Wet session thwarts teams’ development plans

2011 Turkish GP first practice analysis

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Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, Istanbul, 2011

Rain in the first practice session at Istanbul was exactly what the teams testing new parts did not want.

Variable conditions, reduced grip and less downforce mean car upgrades cannot be properly tested.

And Pirelli were not able to see the results of any running on their new development slick tyre.

It also makes reading much into the practice times very difficult. Here’s the data from the first practice session in Istanbul:

Longest stint comparison

https://www.racefans.net/charts/2011drivercolours.csv

12345678910
Sebastian Vettel104.954
Mark Webber103.365102.564
Lewis Hamilton
Jenson Button120.666
Fernando Alonso102.474100.897
Felipe Massa122.142131.293114.333
Michael Schumacher100.33101.031100.962103.812100.974111.111122.686100.132123.755
Nico Rosberg104.246101.014112.11100.089124.135
Nick Heidfeld107.1120.737
Vitaly Petrov105.992135.877
Rubens Barrichello107.135103.913
Pastor Maldonado119.071102.597104.36103.511
Nico Hulkenberg104.523109.701107.68102.855123.592
Paul di Resta105.709104.265103.847
Kamui Kobayashi104.576105.628107.355126.95
Sergio Perez115.791
Sebastien Buemi105.308105.089105.517105.455105.119104.913108.658104.212105.134137.184
Daniel Ricciardo109.573103.392102.435101.52101.814102.096
Karun Chandhok111.676118.969133.319
Jarno Trulli105.297103.986136.622
Narain Karthikeyan108.461113.96114.542110.685
Vitantonio Liuzzi106.155107.284106.51106.271
Timo Glock107.421121.242
Jerome d’Ambrosio109.518107.429

Speed trap

#DriverCarEngineMax speedGap
15Fernando AlonsoFerrariFerrari295.5
28Nico RosbergMercedesMercedes289.26.3
315Paul di RestaForce IndiaMercedes287.97.6
47Michael SchumacherMercedesMercedes287.77.8
518Sebastien BuemiToro RossoFerrari287.67.9
616Kamui KobayashiSauberFerrari286.78.8
719Daniel RicciardoToro RossoFerrari286.29.3
814Nico HulkenbergForce IndiaMercedes283.911.6
917Sergio PerezSauberFerrari283.312.2
106Felipe MassaFerrariFerrari281.613.9
1110Vitaly PetrovRenaultRenault278.916.6
129Nick HeidfeldRenaultRenault275.220.3
1312Pastor MaldonadoWilliamsCosworth272.123.4
142Mark WebberRed BullRenault269.326.2
1524Timo GlockVirginCosworth268.726.8
1623Vitantonio LiuzziHRTCosworth267.927.6
1721Jarno TrulliLotusRenault258.237.3
1825Jerome d’AmbrosioVirginCosworth255.939.6
191Sebastian VettelRed BullRenault255.140.4
2011Rubens BarrichelloWilliamsCosworth24649.5
214Jenson ButtonMcLarenMercedes240.954.6
2222Narain KarthikeyanHRTCosworth238.157.4
2320Karun ChandhokLotusRenault223.971.6
243Lewis HamiltonMcLarenMercedes181.2114.3

Complete practice times

CarDriverCarBest lapGapStint lapAt timeLaps
15Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’38.6701/15513
28Nico RosbergMercedes1’40.0721.4021/14214
37Michael SchumacherMercedes1’40.1321.4628/99218
49Nick HeidfeldRenault1’40.3381.6682/2519
510Vitaly PetrovRenault1’40.4011.7312/25210
616Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari1’40.4211.7514/45216
76Felipe MassaFerrari1’40.6972.0272/26114
819Daniel RicciardoToro Rosso-Ferrari1’41.0942.4246317
918Sebastien BuemiToro Rosso-Ferrari1’41.1782.5082/25922
1014Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’41.3472.6771/15516
112Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’42.5643.8942/2525
1212Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Cosworth1’42.5973.9272/4896
1315Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1’43.5254.8552/28610
1411Rubens BarrichelloWilliams-Cosworth1’43.9135.2432/2875
1521Jarno TrulliLotus-Renault1’43.9865.3162/3926
1623Vitantonio LiuzziHRT-Cosworth1’44.7876.1171/34520
171Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’44.9546.2841/1623
1824Timo GlockVirgin-Cosworth1’45.1836.5131/25215
1925Jerome d’AmbrosioVirgin-Cosworth1’45.2376.5671/14911
2017Sergio PerezSauber-Ferrari1’47.1238.4538913
2122Narain KarthikeyanHRT-Cosworth1’48.4619.7911/4867
2220Karun ChandhokLotus-Renault1’51.67613.0061/3916
234Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes2’00.66621.9961/1954
243Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-MercedesNo time1

2011 Turkish Grand Prix

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    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    19 comments on “Wet session thwarts teams’ development plans”

    1. The 2 teams at the front hardly doing any running…

      Vettel crashed. Hamilton is said to have a clutch problem.
      But what about Webber and Button?

      1. Saving their wet tyres for the race perhaps?

        1. Indeed, if this is going to be full wet race all the way through those tyres are going to be so valuable, coming into the pits for the 4th set that have wear could be very costly.

          1. I guess there was not that much they could have learnt. Makes the Vettel spin even more of a bitter thing for him.

            But if the racs offers a bit of wet running, or just has the threat of it that might be a nice twist to the weekend.

    2. Was a pretty boring FP session to be honest. I was very surprised that more teams didn’t go out to sample the wet tyres.

      I would imagine that this afternoons times won’t be particularly representative as its a drying track too.

    3. I suspect that will see Hulkenburg out perform Di Resta many times this year.

      Of course, it’s still early, so I could be wrong.
      I just think Hulkenburg deserves a race seat.

      1. Its not like Di Resta has had a bad start to the season though!!

      2. Sutil’s career appears to be stalling in a Trulli-esque fashion. I have to say Di Resta and Hulkenberg is a more exciting driver line up than the current one…

        1. Too right it is. Sutil hasn’t excited me since 2009.

      3. I think you are reading way too much into a friday test time. Di Resta has matched Sutil pretty comfortably in quali and the races so far, and I cant say that Hulkenberg would be able to do the same. Hulk does deserve a drive soon, but I think DiResta deserves to show what hes got before people start saying that the Hulk deserves that seat.

      4. I’m more and more a Hulkenberg fan, and Ricciardo is surprising too.

    4. Fernando was going some on that straight, bit dicey doing that in those conditions.

    5. Liuzzi did the 2nd most laps out of anyone and managed to beat the Virgins and a Lotus.

      Really hope those updates work, maybe the HRT is just good in rain like the STR in 2008?

    6. Hi Keith. When will IE9 be supported?

      1. hadn’t seen the graphs don’t display in IE9 ‘native’: use the Compatibility View (“broken file” icon to the right of the place you type the address) to correct.

    7. What’s wrong with IE9 ? using it right now to write this comment.

      1. sry misplaced reply attempt… see previous post.

    8. Looks like a really good session from Buemi. Good top speed, decent fastest lap and probably the most consistent throughout the session.

    Comments are closed.