European GP : No points for Williams


Rubens finishes 12th

By Andrew Hooper
June 26 2011

The result of the 2011 European Grand Prix would again see the AT&T Williams F1 team fail to score any points.  Rubens Barrichello would finish in twelfth while Pastor was down in eighteenth. For the AT&T Williams team the result was again a frustrating one but given the pace of the FW33 in the lead up to the race it was where one would expect them to finish.

 
 European GP Race Review
 
Barrichello
 

For the AT&T Williams F1 team the fifty seven lap 2011 European Grand Prix would be another opportunity to see if the team could add to their small tally of points. But with Rubens Barrichello and Pastor Maldonado starting from thirteenth and fifteenth it would be a difficult task. But with Rubens and Pastor being previous race winners, Rubens in F1 and Pastor in GP2, they certainly have the experience to do well. On the grid it was again Vettel on pole with team-mate Webber second. Hamilton was third followed by Alonso, Massa,
Button, Rosberg, and Schumacher in eighth. The top ten cars would all be starting on the soft option tyre but with the warm track conditions there may be a question mark over their durability.

The grid would move off with Vettel leading their formation lap. Both Williams drivers would be starting on the cleaner right side of the grid. Rubens was on the soft tyre while Pastor was on the medium. The grid would form up and the lights would come on and then off after a short delay. It would be Vettel leading followed by Webber. Alonso was third followed by Massa and Hamilton. Pastor was way down in twenty second while Rubens was in twelfth. Rosberg was sixth from Button and Schumacher. Lap one and Vettel was leading by
1.3 seconds while Rubens was now 8.6 seconds behind the leader. Lap two and a 1m:45.466 from Vettel with his lead out to 1.8 seconds. Pastor was now twenty first while another driver to lose out at the start was Petrov who was now fifteenth.

Lap three and Vettel was now 2.2 seconds ahead of Webber. Rubens was now 1.3 seconds behind eleventh placed Di Resta. Button was looking to pass sixth placed Rosberg with Rosberg been quite defensive in his driving. Lap four and Vettel was 2.1 seconds ahead of Webber with Alonso 1.0 seconds behind Webber. Lap five and Webber was fastest, 1m:45.113, while Button would pass Rosberg under braking into Turn two. Pastor was now
twentieth but for Rubens he was still around 1.4 seconds behind Di Resta. Pastor was now 3.9 seconds behind Trulli and setting times some four seconds slower than the leader. A 1m:45.033 from Vettel on lap six followed by a 1m:44.712 on lap seven. Alonso had closed in onto Webber but would make a small mistake at Turn twenty running wide.
 
Maldonado
 
Eleventh placed Di Resta would complain that he was losing performance from his rear tyres with Rubens now 1.1 seconds behind the Force India. Pastor had dropped away from Trulli further to be 6.1 seconds behind the Lotus after lap nine. His chances of a good result disappeared at the start. Pastor would pit on lap eleven returning last on the track. Alonso was still running close behind Webber with Massa 3.3 seconds behind his team-mate. On lap twelve Heidfeld, Rubens, and Kobayashi would all pit while on lap thirteen Hamilton would pit joined by Rosberg. Sutil was also in with Hamilton taking on another set of soft tyres. Lap twelve and Vettel was now leading by 3.5 seconds from Webber but on lap fourteen Webber would pit, taking on the soft tyres.

Pastor was now twenty third while Rubens was sixteenth. Kobayashi had taken on the medium tyres in his stop. On lap fifteen we had Vettel, Alonso, Button, and Schumacher all pit. Di Resta and Buemi would also come in. This would see Massa leading while we would see Schumacher with a damaged front wing. Lap sixteen and Massa would pit while Hamilton put in another fastest lap, 1m:44.114. Schumacher would pit followed by Petrov. As Schumacher went into the pit lane his front wing was trapped under his car making the change over that much harder for his mechanics. Schumacher had made contact with one of the Renault's damaging his front wing. Pastor was now in eighteenth while Rubens was twelfth. In his pit stop Rubens had taken on the soft tyre while in front of him Heidfeld would pass Perez for tenth. Rubens would also pass Perez for eleventh.
 
Barrichello
 
At the front Vettel was 2.4 seconds ahead of Webber after lap eighteen. Alonso was now third from Hamilton, Massa, Button, Rosberg, Alguersuari, Sutil, and Heidfeld. Lap eighteen and a 1m:43.803 from Alonso with the Ferrari right behind Webber. Pastor had made one place as a result of pit stops to be seventeenth. Rubens was now 1.8 seconds behind tenth placed Heidfeld. Lap twenty and Alguersuari would pit taking on the soft tyre. This would see Rubens move up to tenth. Lap twenty and Rubens had lost time to Heidfeld with the gap
now 2.3 seconds. Ob lap twenty one Alonso was able to pull a move on Webber under braking going into Turn twelve. It was a nice clean move by Alonso and now that he was past the Red Bull Alonso would pull away from Webber. Lap twenty two and Vettel's lead over Alonso was 3.0 seconds, with Webber 1.2 seconds behind the Ferrari.

Lap twenty three and Alonso and Webber would trade fastest laps with Webber fastest with a 1m:43.583. Lap twenty five and Hamilton would pit taking on another set of soft tyres. Vettel had responded to Alonso and Webber setting a 1m:43.399 on lap twenty four. Hamilton was now sixth while Rubens was now 3.5 seconds behind ninth placed Heidfeld. Lap twenty six and Perez would finally pit while Schumacher had passed Pastor. Pastor was still in seventeenth as Hamilton set a 1m:43.114 on lap twenty six. Buemi would pit on lap twenty eight while Heidfeld and Di Resta would pit from ninth and eleventh on the same lap. Petrov would also come in while on lap twenty nine Webber would also pit, taking on a set of soft tyres. Both Sutil and Rubens would pit from eighth and ninth. Pastor would also come in while at the front Alonso would pit taking the soft tyres.
 
Maldonado
 

Webber would pass Alonso as the Ferrari came out of the pit lane. Now Alonso would have to do it all again as on lap thirty one Vettel would pit from the lead. Button would also come in again as Massa lead the race. Rosberg would pit from seventh as Webber came up behind Massa and using his DRS was able to pass the Ferrari. Massa would pit on lap thirty two taking on the soft tyre. It was a long stop for Massa allowing Button to be close to him. Lap thirty one and Vettel was leading Webber by 1.4 seconds. Alonso was 1.7
seconds behind Webber. Lap thirty three and Schumacher would pit from seventeenth. Button was on his radio complaining that his KERS was now working. Rubens was now twelfth 2.8 seconds behind Di Resta. Pastor was now lapped and in nineteenth. The only hope of a result may be a tenth from Rubens.

Lap thirty four and a 1m:42.420 from Vettel with his lead now 2.0 seconds over Webber. Hamilton in fourth was 15.7 seconds behind Alonso. Vettel was leading from Webber, Alonso, Hamilton, Massa, Button, Alguersuari, Rosberg, Sutil, and Heidfeld in tenth. Into lap thirty six and the top three were covered by 3.6 seconds. Pastor was now running in a lonely eighteenth with Rubens also running by himself. Vettel continued to push with a new fastest lap on lap thirty eight, 1m:42.273. Petrov would pit on lap forty one coming in from fourteenth. Heidfeld and Rubens would pit on lap forty two while on lap forty one Vettel had
set a 1m:41.926 to see his lead now 3.9 seconds. Webber would pit on lap forty three joined by Hamilton after a lengthy gap. Rubens was now down in fourteenth and Pastor eighteenth. Rubens had also now being lapped as on lap forty three Alguersuari would pit from eighth.
 
Barrichello
 
Lap forty five and Sutil would pit from eighth returning in tenth. Lap forty six and Alonso would pit while Di Resta had also come in. Pastor would also come in for what should be his final stop. Di Resta would behind Rubens while on lap forty seven Rosberg would pit from sixth. Vettel was still leading but he would pit on lap forty seven, ten laps remaining in the race. Returning on his medium tyres Vettel would be still leading from Alonso, Webber, Massa, Button, Hamilton, Rosberg, Alguersuari, Sutil, and Heidfeld in tenth. Rubens was twelfth and a considerable distance outside the points. Lap forty nine and Massa and Button would pit from fourth and fifth. Vettel's lead was now 8.6 seconds over Alonso. Rubens was 11.0 seconds behind eleventh placed Perez.

Hamilton would move back up to fourth with Massa and Button fifth and sixth. Rosberg was seventh with Alguersuari in eighth followed by Sutil and Heidfeld. Perez in eleventh had only made one stop while Rubens was now 9.3 seconds behind the Sauber. Perez was on the soft tyre as he drove to the finish. Vettel would just show how much he is in control in that on lap fifty three he would set a 1m:41.852 running on the medium tyre. Webber's engineer would come on saying that he had a gearbox issue and to short shift the lower gears. Lap fifty four and Rubens was now 8.1 seconds behind Perez but even if he did catch the Sauber he would still be outside the points. With two laps remaining Vettel was now 11.0 seconds ahead of Alonso. Vettel would start his last lap which he would comfortably complete. He would cross the line to take victory in the 2011 European Grand Prix., a totally dominate display from the Red Bull driver.

Alonso would finish in a strong second place with Webber third. Hamilton was twenty seconds further back followed by Massa, Button, Rosberg, Alguersuari, Sutil, and Heidfeld tenth. For the AT&T Williams team the result was again a frustrating one but given the pace of the FW33 in the lead up to the race it was where one would expect them to finish. At least it was pleasing to see Rubens attempt to bring his car into the points. As for what happened to Pastor no doubt the team will confirm what happened to see him lose so many
places at the start and then pit quite early.
 
Maldonado
  
Pos  Driver  	   Team		  	      Time
 1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           1h39:36.169
 2.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +    10.891
 3.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +    27.255
 4.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +    46.190
 5.  Massa         Ferrari                    +    51.705
 6.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +  1:00.000
 7.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +  1:38.000
 8.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
 9.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
10.  Heidfeld      Renault                    +     1 lap
11.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +     1 lap
12.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +     1 lap
13.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
14.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
15.  Petrov        Renault                    +     1 lap
16.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +     1 lap
17.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +     1 lap
18.  Maldonado     Williams-Cosworth          +     1 lap
19.  Kovalainen    Lotus-Renault              +    2 laps
20.  Trulli        Lotus-Renault              +    2 laps
21.  Glock         Virgin-Cosworth            +    2 laps
22.  D'Ambrosio    Virgin-Cosworth            +    2 laps
23.  Liuzzi        HRT-Cosworth               +    3 laps
24.  Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth               +    3 laps

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:41.852

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                         On lap
 

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European GP : No points for Williams
Discussion started by Williams F1 , 26/06/2011 15:10
Williams F1
26/06/2011 15:10
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