Williams: Barrichello falls to 15th with KERS fault

2011 Turkish GP team review

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Rubens Barrichello ran in the top ten early on in the Turkish Grand Prix, but dropped back with a KERS problem.

Rubens Barrichello Pastor Maldonado
Qualifying position 11 14
Qualifying time comparison (Q2) 1’26.764 (-0.472) 1’27.236
Race position 15 17
Laps 57/58 57/58
Pit stops 3 3

Williams drivers’ lap times throughout the race (in seconds):

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 57 58
Rubens Barrichello 101.611 96.361 95.769 95.221 95.391 95.847 95.703 95.472 95.803 96.028 111.937 96.246 95.732 94.383 94.361 95.166 94.544 94.741 93.794 94.135 94.231 94.446 94.891 94.411 111.583 93.698 93.708 93.328 93.112 93.078 92.685 93.106 93.554 93.113 93.979 93.725 94.148 94.185 95.029 95.854 110.476 93.395 92.916 92.872 92.298 92.079 92.264 92.349 92.362 92.705 93.564 94.538 93.895 94.536 94.678 96.039 96.381
Pastor Maldonado 103.213 96.768 96.956 96.086 95.902 96.747 96.61 96.23 96.436 97.997 98.921 114.093 95.862 94.085 94.225 94.187 94.181 94.159 94.064 94.7 95.453 96.436 96.099 96.627 98.153 110.958 93.676 93.713 94.497 93.619 94.03 93.379 93.465 93.204 93.641 94.142 94.461 94.263 94.545 95.27 95.673 109.54 92.414 92.044 92.14 100.93 92.978 92.447 92.222 92.121 92.4 93.034 92.413 92.602 92.452 92.534 93.158
Adrian Sutil, Rubens Barrichello, Istanbul, 2011

Rubens Barrichello

Having been the last man through into Q2 Barrichello only missed out on a place in the final ten by two-hundredths of a second.

He moved up to ninth at the start but KERS cooling problems left him vulnerable and Nick Heidfeld overtook him.

Powerless to defend, he was passed by Heidfeld (again), Vitaly Petrov and Felipe Massa on consecutive laps at one point.

Rubens Barrichello 2011 form guide

Pastor Maldonado

Spun twice in the wet first practice session and went off twice again on Friday afternoon, damaging the front of the car in one spin at turn eight.

Qualified 14th and struggled with oversteer during the race. Was happier on the hard tyres later in the race but a pit-lane speeding penalty left him 17th.

Pastor Maldonado 2011 form guide

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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16 comments on “Williams: Barrichello falls to 15th with KERS fault”

  1. Profile Photo

    Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
    9th May 2011, 12:17

    Oh, look. Maldonado had a dud race. Again.

    1. Profile Photo

      RIISE (@riise)
      9th May 2011, 12:24

      I questioned the Maldonado move when they first announced him and he is just proving me right time and time again whether it is Practice, Quali or Race.

      Problem is Williams can’t exactly do anything about him since they decided the money meant more than performance, which is kind of back firing now. (I know they apparently “needed” the funds but i’m sure they could’ve found a more established driver).

      I bet getting rid of Hulkenberg seems a mistake now.

      1. Profile Photo

        Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
        9th May 2011, 12:27

        Actually, keeping Hulkenberg would have been a bigger mistake – it’s been well-documented that Williams faced potentially running out of money. They gave Hulkenberg every opportunity to retain his seat, and he refused to gather sponsorship for them. He left Williams with no choice but to take someone else.

      2. Profile Photo

        Todfod (@todfod)
        9th May 2011, 13:29

        Maldonado was recruited for the money.. which was priority #1 for them. I’m sure they didn’t expect much of him, and so far he has delivered to their sub par expectations. The only problem I have is the presence of Rubens. Sure he had a good season for them last year, but with all the experienced talent (Glock, Kovalainen, Sutil), they chose the least talented of the bunch.

        1. Noneil
          9th May 2011, 13:50

          It’s a shame that they haven’t made much use of the money from having Maldonado on the team – it’s difficult know whether the car or the drivers are more to blame.

          I agree though that Rubens should go at the end of the season; all he’s demonstrating is that it’s time for him to retire. I’d quite like to Massa in that seat next year but unfortunately I’d be surprised if he has the appetite for that much of a challenge.

          1. Don Mateo
            9th May 2011, 14:47

            I disagree, I think that Rubens is performing according to what the car is capable of, when everything’s working properly. I don’t think any of the drivers listed above would get any more out of it. In Turkey Rubens was held back by another mechanical problem. Maybe he will retire at the end of this season, but he’s looking nowhere near as past it as a certain 7-times WDC!

            As for Maldonado, I think the jury’s still out. Neither Petrov or Hulkenberg started last season well, rookies only seem to start coming good until towards the end of the season.

    2. Profile Photo

      Fixy (@)
      9th May 2011, 16:53

      He just is slow. Barrichello on the other hand is showing that age is not necessarily the main reason of under performance, beating Schumacher and his younger team mate.

  2. Profile Photo

    BasCB (@bascb)
    9th May 2011, 12:29

    Williams keep struggling with that KERS system. And so far Maldonado has given the impression he would need another 3 seasons to get close to the points!

    1. Profile Photo

      AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
      9th May 2011, 22:48

      If RBR & Williams put their KERS together they might have one working unit between them! That said, RBR seem to be over the worst of it now.

  3. Profile Photo

    wasiF1 (@wasif1)
    9th May 2011, 16:26

    They need to start working on their 2012 car,I do wonder whether on true pace they will ever score a point this year.

    1. Profile Photo

      AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
      9th May 2011, 22:49

      I was saying that the other day. Given that internal shake-up at Williams they would benefit immensely from this. I think the share holders would respect that more. At least the ones who know anything about motorsport.

  4. azwris
    10th May 2011, 0:30

    Barrichello had a strong start. He’s going as fast as his car allow him to. Instead of him look at this blue-white piece of s#it. I still can’t believe the fact that a car such special as this could be so bodged inside! And the Cosworth is so bloody sloooowwww!! Williams must improve NOW but I don’t know how. Let’s wait & see…

    1. Mike
      11th May 2011, 4:28

      Williams performance last year showed the Cosworth was up to scratch.

  5. azwris
    10th May 2011, 0:32

    Barrichello souldn’t leave at the end of the season, he must find another team. So simple. He’s still very fast, the car doesn’t allow him to go any further. It’s a very beautiful piece of blue/white s#it!

  6. Profile Photo

    Mack41 (@mack41)
    10th May 2011, 4:59

    “He moved up to ninth at the start but KERS cooling problems left him vulnerable and Nick Heidfeld overtook him.

    Powerless to defend”

    LOL nice pun Keith

    1. Profile Photo

      BasCB (@bascb)
      10th May 2011, 7:12

      Ha, hadn’t really noticed that. Nice one.

Comments are closed.