Indian Grand PrixView
General
Race Laps: 60
Lateral and longitudinal forces are equally distributed throughout the lap
Track dirty every day
High temperatures with no rain expected during the weekend
In 2011 the prime tyres were hard and options were soft
2011 Weather
Air/Track temp ( C): 30 / 37
Pitlane altitude (m): 213
ATM Press (HPA): 990
Hum (%): 20
Wind (kph): SE2
2011 Timing
Qualifying
P1: VET (1:24.178 Q3)
P2: HAM (1:24.474 Q3)
P3: WEB (1:24.508 Q3)
CF1T best: P19 KOV (1:28.565 Q1)
Race
P1: VET (1:27.249 L60)
P2: BUT (1:27.967 L60)
P3: ALO (1:27.953 L58)
CF1T best: P14 KOV (1:30.294 L58)
Circuit Particularity
Bumpiness: low
Overtaking chance: medium
Kerbs: low
Ride height setting particularity: none
Engine severity: medium / high
Gearbox severity: medium / high
Lat/Long grip: lateral
Aero eff ratio: medium
Safety car history: 2011 – none
Track grip evo during w/e: very high
Aero settings: high
Brake wear severity: high
Brake cooling necessity: low
Driver Quotes
Giedo van der Garde (driving FP1 in Heikki Kovalainen’s car): “With each session I’m doing I’m getting more comfortable with the car and the team and the feedback I’m getting from the engineers is good, so India’s another chance to build on that. It’s another new track for me but one that looks cool on my simulator, and the other drivers have told me it’s better than quite a few of the stop / start type of tracks so I’m looking forward to getting back out on track.
“I’m also really looking forward to going to India. I’ve never been before and I’ve always wanted to go to India, plus I’m a big fan of spicy food so it’ll be a chance to have a completely new experience, on and off track.”
Heikki Kovalainen, car 20, chassis CT01-#03: “It’s our second time racing in India and I’m excited about getting back there. Last year I think we were all impressed with what they did with the circuit – the layout was really good, an interesting mix of elevation changes and different types of corners, not what we’ve seen at a lot of the newer circuits so one I think we all enjoyed.
“Performance-wise I think we’re all realistic about what we can do in India, but that doesn’t mean we’re not working as hard as we can to keep progressing. The guys behind us are putting up a good fight and, while we have clear air between us on track, we need to make sure we keep that gap, and, where possible, take advantage of anything that happens ahead.”
Vitaly Petrov, car 21, chassis CT01-#02: “The Indian track is one of the good ones. It’s pretty smooth, nice and wide, so you can take different lines into some of the corners, and it has a couple of really good corners like the double left turns five and six which you come into quickly, and then braking for the chicane through seven, eight and nine. The track surface itself is pretty similar to Korea. It will evolve a lot over the weekend and you’ll see times coming down as the grip levels improve but, as with the whole year, managing the tyres is going to be really important. In Korea we didn’t have as much track time in the practice sessions as we’d have liked, so one of the main objectives will be making sure we get as many laps done as possible so we go into Sunday knowing as much as we can about the tyre behaviour over a race distance.”
