The complete 2011 European GP review

PRACTICE

Practice one

Red Bull took different tactical approaches to the first session of the weekend, with Mark Webber leading the way by 0.8 seconds on the dusty track from unlikely second-place man Vitaly Petrov, while world champion Sebastian Vettel was only 16th.

Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Nick Heidfeld completed the top five in a session that was never likely to have too much significance for the rest of the weekend as the track improved with more running.

One person whose weekend was affected by the events of Friday morning was Paul di Resta. It was his turn to hand his car over to Nico Hulkenberg for the session, but the test driver crashed heavily, meaning di Resta would get barely any Friday running.

Also short on time was Lotus, as test driver Karun Chandhok's return to the cockpit ended very early with gearbox problems.

Practice two

Local hero Alonso delighted the home crowd with the fastest time in the afternoon, ahead of Hamilton, Vettel and Michael Schumacher - though the latter quickly underlined that his fourth best time came on a one-off lap and was not something he expected to repeat over the weekend.

Di Resta eventually got out for seven laps at the end, but there was be no appearance for Jaime Alguersuari as an engine problem sidelined his Toro Rosso before he could get the session underway.

Practice three

As is so often the way, Vettel waited until the eve of qualifying to show his hand, as he blasted to the front by nearly 0.5s.

Ferrari signalled that its pace was real though, Alonso and Felipe Massa taking second and third to demote Webber to fourth, ahead of the McLarens and Mercedes.

QUALIFYING

1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
Team-mate qualifying battle 7-1

Was there any doubt that Vettel would be on pole on Valencia's streets? Despite suggestions that the engine mapping rule changes would affect the team, it was clear from Q1 that it was very unlikely for anyone to beat the German, who secured his seventh pole in eight races. That was without needing to complete his final run on new tyres as well.

2. Mark Webber, Red Bull
Team-mate qualifying battle 1-7

With Vettel on fire, getting second place is something to be happy about, even if Webber is driving the same car as the championship leader. So the Australian was pleased with the result and his pace after finishing less than 0.2s behind his team-mate.

3. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren
Team-mate qualifying battle 6-2

After struggling with his tyres during practice, Hamilton admitted that he didn't expect to be so high up the grid on Saturday. But some overnight changes paid off for the Briton, who also decided to save his tyres and skip the final run.

4. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
Team-mate qualifying battle 8-0

Despite finishing 0.5s behind Vettel, Alonso said he was not disappointed with his result, the Spaniard upbeat about his chances given Ferrari's stronger race pace. At the start of the weekend it looked like Alonso was closer to the top, but the Spaniard himself conceded he never expected anyone other than a Red Bull to be on pole.

5. Felipe Massa, Ferrari
Team-mate qualifying battle 0-8

Like Alonso, Massa said his result was nothing to be unhappy about, even if the Brazilian endured a difficult qualifying in which he had to use most of his soft tyres to move comfortably into Q3. On a positive note, Massa was right on Alonso's pace, even if he is yet to outqualify him this season.

6. Jenson Button, McLaren
Team-mate qualifying battle 2-6

Button struggled with the balance of his car from the start of the weekend, and although things got a lot better in final practice, it all went sour again in Q3. Having felt comfortable in Q2, the Briton struggled with oversteer in the final session, finishing down in a disappointing sixth.

7. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
Team-mate qualifying battle 7-1

It was obvious that Mercedes did not have the pace to do much more right from Friday practice, and both Rosberg and Michael Schumacher played down their chances following the latter's fourth place in Canada. Nonetheless, Rosberg was pleased with his performance and probably achieved the best result possible.

8. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes
Team-mate qualifying battle 1-7

Like Rosberg, Schumacher extracted more or less the maximum from his car, although the seven-time champion said a mistake during his final run probably cost him a place ahead of Rosberg. The German veteran insisted all weekend that Mercedes did not have the pace for more and the result confirmed he was right.

9. Nick Heidfeld, Renault
Team-mate qualifying battle 2-6

After having to do a second run in Q1 in order to secure his place in Q2, Heidfeld moved quite comfortably into Q3 and then decided to save his tyres. Seeing that Adrian Sutil was not going to run, and given the gap to the cars in front, Renault made the decision to save rubber and settle for ninth.

10. Adrian Sutil, Force India
Team-mate qualifying battle 2-6

Sutil was very happy with his performance, feeling he had extracted the maximum from his car to get into Q3 for the first time this year. As he was some 0.3s off Heidfeld's pace in the previous segment, Force India decided it was not worth going out in Q3 and instead the German saved a set of tyres for the race.

11. Vitaly Petrov, Renault
Team-mate qualifying battle 6-2

The Russian admitted he had basically achieved the best possible result, claiming he hadn't had any particular problems during the session. In such a close field, however, Petrov had to be content with a place just outside of the top 10, which still left him hoping for a points finish.

12. Paul di Resta, Force India
Team-mate qualifying battle 6-2

Di Resta did a very good job considering the circumstances. The Scot had to sit out the first Friday practice while Hulkenberg drove his car and, with the German crashing during the session, di Resta had only 10 minutes of running on the opening day. Despite that, he recovered well and came close to making into the top 10.

13. Rubens Barrichello, Williams
Team-mate qualifying battle 4-4

Barrichello said he should have been in the top 10, but a mistake in the final part of his final run in Q2 meant he came short of that. He was still upbeat about his chances of a strong result, despite Williams having to revert to its previous-spec exhaust, as the new one was causing problems with the diffuser.

14. Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber
Team-mate qualifying battle 4-4

Kobayashi admitted he was struggling with tyre warm-up issues, despite the increased track temperature on qualifying day. Taking that into account, there was not much more he could have done. But at least he was very confident for the race, as his Sauber is usually much stronger there.

15. Pastor Maldonado, Williams
Team-mate qualifying battle 4-4

Like Barrichello, Maldonado felt Williams had enough performance to make it to Q3, but it wasn't the Venezuelan's day either. Maldonado looked strong during Q1 and the first part of Q2, but his car stopped mysteriously near the end of the session and he could not complete his final run.

16. Sergio Perez, Sauber
Team-mate qualifying battle 3-4

Perez, like his team-mate Kobayashi, also had problems warming his tyres properly during the session. The Mexican admitted he expected to be a few tenths quicker, but as it was, it turned out to be impossible, even if he used more tyres than many drivers.

17. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso
Team-mate qualifying battle 7-1

After finishing 10th in Q1, Buemi was expecting better from the second segment, but as it turned out, it was a difficult session for the Swiss. His strategy was hampered by the red flag and on his run he lost valuable time in the final sector, finishing 17th and disappointed.

18. Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso
Team-mate qualifying battle 1-7

Another difficult day for Alguersuari, who was knocked out in Q1 for the third time in a row. He decided to go for just one run and that backfired as he found traffic during his lap and ended up missing the cut by over 0.1s. On the plus side, at least he had plenty of new tyres for the race.

19. Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus
Team-mate qualifying battle 7-1

Kovalainen put on a very good performance on qualifying day, but his Lotus team was nowhere near the cars in front during the session. The Finn finished over 1.4s behind Alguersuari, so he had to be happy with outqualifying Jarno Trulli by over 0.5s.

20. Jarno Trulli, Lotus
Team-mate qualifying battle 1-7

The Italian did not enjoy an easy day, hitting traffic on all his runs and spinning at the final corner during the dying seconds of the session. As things stand, Trulli's sole battle seems to be with his team-mate, and he lost that again for the seventh time in eight races.

21. Timo Glock, Virgin
Team-mate qualifying battle 6-2

Glock did a good job to finish just 0.3s behind Trulli, even if outqualifying the Lotus seemed to be out of the question. The German also hit traffic during his runs, but was still happy with how much he had extracted from his car.

22. Vitantonio Liuzzi, Hispania
Team-mate qualifying battle 8-0

Liuzzi was satisfied with his performance having turned things around following a difficult Friday. However, there was not much to write home about about finishing 1s behind Glock. At least he managed to overshadow Karthikeyan again.

23. Jerome D'Ambrosio, Virgin
Team-mate qualifying battle 2-6

D'Ambrosio had enjoyed a satisfying weekend up until qualifying, when something broke in his car's rear suspension, leaving the Belgian 1s behind his team-mate Glock.

24. Narain Karthikeyan, Hispania
Team-mate qualifying battle 0-8

Karthikeyan admitted he had failed to catch up after losing track time due to a gearbox problem on Friday, so he endured a difficult qualifying. The Indian said he was having stability problems under braking, the HRT driver finishing nearly 1s off Liuzzi's pace.

QUALIFYING RESULTS
Pos  Driver                Team                  Time          Gap   
 1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m36.975s
 2.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m37.163s  +  0.188
 3.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes      1m37.380s  +  0.405
 4.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m37.454s  +  0.479
 5.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m37.535s  +  0.560
 6.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m37.645s  +  0.670
 7.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m38.231s  +  1.256
 8.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes              1m38.240s  +  1.265
 9.  Nick Heidfeld         Renault               No time
10.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  No time
11.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault              1m39.068s  +  1.763
12.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m39.422s  +  2.117
13.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth    1m39.489s  +  2.184
14.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m39.525s  +  2.220
15.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth    1m39.645s  +  2.340
16.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m39.657s  +  2.352
17.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m39.711s  +  2.406
18.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m40.232s  +  1.819
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault        1m41.664s  +  3.251
20.  Jarno Trulli          Lotus-Renault        1m42.234s  +  3.821
21.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth      1m42.553s  +  4.140
22.  Tonio Liuzzi          Hispania-Cosworth    1m43.584s  +  5.171
23.  Jerome D'Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth      1m43.735s  +  5.322
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    Hispania-Cosworth    1m44.363s  +  5.950

RACE

Some thought the engine map rules 'clarification' would throw a spanner in Red Bull's works. Some thought a double DRS zone might lead to chaos, a feast of passing and a potential upset. Some thought a street track without any of the really fast corners the Red Bull laps up might give the chasing pack a chance.

They all thought wrong. Life had never looked quite so easy for Vettel as he notched up pole number seven from eight races this year (continuing Red Bull's clean sweep of Saturdays) and win number six of 2011 at the European Grand Prix, which also happened to be the very truly dull race of this generally breathtaking season.

The world champion looked like a certain winner within the first few minutes of the race. He instantly charged away from the field, pulling out a 3s gap in the first few laps and pretty much doing as he pleased for the rest of the afternoon. There was even the telltale sign of a particularly straightforward Vettel win in that he pushed for fastest lap just for his own amusement - and succeeded, naturally.

Vettel accepted that his Valencia victory probably hadn't delivered a great deal in the way of thrills for the watching public, but he said his post-race euphoria was still genuine, as - not unlike another German who used to dominate the sport not so long ago - he took great pleasure from serene afternoons out front wringing the maximum from a class-of-the-field car.

"It looked like a boring race but I tell you, I enjoy it so much when it is between you and the car every single lap," said Vettel.

Six wins and two second places from eight grands prix and a 77-point lead in the championship. It wasn't just during the Valencia race that Vettel was out on his own. Confirmation of title number two cannot be far away.

One consolation for the rest of the field was that it wasn't a case of Red Bull being unbeatable, just Vettel, as Webber lost second place to Alonso's improving Ferrari.

For a few brief early moments it was Massa spearheading the Ferrari charge as he made a superb start to nip between his team-mate and Hamilton's slower-moving McLaren, then dived to the inside of Webber into the first braking area - a move that didn't come off.

"He closed the door on me and we almost touched," said Massa.

As that unfolded, Alonso - who had also managed to get ahead of Hamilton - swept around the outside of the sister Ferrari and even had a quick look at Webber too.

He would have to wait until lap 21 before actually passing the Red Bull with a neat outbraking move into Turn 12.

But the two cars were evenly matched and Alonso could not pull away. When Webber pitted one lap sooner than the Ferrari at the second stops, his quicker out lap was sufficient to reverse the margin between them and restore Red Bull's one-two order.

Alonso could not stay as close during the next stint, so the decisive move had to wait until the final pitstops. Again Webber came in first, this time a full three laps earlier, but the harder tyre did not offer the same post-stop pace boost, and on this occasion staying out longer proved the better bet. Alonso rejoined in second, and with Webber ordered to slow to nurse a gearbox problem soon afterwards, the battle was over.

"In the end second place is the maximum we can have this day so being here between the Red Bull cars is a great achievement from the team," said Alonso.

Webber held his hands up over the final stop strategy.

"I think it was probably my best race of the year to be honest up until the last pitstop," he said.

"It was my fault basically, not the team's. I was worried about Fernando coming underneath me around the stops and it was not really known how the medium tyre would perform on the out lap.

"It is not as good as the soft but is it better than an old soft? That was the risk I decided to take. I lost out."

Massa was unable to keep up with this battle and found that running a longer first stint cost him a place to Hamilton. A subsequent wheel problem at pitstop two then put him too far behind to capitalise when the fourth-placed McLaren had a few tyre wear issues later on.

After its Montreal win, this was not a happy afternoon for McLaren. Both cars lost ground at the start, and lacked winning pace in the race. While Hamilton took fourth, his team-mate Button never managed to make up the ground lost when he spent a few laps behind Rosberg's Mercedes after the start. His eventual move on the German was a sublime dive at Turn 2, but it turned out to be the highlight of a disappointing race not made any easier by a KERS failure.

"We need some good upgrades," Button admitted. "We need to get our heads down and improve the car, the package. Aerodynamically I think we need an improvement for Silverstone because we're not moving forward and that's what we need to be concentrating on.

"I do know of some new parts that are coming but I think we need more. We need to take some risks because behind us is a big gap - this race anyway - to the Mercedes. The Ferraris are in front of us and the Red Bulls are miles away."

Mercedes would have been comfortably seventh and eighth had Schumacher not slid into Petrov's Renault as he rejoined after his first stop. Schumacher accepted total responsibility for the clash, which broke his front wing and consigned him to 17th place. Rosberg at least gave the team a few points in seventh.

He spent some of the race dicing with Alguersuari, who turned his weekend around in fine style by pulling off a rare two-stop strategy. As others pitted, the Toro Rosso came through from 18th on the grid to run in the top 10 and more than held its own once there, finishing eighth.

Sutil was chasing Alguersuari at the end, but could not get past as even a double DRS zone proved inadequate for most. While the Force India driver was pleased with ninth, the man he spent the first half of the grand prix battling with - Renault driver Heidfeld - was far from pleased to go home with a solitary point.

"It's still another point gained for the team, but I did not expect to finish behind one Force India and one Toro Rosso," he rued.

His team-mate Petrov did not sustain any damage in the Schumacher incident, but never had enough speed to regain the ground he lost with a poor start, and only a last-gasp move on Kobayashi got him as high as 15th. Just ahead, Barrichello held off Buemi and di Resta in a tight battle for non-points positions that didn't really satisfy any of them, and Perez made a quietly impressive comeback by pulling off a one-stop strategy and finishing 11th on a track where Sauber was not exactly thriving.

RACE RESULTS

The European Grand Prix
Valencia, Spain;
57 laps; 310.080km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time
 1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           1h39m36.169s
 2.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +    10.891s
 3.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +    27.255s
 4.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +    46.190s
 5.  Massa         Ferrari                    +    51.705s
 6.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +  1m00.000s
 7.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +  1m38.000s
 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        Hispania-Cosworth          +    3 laps
24.  Karthikeyan   Hispania-Cosworth          +    3 laps

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1m41.852s

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                         On lap

World Championship standings, round 8:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Vettel       186        1.  Red Bull-Renault          295
 2.  Webber       109        2.  McLaren-Mercedes          206
 3.  Button       109        3.  Ferrari                   129
 4.  Hamilton      97        4.  Renault                    61
 5.  Alonso        87        5.  Mercedes                   58
 6.  Massa         42        6.  Sauber-Ferrari             27
 7.  Rosberg       32        7.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         16
 8.  Petrov        31        8.  Force India-Mercedes       12
 9.  Heidfeld      30        9.  Williams-Cosworth           4
10.  Schumacher    26       
11.  Kobayashi     25       
12.  Sutil         10       
13.  Alguersuari    8       
14.  Buemi          8       
15.  Barrichello    4       
16.  Perez          2       
17.  Di Resta       2       

Lap-by-lap as it happened on AUTOSPORT Live

TEAM-BY-TEAM

Red Bull

Despite suggestions that the engine mapping rules clarification would stymie some of Red Bull's strong points, Vettel stuck his car on pole yet again, and then took probably his most straightforward victory of the year.

Webber started the weekend with the fastest time in practice one, then was a little way off Vettel's pace until a strong final Q3 lap got him onto the front row. A race-long battle with Alonso finally went in the Ferrari driver's favour at the last stops, after which a gearbox problem forced Webber to ease off and focus on a safe third.

McLaren

Back down to earth after Montreal, as Hamilton and Button qualified third and sixth - close to, but not quite on, the lead pace.

The race was slightly harder still. Hamilton lost out to both Ferraris at the start, and though he reclaimed fourth from Massa during the stops, he could make no further progress. Button lost some time behind faster starter Rosberg during the opening laps and later had a KERS problem as he finished a quiet sixth.

Ferrari

A weekend of great encouragement, though still no win for the Italian squad. Alonso and Massa qualified fourth and fifth, with a great start allowing the latter to challenge for second - though as he tried to pass Webber, Alonso came around the outside and took third from him.

Alonso eventually beat the Red Bull to second after swapping positions a few times both on the track and in the pits. Massa's strategy did not work out so well and, not helped by a slow second stop, he fell to fifth behind Hamilton.

Mercedes

Schumacher played down his Friday fourth place, saying Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren were clearly faster than Mercedes. So it proved, as Rosberg and Schumacher shared row four of the grid and Rosberg took seventh place - being overtaken by slow starter Button early on and later overcoming two-stopper Alguersuari. Schumacher spoilt his race by sliding into Petrov as he rejoined following his first stop, breaking his front wing. The best he could do after that was 17th.

Renault

A simple lack of pace meant a very disappointing weekend for Renault. Heidfeld took ninth on the grid, Petrov was bumped out of the top 10 at the last moment so started 11th.

Both fell back at the start and could not make their tyres last for a two-stop strategy. Heidfeld came off second best in a long fight with Sutil but scraped a point in 10th, Petrov only just managed 15th by passing Kobayashi at the end.

Williams

Despite a few more upgrades, Williams fell back out of the points. Barrichello rued a mistake on his last lap after qualifying 13th, while 15th for Maldonado wasn't a bad result after his car ground to a halt in Q2.

Barrichello said 12th in the race was the best the car was capable of. Maldonado was way back in 18th having lost a lot of ground at the start and lacked the pace to do much about it afterwards.

Force India

Despite the ongoing situation with potential criminal charges still lingering in the background, Sutil delivered a very strong European GP. He made it into Q3 with his last Q2 lap, although he chose to stay in the pits to save tyres so remained 10th. On race day he beat Heidfeld to ninth, and might have Alguersuari for eighth had Valencia's DRS zones been a greater success.

Di Resta's weekend was disrupted by Hulkenberg crashing his car on Friday morning. Given how much running that cost him, 12th on the grid represented a fine effort for the Scot. In the race his strategy went awry, and two more laps on worn tyres meant he could only finish 14th.

Sauber

The highlight of Sauber's weekend was that Perez was fit enough to return properly and compete in the whole event. On the downside, the car was not competitive enough so the Mexican qualified 16th, with his team-mate Kobayashi only two places ahead.

In the grand prix, Perez made a one-stop strategy work to take 11th, though his very slow pace just before changing from hards to softs was costly. Kobayashi had issues with both speed and tyre wear and came home 16th, passed by Petrov on the last lap.

Toro Rosso

Buemi qualified 17th with Alguersuari - who missed practice two with an engine problem - unhappy with his car and 18th.

But it turned around in the race, as a very strong performance included Alguersuari making a two-stop strategy work and progressing to an encouraging eighth. Buemi struggled much more with tyre wear and was 13th.

Little to be said for Lotus's weekend. It was quicker than Hispania and Virgin by a comfortable margin, but not quite fast enough to chase anyone else. That meant 19th and 20th both on the grid and in the race for Kovalainen and Trulli. Karun Chandhok took Trulli's car for first practice but a gearbox problem cost him basically all his running.

Liuzzi managed to upstage D'Ambrosio in qualifying and get off the back row, though Karthikeyan was firmly last. That was where he stayed in the race, with Liuzzi dropped back to 23rd as both struggled with very high tyre wear.

With Virgin pretty much writing 2011 off, Glock was fairly satisfied to be within a few tenths of Trulli as he qualified 21st. He even battled past both Lotus drivers on lap one, though they were soon back ahead and he had to settle for 21st in the race too.

D'Ambrosio was beaten by Liuzzi in qualifying but got ahead early in the race and came home 22nd.

RACE DATA

The Race in Action

Full race lap times (H)

Full race lap times (V)

Lap chart (positions)

Lap chart (gaps)