Bruno Senna, Renault, Interlagos, 2011

Renault: Team cling to fifth in final race

2011 Brazilian GP team review

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Renault’s margin over Force India shrunk to four points in the final race.

Bruno Senna Vitaly Petrov
Qualifying position 9 15
Qualifying time comparison (Q2) 1’13.300 (-0.753) 1’14.053
Race position 17 10
Laps 69/71 70/71
Pit stops 3 3

Renault drivers’ lap times throughout the race (in seconds):

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/charts/2011drivercolours.csv

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71
Bruno Senna 88.562 80.374 79.82 79.947 79.781 79.901 79.634 79.654 79.803 80.897 79.82 84.234 95.618 79.782 78.954 78.942 81.767 84.073 88.965 80.292 80.07 80.175 79.832 80.279 80.037 81.292 80.557 84.608 96.872 79.761 79.766 80.099 83.11 80.804 80.223 80.009 79.902 82.257 81.277 80.222 79.89 79.766 79.717 79.829 79.926 80.306 82.05 83.945 97.419 79.774 80.665 79.264 79.223 80.848 79.043 82.464 79.09 78.77 79.027 78.656 80.126 78.274 78.47 79.098 78.651 79.023 78.786 80.506 81.605
Vitaly Petrov 90.149 80.963 80.097 80.022 79.915 79.538 79.764 79.485 79.78 80.187 79.979 80.187 83.394 93.224 78.734 79.041 79.147 78.673 78.725 78.823 78.531 78.612 78.768 78.55 78.505 78.555 78.529 78.829 79.168 83.106 95.2 77.802 77.811 78.015 78.62 78.06 78.777 78.627 78.751 78.447 79.057 79.133 78.001 78.189 82.482 92.467 77.387 77.455 78.409 78.516 79.725 77.538 77.557 77.57 77.699 77.155 77.265 77.011 77.969 79.455 78.461 77.464 77.331 77.543 78.306 78.937 78.473 77.519 77.424 77.705

Bruno Senna

Bruno Senna, Renault, Interlagos, 2011
Bruno Senna, Renault, Interlagos, 2011
Start tyre Soft
Pit stop 1 Soft 21.9s
Pit stop 2 Medium 23.289s
Pit stop 3 Soft 22.128s

Senna gave the home crowd some cheer by reaching Q3, although he didn’t have any fresh sets of soft tyres to use having got there.

Having made some poor starts earlier this year he got away better, holding on to ninth. He soon came under pressure from Michael Schumacher and the pair made contact, for which Senna received a penalty.

“Bruno didn?óÔé¼Ôäót suffer from his wing making contact with Michael?óÔé¼Ôäós car,” explained trackside operations director Alan Permane. “It would have taken longer to change the wing than we would have gained from replacing it.

“Bruno?óÔé¼Ôäós contact with Michael looked like a racing incident so we were surprised at the penalty, but of course we respect the stewards?óÔé¼Ôäó decision.”

A gearbox problem delayed his progress and left him 17th, half a minute behind the Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen.

Bruno Senna 2011 form guide

Vitaly Petrov

Start tyre Soft
Pit stop 1 Soft 21.169s
Pit stop 2 Soft 23.102s
Pit stop 3 Medium 21.781s

Petrov went into qualifying chasing the car’s set-up as track temperature fluctuated. He ended up missing out on Q3, starting 15th.

He made a great start and was already 12th by the first corner. He lost time behind Jaime Alguersuari after his second pit stop which ultimately dropped him back behind Kamui Kobayashi.

“We came in quite early and I think we lost out being behind both Toro Rosso as it was very difficult to overtake them,” he said. “I lost quite a lot of time like this, otherwise I think I could have been ahead of Kamui Kobayashi and it would have been better to finish in ninth instead of tenth.”

Romain Grosjean

Drove Petrov’s car in first practice.

Vitaly Petrov 2011 form guide

2011 Brazilian Grand Prix

Browse all 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix articles

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Keith Collantine
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6 comments on “Renault: Team cling to fifth in final race”

  1. Profile Photo

    Goran (@goran507)
    28th November 2011, 14:16

    this was the last chance for Senna to impress the team, but it did not go well at the end…..absolutely gutted….
    he did well in Qualifying, but the race did not go well, could have avoided the clash with Schmacher, and then he lost 4 th gear from lap 20…..
    I would love him to stay in LRGP, but I highly doubt they will keep him next year….looks like will go to Grosjean now….his chance in F1 is limited

    1. Profile Photo

      Shomir (@shomir)
      28th November 2011, 14:47

      Agreed. Petrov/Grosjean for LRGP would be the more… appropriate choice.

      Hope Senna stays in F1 though, perhaps as a test driver, or who knows there might be vacancy at another team! except HRT you know…

    2. Profile Photo

      smifaye (@)
      28th November 2011, 15:25

      Yeah I was so disappointed to see him get the penalty which I believe he didn’t deserve in any way. Schumacher turned in early and even without Senna locking up there would have been some contact. You can’t punish every contact, and the stewards haven’t. Consistency is needed.

      I really hope we see Senna staying in F1 as he is such a nice guy and hopefully has the talent.

  2. Profile Photo

    Fixy (@)
    28th November 2011, 21:00

    How many gearbox problems!
    I think Senna’s done reasonably well this season, a few races including some great and some awful performances. I’d say he has some margin of improvement, which I don’t think Petrov has.

    1. Profile Photo

      AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
      29th November 2011, 19:43

      @Fixy Other than Spa and this race, Senna has managed to keep his head down. Petrov was all over the place in the rookie season. It’s a shame that Senna won’t get much of an F1 career but I don’t expect many will miss him, as harsh as it sounds.

  3. Profile Photo

    Gridlock (@gridlock)
    5th December 2011, 0:06

    Well, surprised it wasn’t mentioned here; goodbye, Renault.

Comments are closed.