Formula 1 - The 2011 season

Discussion in 'Automotive' started by benztown, Jan 31, 2011.

  1. benztown

    benztown Member+

    Jun 24, 2005
    Club:
    VfB Stuttgart
    So the next race is upon us. One topic that's still hot is Red Bull's flexible front wing. You will remember that it has already been an issue last year and that the FIA has introduced tougher tests on the rigidity of the front wing, yet Red Bull still manages to build a very flexible wing and the others seem unable to replicate that.
    It's apparently a big advantage that gives Red Bull 0.5s per lap or maybe even more.

    Here's a picture of the Red Bull in action, notice that the front wing bends towards the edges so that it almost touches the track:
    [​IMG]
     
  2. Pathogen

    Pathogen Member

    Jul 19, 2004
    Like you care.
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I tell you what, this season is going to get real boring real quick.
     
  3. HardHatMike

    HardHatMike DOOOOOOOOM!

    Traktor Nebraska
    Aug 31, 2005
    Lincoln, Nebraska
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm not saying this to start trouble... But people complain about NASCAR being "lame" and "boring" because of left turns. I watch F1, NASCAR (all three levels), and IndyCar and I'd say that right now IndyCar is getting to be my favorite due to the competition (The same guy leading every lap of the last 3 races? How is that racing? And I know that there was actually racing behind him, but at least challenge the guy in the lead past the first turn of the race.), the variety of courses (ovals, road courses, and street circuits) and the return of multiple engine manufacturers (Honda, Lotus, and Chevy next year, with talk of Toyota and Mercedes coming back as well).
     
  4. Pathogen

    Pathogen Member

    Jul 19, 2004
    Like you care.
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Don't get me wrong. I think it's great what Vettel and Red Bull are doing. I'm just not going to pay all that much attention once he takes the lead. It's boring as hell and not much fun when you realize the guy you root for has no chance.
     
  5. benztown

    benztown Member+

    Jun 24, 2005
    Club:
    VfB Stuttgart
    As Mercedes fan, I know what you're talking about. Thankfully, I also really like Seb, so his performance is some sort of consolidation when the Mercedes cars are trailing the field once again.
     
  6. dapip

    dapip Member+

    Sep 5, 2003
    South Florida
    Club:
    Millonarios Bogota
    Nat'l Team:
    Colombia
    In several ways you have great points and I agree with your statements.. I would add that NASCAR is also becoming very dull with the tandem thing and with so many neutralizations and restarts since most of the race becomes meaningless.. Hey,you can pretty much watch the last few laps and won't miss much.. It might be exciting but 490 of the 500 laps add little to the end result..

    I'll try to watch more Indy, haven't watch that much since they brougth back the CART renegades. I agree with you that the variety of circuits gives this category an edge over F1 and NASCAR.

    Getting back to F1, Vettel looks so dominant that is scary... and the only team that can be somewhat close is McLaren, although Renault looked very good at the beginning of the Malasya race. Hopefully Ferrari and Mercedes can get their acts together although it would be great to see either Sauber, ToroRosso or ForceIndia bunnyhop over one of them... And would we see Williams get back to its historical greatness or are they condemned to be just another mediocre team?
     
  7. benztown

    benztown Member+

    Jun 24, 2005
    Club:
    VfB Stuttgart
    Since the Chinese GP is only days away, let's have a quick recap of the last race, first, the results:

    Code:
    [B]PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
    
    The Malaysian Grand Prix
    Sepang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;
    56 laps; 310.408km;
    Weather: Dry.
    
    Classified:
    
    Pos  Driver        Team                       Time[/B]
     1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           1h37:39.832
     2.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +     3.261
     3.  Heidfeld      Renault                    +    25.075
     4.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +    26.384
     5.  Massa         Ferrari                    +    36.958
     6.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +    57.248 *
     7.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +  1:07.239
     8.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +  1:09.957 *
     9.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +  1:24.896
    10.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +  1:31.563
    11.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +  1:41.379
    12.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +     1 lap
    13.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
    14.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
    15.  Kovalainen    Lotus-Renault              +     1 lap
    16.  Glock         Virgin-Cosworth            +    2 laps
    17.  Petrov        Renault                    +    4 laps
    
    * 20s time penalty
    
    [B]Fastest lap: [/B]Webber, 1:40.571
    [B]
    Not classified/retirements:
    
    Driver        Team                         On lap[/B]
    Liuzzi        HRT-Cosworth                 47
    D'Ambrosio    Virgin-Cosworth              43
    Trulli        Lotus-Renault                32
    Perez         Sauber-Ferrari               24
    Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth            23
    Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth                 15
    Maldonado     Williams-Cosworth            9
    
    [B]
    World Championship standings, round 2:                
    
    Drivers:                           Constructors:          [/B]   
     1. Sebastian Vettel       50      1. Red Bull/Renault          72
     2. Jenson Button          26      2. McLaren/Mercedes          48
     3. Lewis Hamilton         22      3. Ferrari                   36
     4. Mark Webber            22      4. Renault                   30
     5. Fernando Alonso        20      5. Toro Rosso/Ferrari        4
     6. Felipe Massa           16      6. Sauber/Ferrari            4
     7. Nick Heidfeld          15      7. Force India/Mercedes      4
     8. Vitaly Petrov          15      8. Mercedes                  2
     9. Kamui Kobayashi         6
    10. Sebastien Buemi         4
    11. Adrian Sutil            2
    12. Michael Schumacher      2
    13. Paul di Resta           2

    And my updated rankings:

    ---------------------
    –1. Red Bull
    ---------------------
    –2. McLaren
    –3. Lotus-Renault
    –4. Ferrari
    ---------------------
    ˆ5. Sauber
    ˇ6. Mercedes
    ˆ7. Force India
    ˇ8. Williams
    ˇ9. Toro Rosso
    ---------------------
    –10. Team Lotus
    –11. Virgin
    ---------------------
    –12. HRT
    ---------------------


    • As you can see, I introduced another tier in order to separate Red Bull from the rest as the race has shown just how dominant Red Bull is. Vettel din't even have to push the car at any point and Webber almost snatched fourth place despite a horrible start and not having a working KERS at all (Vettel had it for parts of the race). Although it is kinda interesting that in the first two races, Vettel seems to completely dominate Webber, we'll have to see how that continues.
    • McLaren is clearly in second place ATM, but they still have to look into their rear mirror. Their main advantage over Ferrari and Lotus-Renault is their qualifying speed. In the race, they were actually all quite similar in terms of speed.
    • I still have Lotus-Renault in front of Ferrari, simply because so far, they've done a better job. But ultimately, I think that the Ferrari is the quicker car, so this might change soon. Once they have all the kinks ironed out, Ferrari should be ahead.
    • Then I have Sauber pass Mercedes. I do think that Mercedes has the faster car, but Sauber is a lot easier on the tires, giving them an advantage of 1 pit stop per race so far and that's enough to pass Mercedes for the moment. Eventually I'm sure Mercedes will be back in front of Sauber (and I hope in the mix up front), the potential seems to be there, but the problems are so huge at the moment (cooling mainly, but also the movable rear wing) that it will take at least until the Turkish GP for Mercedes to make any headway.
    • Another surprise this last weekend was Force India with very solid performances both in qualifying and during the race, well done.
    • Williams and Toro Rosso were both pretty disappointing. Especially within the Williams team there was upheaval after the race and they did announce that there will be consequences in terms of personnel.
    • At the back, nothing much has happened, although Virgin really seems to be in a bad shape and they might have to fight it out with HRT should they not improve.
     
  8. dapip

    dapip Member+

    Sep 5, 2003
    South Florida
    Club:
    Millonarios Bogota
    Nat'l Team:
    Colombia
    It is amazing how dominating is Vettel so far... This is his time advantage over his closest competitors after two races:

    Button :00:58
    Webber 0:01:05
    Alonso 0:01:09*
    Hamilton 0:01:12*
    Massa 0:02:02
    Kobayashi 0:02:24**

    Basically, if the F1 Season was one continuous circuit, he would have lapped every one by the third week..

    * Assuming no 20 second bogus FIA penalty.
    ** Assuming no disqualification in Australia.
     
  9. HardHatMike

    HardHatMike DOOOOOOOOM!

    Traktor Nebraska
    Aug 31, 2005
    Lincoln, Nebraska
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    To see the proud Williams name in this much disarray is enough to make you sick to your stomach.
     
  10. PG Tips

    PG Tips Member

    Oct 5, 2008
    Vancouver
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    ^ I try not to think about it. To see them in this state for this long is horrific.



    ....meanwhile, phrase of the season so far, "fall off a cliff"!
     
  11. HardHatMike

    HardHatMike DOOOOOOOOM!

    Traktor Nebraska
    Aug 31, 2005
    Lincoln, Nebraska
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Vettel on the pole yet again...


    yawn...
     
  12. Nanbawan

    Nanbawan Member

    Jun 11, 2004
    Haute Bretagne
    Club:
    Stade Rennais FC
    Nat'l Team:
    France

    Some people should quit complaining...

    :D
     
  13. Pathogen

    Pathogen Member

    Jul 19, 2004
    Like you care.
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Holy shit! What a drive by Webber. Hey, if I can't take any pleasure out of Alonso's run this year, at least I can root for this guy. Absolutely stunning run on this part. Wow.

    Also, f**k Hamilton. :D
     
  14. benztown

    benztown Member+

    Jun 24, 2005
    Club:
    VfB Stuttgart
    Code:
    [B]PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
    
    The Chinese Grand Prix
    Shanghai International Circuit, China;
    56 laps; 305.066km;
    Weather: Sunny.
    
    Classified:
    
    Pos  Driver        Team                       Time[/B]
     1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           1h36:58.226
     2.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +     5.198
     3.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +     7.555
     4.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +    10.000
     5.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +    13.448
     6.  Massa         Ferrari                    +    15.840
     7.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +    30.622
     8.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +    31.206
     9.  Petrov        Renault                    +    57.404
    10.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +  1:03.273
    11.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +  1:08.757
    12.  Heidfeld      Renault                    +  1:12.739
    13.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +  1:30.189
    14.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +  1:30.671
    15.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
    16.  Kovalainen    Lotus-Renault              +     1 lap
    17.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +     1 lap
    18.  Maldonado     Williams-Cosworth          +     1 lap
    19.  Trulli        Lotus-Renault              +     1 lap
    20.  D'Ambrosio    Virgin-Cosworth            +    2 laps
    21.  Glock         Virgin-Cosworth            +    2 laps
    22.  Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth               +    2 laps
    23.  Liuzzi        HRT-Cosworth               +    2 laps
    
    [B]Fastest lap:[/B] Webber, 1:38.993
    
    [B]Not classified/retirements:
    
    Driver        Team                         On lap[/B]
    Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari           12
    
    
    [B]World Championship standings, round 3:                
    
    Drivers:                    Constructors:  [/B]           
     1.  Vettel        68        1.  Red Bull-Renault          105
     2.  Hamilton      47        2.  McLaren-Mercedes           85
     3.  Button        38        3.  Ferrari                    50
     4.  Webber        37        4.  Renault                    32
     5.  Alonso        26        5.  Mercedes                   16
     6.  Massa         24        6.  Sauber-Ferrari              7
     7.  Petrov        17        7.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          4
     8.  Heidfeld      15        8.  Force India-Mercedes        4
     9.  Rosberg       10       
    10.  Kobayashi      7       
    11.  Schumacher     6       
    12.  Buemi          4       
    13.  Di Resta       2       
    14.  Sutil          2       
    

    First a couple of comments regarding the race. I was delighted to see Rosberg lead a race (on merit) after the disastrous first two races for Mercedes. I would have never thought that Mercedes could come back the way they did within just a week.
    Had it not been for Mercedes miscalculating the fuel load, Rosberg would have had a great chance to win the race, but unfortunately he had to settle with 5th place because of it. Hopefully there will be other opportunities like this in future races...

    McLaren obviously had a tremendous weekend, especially Hamilton, the made the right choices and had a great package over all. Red Bull still has the fastest car by a mile, but in this race, they once again had reliability issues (this time with Vettel rather than Webber) plus they were on the wrong strategy. But Vetter still managed to finish second while Webber had a perfect run from 18 to 3. So even though Red Bull was beaten, this should really scare all the other teams. Should Red Bull finally get their KERS under control, they'll be virtually impossible to beat.

    Ferrari and Renault both had terrible weekends. In Renault's case, the team was of course unfortunate in qualifying where Petrov's retirement caused him not to be able to compete in Q3 while at the same time ruining Heidfeld's chances to even reach Q3. In the race, they also went for the wrong strategy and at least Nick was unlucky with traffic as well.
    In Ferrari#s case however, I don't think the strategy mattered that much really...The Ferrari simply had problems with the hard compound.



    Now for my ranking:

    ---------------------
    –1. Red Bull
    ---------------------
    –2. McLaren
    ˆ3. Ferrari
    ˆ4. Mercedes
    ˇ5. Lotus-Renault
    ---------------------
    ˇ6. Sauber
    –7. Force India
    –8. Williams
    –9. Toro Rosso
    ---------------------
    –10. Team Lotus
    ---------------------
    –11. Virgin
    –12. HRT
    ---------------------


    As I described above, Red Bull are still in a class of their own. Behind them, it's really close. In China, Mercedes was on par with McLaren. I still have McLaren in second place for obvious reasons and Ferrari up in third, which might sound surprising given their weak race and their problems with the prime tyres.
    However, from the facts that I could gather, the main reason that Mercedes was so fast was the rather cold weather. They still have heating issues, but in China, they were of no concern. They now have three weeks to fix these issues (which will be a very difficult task), but for now I still have them behind Ferrari, because heating will be a problem on most tracks.

    Renault is down in 5th place, but still in the second tier. I think that this pretty much reflects the real potential of the team. In the last two races, they mostly benefitted from the horrible form Mercedes was in and the mediocre Ferrari. But I think that this is now changing. Although the China GP is of course not the best way to judge the team for the reasons I have given above.

    Behind them, nothing much has changed. Sauber is still the best of the rest, Force India is still surprisingly fast, Williams is surprisingly slow and Toro Rosso is just its usual self. In the back, again nothing significantly has changed, but I decided to put Virgin into a tier with HRT rather than Team Lotus, since that's closer to where they are.
     
  15. HardHatMike

    HardHatMike DOOOOOOOOM!

    Traktor Nebraska
    Aug 31, 2005
    Lincoln, Nebraska
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'll give credit where credit is due. That was a race rather than a parade. Now, need more like that.


    In other news, F1 returns to the United States in 2012..

    http://www.formula1unitedstates.com/formula1.html

    Track layout (to be run counter-clockwise):

    [​IMG]

    Lots of elevation change, too. (Second most on F1 tour, IIRC)

    [​IMG]
     
  16. dapip

    dapip Member+

    Sep 5, 2003
    South Florida
    Club:
    Millonarios Bogota
    Nat'l Team:
    Colombia
    Excellent take as usual Benztown...

    I think this has been one of the best races I've seen in the last few years in terms of parity... McLaren and Mercedes looked closer to Redbull and if it weren't for their dismal qualifying issues Lotus-Renault could have been up there too...

    Red Bull still looks like the team to beat but they need to solve their problems with the KERS system or McLaren will beat them in the ultrafast circuits (They still have the best aerodynamic package so in curvy circuits they should dominate easily).

    Ferrari was a little disapointing but they have 3 weeks to work on their issues and usually they're very good at adjusting during the course of the season, so I wouldn't count them out yet.
     
  17. benztown

    benztown Member+

    Jun 24, 2005
    Club:
    VfB Stuttgart
    While Tilke has probably done more bad than good in designing race tracks, this one doesn't look too bad...also, I really do like elevation changes, but I think it could have been employed to better use, at least at first glance. One thing that's so cool about the tracks in Spa or Interlagos are sloped high speed corners...well, corner 2 might be a candidate...I guess we'll have to wait and see.
     
  18. HardHatMike

    HardHatMike DOOOOOOOOM!

    Traktor Nebraska
    Aug 31, 2005
    Lincoln, Nebraska
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    That launch off the green flag is nearly straight uphill. Going to make for a heck of an interesting 1st corner of the race.
     
  19. benztown

    benztown Member+

    Jun 24, 2005
    Club:
    VfB Stuttgart
    Well, we certainly could see a lot of accidents there, since the drivers won't be able to see the 1st corner.
     
  20. PG Tips

    PG Tips Member

    Oct 5, 2008
    Vancouver
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    My thoughts on China...

    -Bloody fabulous drive by Hamilton, one of his best, and thank you Pirelli for the tyres!

    -I loved Web's comments in the post-race interviews. What a slip up! Haha....actually saying it was good somebody finally beat Vettel, then to catch what he was saying. That was gold.

    -Though joking, Webber's comment about not even bothering with Qualifying so to avoid using the option tyre was rather interesting.

    -Some good comedy relief with Brundle and Coulthard trying to pronounce the names of the Chinese trophy presenters.
    I'm quite pleased with DC as well so far and he's got some witty comments.
     
  21. I. Tristeza

    I. Tristeza Member

    Oct 7, 2004
    San Antonio, Texas
    Just an hour up the road for me... :D
     
  22. dapip

    dapip Member+

    Sep 5, 2003
    South Florida
    Club:
    Millonarios Bogota
    Nat'l Team:
    Colombia
    Very entertaining race yesterday...

    Vettel is still heads and shoulder ahead of everyone.. For me the key is that he does not have to endure any challenges from his closer rivals... He qualifies first, has a great start and in 5 or 6 laps his lead is almost too much....

    Alonso had a great race and for a moment (just a moment) it looked like he would get close enough to Vettel, then he faded away and had to concede the second place to Webber...

    Kobayashi was the start of the day driving from 23rd all the way into the points...

    Schumi and the Williams were major Disapointments today.. Other than that, I think that the playing field is set and we won't see too many changes in the next few races....

    1. RBR
    ----------------
    2. McLaren
    3. Ferrari
    ----------------
    4. Mercedes
    5. Renault
    ----------------
    6. Sauber
    7. Toro Rosso
    8. Force India
    9. Williams
    ----------------
    10. Lotus
    11. Virgin
    12. HRT
     
  23. benztown

    benztown Member+

    Jun 24, 2005
    Club:
    VfB Stuttgart
    I'll post my thoughts on the Turkish GP shortly, but in the meantime, here's some cool stuff:


    I have found the web page of Darren Heath, a photographer with some stunning F1 pictures. Here's a link to his Turkey gallery...really great, check it out:
    http://www.darrenheath.com/season/2011/turkey-2011/image-gallery


    Next we have the Mercedes GP team talking aerodynamics:
    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQN6S3RdV0A"]YouTube - The team talks about aerodynamics[/ame]


    And a very interesting video of the Lotus Renault car in the wet, showing the airflow from the exhaust:
    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT2P2fhRFQA"]YouTube - Lotus Renault F1 2011 RARE VIDEO[/ame]
     
  24. benztown

    benztown Member+

    Jun 24, 2005
    Club:
    VfB Stuttgart
    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h4r0Mkfmkg"]YouTube - The funny side of Formula One[/ame]
     
  25. benztown

    benztown Member+

    Jun 24, 2005
    Club:
    VfB Stuttgart
    Before the Monaco GP gets under way, here are the results of the last GPs:

    Code:
    [B]PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
    
    The Turkish Grand Prix
    Istanbul, Turkey;
    58 laps; 309.396km;
    Weather: Sunny.
    
    Classified:
    
    Pos  Driver        Team                       Time[/B]
     1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           1h30:17.558
     2.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +     8.807
     3.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +    10.075
     4.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +    40.232
     5.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +    47.539
     6.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +    59.431
     7.  Heidfeld      Renault                    +  1:00.857
     8.  Petrov        Renault                    +  1:08.168
     9.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +  1:09.300
    10.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +  1:18.000
    11.  Massa         Ferrari                    +  1:19.800
    12.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +  1:25.400
    13.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
    14.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +     1 lap
    15.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +     1 lap
    16.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
    17.  Maldonado     Williams-Cosworth          +     1 lap
    18.  Trulli        Lotus-Renault              +     1 lap
    19.  Kovalainen    Lotus-Renault              +    2 laps
    20.  D'Ambrosio    Virgin-Cosworth            +    2 laps
    21.  Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth               +    3 laps
    22.  Liuzzi        HRT-Cosworth               +    5 laps
    
    [B]Fastest lap:[/B] Webber, 1:29.703
    
    [B]Not classified/retirements:
    
    Driver        Team                         On lap[/B]
    Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes         45
    Glock         Virgin-Cosworth              1
    
    
    [B]World Championship standings, round 4:                
    
    Drivers:                    Constructors:    [/B]         
     1.  Vettel        93        1.  Red Bull-Renault          148
     2.  Hamilton      59        2.  McLaren-Mercedes          105
     3.  Webber        55        3.  Ferrari                    65
     4.  Button        46        4.  Renault                    42
     5.  Alonso        41        5.  Mercedes                   26
     6.  Massa         24        6.  Sauber-Ferrari              8
     7.  Petrov        21        7.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          6
     8.  Heidfeld      21        8.  Force India-Mercedes        4
     9.  Rosberg       20       
    10.  Kobayashi      8       
    11.  Buemi          6       
    12.  Schumacher     6       
    13.  Sutil          2       
    14.  Di Resta       2     
    

    Code:
    [B]PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS[/B]
    
    [B]The Spanish Grand Prix
    Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain;
    66 laps; 307.104km;
    Weather: Sunny.
    
    Classified:
    
    Pos  Driver        Team                       Time[/B]
     1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           1h39:03.301
     2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +     0.630
     3.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +    35.697
     4.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +    47.966
     5.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +     1 lap
     6.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +     1 lap
     7.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +     1 lap
     8.  Heidfeld      Renault                    +     1 lap
     9.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +     1 lap
    10.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +     1 lap
    11.  Petrov        Renault                    +     1 lap
    12.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
    13.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
    14.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
    15.  Maldonado     Williams-Cosworth          +     1 lap
    16.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +    2 laps
    17.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +    2 laps
    18.  Trulli        Lotus-Renault              +    2 laps
    19.  Glock         Virgin-Cosworth            +    3 laps
    20.  D'Ambrosio    Virgin-Cosworth            +    3 laps
    21.  Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth               +    4 laps
    
    [B]Fastest lap:[/B] Alonso, 1:26.727
    
    [B]Not classified/retirements:
    
    Driver        Team                         On lap[/B]
    Massa         Ferrari                      60
    Kovalainen    Lotus-Renault                49
    Liuzzi        HRT-Cosworth                 29
    
    
    [B]World Championship standings, round 5:                
    
    Drivers:                    Constructors:    [/B]         
     1.  Vettel       118        1.  Red Bull-Renault          185
     2.  Hamilton      77        2.  McLaren-Mercedes          138
     3.  Webber        67        3.  Ferrari                    75
     4.  Button        61        4.  Renault                    46
     5.  Alonso        51        5.  Mercedes                   40
     6.  Rosberg       26        6.  Sauber-Ferrari             11
     7.  Heidfeld      25        7.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          6
     8.  Massa         24        8.  Force India-Mercedes        4
     9.  Petrov        21       
    10.  Schumacher    14       
    11.  Kobayashi      9       
    12.  Buemi          6       
    13.  Sutil          2       
    14.  Di Resta       2       
    15.  Perez          2   
    
    And my ranking:

    ---------------------
    –1. Red Bull
    –2. McLaren
    ---------------------
    –3. Ferrari
    –4. Mercedes
    –5. Lotus-Renault
    ---------------------
    –6. Sauber
    –7. Force India
    ˆ8. Toro Rosso
    ˇ9. Williams
    ---------------------
    –10. Team Lotus
    ---------------------
    –11. Virgin
    –12. HRT
    ---------------------

    As you can see, the field seems to have stabilized. McLaren has gotten closer to Red Bull and the midfield teams (Sauber, Toro Rosso, Force India, and Williams) are still in constant flux, but there isn't as much movement as there was at the beginning of the season.

    Ferrari has also been very impressive on the soft tyres, but Alonso pretty much lost a lap on hard tyres in Barcelona. It will be interesting to see how Ferrari does in Monaco where Pirelli brings the Soft and Super-Soft compounds.

    Also worth mentioning was Nick Heidfeld's run in Spain from last to eighth and if he had had one more lap, he would have caught both MGPs.
     

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