Alonso led at Monza but it couldn't last

It did not bode well for Ferrari’s season that it took them three attempts just to come up with a name for their new car. The original title ‘F150′ was dropped following objections from Ford, who sell a pickup truck with the same name.

The 150° Italia, as it was eventually named, may not have had the handling properties of a truck but nor was it a car with which Fernando Alonso could avenge his 2010 championship defeat.

There’s no disputing where Ferrari placed the blame for their lack of performance. While Alonso inked a long-term deal to stay with the team until 2016, technical director Aldo Costa was fired two days after the Spanish Grand Prix.

This had been a particularly humiliating race for Ferrari: a new rear wing was tried in practice, only for it to be swiftly banned by the stewards.

In the race Alonso brilliantly wove a path to the lead at the first corner and improbably stayed there until lap 18. But he finished a lap down as the 150° Italia struggled on Pirelli’s hard tyres.

The phenomenon recurred at most tracks: the Ferraris hovered around the third row of the grid, unable to get heat into their tyres quickly enough for a flying lap. On race day they generally fared better until they had to switch to the harder tyres.

Silverstone was a significant exception, and one which may provide an pointer to their 2012 form. At the race where the exhaust-blown diffuser restrictions were temporarily made much more stringent, Alonso took the lead and held it to the end of the race.

He may have been gifted the lead thanks to Sebastian Vettel’s slow pit stop, but Alonso was pulling away from his pursuers late in the race. With exhaust-blown diffusers significantly restricted next year, this bodes well for the Scuderia.

Another year to forget for Massa

Even when the car wasn’t up to the job Alonso was at his tenacious best. He consistently produced top-drawer performances and regularly put his Ferrari in among the McLarens and even the Red Bulls. He finished ahead of Mark Webber on several occasions.

Ahead of the Korean Grand Prix Alonso said he was “extremely happy” to have Felipe Massa as a team mate. Despite the gulf in performance between the two, Ferrari seem content to keep things that way for at least another season. Massa was out-scored by Alonso even more comprehensively this year (257-118) than last (252-144).

Massa had some misfortunes in 2011, not least the numerous collisions with Lewis Hamilton, most of which were not his fault. But they do not explain him scoring less than one-third of Ferrari’s constructors’ championship points.

Last year Massa’s problems were explained away by him not being happy on the Bridgestone tyres. But the switch to Pirelli this year appears not to have been the cure-all he was hoping for. He often had to use up an extra set of the soft tyres in qualifying, which further hindered him on race day.

Just one win: Alonso at Silverstone

With the championship a lost cause, the team used the final races of the year to develop their 2012 car.

Among the most conspicuous changes was a new front wing which vibrated violently at times, though seemingly only when fitted to Massa’s car. This prompted speculation Ferrari were trying to catch up ground lost to Red Bull in developing wings which move under pressure.

Ferrari have struggled to come to terms with the new-look Formula 1 – this is the second time in they’ve ended a season with a single win in the three years since the overhaul of the rules on car design. President Luca di Montezemolo has railed at the restrictions on testing and what he believes is excessive reliance on aerodynamics.

But with little change coming in those areas next year, Ferrari will just have to beat Red Bull at their own game.

2011 F1 season review

• The 2011 F1 season: The complete F1 Fanatic review
• Your 2011 F1 predictions revisited
• 2011 F1 statistics part 3: Stats and facts highlights
• 2011 F1 statistics part two: Vettel's domination
• 2011 F1 statistics part one: car performance
• New 2011 rules produced best racing of last four years
• What F1 Fanatics really thought of the 2011 season
• Sebastian Vettel voted F1 Fanatic Driver of the Year
• F1 Fanatic's article highlights of 2011
• Dominant Red Bull join F1's top teams

Images © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo

Ferrari drivers’ lap times throughout the race (in seconds):

Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 2011

For the ninth time this year, Alonso took fifth place on the grid: “We got much closer to the McLarens than we could have expected,” he said.

The Ferraris were quicker early in the race on soft tyres and Alonso picked off Lewis Hamilton and the start before hounding Jenson Button.

He lined up on the outside of Button at Ferradura on lap 11 and claimed third place as the McLaren driver backed off to avoid some debris.

But when they came to use the harder tyres at the end of the race it was the usual story – Ferrari struggled and McLaren were much quicker. Button reclaimed third for Alonso with ease in the DRS zone.

“On the medium tyres, we no longer had the speed to fend him off,” said Alonso.

“I also had a problem with the DRS which would not activate: I was not fighting closely with other drivers, but it would certainly have helped me gain a few tenths while overtaking.”

With Webber winning, Alonso slumped to fourth in the points standings, but he wasn’t bothered: “Losing out on third in the drivers’ championship is definitely not a big problem. First place is the only one that really counts.”

Fernando Alonso 2011 form guide

Felipe Massa

Massa had a scruffy qualifying session and had to make a second run in Q2, using up a set of soft tyres. He was beaten to sixth by Nico Rosberg.

Due to his tyre use in qualifying he was the only driver from the top three teams to run a two-stop strategy, and staying out late allowed him to lead a couple of laps before falling back.

His fifth place came under attack from Hamilton before the McLaren driver retired. But Stefano Domenicali reckoned Massa would have been able to keep the place:

“Felipe was forced to adopt a strategy which looked slower on paper, but he had a good race all the same and would have finished fifth on track even without having to wait for the retirement of the second McLaren.”

Felipe Massa 2011 form guide

2011 Brazilian Grand Prix

• Sutil voted Driver of the Weekend for Brazil
• Vettel "definitely affected" by gearbox problem - Webber
• 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix: complete race weekend review
• Vote for Brazilian GP driver of the weekend
• Red Bull: Gearbox glitch hands win to Webber
• McLaren: Button wanted to pass Alonso without using DRS
• Massa makes 100 Ferrari starts but no podium
• Ferrari: Alonso slips back on medium tyres
• Mercedes: Two-stop strategy leaves Rosberg vulnerable
• Force India: Sutil equals best result of the year

Image © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo

F1 pictures

• Jerez test day three in pictures
• Jerez test day two in 100 pictures
• Red Bull RB8 seen for first time as Jerez test begins
• Williams FW34 launch: First pictures of their 2012 F1 car
• Toro Rosso STR7 - first pictures and video of Toro Rosso's 2012 F1 car
• Red Bull RB8 launch - first pictures and video of Red Bull's 2012 F1 car
• Sauber C31 launch - first pictures and video of Sauber's 2012 F1 car
• Ferrari F2012 launch - first pictures and video of Ferrari's 2012 F1 car
• McLaren MP4-27 launch - first pictures of McLaren's 2012 F1 car
• Kimi Raikkonen continues his F1 familiarisation in Valencia

View more F1 pictures

Images © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo, Renault/LAT, Williams/LAT, McLaren, Getty Images/Red Bull, Force India/Sutton, Sauber F1 Team, Team Lotus, Virgin Racing, Motioncompany, Pirelli

F1 pictures

• Jerez test day three in pictures
• Jerez test day two in 100 pictures
• Red Bull RB8 seen for first time as Jerez test begins
• Williams FW34 launch: First pictures of their 2012 F1 car
• Toro Rosso STR7 - first pictures and video of Toro Rosso's 2012 F1 car
• Red Bull RB8 launch - first pictures and video of Red Bull's 2012 F1 car
• Sauber C31 launch - first pictures and video of Sauber's 2012 F1 car
• Ferrari F2012 launch - first pictures and video of Ferrari's 2012 F1 car
• McLaren MP4-27 launch - first pictures of McLaren's 2012 F1 car
• Kimi Raikkonen continues his F1 familiarisation in Valencia

View more F1 pictures

Images © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo, Renault/LAT, Williams/LAT, McLaren, Getty Images/Red Bull, Force India/Sutton, Sauber F1 Team, Team Lotus, Virgin Racing, Motioncompany, Pirelli

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, Interlagos, 2011

Sebastian Vettel put Red Bull on top in the final practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Team mate Mark Webber was third fastest with the McLaren pair second and fourth.

The Renault drivers were out first, Bruno Senna heading the times briefly on his home track before pitting.

The next driver to head the times was Lewis Hamilton, before team mate Jenson Button beat his fastest lap on the harder tyres.

Sebastian Vettel edged Button with his last effort, going just five-hundredths of a second faster than the McLaren.

The Mercedes drivers were the first onto soft tyres, Rosberg getting within a tenth of a second of Vettel’s time.

Webber – still on the harder tyres – beat Vettel’s time by three-hundredths of a second, before Adrian Sutil hit the top of the times with a 1’13.113 on softs.

Fernando Alonso was the next driver to go fastest, lowering the mark to 1’12.765, before Hamilton eclipsed his time by a tenth of a second.

But it was a familiar sight at the end of the session as Vettel set the fastest time once again, then improved it to end up on a 1’12.460.

Button moved up to second, less than a tenth of a second behind the Red Bull, with Webber taking third on a 1’12.597, pushing Hamilton down to fourth.

Sutil’s time was good enough to put him sixth behind Alonso, and ahead of the two Mercedes. Michael Schumacher had a near-miss when he came across a dawdling Massa in the pit lane exit at the end of the session.

Massa ended up tenth behind Paul di Resta. But Sebastien Buemi was unable to set a time after a technical problem on his Toro Rosso.

Combined practice times

2011 Brazilian Grand Prix

• Sutil voted Driver of the Weekend for Brazil
• Vettel "definitely affected" by gearbox problem - Webber
• 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix: complete race weekend review
• Vote for Brazilian GP driver of the weekend
• Red Bull: Gearbox glitch hands win to Webber
• McLaren: Button wanted to pass Alonso without using DRS
• Massa makes 100 Ferrari starts but no podium
• Ferrari: Alonso slips back on medium tyres
• Mercedes: Two-stop strategy leaves Rosberg vulnerable
• Force India: Sutil equals best result of the year

Image © Red Bull/Getty images

F1 pictures

• Jerez test day three in pictures
• Jerez test day two in 100 pictures
• Red Bull RB8 seen for first time as Jerez test begins
• Williams FW34 launch: First pictures of their 2012 F1 car
• Toro Rosso STR7 - first pictures and video of Toro Rosso's 2012 F1 car
• Red Bull RB8 launch - first pictures and video of Red Bull's 2012 F1 car
• Sauber C31 launch - first pictures and video of Sauber's 2012 F1 car
• Ferrari F2012 launch - first pictures and video of Ferrari's 2012 F1 car
• McLaren MP4-27 launch - first pictures of McLaren's 2012 F1 car
• Kimi Raikkonen continues his F1 familiarisation in Valencia

View more F1 pictures

Images © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo, Renault/LAT, Williams/LAT, McLaren, Getty Images/Red Bull, Force India/Sutton, Sauber F1 Team, Team Lotus, Virgin Racing, Motioncompany, Pirelli

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, Interlagos, 2011

The drivers who shared the front row of the grid for the last race were quickest in the second practice session in Brazil.

Lewis Hamilton headed the times in an uneventful session. He was followed by Sebastian Vettel, with the other Red Bull of Mark Webber in third.

Hamilton led the running early in the session on the harder tyres. Michael Schumacher briefly took over at the top of the times after switching to the soft compound.

Hamilton quickly returned to the top but Schumacher’s best effort remained within three-tenths of a second of the McLaren.

The Red Bull drivers were unable to beat Hamilton’s best time and Fernando Alonso took fourth.

Behind Schumacher were Felipe Massa, Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg. The two Force Indias completed the top ten, Adrian Sutil ahead of Paul di Resta.

Shortly before the end of the session Sergio Perez came to a stop at Juncao, telling the team he had a gearbox problem.

Image © McLaren

Mark Webber, Red Bull, Interlagos, 2011

Mark Webber headed the first practice session for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The Red Bull pilot was just 14 thousandths of a second quicker than Jenson Button.

The McLaren and Red Bull cars swapped fastest times during the session. Lewis Hamilton was third quickest ahead of Sebastian Vettel, the world champion wearing a new helmet-mounted camera during the session.

The two Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were next. Alonso’s session came to an end when his engine failed five minutes before the chequered flag came out.

Romain Grosjean, driving Vitaly Petrov’s car, also came to a stop before the end of the session with a technical problem on the Renault.

Several other teams ran one-off drivers during the session. Nico Hulkenberg was eighth-quickest for Force India behind Michael Schumacher.

Jean-Eric Vergne was 18th for Toro Rosso, Luiz Razia 20th for Lotus and Jan Charouz last in the HRT.

Kamui Kobayashi had a minor spin during the session but didn’t hit anything and ended up 15th-fastest.

2011 Brazilian Grand Prix

• Sutil voted Driver of the Weekend for Brazil
• Vettel "definitely affected" by gearbox problem - Webber
• 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix: complete race weekend review
• Vote for Brazilian GP driver of the weekend
• Red Bull: Gearbox glitch hands win to Webber
• McLaren: Button wanted to pass Alonso without using DRS
• Massa makes 100 Ferrari starts but no podium
• Ferrari: Alonso slips back on medium tyres
• Mercedes: Two-stop strategy leaves Rosberg vulnerable
• Force India: Sutil equals best result of the year

Image © Red Bull/Getty images

The design created by Linkin Park is to raise money for international aid for victims of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami through Music for Relief.

Vitantonio Liuzzi is also using a very unusual special helmet design for this race. Here’s what his team had to say about it:

“It is the seventh special edition designed this season by Kaos Design, but this new helmet is different to the rest and will be different to anything seen before in Formula 1. With a completely black base, the characteristic lines which Tonio has on his standard helmet will be drawn in white with the sponsors and VL logo written in golden leaves.

“The name of the helmet is ‘K-Writeme’ and it is covered in a material similar to that of a blackboard meaning that Tonio can write and erase what he wants on the surface until he is happy with the design.”

Here are pictures from Thursday at Interlagos.

F1 pictures

• Jerez test day three in pictures
• Jerez test day two in 100 pictures
• Red Bull RB8 seen for first time as Jerez test begins
• Williams FW34 launch: First pictures of their 2012 F1 car
• Toro Rosso STR7 - first pictures and video of Toro Rosso's 2012 F1 car
• Red Bull RB8 launch - first pictures and video of Red Bull's 2012 F1 car
• Sauber C31 launch - first pictures and video of Sauber's 2012 F1 car
• Ferrari F2012 launch - first pictures and video of Ferrari's 2012 F1 car
• McLaren MP4-27 launch - first pictures of McLaren's 2012 F1 car
• Kimi Raikkonen continues his F1 familiarisation in Valencia

View more F1 pictures

Images © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo, Renault/LAT, Getty Images/Red Bull, Force India/Sutton, Sauber F1 Team, Motioncompany

Start, Abu Dhabi, 2011

Who was the most impressive driver throughout the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend?

See below for my pick of the best drivers in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Review each driver’s race weekend in detail below and vote for who you thought was the most impressive driver.

For your consideration

Here are some of the drivers who impressed me during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend:

Lewis Hamilton – His best weekend in a long while, consistently quick and a deserved victory.

Fernando Alonso – Wrung every last thousandth of a second out of his Ferrari and came very close to snatching the lead off Hamilton.

Jenson Button – Qualified within a whisker of his team mate then coped well with a failing KERS to hold off his pursuers.

Nico Rosberg – Rosberg backed up his reliably excellent qualifying pace with a strong race drive, reeling in Felipe Massa is the closing laps.

Rubens Barrichello – Frustrated at every turn in practice and qualifying, he got the most out of his car on race day, even if it was only enough for 12th place.

Compare all the drivers

Review what happened to each driver over the race weekend and compare their performances with their team mates using the links below:

Red Bull team review
McLaren team review
Ferrari team review
Mercedes team review
Renault team review
Williams team review
Force India team review
Sauber team review
Toro Rosso team review
Lotus team review
HRT team review
Virgin team review

Vote for your driver of the weekend

Which driver impressed you the most throughout the Grand Prix weekend? Cast your vote below and have your say in the comments.

You need an F1 Fanatic account to vote. Register an account here or read more about registering here.

Rate the Race: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Don’t forget to cast your vote in the ‘rate the race’ poll as well:

• Rate the race: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Image © Red Bull/Getty images