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Webber wins at Interlagos

Saturday’s qualifying session for the last race of the season was once again dominated by Sebastian Vettel who did his fastest lap in 1m 11.918s. His lap was quicker than Webber’s by only 0.181s, while Button and Hamilton grabbed the third and fourth place on the grid, ahead of Ferrari’s Alonso and Nico Rosberg from Mercedes GP. With this pole position, the double world champion Sebastian Vettel has beaten Nigel Mansell’s 1992 record for the most poles in one season. However, Mansell had only 16 races to grab 14 pole positions.

Here are the results of the qualifying session for the last race of the season:

1. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 11.918s
2. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 12.099s
3. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 12.283s
4. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 12.480s
5. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 12.591s
6. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 13.050s
7 Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 13.068s
8. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1m 13.298s
9. Bruno Senna Brazil Renault-Renault 1m 13.761s
10. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes no time Q3

11. Paul di Resta Britain Force India-Mercedes 1m 13.584s
12. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth 1m 13.801s
13. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 13.804s
14. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 13.919s
15. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault-Renault 1m 14.053s
16. Kamui Kobayashi Japan Sauber-Ferrari 1m 14.129s
17. Sergio Perez Mexico Sauber-Ferrari 1m 14.182s

18. Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Williams-Cosworth 1m 14.625s
19. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Lotus-Renault 1m 15.068s
20. Jarno Trulli Italy Lotus-Renault 1m 15.358s
21 Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy HRT-Cosworth 1m 16.631s
22. Daniel Ricciardo Australia HRT-Cosworth 1m 16.890s
23 Jerome d’Ambrosio Belgium Virgin-Cosworth 1m 17.019s
24. Timo Glock Germany Virgin-Cosworth 1m 17.060s

As for the race, it was the first win of the season for Mark Webber but many people consider it as not being a fair one, since Vettel had some mysterious gearbox problems with his car. We say mysterious because after Webber passed him those problems disappeared and Vettel had no problems holding on to his second place despite the fact that the second and third gear were apparently not working. The problems with the gearbox were only obvious until the moment Webber took the first place. After that, it was smooth sailing for both Red Bull drivers.

Lewis Hamilton had to retire from the race because of some real problems with the car’s gearbox, while the third place on the podium was occupied by Button who managed to secure the second place on the end of the season, ahead of Ferrari’s Alonso who finished the Brazilian GP in fourth place. Massa managed to finish the Interlagos race on fifth place, followed by Adrian Sutil from Force India who grabbed the sixth place.

On the seventh spot finished Nico Rosberg from Mercedes GP, followed by Paul di Resta, Kobayashi and Renault’s Vitaly Petrov. The seven times world champion Michael Schumacher had to settle for a disappointing 15^th place, while local driver Rubens Barrichello was one place ahead of Schumi. This was probably the last race for Rubens in his career that started 19 years ago.

Here are the results of the 2011 Brazilian GP:

1. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 71 laps 1hr 32m 17.434s
2. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +00m 16.9s
3. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +00m 27.6s
4. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 35.0s
5. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +01m 06.7s
6. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +1 lap
7. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +1 lap
8. Paul di Resta Britain Force India-Mercedes +1 lap
9. Kamui Kobayashi Japan Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
10. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault-Renault +1 lap

11. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
12. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
13. Sergio Perez Mexico Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
14. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth +1 lap
15. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +1 lap
16. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Lotus-Renault +2 laps
17. Bruno Senna Brazil Renault-Renault +2 laps
18. Jarno Trulli Italy Lotus-Renault +2 laps
19. Jerome d’Ambrosio Belgium Virgin-Cosworth +3 lap
20. Daniel Ricciardo Australia HRT-Cosworth +3 laps

These are the final drivers’ standings for the 2011 F1 season:

POSITION	DRIVER	TEAM	POINTS
1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing	392
2	Jenson Button	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	270
3	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing	258
4	Fernando Alonso	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	257
5	Lewis Hamilton	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	227
6	Felipe Massa	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	118
7	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team	89
8	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team	76
9	Adrian Sutil	Force India F1 Team	42
10	Vitaly Petrov	Lotus Renault GP	37
11	Nick Heidfeld	Lotus Renault GP	34
12	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber F1 Team	30
13	Paul di Resta	Force India F1 Team	27
14	Jaime Alguersuari	Scuderia Toro Rosso	26
15	Sebastien Buemi	Scuderia Toro Rosso	15
16	Sergio Perez	Sauber F1 Team	14
17	Rubens Barrichello	AT&T Williams	4
18	Bruno Senna	Lotus Renault GP	2
19	Pastor Maldonado	AT&T Williams	1
20	Jarno Trulli	Team Lotus	0
=	Heikki Kovalainen	Team Lotus	0
=	Narain Karthikeyan	Hispania Racing F1 Team	0
=	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Hispania Racing F1 Team	0
=	Timo Glock	Marussia Virgin Racing	0
=	Jerome d’Ambrosio	Marussia Virgin Racing	0
=	Daniel Ricciardo	Hispania Racing F1 Team	0
=	Karun Chandhok	Team Lotus	0

And here are how things look in the constructors’ championship:

POSITION	TEAM	POINTS
1	Red Bull Racing	650
2	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	497
3	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	375
4	Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team	165
5	Lotus Renault GP	73
6	Force India F1 Team	69
7	Sauber F1 Team	44
8	Scuderia Toro Rosso	41
9	AT&T Williams	5
10	Team Lotus	0
=	Hispania Racing F1 Team	0
=	Marussia Virgin Racing	0