Renault’s margin over Force India shrunk to four points in the final race.
| Bruno Senna | Vitaly Petrov | |
| Qualifying position | 9 | 15 |
| Qualifying time comparison (Q2) | 1’13.300 (-0.753) | 1’14.053 |
| Race position | 17 | 10 |
| Laps | 69/71 | 70/71 |
| Pit stops | 3 | 3 |
Renault 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 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | |
| Bruno Senna | 88.562 | 80.374 | 79.82 | 79.947 | 79.781 | 79.901 | 79.634 | 79.654 | 79.803 | 80.897 | 79.82 | 84.234 | 95.618 | 79.782 | 78.954 | 78.942 | 81.767 | 84.073 | 88.965 | 80.292 | 80.07 | 80.175 | 79.832 | 80.279 | 80.037 | 81.292 | 80.557 | 84.608 | 96.872 | 79.761 | 79.766 | 80.099 | 83.11 | 80.804 | 80.223 | 80.009 | 79.902 | 82.257 | 81.277 | 80.222 | 79.89 | 79.766 | 79.717 | 79.829 | 79.926 | 80.306 | 82.05 | 83.945 | 97.419 | 79.774 | 80.665 | 79.264 | 79.223 | 80.848 | 79.043 | 82.464 | 79.09 | 78.77 | 79.027 | 78.656 | 80.126 | 78.274 | 78.47 | 79.098 | 78.651 | 79.023 | 78.786 | 80.506 | 81.605 | ||
| Vitaly Petrov | 90.149 | 80.963 | 80.097 | 80.022 | 79.915 | 79.538 | 79.764 | 79.485 | 79.78 | 80.187 | 79.979 | 80.187 | 83.394 | 93.224 | 78.734 | 79.041 | 79.147 | 78.673 | 78.725 | 78.823 | 78.531 | 78.612 | 78.768 | 78.55 | 78.505 | 78.555 | 78.529 | 78.829 | 79.168 | 83.106 | 95.2 | 77.802 | 77.811 | 78.015 | 78.62 | 78.06 | 78.777 | 78.627 | 78.751 | 78.447 | 79.057 | 79.133 | 78.001 | 78.189 | 82.482 | 92.467 | 77.387 | 77.455 | 78.409 | 78.516 | 79.725 | 77.538 | 77.557 | 77.57 | 77.699 | 77.155 | 77.265 | 77.011 | 77.969 | 79.455 | 78.461 | 77.464 | 77.331 | 77.543 | 78.306 | 78.937 | 78.473 | 77.519 | 77.424 | 77.705 |
Bruno Senna
| Start tyre | Soft |
| Pit stop 1 | Soft 21.9s |
| Pit stop 2 | Medium 23.289s |
| Pit stop 3 | Soft 22.128s |
Senna gave the home crowd some cheer by reaching Q3, although he didn’t have any fresh sets of soft tyres to use having got there.
Having made some poor starts earlier this year he got away better, holding on to ninth. He soon came under pressure from Michael Schumacher and the pair made contact, for which Senna received a penalty.
“Bruno didn?óÔé¼Ôäót suffer from his wing making contact with Michael?óÔé¼Ôäós car,” explained trackside operations director Alan Permane. “It would have taken longer to change the wing than we would have gained from replacing it.
“Bruno?óÔé¼Ôäós contact with Michael looked like a racing incident so we were surprised at the penalty, but of course we respect the stewards?óÔé¼Ôäó decision.”
A gearbox problem delayed his progress and left him 17th, half a minute behind the Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen.
Vitaly Petrov
| Start tyre | Soft |
| Pit stop 1 | Soft 21.169s |
| Pit stop 2 | Soft 23.102s |
| Pit stop 3 | Medium 21.781s |
Petrov went into qualifying chasing the car’s set-up as track temperature fluctuated. He ended up missing out on Q3, starting 15th.
He made a great start and was already 12th by the first corner. He lost time behind Jaime Alguersuari after his second pit stop which ultimately dropped him back behind Kamui Kobayashi.
“We came in quite early and I think we lost out being behind both Toro Rosso as it was very difficult to overtake them,” he said. “I lost quite a lot of time like this, otherwise I think I could have been ahead of Kamui Kobayashi and it would have been better to finish in ninth instead of tenth.”
Romain Grosjean
Drove Petrov’s car in first practice.
2011 Brazilian Grand Prix
Image ?é?® Renault/LAT
Goran (@goran507)
28th November 2011, 14:16
this was the last chance for Senna to impress the team, but it did not go well at the end…..absolutely gutted….
he did well in Qualifying, but the race did not go well, could have avoided the clash with Schmacher, and then he lost 4 th gear from lap 20…..
I would love him to stay in LRGP, but I highly doubt they will keep him next year….looks like will go to Grosjean now….his chance in F1 is limited
Shomir (@shomir)
28th November 2011, 14:47
Agreed. Petrov/Grosjean for LRGP would be the more… appropriate choice.
Hope Senna stays in F1 though, perhaps as a test driver, or who knows there might be vacancy at another team! except HRT you know…
smifaye (@)
28th November 2011, 15:25
Yeah I was so disappointed to see him get the penalty which I believe he didn’t deserve in any way. Schumacher turned in early and even without Senna locking up there would have been some contact. You can’t punish every contact, and the stewards haven’t. Consistency is needed.
I really hope we see Senna staying in F1 as he is such a nice guy and hopefully has the talent.
Fixy (@)
28th November 2011, 21:00
How many gearbox problems!
I think Senna’s done reasonably well this season, a few races including some great and some awful performances. I’d say he has some margin of improvement, which I don’t think Petrov has.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
29th November 2011, 19:43
@Fixy Other than Spa and this race, Senna has managed to keep his head down. Petrov was all over the place in the rookie season. It’s a shame that Senna won’t get much of an F1 career but I don’t expect many will miss him, as harsh as it sounds.
Gridlock (@gridlock)
5th December 2011, 0:06
Well, surprised it wasn’t mentioned here; goodbye, Renault.