User:PlayoffMaker22/F1-2011

NAVIGATOR 2010 2011 2012 The 2011 Formula One season was the second Formula One championship, contested over 20 races in 19 countries. This year, Pirelli took over as the sole tyre supplier for Formula One, leaving Bridgestone without a contract.

Team changes

 * Vodafone McLaren Mercedes → ORLEN McLaren Mercedes: Following Robert Kubica's title in 2010 and subsequent move to McLaren, ORLEN became main sponsor of the McLaren team, buying out Vodafone. Their contract ran as long as Robert Kubica drove for the team.
 * BMW Sauber F1 Team → Sauber F1 Team: BMW completely pulled out of Formula One following the 2010 season. This left Sauber without a main sponsor for 2011.
 * Virgin Racing → Marussia F1 Team: Marussia bought out Virgin in December 2010, rebranding the team to Marussia F1 Team. The team entry subsequently went from Great Britain to Russia.

Driver changes

 * Jenson Button: McLaren → Ferrari
 * Mark Webber: Red Bull → Force India
 * Felipe Massa: Ferrari → Sauber
 * Rubens Barrichello: Williams → retirement
 * Robert Kubica: Renault → McLaren
 * Vitaly Petrov: Renault → HRT
 * Vitantonio Liuzzi: Force India → retirement
 * Jaime Alguersuari: Toro Rosso → Red Bull
 * Heikki Kovalainen: Lotus → Williams
 * Karun Chandhok: HRT → Marussia
 * Pedro de la Rosa: BMW Sauber → retirement
 * Lucas di Grassi: Virgin → retirement
 * Jean-Éric Vergne: GP3 → Toro Rosso
 * Jérôme d'Ambrosio: GP2 → Renault
 * Charles Pic: GP2 → Renault
 * Sergio Pérez: GP2 → Lotus

Season report
After winter testing, it became clear that McLaren built a midfield-at-best car for reigning champion Robert Kubica and his team-mate Lewis Hamilton. McLaren didn't score any points for the first five rounds of the season, until a upgrade package introduced during the Monaco Grand Prix gave them their first win of the season.

Instead, it was Ferrari leading the field by quite a margin. Jenson Button won the opening Australian Grand Prix with 23.2 seconds over Renault's Charles Pic, with Alonso finishing third due to a slow pit stop. However, due to bad reliability for the Ferrari engine, Renault managed to pick up a win during the Bahrain Grand Prix. Renault managed to stay close with Ferrari in the constructors' championship since their engine had amazing reliability, although Ferrari started to pull away in the standings from the European Grand Prix onwards due to their raw speed.

Calendar changes

 * The Indian Grand Prix was announced to be held during the 2011 Formula One season during last year's Japanese Grand Prix.
 * The United States Grand Prix returned to the calendar for the first time since 2008, at the Circuit of the Americas.
 * The Canadian Grand Prix was not held this season due to insufficient funds. It returned on the 2012 calendar.