Webber wins 2011 season final

Final round of the 2011 season, the Brazilian Grand Prix saw Mark Webber taking his first win of the year. Sebastian Vettel took second despite nursing an ailing gearbox for most of the race. Jenson Button finished third for McLaren.

The expected rain failed to materialize, meaning the race was fully dry. Red Bull rounded off the season in a fashionable way: with a dominant one-two.

Alonso crossed the line in fourth place ahead of his teammate Massa. Adrian Sutil took a good sixth place and thus secured sixth place in the manufacturers’ championship for his Force India team. Rosberg finished seventh, di Resta eighth. Ninth place from Kobayashi ensured Sauber will finish the year in seventh place.

Vitaly Petrov scored the remaining point.

How the race panned out :

The sun was shining as the cars lined up on the grid for the last time this season, but rain was not too far away and the possibility of a shower hitting the track at some point during the race was real.

Sebastian Vettel took a great start from pole position and immediately pulled away. He had a 1.1s advantage over Webber after the opening lap. The Australian had to defend hard against Button in the first corner to hold on to his second place. Alonso was up in fourth place ahead of Hamilton.

The Spaniard was soon all over the rear wing of Button but couldn’t get past and, in turn, came under a bit of pressure from Hamilton. The three of them were covered by 1.4s. As they were fighting for third place, the Red Bulls slightly pulled away at the front.

On lap 10, Schumacher and Senna collided. The German picked up a puncture while the Brazilian’s front wing was damaged. The Mercedes driver had to complete the lap at slow speed and pit for a new set of tyres. Senna pitted one lap later and eventually received a drive-through penalty for causing the collision.

Meanwhile, Alonso found a way past Button for third place. The Ferrari driver immediately upped the pace. On lap 14, he was exactly 10 seconds behind race leader Vettel – who was informed by his team that he had a gearbox problem. The news spurred Webber on as he tried to catch his teammate.

Button pitted from 4th on lap 16. Alonso, Hamilton and Rosberg came in on the following lap. Vettel pitted from the lead one lap later. Webber stopped on lap 18 and handed the lead over to Felipe Massa – who was still to stop.

The Brazilian stayed out longer but was much slower than his pursuers and relinquished the lead to Vettel on lap 21. He eventually stopped on lap 21.

Back in the lead, Vettel still had to nurse his gearbox and couldn’t push as hard as he would have liked. He was able to control the gap to Webber only to a certain point as his problems worsened. On lap 26 he was told to short shift second and third gears. He let his teammate past on lap 30.

Button kicked off the second round of pitstops on lap 32. His McLaren teammate Hamilton stopped on lap 34. Alonso came in on lap 36.

Halfway through the race, Webber was now leading from Vettel. They were both still to stop… but rain was presumably on its way. Alonso was third ahead of Massa – also still to stop – Button and Hamilton. The latter was informed of a developing gearbox problem on his McLaren on lap 37.

Webber pitted from the lead on lap 38. Vettel stopped one lap later. They both took another set of soft tyres which meant they would have to stop once more. Alonso and Hamilton were on the same strategy while Button decided to take hard tyres on.

Hamilton pitted for the third time on lap 45, after spending many laps behind the slower Ferrari of Felipe Massa.

Vettel set a new fastest lap of the race on lap 46 – despite his gearbox problem. He was soon told again by his team to nurse his car.

Lewis Hamilton’s gearbox gave up on lap 48. Button observed his third stop of the afternoon on lap 53.

At the front, Webber was able to pull away as Vettel did as he was instructed and slightly eased off the pace to bring the car home. Alonso pitted from third on lap 55. He couldn’t relax as Button was pushing hard behind him and told he could do qualifying laps until the chequered flag.

The leader pitted for the third and last time on lap 59. Vettel stopped at the end of this same lap and rejoined in 2nd place, 8.5s behind his teammate. He had a 13s advantage over Alonso and Button. The former had to defend hard from a charging McLaren but lost third place on lap 62.

Button then sent off chasing Vettel for second place. The Briton was significantly quicker but lost some time in traffic and ran out of laps to catch the double World Champion. He couldn’t prevent Red Bull from taking a one-two to round off an excellent season for the Austrian team.