Turkish Grand Prix 2011: Raceday - Formula One Highlights (Part 5)
Jenson Button came into the pits and took on a fresh set of soft tyres as Sebastian Vettel regained the race lead. The British driver rejoined the track in 7th position as a result of the stop.
Meanwhile, Rubens Barrichello made a clean pass on his former Ferrari teammate, Michael Schumacher, for 13th position. The Brazilian soon made the jump from 13 to 12th as the Toro Rosso ahead of him belonging to Jaime Alguersuari dived
into the pits for a tyre change. Kamui Kobayashi turned his Sauber to the pit lane soon after. The Japanese driver was going strong in 5th before the stop.
Lewis Hamilton managed to get past Nico Rosberg in Turn 12, using the Drag Reduction System (DRS) and was effectively in 4th position. The Mercedes GP seemed to lose performance as the race wore on – Perhaps the car was eating up its tyres quicker
than the rest of the front runners; something that was not the case for the short bursts in qualifying.
Staying with the Mercedes, Michael Schumacher made his second pit stop of the race. As the seven-time World Champion rejoined the track, he looked to block off Paul di Resta as both cars headed into Turn 12 and made contact, again, sending pieces of debris
flying, in the process. Meanwhile, the onboard radio on Jenson Button’s MP4–26 sprang to life as word from the McLaren garage suggested that the rest of the front runners were probably opting for a 4 pit stop strategy – It was now down to Button whether he
looked to conserve his Pirellis, evidently on a 3 pit stop strategy, or look to push quicker to make up some places while the rest ‘wasted’ precious seconds for a potential tyre change.
It seemed to go all rosy for Red Bull; heading for a 1 – 2. Sebastian Vettel’s lead over his teammate Mark Webber was effectively around 3 seconds with little suggestions of a hiccup from either driver or pit crew.
Turning our attention back to the Ferraris, Felipe Massa looked to mimic his teammate with a move on the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg. Despite employing the Drag Reduction System to get a run on Rosberg, the Brazilian driver had to tuck back and bid his time,
for now…
Article to be continued in Part 6 of Turkish Grand Prix 2011: Raceday - Formula One Highlights
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