Virgin: D’Ambrosio beats three-stopping Glock

2011 Chinese GP team review

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Virgin split their strategies leaving Timo Glock on three stop behind team mate Jerome D’Ambrosio.

Timo Glock Jerome d’Ambrosio
Qualifying position 22 21
Qualifying time comparison (Q1) 1’39.708 (+0.589) 1’39.119
Race position 21 20
Laps 54/56 54/56
Pit stops 3 2

Virgin drivers’ lap times throughout the race:

https://www.racefans.net/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
Timo Glock 118.631 109.589 108.433 107.835 108.042 107.79 107.683 107.79 107.976 108.125 108.212 108.733 108.4 108.415 108.75 112.311 127.531 106.419 106.563 106.727 106.805 106.732 107.536 106.646 108.176 107.954 107.218 110.675 126.243 105.387 105.47 105.958 105.911 105.71 107.444 108.519 107.941 105.806 110.602 137.278 106.426 109.855 105.226 107.823 106.228 106.272 104.789 106.9 107.639 105.524 104.918 105.528 104.881 104.381
Jerome dAmbrosio 119.655 109.526 108.474 107.582 107.963 108.212 107.992 107.945 107.806 107.899 108.362 108.278 108.271 108.662 108.246 108.608 108.48 108.658 109.134 113.261 127.796 106.121 106.682 107.848 105.788 106.095 106.122 109.591 106.122 105.742 105.863 106.12 106.91 113.91 126.067 105.333 105.24 105.419 105.121 105.224 106.483 105.226 106.169 105.211 104.806 105.32 105.282 105.122 104.904 108.453 108.912 108.871 107.598 105.63
Timo Glock, Virgin, Shanghai, 2011

Timo Glock

Virgin split strategies on their cars. Glock made three stops running soft-soft-soft-hard as they tried to control rear tyre degradation.

But this compromised Glock’s race as he explained: “The team took the decision to convert to a three stop race but this was not the right way to go because we suffered massively with the blue flags.

“Then in the last stop the wheel didn’t go on, which cost me a few seconds leaving the pits. Generally on the hard tyre the car was slightly better but in the beginning we just struggled.”

Timo Glock 2011 form guide

Jerome d’Ambrosio

D’Ambrosio suffered a moment late in final practice when the front wing failed on his car as he came out of the long turn 13.

However in qualifying he beat his more experienced team mate for the first time, by over half a second.

Glock overtook him at the start but D’Ambrosio finished the race ahead after running a two-stop strategy.

Jerome d’Ambrosio 2011 form guide

2011 Chinese Grand Prix

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    Image © Virgin Racing

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    Keith Collantine
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    10 comments on “Virgin: D’Ambrosio beats three-stopping Glock”

    1. Great job by D’Ambrosio, I didn’t expect him to outqualify and outrace his teammate this early in the season. Looks like Virgin went the right way by getting rid of DiGrassi.

    2. Good to see they tried something on strategy. But it excellently shows how strategy has a lot to do with actual position in the race.

      1. Well said, I guess they didn’t have sufficiently fast times and tyre degradation to choose the most expedient moments for Glock’s stops, so he usually got dropped not too far before faster guys on the track, so that when his tyres had enough heat, he had to get off the throttle to let those cars by, and never really got into a good groove.

    3. Positive stuff from D’Ambrosio, hope he keeps it up.

      I didn’t realise that the difference in qualifying was as much as 0.5s, pretty good!

    4. Virgin split strategies on their cars.

      How ridiculous Virgin, who had nothing to fight for, did this, and Ferrari did not. Massa should have followed Hamilton’s strategy.

    5. Glock doesn’t seem motivated, I don’t blame him at all. At least Kovalainen and Trulli (around his calibre) have the resources, backing and potential of Team Lotus… Glock seems to be fighting a losing battle.

    6. I’m glad to see D’Ambrosio showing so well compared to Timo. And he drove 3 good races. Doing many laps and gaining precious experience.
      Let’s hope a better team can give him a ride coming years.
      Same goes for Timo tough!

      1. Yeah, I didn’t see that coming at all. It’s a shame they haven’t made a step forward as Lotus has.

        1. Many reasons for that:
          -Less money
          -no wind tunnel
          -Cosworth engine

          Branson said that he would give it two years. I wonder how he feels about their progress. He seems to be not that interested anymore and not on the grid too often.

    7. D’Ambrosio is still excited he is in F1. Glock is feeling like the average worker who is facing many years stuck in the same spot without the prospect of promotion. I wonder how long before he wants to bite Wirth’s head.

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