Canadian GP : More points for Barrichello
Rubens in the wet
By Andrew Hooper
June 13 2011
After an eventful race that saw changing weather conditions, several Safety Cars, a red flag and finally a chequered flag AT&T Williams F1's Rubens Barrichello would finish in ninth in the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix. Team-mate Pastor Maldonado would retire late in the race. Another points scoring race is encouraging.
| Canadian GP Race Review |
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Prior to the
start of the seventy lap 2011 Canadian Grand Prix the conditions had changed
from Saturday with the track now wet after heavy rain. The rain was expected
to be around or the majority of the race. For the AT&T Williams F1 team they
would start the race from twelfth and sixteenth with Pastor Maldonado
leading Rubens Barrichello. It was announced that the race would start under
the Safety Car with everyone starting on the full wet tyre. As it was a wet
race DRS could not be used unless the FIA directed otherwise. Alguersuari
would start from the pit lane having adopted a full wet setup. The field
would move away under the Safety Cars control with plumes of spray coming
off the cars. |
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Vettel was still leading
followed by Alonso, Massa, Rosberg, Schumacher and Kobayashi. But reports
had heavier rain on its way as we now had Pastor in eleventh and Rubens
fourteenth. The Safety Car would pull off and Webber in ninth was attacking
Petrov. Button would be given a drive through penalty for a Safety Car speed
limit issue which he would take straight away. Vettel was able to open up a
2.5 second lead while Button was now moving through the field passing Pastor
for eleventh. Rubens would also pit taking on intermediates as Webber passed Heidfeld for seventh. Other drivers would pit
with Alonso and Rosberg both coming in for intermediates. Pastor would also
come in while at the front Vettel continued to lead from Massa, while
Schumacher would pit from third. Rubens was up to seventeenth. He would
improve to be fifteenth. But it was now raining quite heavily as we had the Safety Car come out again. Alonso and Button would both pit followed shortly after by other drivers, including Rubens and Pastor, to take on the full wet tyre. Both Vettel and Webber would pit with Vettel back in the lead followed by Kobayashi. Vettel, Kobayashi, Massa, Heidfeld, Petrov, di Resta, Webber and Alonso were the top eight. Rubens was now in sixteenth while Pastor had dropped to twentieth. With the rain so heavy a decision was made to suspend the race, with the Safety Car brining the field to a halt on the start grid. After twenty four laps of the race the order was Vettel leading from Kobayashi, Massa, Heidfeld, Petrov, di Resta, Webber, Alonso, de la Rosa, Button, Rosberg, Schumacher, Sutil, Alguersuari, and Glock. |
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After a two hour delay the race
would finally get underway again behind the Safety car with the race finally
re-starting on lap thirty five. Vettel would pull away at the front followed
by Kobayashi and Massa. But on lap thirty eight there would be a rush of
cars coming in for intermediates, including both Ferrari's. But on his out
lap it would go wrong for Alonso with the Ferrari ending up stuck on the
kerb. Button would also have a left front puncture as a result of Button and
Alonso making contact when Button tried to pass Alonso at the first chicane.
Button would pit as the field was again running behind the Safety Car as
they tried to remove Alonso's Ferrari. The safety car would pull off at the end of lap forty one with Vettel again making a great re-start to again be leading. Rubens would pass Rosberg at the final chicane for eleventh. Vettel was still leading from Kobayashi, Massa, Heidfeld, Di Resta, and Schumacher. Schumacher had passed Webber at Turn eleven for sixth. But Di Resta would make a mistake at the final chicane hitting Heidfeld and damaging his front wing. The Force India driver would be forced to put to take on a new front wing. Heidfeld had Schumacher and Webber right behind him while Button was now in twelfth. Race control had now said that DRS could be used. Button would pass Pastor for eleventh. Rubens was now up in eighth as up at the front Vettel's lead was out to 6.2 seconds. Button would move up to tenth, passing Alguersuari going into the final chicane. Rubens would be passed by Rosberg for eighth as Webber pitted from sixth, joined by Rubens. Webber had taken on the super soft slicks as at the front Schumacher had been able to pass both Kobayashi and Massa at the hairpin. The next lap would see Button, Alguersuari and Pastor all pit followed shortly after by Massa and Heidfeld. There was a dry line starting to appear making the choice to slicks the right one for the track conditions. Vettel would also pit from the lead followed by Kobayashi, Petrov, and Rosberg. Massa would be forced to pit with front wing damage after hitting the barrier while on his slicks. Vettel was still leading by 10.7 seconds over the Schumacher and Webber, with Kobayashi next followed by Button, Heidfeld and Petrov. |
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Button would pass Kobayashi
for fourth while for Williams Rubens was in eighth and Pastor eleventh. For
Heidfeld it would go wrong when he would run into the back of Kobayashi
damaging his front wing such that it would come off and go under the front
of his car seeing him with no breaks or steering. He would crash at Turn
three and retire. But once again the Safety Car would be deployed as a
result of the debris from Heidfeld's front wing. As a result Rubens was now
in seventh and Pastor tenth. The Safety Car would come in and Vettel would
again pull away as Webber continued his attack of Schumacher. Button was
closing in onto the pair as Massa was able to pass Pastor and then Rubens.
Pastor would pit after a slow lap coming back out at the end of the field.
Rosberg was now looking to pass Kobayashi for sixth. |
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| So it was Vettel leading from a closing Button, Schumacher, Webber, Petrov, Kobayashi, Rosberg, Massa, Alguersuari, and Rubens. With only a handful of laps remaining Webber would pass Schumacher for third at the final chicane as Webber used his DRS. Button had closed the gap to Vettel to 1.1 seconds with two laps remaining. Vettel would respond but would make a mistake on the last lap allowing Button to take the lead. Vettel would half spin seeing Button cruise past. Vettel would continue in second and Webber third. Button would take victory in the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix. Massa had taken sixth from Kobayashi right on the finish line in an incredibly close finish. Rubens would come home in ninth scoring two points for the Williams team. It was a shame at Pastor was to retire as he was looking good to also secure some points for the team. |
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Pos Driver Team Time 1. Button McLaren-Mercedes 4h04:39.537 2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 2.709 3. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 13.828 4. Schumacher Mercedes + 14.219 5. Petrov Renault + 20.395 6. Massa Ferrari + 33.225 7. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 33.270 8. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 35.964 9. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 45.117 10. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 47.056 11. Rosberg Mercedes + 50.454 12. de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari + 1:03.607 13. Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth + 1 lap 14. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 1 lap 15. D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth + 1 lap 16. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 1 lap 17. Trulli Lotus-Renault + 1 lap 18. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 3 laps Fastest lap: Button, 1:16.956 Not classified/retirements: Driver Team On lap Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 62 Heidfeld Renault 57 Sutil Force India-Mercedes 50 Alonso Ferrari 44 Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 36 Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 8 |
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Not really, specially if those are only 2 points after losing lots of points in the last 10 laps. And with Sauber and Toro Rosso scoring more points than you there's nothing to celebrate for.