Turkish Grand Prix 2011: Raceday - Formula One Highlights (Part 6)
Returning to the action, Adrian Sutil now had Rubens Barrichello’s Williams in his sights for 12th position – The Force India had struggled during qualifying as either car failed to make it to Round 3 of the fight for starting positions and looked
to make up places as the track started to take its toll on the rest of the pack.
A lap later, Vitaly Petrov in the Renault came into the pits for his second pit stop. Back on track, Felipe Massa finally managed to get past Rosberg’s Mercedes, momentarily, but the German driver managed to get back the place through the second part of
the esses and retained his 5th position as he went round the Istanbul Part circuit for the 21st time.
It appeared that Lewis Hamilton was opting for a 4 pit stop strategy, unlike his teammate Jenson Button. The Briton entered the pits and went back on track with a new set of soft compounds. He was classified 10th, as a result of the tyre change.
Felipe Massa, in what looked to be Round 3 in the Ferrari–Mercedes battle, managed to get all four Pirellis ahead of Rosberg and made it stick, signaling the end of the duel. To further rub salt into Rosberg’s wounds, Jenson Button took advantage of the
situation and overtook the German driver as well.
The pit lane was starting to appear like a busy food street at a lunch hour as Mark Webber deviated off the racing line, turned on the pit lane speed-limiter and stopped his car in front of the Red Bull garage for a tyre change. This was the Australians
second pit stop as he again opted for a set of soft rubber.
Nico Rosberg, after what appeared to be a struggle to stay afloat, paid the Mercedes Garage a visit for some new Pirellis. Nick Heidfeld entered the pit lane for the same purpose. Both German drivers made their way back on track in 13th and 14th.
Interestingly, Rosberg opted for a set of hard tyres yet again while Heidfeld went with the more common ‘soft’ option.
23 laps of the race had already been completed, 34 remained - Stay tuned for more of the pit-lane-poker!
Article to be continued in Part 7 of Turkish Grand Prix 2011: Raceday - Formula One Highlights
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