2011 Singapore Grand Prix
Vettel wins from pole, extends championship lead to 124 points.
The 2011 Formula 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix, the season's fourteenth round, took place on 25 September at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. Championship leader Sebastian Vettel won the 61-lap race from pole position for Red Bull Racing. Jenson Button finished second for McLaren, with Mark Webber third. Vettel extended his drivers' championship lead to 124 points over Button, while Fernando Alonso and Webber were eliminated from title contention. Red Bull's constructors' lead over McLaren grew to 138 points, with Ferrari too far behind to win.
Quick Facts
- Country
- Singapore
- Date
- 25 September
- Official name
- 2011 Formula 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix
- Location
- Marina Bay Street Circuit; Marina Bay, Singapore
- Course
- Street circuit
- Distance laps
- 61
- Distance (mi)
- 192.058
- Distance (km)
- 309.087
Facts from the source article.
Report
Before the race, Red Bull Racing faced accusations of violating the Resource Restriction Agreement, an accord among Formula One Teams Association members designed to reduce costs. The agreement limits teams' projected budgets, including financial and non-financial elements such as wind tunnel usage. An audit by a Dutch consultancy firm reported that Red Bull had breached the RRA, while other teams including McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes and Sauber passed inspection. Vitantonio Liuzzi received a five-place grid penalty for causing a first-lap accident at the previous race. His HRT team added a tribute to Christian Bakkerud, who died in a road accident on 11 September, onto their cars. Scuderia Toro Rosso broke one of its curfews when team principal Franz Tost arrived at the circuit too early. Because the Singapore Grand Prix is a night race starting at 10pm local time, the curfew period—defined as the nine hours before the first practice session—falls during daylight hours. Tost entered before the curfew expired, using one of the team's four allocated waivers for 2011. Red Bull Racing, Mercedes and Virgin also fell afoul of the different timetable on Saturday morning, but later had their curfew exemptions restored after demonstrating that the early staff members were not involved with working on the cars. Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the yellow-banded soft compound as the prime tyre and the red-banded super-soft compound as the option.
Classification
Qualifying saw three drivers fail to set a time in Q3: Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta chose not to go out, while Michael Schumacher completed only an out-lap. Kamui Kobayashi also failed to set a time after crashing on his out-lap in Q2. Vitantonio Liuzzi received a five-place grid penalty for causing the first-corner accident, but it made no difference since he qualified last. During the race, Jaime Alguersuari crashed on lap 57 but was still classified because he had finished more than 90% of the winner's distance.
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