Kovalainen had a strong season for Lotus

Lotus took a step closer to the midfield in 2011 but rarely raced convincingly with the cars immediately in front of them.

With Virgin and HRT lapping a second or more off their pace, that usually left the two T128s occupying a limbo territory with little real racing to be done.

When an opportunity to race with the quicker cars presented itself, it was usually Heikki Kovalainen who took advantage.

He snuck into Q2 in Belgium at Paul di Resta’s expense on a drying track. He also did so at Silverstone.

But his best drive came at Singapore, where he held off Vitaly Petrov throughout the race.

This battle hinged on rapid pit work by the Lotus crew although Kovalainen came alarmingly close to taking out leader Sebastian Vettel as he left the pits. Lotus were fortunate to escape more serious punishment as the team had also been penalised for an unsafe release in Hungary.

Kovalainen finished the race in front of the Renault. This was to the delight of team principal Tony Fernandes, who at the time was in the middle of a the long, bitter battle with the team over the right to use the name ‘Lotus’.

Kovalainen also led his team mate home in Suzuka where, for the first time since 1987, both Lotuses finished on the lead lap. Their performance was somewhat flattered by a safety car period, but it was another sign of their progress.

Having switched to Renault engines and Red Bull gearboxes over the winter the team had much to digest on the technical front and this manifested itself in several reliability problems. But they development until the final race of the season, introducing a new rear wing in Brazil, but still fell short of escaping Q1.

Chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne said the exhaust-blown diffuser was “the single biggest thing to cope with” in terms of development:

“Obviously in 2010 we didn’t have it, so we worked on it over the winter and what became clear from pre-season testing was that the blown floor concept had clearly been taken a lot further than expected by the major teams, and we were therefore still quite a way behind on that.

“Although we reacted to that and had, in Turkey I think, our big update to the blown diffuser, we, along with a lot of other teams trying to introduce such elements, struggled to get the performance out of it.

“We weren’t able to get the numbers out of the diffuser that we were seeing in the wind tunnel. The numbers were there but we just couldn’t translate them to the track. Teams that had the technology for a while and that had more opportunities to test it were able to do that. Ultimately that is the real reason why we didn’t manage to close the gap to the people in front.”

Trulli rarely troubled Kovalainen

A persistent problem with the power steering affected Jarno Trulli far more than Kovalainen.

He had some bad luck as well. He made a good start in Singapore only to be taken out by Jaime Alguersuari. He was hit by Narain Karthikeyan on the first lap in India.

Felipe Massa collided with Trulli in Italy and in Canada a loose component in his car forced him to stop to have the problem investigated.

When the car and track were to his liking Trulli showed he can still turn out a good result. Such as in Monaco, a track he has always thrived on, where he claimed 13th place.

But all too often he was off Kovalainen’s place, usually qualifying and finishing well behind his team mate. The team announced in September Trulli would be retained for 2012 but that hasn’t stopped rumours he will be dropped to make way for a Red Bull Development Driver, most likely Daniel Ricciardo.

Chandhok struggled in his single outing

It was Trulli who was compelled to give up his seat to make way for Karun Chandhok at the German Grand Prix. However the Indian driver struggled in his one-off appearance.

Against expectations, the team did not bring Chandhok back for the Indian Grand Prix, preferring to concentrating on holding their vital and valuable tenth place in the constructors’ championship.

Having relinquished the Lotus name to Renault, the team will become Caterham next year. But in more tangible areas such as the engine and gearbox they will benefit from stability and have the opportunity to add KERS to their car, an omission which clearly hurt them at times this year.

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 © Team Lotus

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

Heikki Kovalainen

Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus, Interlagos, 2011

Lotus’s much-vaunted new rear wing did not provide the leap forward the team were hoping for. Kovalainen was the faster of the two drivers in qualifying as usual, four-tenths of a second off Pastor Maldonado and six-tenths off reaching Q2.

Kovalainen had a straightforward run to 16th, ahead of the delayed Bruno Senna, which guaranteed tenth in the championship for Lotus. It earns them a financial windfall of several million pounds.

Team principal Tony Fernandes said: “Two years of hard work have paid off today and it was great to see both cars home safely, helping us win tenth place.”

Fernandes revealed that, despite the settling of the naming row with rivals Renault, he still takes particular satisfaction from beating them: “The icing on the cake was beating a Renault – that meant a lot to me as I have always said the good guys do win. We have a fantastic little team here.”

Fernandes added: “Now we look forward to our new life as Caterham F1 Team and we say goodbye to Team Lotus. Colin [Chapman] – we hope we did you proud and we hope you keep an eye over us as Caterham F1 Team. We know we will do you proud there as well.”

Heikki Kovalainen 2011 form guide

Jarno Trulli

Trulli’s weekend was clouded by rumours that, despite his contract for 2012, he could yet be pushed aside for another driver, possibly Red Bull-backed Daniel Ricciardo.

He did little to dissipate the speculation with another indifferent performance. He was out-qualified by Kovalainen for the 16th time and finished almost 40 seconds behind his team mate.

Luiz Razia

Drove Jarno Trulli’s car in first practice.

Jarno Trulli 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 © Team Lotus

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