The 2011 F1 Season in numbers - Qualifying

[Ed]

With the 2011 Formula One season over, we look in this thread at Qualifying and ask you for Qualifier of the year and your thoughts on qualifying in 2011.

Average qualifying position

Rank Driver Average position Best Position (times) Worst Position (times)
1. Vettel 1.26 1(15) 3(1)
2. Hamilton 3.58 1(1) 10(1)
3. Webber 3.79 1(3) 18(1)
4. Button 4.47 2(3) 13(1)
5. Alonso 4.58 2(1) 8(1)
6. Massa 5.79 3(1) 10(1)
7. Rosberg 7.53 3(1) 23(1)
8. Schumacher 10.32 5(1) 24(1)
9. Petrov 10.47 6(2) 18(1)
10. Sutil 11.58 8(4) 17(2)
11. Senna 11.63 7(1) 15(2) - Only took part in 8 races
12. di Resta 11.68 6(1) 17(1)
13. Heidfeld 13.36 6(1) 24(1) - Only took part in 11 races
14. Kobayashi 13.84 7(1) 24(1)
15. Perez 14.00 9(1) 20(1) - Missed 2 races
16. Alguersuari 14.32 6(1) 19(1)
17. Maldonado 14.58 7(1) 23(1)
18. Buemi 14.58 9(2) 24(1)
19. Barrichello 14.84 11(2) 24(1)
20. de la Rosa 17.00 - Only took part in 1 race
21. Kovalainen 18.16 15(1) 20(2)
22. Trulli 19.28 18(4) 21(1) - Missed 1 race
23. Chandhok 20.00 - Only took part in 1 race
24. Glock 20.79 19(3) 24(1)
25. d'Ambrosio 21.95 20(2) 24(2)
26. Liuzzi 22.35 20(1) 24(3) - Missed 2 races
27. Ricciardo 22.55 20(1) 24(2) - Only took part in 11 races
28. Karthikeyn 23.13 22(3) 24(4) - Only took part in 8 races

[Ed]

In the battle of the team-mates, below is the gap in average grid positon between team-mates from largest to smallest

1. Petrov over Heidfeld - 4.00 (over the 11 races the two competed in as teammates) - The biggest gap between teammates in 2011
2. Rosberg over Schumacher - 2.79
3. Vettel over Webber - 2.53
4. Liuzzi over Karthikeyan - 1.27 (over the 7 races the two competed in as teammates)
5. Alonso over Massa - 1.21
6. Glock over d'Ambrosio - 1.16
7. Kovalainen over Trulli - 1.12
8. Hamilton over Button - 0.89
9. Senna over Petrov - 0.38 (over the 8 races the two competed in as teammates)
10. Maldonado over Barrichello - 0.26
11. Alguersuari over Buemi - 0.26
12. Ricciardo over Liuzzi - 0.20 (over the 10 races the two competed in as teammates)
13. Kobayashi over Perez - 0.16
14. Sutil over di Resta - 0.11 - The closest gap between teammates in 2011

[Thaddeus]

No-brainer, surely? Vettel wins, by miles (as per usual this year). Yes, he had a great car, but it's worth remembering two things:

1) For much of the season the McLaren actually had better race pace but couldn't challenge in qualifying
2) Webber had the same car but something like a quarter the number of pole positions his team mate achieved

I think Di Resta's sixth at Silverstone was pretty impressive, although last year's Interlagos pole by Hulkenberg is the best recent newcomer performance in qualifying.

It's a bit rubbish when 4 cars just can't be bothered to set a time and either stay in the pits or trundle about setting sector times and then pitting immediately. Perhaps one fast lap ought to be mandatory, on pain of a 5 place grid penalty.

[GhoGho]

It's a bit rubbish when 4 cars just can't be bothered to set a time and either stay in the pits or trundle about setting sector times and then pitting immediately. Perhaps one fast lap ought to be mandatory, on pain of a 5 place grid penalty.

Agree!
Maybe if they got separate tires for qualifying and the race to prevent "saving a set" for race conditions they would not be tempted to sit on their times

[Thaddeus]

That could work, or they could remove the rule that means that have to start the race (top 10 only) on the tyres they use in Q3. That way, the lower teams who won't get pole might use either worn soft tyres or hard tyres to try and beat their rivals.

[jacfan]

I agree with Thaddeus on this one.... obviously Vettel has been the best qualifier this year... no one could get close to him in qualifying.

[jacfan]

It's a bit rubbish when 4 cars just can't be bothered to set a time and either stay in the pits or trundle about setting sector times and then pitting immediately. Perhaps one fast lap ought to be mandatory, on pain of a 5 place grid penalty.

Agree!
Maybe if they got separate tires for qualifying and the race to prevent "saving a set" for race conditions they would not be tempted to sit on their times

I agree again!!!
Qualifying was pretty boring most of the time. However with teams "saving" tyres for the race it resulted in great hunks of qualifying time with no one out on track and yes, not even bothering to try and better their times and relying on race attrition and pit stops to bring them up the grid.
I like the idea of everyone having to set one fast lap for each qualifying period (unless of course they have already failed to make the grade for the next qualifying period)

[sennano1fan]

Seb's performance speaks for it's self.