Lotus’s eagerness to keep Heikki Kovalainen in front of Renault’s Vitaly Petrov almost ended in disaster for Sebastian Vettel.
| Heikki Kovalainen | Jarno Trulli | |
| Qualifying position | 19 | 20 |
| Qualifying time comparison (Q1) | 1’50.948 (-0.064) | 1’51.012 |
| Race position | 16 | |
| Laps | 59/61 | 47/61 |
| Pit stops | 3 | 3 |
Lotus drivers’ lap times throughout the race (in seconds):
| 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 | 59 | 60 | 61 | |
| Heikki Kovalainen | 134.072 | 121.384 | 119.869 | 119.173 | 119.45 | 119.309 | 119.521 | 119.013 | 119.26 | 119.758 | 127.813 | 141.726 | 117.979 | 117.688 | 117.883 | 123.19 | 118.564 | 117.436 | 117.692 | 118.194 | 117.782 | 120.481 | 118.657 | 119.034 | 120.282 | 128.166 | 139.239 | 122.039 | 142.658 | 123.216 | 160.809 | 160.899 | 121.164 | 123.24 | 122.375 | 118.51 | 118.645 | 117.272 | 118.112 | 116.919 | 116.828 | 117.374 | 117.525 | 118.172 | 116.917 | 117.444 | 128.5 | 143.111 | 121.994 | 119.956 | 115.974 | 115.705 | 115.607 | 116.98 | 114.807 | 114.063 | 118.728 | 116.593 | 116.226 | ||
| Jarno Trulli | 132.056 | 120.737 | 119.829 | 119.486 | 119.224 | 119.219 | 119.151 | 119.222 | 118.904 | 119.888 | 120.464 | 123.079 | 120.966 | 121.42 | 121.776 | 132.038 | 141.211 | 119.563 | 168.089 | 145.07 | 117.677 | 129.735 | 120.424 | 122.121 | 117.126 | 117.315 | 125.544 | 141.736 | 155.568 | 168.299 | 161.685 | 121.19 | 120.071 | 117.866 | 126.199 | 119.64 | 123.356 | 117.967 | 117.859 | 118.449 | 121.222 | 118.332 | 118.208 | 126.13 | 144.087 | 120.829 | 121.216 |
Heikki Kovalainen
| Start tyre | Super soft |
| Pit stop 1 | Soft 32.202s |
| Pit stop 2 | Soft 31.621s |
| Pit stop 3 | Soft 31.207s |
Kovalainen began this year’s Singapore Grand Prix the way he ended the last one – with a fire. His brakes burst into flames during the first practice session.
Kovalainen said: “The fire this time was much smaller than last year, and with brakes at the temperatures they run it’s not uncommon to see them catch like that, but it wasn’t a major issue at all.”
It didn’t put him off his stride and he duly out-qualified Trulli for the 12th time this year.
He slipped behind Trulli at the start. But an early pit stop allowed him to jump past Vitaly Petrov – Lotus taking advantage of Petrov being stuck behind Trulli.
Kovalainen made his second pit stop before the safety car which allowed him to keep the Renault behind. The pair came in again together for a final stop on lap 47.
This also happened to be while Vettel was making his last pit stop, and Lotus waved Kovalainen out as the Red Bull was passing them. The pair avoided contact, but the stewards fined Lotus for the early release.
Kovalainen caught Jerome d’Ambrosio and spent an intense couple of laps trying to pass the Virgin while under pressure from Petrov. He eventually broke free to finish 16th.
That may be three places lower than the team’s best result this year, but Tony Fernandes described Kovalainen beating Petrov as “sweet” afterwards.
Heikki Kovalainen 2011 form guide
Jarno Trulli
| Start tyre | Super soft |
| Pit stop 1 | Soft 31.048s |
| Pit stop 2 | Soft 33.317s |
| Pit stop 3 | Soft 31.168s |
Trulli made a great start and ran in front of both Renaults and Jaime Alguersuari in the opening laps.
Nor were any of them able to find a way past before Trulli made his first pit stop on lap 16. But he was back in three laps later with a puncture after being hit by Alguersuari.
He dropped out of the race late on with gearbox problems – the eighth retirement from a race with a technical problem for a Lotus this year.
2011 Singapore Grand Prix
Image © Team Lotus
Ben Everard (@beneverard)
26th September 2011, 12:25
Is this a sign of progress from Lotus that Kovalainen finished in front of the Renault Renault Renault of Petrov… or just a sign that Petrov and Senna struggled throughout the entire weekend?
Either way I’m please, plus di Resta had a great race too!
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
26th September 2011, 12:32
Looks to me like it was a particularly bad weekend for Renault. More on that in their team review shortly.
Eggry (@eggry)
26th September 2011, 12:35
I strongly believe it would be later and nature of the track.
Eggry (@eggry)
26th September 2011, 12:26
Tony : “Now finally we won, we will give you Lotus name” :P
bosyber (@bosyber)
26th September 2011, 12:47
Reliability still remains one of their biggest weaknesses. I hadn’t realised before just how many technical retirements Trulli has had, probably because earlier in the year he was showing so little that no one missed him when he had them.
But both Trulli and Kovalianen have had their share of trouble, usually related to hydraulics and/or the gearbox. Not sure their Red Bull sourced box is just not a big improvement on the previous one, or whether it is rather their lack of expertise handling it well enough?
Calum (@calum)
26th September 2011, 13:35
I didn’t watch the race so I’m still trying to piece it all together… was Trulli on track to score a point?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
26th September 2011, 14:09
No.
Calum (@calum)
26th September 2011, 14:27
Oh I see, good start… then fell away… then DNF.
electrolite (@electrolite)
26th September 2011, 16:09
Still really slow though.
Fixy (@)
30th September 2011, 18:42
They beat them because Renault was slow, not because they were fast, so little to be proud of.
themagicofspeed (@)
26th September 2011, 16:46
It’s sad whats happened to Renault. When i think of them now, i think of a skeleton, slowly turning to dust. There seems to be very little left of the slick machine that was so effective in 2005/06, even if a lot of that was due to the combination of Alonso + Pat Symonds, you cant win a championship based on that alone, otherwise Schumi + Brawn would be pasting every race.
Underinvestment + Crashgate (and the resulting loss of major sponsors, and ultimately, Renault’s full works efforts & money) + Eric Boullier and his ‘Genii Capital’ cronies, have killed this team.
I just dont get a good vibe from Boullier; he has no background in motorsport that i know of he is just there to cane the staff’s collective backside and squeeze out as much £ss as he can.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
26th September 2011, 22:36
Great result for Heiki. They really need to get on top of the reliability. They can’t challenge for points yet but they need to be a in a position to be able to do so.
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
27th September 2011, 3:00
That was poor work from Lotus to release Heikki Kovalainen in the path of Vettel they shouldn’t have made this mistake as for now they have gained enough experience to know that.