Lap times four seconds slower than 2010

2011 Spanish GP FP1 analysis

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Adrian Sutil, Force India, Barcelona, 2011

Lap times increased by four seconds at the Circuit de Catalunya compared to 2010 in the first practice session.

Mark Webber’s best time of 1’25.142 was four seconds slower than the best time set in the same session last year.

Despite favourable conditions it was also some way off the pace seen in testing this year, when Michael Schumacher set a 1’21.268.

A new kerb has been installed at turn seven to stop drivers cutting the corner.

Teams were using Pirelli’s revised hard compound tyre in the first practice session this morning. The tyre is designed to be more durable.

Here is all the data from the first practice session:

Longest stint comparison

  • There were few long stints in the first practice session as teams tended to focus on testing their upgrades
  • Webber did a nine-lap run on the hard tyres and got progressively quicker during it

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

12345678910
Sebastian Vettel90.66689.91289.589.65989.64989.564
Mark Webber89.37789.42389.7489.32889.26289.22189.31688.81488.654
Lewis Hamilton88.69689.23989.414
Jenson Button88.36792.31687.86791.76491.06788.73989.94
Fernando Alonso88.08287.34186.707101.41495.459
Felipe Massa89.89693.34388.98697.3488.65489.585100.075103.081108.213
Michael Schumacher91.2887.01687.17890.74787.428
Nico Rosberg97.77101.68692.02986.55487.58586.514
Nick Heidfeld89.42288.78988.98987.91590.9387.132
Vitaly Petrov89.2790.72488.32287.89396.22289.25487.24187.754
Rubens Barrichello93.62489.36896.2787.89987.212
Pastor Maldonado91.95889.15397.48188.00588.366
Nico Hulkenberg91.2393.46394.14490.714
Adrian Sutil97.0889.25488.65788.07588.9488.76489.17189.54389.15290.638
Kamui Kobayashi90.60588.87989.3388.81988.96390.039
Sergio Perez88.53586.95497.6487.04286.738
Daniel Ricciardo90.82987.70987.47187.94188.507
Jaime Alguersuari90.4789.38588.99589.0889.713
Heikki Kovalainen91.42989.88789.23193.59789.34
Jarno Trulli93.49792.25891.89292.52791.68491.418
Narain Karthikeyan97.3693.73996.17393.302
Vitantonio Liuzzi93.1699.86292.18891.75296.20891.268
Timo Glock92.24591.64696.42192.67697.85391.527
Jerome d’Ambrosio92.48793.01691.15590.89692.039

Ultimate lap times

An ultimate lap is a driver’s best three sectors combined.

  • There’s further cause for concern for the teams at the back of the grid as Red Bull clearly have pace in hand and could raise the 107% bar even higher.
  • Neither HRT driver had any time in hand in this session as far as we can tell from the sectors.
  • However when it comes to Q1 with the front runners likely to only use hard tyres and those at the rear of the grid able to use softs, this should help them make the cut.
CarDriverCarUltimate lapGapDeficit to best
12Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’24.8290.313
21Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’25.8821.0530.267
38Nico RosbergMercedes1’26.2521.4230.127
45Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’26.3941.5650.086
57Michael SchumacherMercedes1’26.5911.7620.425
617Sergio PerezSauber-Ferrari1’26.6601.8310.078
710Vitaly PetrovRenault1’26.8892.0600.352
83Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1’26.9882.1590.000
911Rubens BarrichelloWilliams-Cosworth1’27.0672.2380.145
109Nick HeidfeldRenault1’27.1322.3030.000
114Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’27.1382.3090.000
1218Daniel RicciardoToro Rosso-Ferrari1’27.3882.5590.083
1315Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes1’27.6152.7860.412
1412Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Cosworth1’27.8082.9790.197
1514Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’27.8753.0460.288
1616Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari1’28.4623.6330.357
1719Jaime AlguersuariToro Rosso-Ferrari1’28.5173.6880.478
186Felipe MassaFerrari1’28.5873.7580.067
1920Heikki KovalainenLotus-Renault1’29.1894.3600.042
2025Jerome d’AmbrosioVirgin-Cosworth1’30.8506.0210.046
2124Timo GlockVirgin-Cosworth1’30.9406.1110.295
2223Vitantonio LiuzziHRT-Cosworth1’31.2686.4390.000
2321Jarno TrulliLotus-Renault1’31.4186.5890.000
2422Narain KarthikeyanHRT-Cosworth1’32.1067.2770.000

Complete practice times

  • Both Sauber drivers were able to improve right at the end of the session despite having put over 20 laps on their tyres.
  • Michael Schumacher lowered his time with 30 laps on his tyres, showing how well the new compound holds up.
CarDriverCarBest lapGapStint lapAt timeLaps
12Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’25.1425/54027
21Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’26.1491.0074/56620
38Nico RosbergMercedes1’26.3791.2375/64929
45Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’26.4801.3385/54827
517Sergio PerezSauber-Ferrari1’26.7381.5965/59226
63Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1’26.9881.8463/34919
77Michael SchumacherMercedes1’27.0161.8742/58932
89Nick HeidfeldRenault1’27.1321.9906/65121
94Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’27.1381.9961/13622
1011Rubens BarrichelloWilliams-Cosworth1’27.2122.0705/55120
1110Vitaly PetrovRenault1’27.2412.0997/89122
1218Daniel RicciardoToro Rosso-Ferrari1’27.4712.3293/58923
1312Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Cosworth1’28.0052.8634/53511
1415Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes1’28.0272.8855/54226
1514Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’28.1633.0212/29022
166Felipe MassaFerrari1’28.6543.5125/93828
1716Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari1’28.8193.6774/68923
1819Jaime AlguersuariToro Rosso-Ferrari1’28.9953.8533/5439
1920Heikki KovalainenLotus-Renault1’29.2314.0893/54621
2025Jerome d’AmbrosioVirgin-Cosworth1’30.8965.7544/57518
2124Timo GlockVirgin-Cosworth1’31.2356.0934/45024
2223Vitantonio LiuzziHRT-Cosworth1’31.2686.1266/64623
2321Jarno TrulliLotus-Renault1’31.4186.2766/64212
2422Narain KarthikeyanHRT-Cosworth1’32.1066.9642/34225

Speed trap

  • Rubens Barrichello was fastest through the speed trap.
  • McLaren and Red Bull were well in the bottom half of the straight-line speeds.
#DriverCarEngineMax speedGap
111Rubens BarrichelloWilliamsCosworth322.7
216Kamui KobayashiSauberFerrari322.60.1
312Pastor MaldonadoWilliamsCosworth322.20.5
48Nico RosbergMercedesMercedes321.90.8
57Michael SchumacherMercedesMercedes321.80.9
66Felipe MassaFerrariFerrari320.52.2
714Nico HulkenbergForce IndiaMercedes319.92.8
85Fernando AlonsoFerrariFerrari319.73
915Adrian SutilForce IndiaMercedes319.73
1010Vitaly PetrovRenaultRenault319.53.2
119Nick HeidfeldRenaultRenault319.43.3
1217Sergio PerezSauberFerrari319.13.6
1319Jaime AlguersuariToro RossoFerrari316.95.8
1418Daniel RicciardoToro RossoFerrari316.95.8
153Lewis HamiltonMcLarenMercedes315.47.3
1625Jerome d’AmbrosioVirginCosworth312.99.8
1724Timo GlockVirginCosworth312.710
181Sebastian VettelRed BullRenault312.410.3
1920Heikki KovalainenLotusRenault312.410.3
2021Jarno TrulliLotusRenault312.110.6
212Mark WebberRed BullRenault311.311.4
224Jenson ButtonMcLarenMercedes309.313.4
2323Vitantonio LiuzziHRTCosworth307.814.9
2422Narain KarthikeyanHRTCosworth307.615.1

2011 Spanish Grand Prix

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    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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    18 comments on “Lap times four seconds slower than 2010”

    1. With Schumacher lowering his time so late with the tyres, I think its also fair to say that he was not really pushing them either.

      There is a lot more time to come yet, I expect to see qualy times a good 3 seconds faster than these

      1. As the testing times prove, there is still more to do to go faster.

    2. Very well put, mr. Keith Collantine. It clearly shows no big changes, Red Bull fast in the corners, and slow on the max speed. I expect Mclaren to be faster, however.

    3. Interesting that the McLarens have gone quite low on straight-line speed. Perhaps they might go for glory in qualifying and try to control their race from thereon? Hamilton suffered last time out in Turkey because of track position.

      1. Their over-all times are decent when you consider the straight line speed. This may be an early sign they have some decent new aero.

    4. A Keith stated above, Schumacher did a 1.21.2 here in winter testing. Today the cars are developed further and it is a lot hotter.

      quali times will be much quicker than just 3 seconds.
      Wouldn’t be surprised if pole time is 1.20.xxx

    5. Do we know what happened with Ferrari? I remember reading one of their tweets where both drivers complained about lack of grip. Was there any technical issue or something?

      1. I’m wondering the same thing, Massa was miles off the pace

    6. In this graph, Mercedes is looking good. Looking forward to FP2 analysis, to see if they can maintain their pace.

      1. Yea it does look ok. We usually get a few more laps out of a stint so it’s not easy to compare it to previous sessions (relative pace and consisency that is).

    7. Hi everybody,
      how can I read the long stint comparision graph?
      In particular, what represent the y-axis?
      Thanks!

      1. Time (seconds) is the y-axis and lap number (for that stint) is the x-axis.

      2. The y-axis is lap time in seconds, the x-axis is the lap number on their run.

        So for example, Massa did a 1:43.08 on Lap 8 of his 9-lap run

    8. I know you can’t read too much into practice times, but Kovalainen is only 2 tenths off Alguersuari’s best. How high do you think Lotus will finish this weekend?

      1. Ricciardo was 1.5 seconds faster, so it may not be that representative. Though f their upgrades work I think Lotus might be able to beat someone on pace this time.

    9. So does it look like the new harder tyres last long with relatively good pace as well? Or is a good part of the 4 seconds difference made by that tyre instead of running the softs?

      Surely Red Bull is well ahead, as they probably were in winter testing as well as last years race.

      Seems both Mercedes and Ferrari as about the same as they were last round. Hard to tell what McLaren is doing, they are holding something back, I guess.

      Williams will be relieved to be a bit closer to the pace here, lets hope they keep that up.

    10. Ah new hard tyres that explains it.

      Mclaren were purely evaluating the new parts.

      I expect Mclaren or Merc to be top in FP2

    11. ricciardo consistantly doing well in practice and outdoing his team mate… would love to see him get a race seat.

    Comments are closed.