Italian GP : Another disappointing race for Williams


Pastor Maldonado

By Andrew Hooper
September 11 2011

The 2011 Italian Grand Prix would be another disappointing race for the AT&T Williams F1 team with Pastor Maldonado andf Rubens Barrichello finish in 11th and 12th. For the Williams team it was unfortunate to see Rubens involved in a first corner accident. Pastor was up to sixth early on in the race but his overall pace was such that he was not able to maintain the pace to keep him in the points. Another disappointing day for Williams.

 
 Italian GP Race Review
 
Maldonado
 

For the fifty three lap 2011 Italian Grand Prix the AT&T Williams drivers Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado would start from thirteenth and fourteenth. For this race there would be two DRS zones with the detection occurring at the Lesmos and Parabolica. This would allow the drivers to use their DRS on the following straights. The day was very hot as the drivers prepared for their parade lap. In the top ten ninth placed Rosberg would start on the medium tyre. For the Williams team both Rubens and Pastor would start on the soft tyre. Tenth placed Senna was also on the harder medium tyre. The cars would move off and would start their parade lap. Vettel was leading with Hamilton second followed by Button, Alonso, Webber, Massa, Petrov, and Schumacher in eighth.

The cars would form up on the grid and the lights would go out and it would be Alonso who would make a great start to run side by side with Hamilton and Vettel running down to the first chicane. But there would be chaos in the first chicane with several cars making contact after Liuzzi would make a mistake seeing him running across the grass hitting several cars including Petrov and Rosberg. Rubens was also involved and he would be forced to pit getting a new front wing. Rubens had no where to go as he was stuck between Rosberg and Petrov. Rubens would take on the medium tyre at his stop. This would see the Safety Car come out and it would take until lap four for the accident debris to be cleared. Rubens was now at the back of the field while Pastor was in ninth. The restart would see Alonso leading with Vettel right behind.

 
Barrichello
 
Hamilton was third with Schumacher now fourth, followed by Massa, Button, Pastor, and Di Resta. Pastor had been able to pass the Force India. At the first chicane Webber would make a mistake and hit the rear of Massa damaging his front wing. At the front Vettel had been able to pass Alonso after a brave move on Alonso. With Webber and Massa's accident Pastor was now up to sixth. Trying to get back to the pits with no front wing Webber would go off at the Parabolica ending his race while Schumacher was attacking second placed Alonso. Lap six and Vettel was now 2.8 seconds in front of Alonso. Schumacher was third from Hamilton, Button, Pastor, Perez, Di Resta, Massa, and Alguersuari in tenth. In sixth Pastor was running by himself while Hamilton was looking for a way past Schumacher. As he started lap ten Vettel had extended his lead out to 5.1 seconds over Alonso.

Massa had been able to close the gap to Pastor and would easily pass the Williams at the frist chicane. Pastor was now in seventh some 2.5 seconds ahead of Perez in eighth. Sutil would retire at the side of the track leaving just seventeen runners. Rubens was now down in sixteenth but was 11.8 seconds behind Glock. Hamilton would finally pass Schumacher under braking at the first chicane. But Schumacher was able to use his straight line speed to easily get back past Hamilton. Perez was closing the gap to Pastor while at the front Vettel continued to put in fastest laps. Di Resta would pit on lap fourteenth while Button was now right behind team-mate Hamilton. Perez was now just 1.6 seconds behind Pastor and was half a second per lap faster than Pastor. Sixth placed Massa had opened up a seven second gap to Pastor such was the lack of pace from the Williams. Hamilton would try to pass Schumacher but would end up on the the grass at the Curve Grande. This would see Button pas Hamilton and then Button would also pass Schumacher going into Ascari.
 
Barrichello
 
Schumacher would pit on lap seventeen joined by twelfth placed Buemi. Button would pit the next lap coming back out on the soft tyre. Senna was attacking tenth placed Kobayashi as Hamilton pitted on lap nineteen. Kobayashi would also pit seeing Senna tenth. Pastor now had Perez right behind him but it would be Alguersuari who would pass both of them. Alonso would pit on lap twenty joined by Pastor and Senna. With their stops Hamilton would come back out behind Schumacher. Vettel would pit on lap twenty one with eighth placed Alguersuari also coming in. Hamilton would be complaining about the number of blocking moves that Schumacher was making defending his place. Lap twenty two and Massa would pit from third with Kovalainen also coming in. Pastor was now tenth while Rubens was in fifteenth.

Vettel would continue to lead setting another fastest lap on lap twenty two. Alonso was second with Button third. Schumacher would be told on the radio by Ross Brawn to "leave room at Ascari". Kobayashi had retired at the side of the track on the run down to the Parabolica. In seventh Perez had yet to pit while Pastor would lose tenth to Buemi going into the first corner. Senna was also closing in onto Pastor as Schumacher was again told by Ross Brawn to leave room for the car following. Hamilton was able to finally get past Schumacher going into Ascari. With Pastor now eleventh Rubens was now in thirteenth but some nineteen seconds behind twelfth and had been lapped. Button had started to attack second placed Alonso. Senna would get past Pastor on the run down the main straight. So now we had the Williams cars in twelfth and thirteenth as Alguersuari passed Di Resta for eighth. Di Resta would pit on lap thirty two as Rubens would have Alonso and Button coming past him.
 
Maldonado
 
Rubens and Button would pit on lap thirty four with Alonso and Hamilton pitting the next lap. Perez would retire off the track seeing Pastor now back in tenth. Vettel would also pit the next lap taking on the medium tyre. Pastor was 2.9 seconds behind ninth placed Senna and thirteen seconds ahead of eleventh placed Di Resta. Button would pass Alonso in the run between the first and second chicanes. Kovalainen would pit from twelfth while at the front Vettel would be leading second placed Schumacher, but Schumacher would pit on lap thirty eight. He would take on the medium tyre coming out behind Hamilton. Pastor would pit from tenth on lap thirty eight ending any hope of scoring even a single point. Di Resta was back in tenth while Pastor would join Rubens in been lapped. At the front Vettel was leading Button by 16.0 seconds with Alonso running close behind Button. Pastor and Rubens weer now in eleventh and twelfth. Massa was in fourth followed by Hamilton, Schumacher, Alguersuari, Buemi, Senna, and Di Resta in tenth.

Buemi and Senna would pit on lap forty two while Massa would also come in. Alguersuari would also pit from seventh while for Williams, even with all the pit stops, Pastor and Rubens remained in eleventh and twelfth. Senna was attacking Buemi for ninth as Hamilton started to close the gap to third placed Alonso. Senna would pass Buemi under braking at the first corner. Senna had been able to use his DRS to good effect. Hamilton would continue to close in onto Alonso as the final laps counted down but he would run out of laps, despite getting right behind the Ferrari. Vettel would start his final lap and would go on to take victory in the 2011 Italian Grand Prix. Button was second from Alonso, Hamilton, Schumacher, Massa, Alguersuari, Di Resta, Senna, and Buemi. For the AT&T Williams team it was unfortunate to see Rubens involved in the first corner accident. But Pastor was up to sixth early on in the race but his overall pace was such that he was not able to maintain the pace to keep him in the points. Another disappointing day for Williams.
 
Barrichello
 
Pos  Driver  	   Team		              Time
 1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           1h20:46.172
 2.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +     9.590
 3.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +    16.909
 4.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +    17.471
 5.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +    32.677
 6.  Massa         Ferrari                    +    42.993
 7.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
 8.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
 9.  Senna         Renault                    +     1 lap
10.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
11.  Maldonado     Williams-Cosworth          +     1 lap
12.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +     1 lap
13.  Kovalainen    Lotus-Renault              +     1 lap
14.  Trulli        Lotus-Renault              +    2 laps
15.  Glock         Virgin-Cosworth            +    2 laps

Fastest lap: Hamilton, 1:26.187

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                         On lap
Ricciardo     HRT-Cosworth                 40
Perez         Sauber-Ferrari               34
Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari               23
Sutil         Force India-Mercedes         11
Webber        Red Bull-Renault             6
D'Ambrosio    Virgin-Cosworth              3
Petrov        Renault                      1
Rosberg       Mercedes                     1
Liuzzi        HRT-Cosworth                 1
 

Bookmark or share this story with:

Italian GP : Another disappointing race for Williams
Discussion started by Williams F1 , 11/09/2011 14:46
Williams F1
11/09/2011 14:46
What do you think? You can have your say by posting below.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.

Ozzy Osbone
11/09/2011 14:52
Ruby yet again finishes behind the pay driver. Williams need a clear No.1 driver. Kubica is a possibility. Senna looks like he has some serious steel under that smiley exterior.

Who else is there? Not Sutil, thats for sure.

Anderis
11/09/2011 15:05
It's unfair judging Rubens's finish after what Liuzzi did on 1st lap.

I can't see any real possibility to hire a driver which could make a difference for 2012.

Ozzy Osbone
11/09/2011 15:30
It's always unfair to judge Ruby's performances apparently. Apart from that drive for Ferrari at Silverstone about 10 years ago all anyone has ever done is make excuses for the guy.

There's always some bloody reason why he had a@#$%&weekend. Come on. You make your own luck.

Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.
We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment. We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals. We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards. If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing abuse@sportnetwork.net