F1: Top Five Races Of 2011

Formula 1

F1: Top Five Races Of 2011

Jenson Button’s come-from-behind win in Montreal was a moment to remember...

Jared Turner | Posted December 18, 2011 Charlotte, NC

Jenson Button celebrates his win in the 2011 Canadian GP at Montreal. (Photo: Getty Images)

As part of its year-end coverage, SPEED.com is counting down the top five races of the 2011 Formula One season.

Here are the five best:

1. Canadian Grand Prix, June 12 — Jenson Button took advantage of a rare mistake by Sebastian Vettel and passed the runaway championship leader on the last lap to win at rain-soaked Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Button, who fell to 21st after a penalty and two run-ins with other cars, rallied to sit less than a second off Vettel’s bumper entering the final lap. As the German navigated a chicane on the backstretch, the rear of his Red Bull car slipped wide on the slippery track and Button sped past to take the checkered flag for McLaren. Button, however, had to sweat out a steward's investigation over an incident with Fernando Alonso, but no penalty was given. The race started under a slight drizzle that by the 25th lap grew into a full-fledged downpour that drenched the track and hampered visibility before the red flag came out. After a delay of 2 hours, 4 minutes, the cars were back on the track with mandatory wet weather tires.

2. Chinese Grand Prix, April 17 — Lewis Hamilton’s Sunday in Shanghai began with major uncertainty when his car failed to start within minutes of the lights going out on the Chinese GP. The day ended in sweet victory as Hamilton surged past Sebastian Vettel with four laps left and pulled away for a win that at least temporarily put a halt to the reigning World Champion’s 2011 dominance. A jubilant Hamilton later reflected on his triumph, which came after the prerace scare that forced his team to work overtime in the paddock just to get his car fired. The culprit proved to be an engine flooded with fuel, which left the team scrambling to get the car out to the grid in time to start the race. The McLaren team fixed the problem and Hamilton emerged on the grid with only about 30 seconds to spare. Had they missed the deadline, Hamilton would have started from the pitlane rather than his third-place qualifying spot. “It was six minutes left, then one minute left,” Hamilton said. “Fortunately, everything just came together very quickly. I tried to remain calm and the guys did a great job. They got the car out which was most important.”

3. Indian Grand Prix, Oct. 30 — India’s first Grand Prix was a huge success, as the country welcomed F1 with open arms and put on a great show that won it universal accolades. Sebastian Vettel led from start to finish at the new Buddh International Circuit, maintaining a comfortable buffer throughout to finish 8.4 seconds ahead of McLaren's Jenson Button, with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso a distant third. The race featured another run-in between McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Felipe Massa to intensify their ongoing feud. Stewards deemed Massa in the wrong and issued the Brazilian a pit drive-through penalty before he later breaking his front suspension and retired from the race.

4. Japanese Grand Prix, Oct. 9 — Jenson Button took the victory at Suzuka but it was Sebastian Vettel who stole the headlines as the German finished third to clinch his second straight World Championship with four races to spare. German Vettel became Formula One’s youngest two-time champion, backing up his memorable 2010 title that came on the heels of a dramatic victory in the season finale at Abu Dhabi. Vettel joined some of the greats of the sport in becoming only the ninth driver to win consecutive championships, along with Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Jack Brabham, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Mika Hakkinen and Fernando Alonso. "We've had a long year, a fantastic year," 24-year-old Vettel said. "Today's race was difficult. We weren't as fast as we wanted to be on the soft tires and it was difficult as we lost two positions but it was a strong result today to win the championships and I want to thank the team."

5. British Grand Prix, July 10 — Fernando Alonso produced what turned out to be Ferrari's first and only victory of the season after championship leader Sebastian Vettel's hopes at Silverstone were thwarted by a pit-stop blunder. Alonso overtook Vettel in the pits just past the halfway point when the Red Bull driver's mechanics struggled to attach a wheel. Making the win extra meaningful for Alonso was that it came on the 60th anniversary of the team’s first victory at the same venue. “Every Grand Prix is special but winning in historic places on this fantastic circuit, Silverstone, with the tradition in England about Formula One, the culture about motorsport, it is even more special,” the Spaniard said.

Jared Turner is an Associate Editor for SPEED.com, covering NASCAR and Formula One, and is an Editor for TruckSeries.com. His professional motorsports writing career began in 2005.