The 2011 Formula 1 Season Trivia Quiz

Answer: Demonstrations and revolts in Bahrain

As in many other Arab countries in the spring of 2011 a series of demonstrations against the regime erupted which lead to violence and instability. The situation was judged to be unsafe to hold an international sporting event and the 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix was cancelled.

Answer: Daniel Ricciardo

Di Resta (10th), Maldonado (retired) and Perez (disqualified) all started their first F1 race at the 2011 Australian Grand Prix. The fourth rookie was Jérôme d'Ambrosio (14th). Daniel Ricciardo made his debut later in the season, at the British Grand Prix, when he replaced Narain Karthikeyan in the HRT (Hispania Racing Team).
The first race of the season was won by Sebastian Vettel.

Answer: Both

Alonso was given a 20 second time penalty for causing an avoidable collision. Hamilton was given the same penalty for making more than one defensive move. Despite the penalty Alonso remained 6th in the official result. Hamilton dropped from 7th to 8th.
Vettel won again to make it two-in-a-row.

Answer: Mark Webber

Beside both HRT, Virgin and Lotus drivers Webber was the surprise knock-out after Q1. He made a great comeback in the race by finishing third. Button qualified 2nd, Massa 6th and Schumacher 14th.
The race was won by Lewis Hamilton who became second in the championship, 21 points behind leader Vettel.

Answer: Felipe Massa

Felipe Massa won the Turkish Grand Prix three times in a row between 2006 and 2008. Kimi Räikkönen won the inaugural Turkish Grand Prix in 2005. Jenson Button won it in 2009 and Lewis Hamilton in 2010.
Vettel increased his lead in the championship to 34 point over Lewis Hamilton.

Answer: Fernando Alonso

A disappointing home race for crowd favourite Fernando Alonso whose Ferrari struggled with the hard tyres all season.
Sebastian Vettel won his fourth race of the season.

Answer: Sergio Perez

Perez was diagnosed with concussion and a sprained thigh. He was present at the next race in Canada but didn't feel fit enough to race. He was replaced in Canada by Pedro De La Rosa, who was Mclaren's test driver, because Sauber's reserve driver Esteban Gutierrez wasn't present.
Kamui Kobayashi is Perez's team mate at Sauber who finished 5th in Monaco.
Vitaly Petrov was one of the victims of a multiple car shunt during the Monaco Grand Prix.
Sebastian Vettel made it five wins out of six.

Answer: He changed tyres six times

Button changed tyres five times during the race. Starting on wets he changed to intermediates when the safety-car came out for the first time after a collision with Lewis Hamilton. When it started to rain again the safety car came out for the second time and Button went back to wets.

As there was no indication the rain would stop soon the race was red-flagged and restarted two hours later, again behind the safety-car. When the track had dried out sufficiently the safety-car came back in and Button was one of the first drivers to switch back to intermediate tyres.

He came out of the pits closely behind Fernando Alonso. When he tried to overtake Alonso the two banged wheels, Alonso spun and got stuck on a kerb. Button had a front-left puncture and had to pit again, as the safety-car came out for the fourth time. Button rejoined the track in 21st and last place.

When the safety-car went back in Button started a remarkable comeback. On lap 51, when the track had finally dried up completely, he switched to super-soft slick tyres. By lap 65 he had climbed back to second place. On the last leader Vettel went wide which allowed Button to pass him and win the race. Despite Button's win Vettel increased his lead to 60 points over Button, who became second in the championship.

Answer: Valencia

The European Grand Prix was first held in Valencia in 2008. The Nürburgring held it in 1984, 1995, 1996 and from 1999 till 2007. Only one F1 grand prix was ever held at Donington (European 1993), a classic won by Ayrton Senna. Magny-Cours never held a European Grand Prix but it was the host for the French Grand Prix from 1991 till 2008.
Vettel won his sixth grand prix of the season.

Answer: His front right wheel came loose when he exited the pits

An improperly attached wheelnut caused his front right wheel to come loose while exiting the pits and lead to Button's retirement from the race. Earlier in the season, at the Chinese Grand Prix, Button had stopped his car on Red Bull's spot in stead of the designated Mclaren spot. His car couldn't have caught fire while refuelling since refuelling was banned at the beginning of the 2010 season.
Fernando Alonso won his only grand prix of the 2011 season. Vettel finished second and increased his lead in the championship to 80 points over Mark Webber.

Answer: True

Six German drivers started the German Grand Prix: Vettel, Rosberg, Schumacher, Heidfeld, Sutil and Glock. No other nation even comes close. None of them finished on the podium though. Vettel only finished 4th, his first non-podium finish of the season. Three other German drivers finished in the points: Sutil 6th, Rosberg 7th and Schumacher 8th. Glock Finished 17th, Heidfeld retired from the race.
The race was won by Lewis Hamilton. Webber (3rd) closed the gap in the championship a little to 77 points behind leader Vettel.

Answer: Nick Heidfeld

When Heidfeld stayed longer in the pits than expected his engine started to overheat that caused a fire to erupt. From the Belgian Grand Prix onwards Heidfeld was replace by Bruno Senna.
The race was won by Jenson Button. Vettel finished second and extended his lead in the championship to 85 points over Mark Webber.

Answer: Philippe Adams

Philippe Adams drove two races for Lotus in the 1994 season: the Belgian Grand Prix in which he retired and the Portuguese Grand Prix in which he finished 16th.

Eric van de Poele is a Belgian driver who competed in two F1 seasons. In 1991 he drove for the small Modena team and only qualified once, in the San Marino Grand Prix, where he nearly pulled of a stunt by finishing in the points but had to retire close to the finish. He was classified 9th. In 1992 he drove one race for Brabham, where he was team-mate of Damon Hill for a while and then moved to Fondmetal for whom he drove in three races.

Thierry Boutsen is a Belgian F1 driver who competed in 163 races between 1983 and 1993. He won three races in a Williams-Renault.

Jacky Ickx is Belgium's most successful F1 driver: he competed in 116 races between 1967 and 1979, won eight grand prix and finished runner-up in the championship in 1969 and 1970.

Vettel won his seventh race of the season.

Answer: Vitantonio Liuzzi

Liuzzi, starting from the backfield, spun on the grass and re-entered the track in the first chicane crashing into the cars of Rosberg and Petrov. All three drivers retired as a result of this incident. Liuzzi blamed Kovalainen for pushing him onto the grass but the stewards put the blame on Liuzzi and penalized him with a 5 place grid drop for the next race. A penalty without impact since Liuzzi qualified last in Singapore.
The Italian Grand Prix race was won by ... Sebastian Vettel!

Answer: Paul di Resta

Paul di Resta had a good rookie season with 27 points, 8 point finishes and a great sixth place in Singapore as the cherry on the cake.
Singapore saw yet another win for Sebastian Vettel.

Answer: 3rd

After the Singapore Grand Prix Jenson Button was Vettel's only remaining rival for the championship. In order to win the title Button needed to win every remaining race without Vettel scoring a single point. This meant that tenth place, which gives a driver one point, would have been enough for Vettel to clinch the title in Japan. He did more than this by finishing third. Button did win the Japanese Grand Prix, but the championship was Vettel's.

Answer: Lewis Hamilton

Vettel started 15 times from pole-position in the 2011 season, one time more than Nigel Mansell in his title year (1992). Mark Webber had 3 poles in 2011 (Spain, Great-Britain and Germany). Jenson Button didn't get any poles all year.
Vettel had already secured the championship in the previous race (Japan) but that didn't stop him from winning the Korean Grand Prix.

Answer: Felipe Massa

The 2011 season saw a number of incidents between Hamilton and Massa. In most cases Hamilton was blamed but in Singapore it was Massa's turn. The stewards decided that Massa had seen Hamilton trying to pass him but did nothing to avoid a collision and gave him a drive-through penalty. Shortly after serving the penalty Massa went too high over the kerbs, broke his front suspension and retired from the race. Hamilton finished 7th.
Vettel won his eleventh race of the season.

Answer: Puncture

A puncture caused Vettel to spin in the first lap. This caused damage to the suspension and undertray of his car and lead to his retirement. The race was won by Lewis Hamilton.

Answer: Mark Webber

Mark Webber took over the lead when Vettel's gearbox started to malfunction. Vettel still managed to finish second, ahead of Jenson Button. Webber's victory took him to third position in the final classification of the 2011 world championship, edging out Alonso by 1 point. Button became the 2011 vice-champion, Vettel's championship was already secured four races before.