data predicted another shower in ten minutes, Massa was close behind Schumacher and hoping to get past into eighth as Jarno Trulli (Lotus-Renault) retired.

As tyre temperatures increased and the track continued to dry, lap times were improved on every lap.

As the Pirellis tyres wore down rapidly, Hamilton's lap times dropped and Button moved closer.

On lap 24, Heidfeld pitted and as he left his pit, his Renault caught fire. He continued down the pit lane but pulled off before joining the track and fled the burning car. A similar thing happened to him at Barcelona earlier this year.

On lap 26, race leader Hamilton pitted, dropping to third place behind Button and Vettel. Button pitted on the next lap as did Vettel and Hamilton resumed the lead. 18th-placed Schumacher spun his Mercedes but continued, and the retired half a lap later.

Massa got past Kobayashi on lap 34, the Japanese having only made one pit stop so far. Alonso was all over the gearbox of Webber's Red Bull unable even to get past on the straight using DRS and KERS.

Alonso was the first of the front-runners to make a third stop, fitting another set of super-softs. After two laps his tyres came up to temperature and he began to lap three second a lap faster than the leading McLarens, 34 seconds ahead.

Webber responded to the threat and pitted on lap 39 followed on the next lap by race leader Hamilton who went out again on super-softs.

Vettel had not yet pitted and was battling serious understeer before he pitted on lap 41, electing to go for the harder compound.

Button pitted for the harder option tyres on lap 42, following Red Bull's strategy and he set a new fastest lap of 1'24.549 on lap 44.

Race leader Hamilton and third-placed Alonso were on the super-softs and would have to pit one more time. Second-placed Button and Vettel and Webber in fourth and fifth were all on the harder option tyres and would probably not have to pit again with 25 laps remaining.

Button was 5.6 sec behind Hamilton and closing on him by 0.7 sec a lap.

Then, dramatically, it began to rain and Hamilton spun coming out of the chicane and recovered behind Button who took the lead on lap 47. Alonso pitted for harder option tyres, leaving Hamilton the only one out there on super-softs and 21 laps left.

With 20 laps to go, Button was leading from Hamilton +1.4, Vettel +2.8, Webber +14.1, Alonso +27.3 and Rosberg +53.6.

As the tyres started to lose temperature on the wet track, Button's lap times dropped and Hamilton began to try and find a way past, which he did on lap 51.

As conditions worsened and the harder slick tyres began to lose adhesion, cars began running off the track all over the place. Hamilton made another small error and Button got past into the lead once more, only to lose it a couple of corners later as Webber pitted for intermediate treaded tyres.

On lap 52, Hamilton also pitted for inters and rejoined in third place. Webber returned to the pits to get rid of his inters as the stewards ruled that Hamilton had impeded another car with his spin and was given a drive-through penalty. He pitted first to drop off his inters and a lap later served his drive-through penalty, dropping to sixth place, close behind the Massa/Webber scrap for fifth place.

Button was then leading by 5.5 sec from Vettel with Alonso in third, 18.3 sec behind.

Webber came out from behind Massa as they started down the main straight and he got past, bringing Hamilton closer and he got past the Ferrari two corners later.

There were no problems though for Hamilton's McLaren team mate. He set a new fastest lap of 1'23.937 and opened up his lead over Vettel to 6.4 sec on lap 59.

Hamilton set a new fastest lap of 1'23.876 as he closed up on Webber a second ahead.

There was a six-way battle for ninth place and Webber and Hamilton arrived on the traffic to find cars all over the track. Webber got wrong-footed and Hamilton dived past the Australian into fourth place, 32 sec behind Alonso with five laps remaining.

On the last lap, Hamilton closed up on the Di Resta / Buemi / Rosberg battle for seventh place with Webber just 0,8 sec behind him, but Hamilton retained the place as his team mate Button took the chequered flag.

Jenson Button celebrates his 200th Grand Prix

2011 Formula 1 : Hungarian Gran Prix - Race Result

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	4	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	70	Winner	3	25
2	1	Sebastian Vettel	RBR-Renault	70	+3.5 secs	1	18
3	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	70	+19.8 secs	5	15
4	3	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	70	+48.3 secs	2	12
5	2	Mark Webber	RBR-Renault	70	+49.7 secs	6	10
6	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	70	+83.1 secs	4	8
7	15	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	69	+1 Lap	11	6
8	18	Sebastien Buemi	STR-Ferrari	69	+1 Lap	23	4
9	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	69	+1 Lap	7	2
10	19	Jaime Alguersuari	STR-Ferrari	69	+1 Lap	16	1
11	16	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	69	+1 Lap	13
12	10	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	69	+1 Lap	12
13	11	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	68	+2 Laps	15
14	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	68	+2 Laps	8
15	17	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari	68	+2 Laps	10
16	12	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Cosworth	68	+2 Laps	17
17	24	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	66	+4 Laps	20
18	22	Daniel Ricciardo	HRT-Cosworth	66	+4 Laps	22
19	25	Jerome d'Ambrosio	Virgin-Cosworth	65	+5 Laps	24
20	23	Vitantonio Liuzzi	HRT-Cosworth	65	+5 Laps	21
Ret	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Renault	55	+15 Laps	18
Ret	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	26	+44 Laps	9
Ret	9	Nick Heidfeld	Renault	23	+47 Laps	14
Ret	21	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Renault	17	+53 Laps	19

2011 Formula 1 : Drivers' Championship Standing

Pos	Driver	Nationality	Team	Points
1	Sebastian Vettel	German	RBR-Renault	234
2	Mark Webber	Australian	RBR-Renault	149
3	Lewis Hamilton	British	McLaren-Mercedes	146
4	Fernando Alonso	Spanish	Ferrari	145
5	Jenson Button	British	McLaren-Mercedes	134
6	Felipe Massa	Brazilian	Ferrari	70
7	Nico Rosberg	German	Mercedes	48
8	Nick Heidfeld	German	Renault	34
9	Vitaly Petrov	Russian	Renault	32
10	Michael Schumacher	German	Mercedes	32
11	Kamui Kobayashi	Japanese	Sauber-Ferrari	27
12	Adrian Sutil	German	Force India-Mercedes	18
13	Sebastien Buemi	Swiss	STR-Ferrari	12
14	Jaime Alguersuari	Spanish	STR-Ferrari	10
15	Sergio Perez	Mexican	Sauber-Ferrari	8
16	Paul di Resta	British	Force India-Mercedes	8
17	Rubens Barrichello	Brazilian	Williams-Cosworth	4
18	Pedro de la Rosa	Spanish	Sauber-Ferrari	0
19	Jarno Trulli	Italian	Lotus-Renault	0
20	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Italian	HRT-Cosworth	0
21	Pastor Maldonado	Venezuelan	Williams-Cosworth	0
22	Jerome d'Ambrosio	Belgian	Virgin-Cosworth	0
23	Heikki Kovalainen	Finnish	Lotus-Renault	0
24	Timo Glock	German	Virgin-Cosworth	0
25	Narain Karthikeyan	Indian	HRT-Cosworth	0
26	Daniel Ricciardo	Australian	HRT-Cosworth	0
27	Karun Chandhok	Indian	Lotus-Renault	0

2011 Formula 1 : Teams' Championship Standing

Pos	Team	Points
1	RBR-Renault	383
2	McLaren-Mercedes	280
3	Ferrari	215
4	Mercedes	80
5	Renault	66
6	Sauber-Ferrari	35
7	Force India-Mercedes	26
8	STR-Ferrari	22
9	Williams-Cosworth	4
10	Lotus-Renault	0
11	HRT-Cosworth	0
12	Virgin-Cosworth	0

[Source : F1-Official, McLAREN, SUPERSPORT.ZA, CRASH.NET]

2011 Formula 1 : Hamilton takes a brilliant German GP victory

2011 F1 - German Grand Prix winner : Lewis Hamilton (GBR), McLaren Mercedes, MP4-26

NURBURGRING, Germany : July 24, 2011 - A racy Lewis Hamilton put McLaren firmly back into championship contention with a confident win in the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring on Sunday.

2011 F1 - German Grand Prix winner : Lewis Hamilton (GBR), McLaren Mercedes, MP4-26

Hamilton made the early running for the first third of the race before both Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) and Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) took turns at the front. After the final round of pit stops, Hamilton once again took the lead and was unchallenged as he reeled off a string of fastest laps on his way to the flag.

Hamilton's McLaren crossed the line four seconds clear of Alonso, with Webber ten seconds off the pace in third. Championship leader Sebastian Vettel was well back in fourth place (+47.9) followed by Felipe Massa (Ferrari) +52.2 and Adrian Sutil (Force India) +86.2.

Reigning world champion Vettel (216) continues to lead the 2011 title chase, but with a reduced lead over Webber (139) and Hamilton moves into third place with 134. In the constructors' championship the positions remain unchanged with Red Bull (355) leading from McLaren (243) and Ferrari (192).

As the race got under way, Hamilton out-dragged pole man Webber off the line to lead into the first corner and completed the first lap with a one-second lead over his pursuers Webber, Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) and Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault). Nick Heidfeld (Renault) and Paul di Resta (Force India-Mercedes) both spun off in the first corner and the incident came under the investigation of the race stewards.

On the second lap, Alonso ran wide and allowed Vettel to slip through into third, and he ran wide again on the next lap.

The Nürburgring is situated up in the Eifel Mountains and often has inclement weather. As the cars waited on the grid for the race to start, light rain was forecast, with the air at a very cool 13°C and the track just 15°C. The track surface was still damp from an earlier shower and minutes before the start of the parade lap, it began raining lightly again.

The drivers had all elected to start the race on the same (dry) tyres as those they used for Saturday's qualifying, but as the rain continued to come down, and with the track temperature so cool, it looked likely that they would all be battling for grip in the opening laps.

The Drag Reduction System option had been disabled by the FIA, as race director Charlie Whiting is entitled to do for wet races, but on lap 3 the system was allowed.

By lap 5, Hamilton had opened up his lead over Webber to two seconds but the Australian set the fastest lap of the race so far - 1'37.659.

Felipe Massa (Ferrari) was down in sixth place and made an attempt to get past Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) but was unsuccessful. He was just 0.4 sec behind the German and although he was using the DRS, it wasn't giving him any advantage.

On lap 8, Alonso's persistence paid off and he got past Vettel into third.

On the next lap, Sergio Perez (Sauber-Ferrari) was the first to make a pit stop. Then championship leader and reigning champion made a mistake at Turn 10, touching the paint line under braking and doing a half spin, losing seven seconds, and bringing Rosberg right up to him.

Heidfeld tangled with the inexperienced Sébastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) and the German crashed off into the gravel trap.

Massa got up the inside of fifth-placed Rosberg and took away the place in the final corner.

On lap 13 Webber caught Hamilton and got past into the lead at the final corner, but Hamilton took a tow from the Red Bull down the main straight and got past Webber again before Turn 1 as Alonso closed in from behind, the top three cars covered by just 0.7 sec. On the next lap, Alonso got his nose ahead of Webber briefly, but the Australian held onto his second place.

On lap 14, Webber pitted and returned to the race in the middle of traffic as Alonso moved into second place, 1.3 sec behind race leader Hamilton.

Further behind, Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes), who had a bad start off the grid, losing three places, was having a big dice with Vitaly Petrov (Renault) for eighth place.

Web set a new fastest lap of 1'37.003 on lap 16 as Hamilton rejoined the race alongside the flying Australian whose pace carried him to the first corner ahead of Hamilton but behind Alonso, who now led the race. Alonso pitted at the end of lap 17 and for the first time this season, Webber took the lead of a race.

Vettel pitted next and returned to the race a place down in fifth as Webber set another fastest lap - 1'36.947, followed by Hamilton's 1'36.585 on lap 20.

On lap 25, Schumacher repeated Vettel's earlier and elementary error, braking on the paint line and spinning off the track. He was able to continue in ninth place.

Hamilton was still in touch with race leader Webber 1.4 seconds ahead and was 1.3 seconds clear of Alonso behind. Vettel was down in fifth place and lapping consistently a second off the pace of the front-runners.

Petrov, Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) and Button all pitted on lap 25, the 2009 world champion rejoining in eighth place, 2,2 sec behind Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes) as Rubens Barrichello (Williams-Cosworth) retired after his pit told him his engine was about to fail. On the same lap, Alonso set a new fastest time of 1'36.258 as the fuel loads came down.

Button caught up with seventh-placed Sutil on lap 26 and began to look for a way past.

As the cars completed the 30th lap of the German Grand Prix, they reached not only the halfway mark of the race, but also the midway point of the 2011 season.

Webber pitted at the end of lap 30, releasing Hamilton into the lead once again, 0.6 sec ahead of Alonso. Hamilton pitted on lap 31, and Alonso inherited the lead. Hamilton rejoined the race crucially ahead of Webber who drew alongside in Turn 2 but Hamilton closed the door and the Australian had to back off.

Hamilton caught up with Alonso as he rejoined from his pit stop, and Hamilton did to him successfully what Webber tried to do to him and the McLaren surged through into the lead once more, setting a new fastest lap of 1'35.224 in the process.

Button was having a big dice with Rosberg for sixth and his relentless pressure caused the German to make an error, allowing Button to get past, but moments later Button's pit boss said over the radio: "Pit this lap - we have to retire the car. We have a hydraulics problem."

On the same lap as one McLaren retired, the other, leading the race, set a new fastest lap of 1'35.063.

Button cruised slowly back to the pits to embarrassingly retire the Mercedes-engined car in front of a German crowd. Rosberg got his sixth place back, but pitted on the next lap for soft compound tyres, and would have to make another late pit stop for fresh rubber. His team mate Schumacher pitted next for the same option of rubber, both cars on a three-stop strategy.

Rosberg rejoined in eighth behind Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber-Ferrari) and at the end of his out lap, he tried to overtake the Japanese into Turn 1, but Kobayashi would have none of it and drove around the German to take back the place. On the next lap, Kobayashi ran slightly wide after out-braking himself into Turn 1, and Rosberg needed no second invitation to grab seventh place.

Hamilton was pumping in a series of quick laps as Alonso's challenge for the lead began to fade and the gap between them opened up to four seconds with 17 laps remaining.

Sixth-placed Vettel ran up behind a back-marker down the back straight and had a lockup going into the final chicane, taking the escape road and rejoining without further incident. He recovered and closed up on Massa who was in fourth place. The Brazilian was late on the brakes in the same place as Vettel a lap earlier, and he abandoned the second half of the chicane but retained his place.

Further back, on lap 46, Schumacher was 0.8 sec behind Petrov and getting ready to challenge for ninth place. They both arrived at the final chicane carrying too much speed and neither took a clean line through it, and as they came down the main straight, Schumacher got a tow behind the Renault and got past in Turn 1. Petrov pitted for the final time at the end of that lap.

Vettel had been having (by his standards) a poor afternoon but on lap 47 he set a new fastest lap of 1'34.587 as he reeled in Massa 0.38 sec ahead.

Race leader Hamilton pitted on lap 51, taking on a set of brand new tyres for his final nine laps. Alonso was released into the lead, followed by Webber, 4.1 sec behind.

Alonso stayed out on his worm tyres, but his Ferrari was starting to fishtail out of the corners as it lost grip, but he pitted on the next lap, handing the lead back to Webber who was still to pit. Alonso rejoined the race, but crucially behind Hamilton in third place.

Webber was now leading but on worn tyres, and his sector times were slower than Hamilton's who took 0.6 sec out of Webber's 12.7 sec lead.

With four laps to go, British GP winner Webber was still out and losing time to Hamilton, while team mate Vettel was attacking Massa for fourth place. On lap 56, Webber finally pitted and rejoined in third place as Hamilton surged past into the lead once again, 2.9 sec ahead of Alonso.

"OK Lewis, you are P1!" said Hamilton's pit boss over the radio. "You are three seconds ahead of Alonso and the fastest car on the circuit."

The German fans would not have been best pleased to see both Rosberg and Schumacher being lapped by the race leaders.

Massa and Vettel provided the excitement over the closing laps as they sparred over fourth place. Both cars were waggling as they powered out of the slower corners and they both were obliged by the regulations to make a final stop for tyres as Hamilton set a new fastest lap of 1'34.302.

Massa and Vettel pitted line astern on the final lap, but Red Bull's pit crew were quicker than Ferraris' and Vettel emerged ahead of Massa to complete the last lap.

There was no such late drama for Lewis Hamilton who scored his second win of the year and moved into third place in the championship behind Vettel and Webber.

2011 Formula 1 : German Grand Prix : Race result

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	3	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	60	1:37:30.334	2	25
2	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	60	+3.9 secs	4	18
3	2	Mark Webber	RBR-Renault	60	+9.7 secs	1	15
4	1	Sebastian Vettel	RBR-Renault	60	+47.9 secs	3	12
5	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	60	+52.2 secs	5	10
6	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	60	+86.2 secs	8	8
7	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	59	+1 Lap	6	6
8	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	59	+1 Lap	10	4
9	16	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	59	+1 Lap	17	2
10	10	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	59	+1 Lap	9	1
11	17	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari	59	+1 Lap	15
12	19	Jaime Alguersuari	STR-Ferrari	59	+1 Lap	16
13	15	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	59	+1 Lap	12
14	12	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Cosworth	59	+1 Lap	13
15	18	Sebastien Buemi	STR-Ferrari	59	+1 Lap	24
16	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Renault	58	+2 Laps	18
17	24	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	57	+3 Laps	19
18	25	Jerome d'Ambrosio	Virgin-Cosworth	57	+3 Laps	21
19	22	Daniel Ricciardo	HRT-Cosworth	57	+3 Laps	22
20	21	Karun Chandhok	Lotus-Renault	56	+4 Laps	20
Ret	23	Vitantonio Liuzzi	HRT-Cosworth	37	Electrical	23
Ret	4	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	35	Hydraulics	7
Ret	11	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	16	Oil leak	14
Ret	9	Nick Heidfeld	Renault	9	Accident	11

2011 Formula 1 : Championship standing

Pos	Driver	Nationality	Team	Points
1	Sebastian Vettel	German	RBR-Renault	216
2	Mark Webber	Australian	RBR-Renault	139
3	Lewis Hamilton	British	McLaren-Mercedes	134
4	Fernando Alonso	Spanish	Ferrari	130
5	Jenson Button	British	McLaren-Mercedes	109
6	Felipe Massa	Brazilian	Ferrari	62
7	Nico Rosberg	German	Mercedes	46
8	Nick Heidfeld	German	Renault	34
9	Vitaly Petrov	Russian	Renault	32
10	Michael Schumacher	German	Mercedes	32
11	Kamui Kobayashi	Japanese	Sauber-Ferrari	27
12	Adrian Sutil	German	Force India-Mercedes	18
13	Jaime Alguersuari	Spanish	STR-Ferrari	9
14	Sergio Perez	Mexican	Sauber-Ferrari	8
15	Sebastien Buemi	Swiss	STR-Ferrari	8
16	Rubens Barrichello	Brazilian	Williams-Cosworth	4
17	Paul di Resta	British	Force India-Mercedes	2
18	Pedro de la Rosa	Spanish	Sauber-Ferrari	0
19	Jarno Trulli	Italian	Lotus-Renault	0
20	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Italian	HRT-Cosworth	0
21	Pastor Maldonado	Venezuelan	Williams-Cosworth	0
22	Jerome d'Ambrosio	Belgian	Virgin-Cosworth	0
23	Heikki Kovalainen	Finnish	Lotus-Renault	0
24	Timo Glock	German	Virgin-Cosworth	0
25	Narain Karthikeyan	Indian	HRT-Cosworth	0
26	Daniel Ricciardo	Australian	HRT-Cosworth	0
27	Karun Chandhok	Indian	Lotus-Renault	0

2011 Formula 1 : Team Championship Standing

Pos	Team	Points
1	RBR-Renault	355
2	McLaren-Mercedes	243
3	Ferrari	192
4	Mercedes	78
5	Renault	66
6	Sauber-Ferrari	35
7	Force India-Mercedes	20
8	STR-Ferrari	17
9	Williams-Cosworth	4
10	Lotus-Renault	0
11	HRT-Cosworth	0
12	Virgin-Cosworth	0

[Source : Official F1, Supersport ZA, CRASH.NET]

2011 Formula 1 : Alonso wins British GP

2011 F1 British Grand Prix winner : Fernando Alonso (ESP), Scuderia Ferrari, F-150 Italia

SILVERSTONE : July 10, 2011 - Fernando Alonso comes through to win a challenging British Grand Prix and give the Scuderia its first victory of the year.

Vettel had had to fend off team mate Mark Webber over the closing laps before the Australian was given team orders to maintain his position. Lewis Hamilton started the race from tenth, but quickly fought his way through the pack to second place before having to reduce his pace due to excessive fuel consumption and he finished fourth, a tenth of a second ahead of Felipe Massa (Ferrari) with Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) sixth.

Vettel continues to lead the world championship on 204 points, followed by Webber on 124. Alonso moves up into third place on 112 points, followed by Hamilton and Button tied on fourth on 109 points apiece.

Red Bull has extended its lead over McLaren to 100 points with a total of 328. Ferrari is a distant third with exactly half Red Bull's points.

Reigning F1 world champion Vettel out-dragged pole man and team mate Webber to lead the race into the first corner. Alonso also got past his Ferrari team mate Massa, while both Hamilton and Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) each made up three places on the opening lap.

On lap 2, Hamilton got past Paul di Resta (Force India-Mercedes) as Massa got past Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes) and was followed through by Hamilton, up to fifth place in just two laps after starting tenth.

Vettel was not troubled by the lifted spray that the other 23 drivers had to put up with, and he set a 1'50.924 followed by a 1'50.838 on lap 3.

The race started under grey skies on a relatively dry but slippery track, and Sergio Perez (Sauber-Ferrari) went off the circuit on his out lap to the dummy grid, taking out an advertising board in the process and even under racing conditions, the intermediate tyre looked like the correct choice even if it wasn't raining.

Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) took 12th place off Perez on lap 7 while Sébastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) and Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) both got past Vitaly Petrov (Renault). Heikki Kovalainen retired his Lotus-Renault on lap 6.

"I lost fourth gear on the first lap. I had a good start and made up three or four places, but it was game over," said the Finn.

Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber-Ferrari) ran wide and lost two places to Schumacher and Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes), rejoining in ninth place. There was contact between Kobayashi and Schumacher and the incident came under investigation by the race stewards. Schumacher pitted for a new front wing and soft option dry tyres.

Hamilton was closing right up on Massa who was fishtailing in the tight corners trying to find grip.

Webber set a new fastest lap of 1'49.988 as he tried to close the 8.1 sec gap to leader Vettel.

On lap 12, Schumacher, on fresh tyres, set a new fast lap of 1'49.012 as Hamilton got past Massa into fourth place but he then ran wide and Massa took the place back again.

Button was next to set the fastest lap as he closed up on Massa who had just rejoined after his pit stop. The two diced side by side through three corners before Button gunned his McLaren past the Ferrari into fifth place. Further ahead there was a similar battle between Hamilton and Alonso for third place and it went the same way with the McLaren surging past the Ferrari.

The race stewards decided that Schumacher was once again to blame for the collision with Kobayashi and he was given a stop-and-go penalty.

Back at the front of the race, the Red Bulls of Vettel and Webber were coming under pressure from Hamilton who was just six seconds behind but closing rapidly.

Button set a new fastest lap of 1'41.475 on lap 16 and was just three seconds behind fourth-placed Alonso, but the Spaniard responded with a 1'40.985.

On lap 17, Hamilton took one-and-a-half seconds out of Webber's lead which was then just 4.4 seconds. On the next lap 2008 world champion Hamilton set a new target of 1'39.877 as he pulled the gap down to four seconds. Alonso was next to top the timesheets with a 1'38.803 on lap 21.

Hamilton now started to come under pressure from Alonso who used his DRS to blast through on lap 23 into third place again and then set a 1'38.456 as he chased Webber 2.5 sec ahead. Hamilton pitted for fresh tyres and rejoined in sixth place, 5.6 sec behind Massa.

Webber, Button and Massa all pitted together on lap 26 while Buemi suffered a delaminating left rear tyre after contact with the front of di Resta.

Vettel and Alonso pitted together but there was a problem with one of Vettel's wheel nuts and Alonso was released ahead of Vettel, rejoining just a second ahead of Hamilton who was within the one-second window to use his DRS in the straight.

Vettel closed right up on Hamilton and began to try and find a way past. He was using his DRS to make up ground in the straights but he lost it again in the corners. With Hamilton going defensive against the attack from behind, Alonso was able to stretch his lead to 8.3 sec by lap 33.

On lap 35, Vettel came up the inside of Hamilton as they came down the main straight, but he had to lift off into turn one, allowing Hamilton to slip off the hook again. Vettel pitted on the next lap for fresh tyres. McLaren responded, pulling in Hamilton on the next lap and although their work was slick, Vettel flashed past as Hamilton rejoined the track from the pit lane.

Alonso now had a 13.1 sec lead over Webber who was 3.9 sec ahead of Button who was in turn followed by Massa (+23.4), Vettel (+24.4) and Hamilton (+27.4).

Alonso pitted on lap 39 and emerged with his lead intact, as Button pitted next, but as he came down the pit lane he slowed to a stop as his front right wheel had no wheel nut on it. Button has never finished a British Grand Prix on the podium, and he would not be doing that this year either. The lollipop man had lifted the pole to release the driver before the crew member on the right front wheel station had finished tightening the wheel.

Back in front, Alonso set a new fastest lap of 1'34.908 as he increased his lead over Vettel to 12.6 sec with Hamilton a further 3.0 sec behind.

Hamilton was told over the radio to run his engine leaner to save fuel, and that would drop his power output, allowing fourth-placed Webber to creep closer from one-and-a-half second behind.

As Webber arrived within one second of Hamilton and within the DRS activation zone, Hamilton was advised over the radio: "Just do what you are doing and don't make it easy for him."

But it was inevitable that the DRS would allow Webber past into third place, which he accomplished on lap 45.

Massa was now chasing down Hamilton as he maintained cruise mode in order to make it to the end of the race.

Third-placed Webber was also closing the gap to team mate Vettel, just one second behind on the penultimate lap. That one second evaporated as Webber got alongside and challenged the championship leader down the main straight.

As the final lap started, Webber was challenging Vettel for second while Massa was challenging Hamilton for fourth.

Webber got right up with Vettel before he received his racing orders over the radio: "Mark, maintain the gap!" and he was forced to let Vettel go.

12 seconds behind, Massa challenged and got past Hamilton into Vale, but Hamilton ducked behind and came up the inside again and as they dragged out of the last corner towards the line, Massa ran wide, allowing Hamilton back into fourth again.

Race result : 2001 Formula 1 - British Grand Prix

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	52	Winner	3	25
2	1	Sebastian Vettel	RBR-Renault	52	+16.5 secs	2	18
3	2	Mark Webber	RBR-Renault	52	+16.9 secs	1	15
4	3	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	52	+28.9 secs	10	12
5	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	52	+29.0 secs	4	10
6	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	52	+60.6 secs	9	8
7	17	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari	52	+65.5 secs	12	6
8	9	Nick Heidfeld	Renault	52	+75.5 secs	16	4
9	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	52	+77.9 secs	13	2
10	19	Jaime Alguersuari	STR-Ferrari	52	+79.1 secs	18	1
11	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	52	+79.7 secs	11
12	10	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	52	+80.6 secs	14
13	11	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	51	+1 Lap	15
14	12	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Cosworth	51	+1 Lap	7
15	15	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	51	+1 Lap	6
16	24	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	50	+2 Laps	20
17	25	Jerome d'Ambrosio	Virgin-Cosworth	50	+2 Laps	22
18	23	Vitantonio Liuzzi	HRT-Cosworth	50	+2 Laps	23
19	22	Daniel Ricciardo	HRT-Cosworth	49	+3 Laps	24
Ret	4	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	39	+13 Laps	5
Ret	18	Sebastien Buemi	STR-Ferrari	25	+27 Laps	19
Ret	16	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	23	+29 Laps	8
Ret	21	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Renault	10	Oil leak	21
Ret	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Renault	2	Gearbox	17

2011 Formula 1 : Drivers championship standings

Pos	Driver	Nationality	Team	Points
1	Sebastian Vettel	German	RBR-Renault	204
2	Mark Webber	Australian	RBR-Renault	124
3	Fernando Alonso	Spanish	Ferrari	112
4	Lewis Hamilton	British	McLaren-Mercedes	109
5	Jenson Button	British	McLaren-Mercedes	109
6	Felipe Massa	Brazilian	Ferrari	52
7	Nico Rosberg	German	Mercedes	40
8	Nick Heidfeld	German	Renault	34
9	Vitaly Petrov	Russian	Renault	31
10	Michael Schumacher	German	Mercedes	28
11	Kamui Kobayashi	Japanese	Sauber-Ferrari	25
12	Adrian Sutil	German	Force India-Mercedes	10
13	Jaime Alguersuari	Spanish	STR-Ferrari	9
14	Sergio Perez	Mexican	Sauber-Ferrari	8
15	Sebastien Buemi	Swiss	STR-Ferrari	8
16	Rubens Barrichello	Brazilian	Williams-Cosworth	4
17	Paul di Resta	British	Force India-Mercedes	2
18	Pedro de la Rosa	Spanish	Sauber-Ferrari	0
19	Jarno Trulli	Italian	Lotus-Renault	0
20	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Italian	HRT-Cosworth	0
21	Jerome d'Ambrosio	Belgian	Virgin-Cosworth	0
22	Heikki Kovalainen	Finnish	Lotus-Renault	0
23	Pastor Maldonado	Venezuelan	Williams-Cosworth	0
24	Timo Glock	German	Virgin-Cosworth	0
25	Narain Karthikeyan	Indian	HRT-Cosworth	0
26	Daniel Ricciardo	Australian	HRT-Cosworth	0

2011 Formula 1 : Team - Manufacturers' Championship Standings

Pos	Team	Points
1	RBR-Renault	328
2	McLaren-Mercedes	218
3	Ferrari	164
4	Mercedes	68
5	Renault	65
6	Sauber-Ferrari	33
7	STR-Ferrari	17
8	Force India-Mercedes	12
9	Williams-Cosworth	4
10	Lotus-Renault	0
11	HRT-Cosworth	0
12	Virgin-Cosworth	0

[Source : F1, Supersport ZA, CRASH.NET]

2011 Formula 1 : Vettel takes the sixth win of season

Sebastian Vettel (GER), Red Bull Racing, RB7 race winner, Fernando Alonso (ESP), Scuderia Ferrari, F-150 Italia 2nd position and Mark Webber (AUS), Red Bull Racing, RB7 3rd position

VALENCIA, Spain : June 26, 2011 - Sebastian Vettel returned to winning ways with his sixth win of the 2011 season in a European Grand Prix that failed to deliver much in the way of action, but still secured a place in the F1 record books.

2011 F1 - European Grand Prix winner - Sebastian Vettel (GER), Red Bull Racing, RB7

All 24 cars that started the race were still running at the finish, marking only the fourth time that an F1 race has been completed without a retirement while the race also had more classified finishers than any other in the history of the sport.

Aside from that, Valencia 2011 will be remembered for little other than another masterclass from defending champion Vettel, who made a solid start to retain the lead when the lights went out and was then able to control proceedings from the front to extend his championship advantage to 77 points – the equivalent of more than three race victories.

Vettel gradually pulled away from team-mate Mark Webber through the opening laps of the race as the Australian found himself defending against the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso – the Spaniard having made up a place at the start to get ahead of Lewis Hamilton's McLaren.

Having said prior to the race that he was confident of challenging for a place on the podium, Hamilton's hopes all but ended at the start as his slow getaway also allowed Felipe Massa to jump ahead, with the Brazilian briefly holding third going into turn two before slotting in behind Alonso as the field headed into turn three.

As Vettel continued to lead, Webber came under increasing pressure from Alonso but despite maintaining his position in the first round of stops, the Australian was powerless to stop Alonso diving down the inside at turn twelve on lap 21 to move into second place, sending the Spanish crowd into raptures.

Alonso wouldn't stay ahead for long however as Red Bull's decision to bring Webber in for his second stop a lap earlier helped him jump back into second. The pair then ran together, with Vettel a few seconds down the road, until the final round of stops when Alonso jumped back ahead having been able to run three laps more on his soft compound Pirelli tyres.

While Vettel motored on to victory, any chance Webber had of completing a 1-2 for Red Bull came to an end when he was told to short-shift thanks to a gearbox problem in the closing laps and dropped back from the Ferrari as a result.

Vettel's margin of victory at the end was some 10.8 seconds over Alonso, while Webber came in more than 16 seconds further back in third place.

After his tardy start, the race would prove to be a low-key affair for Hamilton who ran fifth through the opening stint before getting ahead of Massa at the first round of stops when the Brazilian ran longer than the cars around him. The pair then maintained position through to the finish, albeit well down on the leaders with Hamilton 45 seconds behind Vettel and Massa six seconds further back.

Jenson Button meanwhile had an even less eventful race than team-mate Hamilton as he finished a lonely sixth, with his chances ending early on when he became stuck behind the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg. Although he eventually got ahead of the German, the leaders had been able to break away and Button was never in contention to repeat his Canadian victory of a fortnight earlier, with a KERS failure also playing a part in him finishing a minute down on the winner.

Rosberg would take the chequered flag in seventh place as the final driver on the lead lap, with Jaime Alguersuari matching his best F1 result to date in eighth. The Toro Rosso driver had dropped out of qualifying in Q1 on Saturday afternoon but made a two-stop strategy work to his advantage while the majority of the field pitted three times to work his way up the order and then saw off the challenge of Adrian Sutil's Force India through the closing laps.

Sutil and Nick Heidfeld then completed the top ten with Sergio Perez falling less than seven seconds shy of turning a one-stop strategy into a points scoring finish – the Mexican ultimately failing in his gamble after a series of slow lap mid-way through the race before he made his one and only stop.

Rubens Barrichello was the first Williams home in twelfth ahead of a huge battle for 13th that saw Sebastien Buemi fend off the challenge of Paul di Resta, Vitaly Petrov and Kamui Kobayashi.

After his best drive since coming out of retirement in Montreal, Michael Schumacher could only trail in down in 17th having lost time when he was forced to pit again immediately after his first stop when he touched Petrov's Renault at turn two. A poor start to the race saw Pastor Maldonado drop towards the rear of the field and the Williams driver never really recovered as he finished 18th, while Heikki Kovalainen was best o f the newcomers in 19th ahead of Lotus team-mate Jarno Trulli.

Timo Glock, Jerome D'Ambrosio, Tonio Liuzzi and Narain Karthikeyan rounded out the field.

Race result : 2001 Formula 1 - European Grand Prix

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	1	Sebastian Vettel	RBR-Renault	57	1:39:36.169	1	25
2	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	57	+10.8 secs	4	18
3	2	Mark Webber	RBR-Renault	57	+27.2 secs	2	15
4	3	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	57	+46.1 secs	3	12
5	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	57	+51.7 secs	5	10
6	4	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	57	+60.0 secs	6	8
7	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	57	+98.0 secs	7	6
8	19	Jaime Alguersuari	STR-Ferrari	56	+1 Lap	18	4
9	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	56	+1 Lap	10	2
10	9	Nick Heidfeld	Renault	56	+1 Lap	9	1
11	17	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari	56	+1 Lap	16
12	11	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	56	+1 Lap	13
13	18	Sebastien Buemi	STR-Ferrari	56	+1 Lap	17
14	15	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	56	+1 Lap	12
15	10	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	56	+1 Lap	11
16	16	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	56	+1 Lap	14
17	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	56	+1 Lap	8
18	12	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Cosworth	56	+1 Lap	15
19	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Renault	55	+2 Laps	19
20	21	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Renault	55	+2 Laps	20
21	24	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	55	+2 Laps	21
22	25	Jerome d'Ambrosio	Virgin-Cosworth	55	+2 Laps	23
23	23	Vitantonio Liuzzi	HRT-Cosworth	54	+3 Laps	22
24	22	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	54	+3 Laps	24

2011 Formula 1 : Drivers championship standings

Pos	Driver	Nationality	Team	Points
1	Sebastian Vettel	German	RBR-Renault	186
2	Jenson Button	British	McLaren-Mercedes	109
3	Mark Webber	Australian	RBR-Renault	109
4	Lewis Hamilton	British	McLaren-Mercedes	97
5	Fernando Alonso	Spanish	Ferrari	87
6	Felipe Massa	Brazilian	Ferrari	42
7	Nico Rosberg	German	Mercedes	32
8	Vitaly Petrov	Russian	Renault	31
9	Nick Heidfeld	German	Renault	30
10	Michael Schumacher	German	Mercedes	26
11	Kamui Kobayashi	Japanese	Sauber-Ferrari	25
12	Adrian Sutil	German	Force India-Mercedes	10
13	Jaime Alguersuari	Spanish	STR-Ferrari	8
14	Sebastien Buemi	Swiss	STR-Ferrari	8
15	Rubens Barrichello	Brazilian	Williams-Cosworth	4
16	Sergio Perez	Mexican	Sauber-Ferrari	2
17	Paul di Resta	British	Force India-Mercedes	2
18	Pedro de la Rosa	Spanish	Sauber-Ferrari	0
19	Jarno Trulli	Italian	Lotus-Renault	0
20	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Italian	HRT-Cosworth	0
21	Jerome d'Ambrosio	Belgian	Virgin-Cosworth	0
22	Heikki Kovalainen	Finnish	Lotus-Renault	0
23	Timo Glock	German	Virgin-Cosworth	0
24	Pastor Maldonado	Venezuelan	Williams-Cosworth	0
25	Narain Karthikeyan	Indian	HRT-Cosworth	0

2011 Formula 1 : Team - Manufacturers' Championship Standings

Pos	Team	Points
1	RBR-Renault	295
2	McLaren-Mercedes	206
3	Ferrari	129
4	Renault	61
5	Mercedes	58
6	Sauber-Ferrari	27
7	STR-Ferrari	16
8	Force India-Mercedes	12
9	Williams-Cosworth	4
10	Lotus-Renault	0
11	HRT-Cosworth	0
12	Virgin-Cosworth	0

[Source : F1, Supersport ZA, CRASH.NET]