How do the constructors’ fare after the 2011 European Grand Prix?
After a rather boring European Grand Prix this past weekend, it seems that nothing has changed much since Red Bull Racing were still the fastest team on the track followed by the two fighting McLaren and Ferrari cars.
Mercedes GP and Lotus Renault GP were pretty much at the same pace as well but one has to admit that Renault were rather unlucky as Michael Schumacher collided with Vitaly Petrov which cost both of the drivers a good result. In the end, Petrov and Schumacher
finished in 15th and 17th places respectively.
The officials of the sport, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) announced before the European Grand Prix that engine mapping will be banned starting from the race weekend in Valencia.
It was believed that some of the teams’ respective performances might get affected a lot but after this weekend’s race, it seems that everything is pretty much the same in terms of performance.
Red Bull Racing were still way ahead of the rest of the drivers during the qualifying session while during the race, the difference was still there this time but not as much as expected.
After scoring a double podium in Valencia, Red Bull Racing are now leading the rest of the pack by 295 points which is 89 points ahead of their closest rivals McLaren who are currently in 2nd place in the constructors’ standings.
Ferrari on the other hand had a pretty decent race as well with Fernando Alonso finishing in 2nd place while Felipe Massa scored the 5th place. They are way behind Red Bull and McLaren as they are currently in 3rd place with
129 points.
This means that Ferrari’s chances of winning the constructors’ title are almost none as there are just 11 more races left in the 2011 Formula 1 season. Covering that sort of margin is not going to be possible for the team until the end of the season without
Red Bull retiring out of most of the races which does not seem likely.
Besides that, Lotus Renault GP are ahead of Mercedes GP by just 3 points and this is the most interesting battle in the constructors’ standings at the moment as both of the teams are actively scoring points.
Sauber are in 6th place in the standings quite surprisingly despite being disqualified from the first race of the season while Toro Rosso are in 7th place after a pretty decent performance at the European Grand Prix.
Force India are in 8th place with 12 points while Williams are in a disappointing 9th place with just 4 points ahead of the 3 new teams who are pointless currently.
Nevertheless, it is believed that the order of the teams might change drastically at the British Grand Prix as Blown Diffusers will be banned starting from that race. Red Bull Racing are expected to suffer the most as a result of this ban after which, it
is believed that McLaren and Ferrari might be able to compete against them during the qualifying sessions as well.
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