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:
| 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 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.”
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
Image © Virgin Racing
Todfod (@todfod)
18th April 2011, 12:19
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.
BasCB (@bascb)
18th April 2011, 12:21
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.
bosyber (@bosyber)
19th April 2011, 7:08
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.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
18th April 2011, 13:41
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!
Fixy (@)
18th April 2011, 14:38
How ridiculous Virgin, who had nothing to fight for, did this, and Ferrari did not. Massa should have followed Hamilton’s strategy.
Ben N
18th April 2011, 15:24
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.
SoLiDG (@solidg)
18th April 2011, 21:17
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!
US_Peter (@us_peter)
18th April 2011, 22:20
Yeah, I didn’t see that coming at all. It’s a shame they haven’t made a step forward as Lotus has.
AG
20th April 2011, 19:50
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.
Oliver
19th April 2011, 7:37
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.