Vettel in qualifying in Valencia

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Feb 8, 2012

F1 2012: Testing at Jerez | The Iceman cometh back… Feb 8, 2012

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Kimi Räikkönen finished top of the timesheets as F1 2012 creaked gently into gear on the first day of winter testing.

Feb 7, 2012

F1 New car launches for 2012: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly… Feb 7, 2012

Unveiling the Force India

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Dec 27, 2011

F1 2011 | Sebastian Vettel's Grand Tour | Part 2 Dec 27, 2011

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Sebastian Vettel became the youngest-ever double F1 World Champion this year. Here's the second part of of his season's story

Dec 26, 2011

F1 2011 | Sebastian Vettel's Grand Tour | Part 1 Dec 26, 2011

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Sebastian Vettel became the youngest-ever double F1 World Champion in 2011. Here's the first part of our recap of how he did it

Dec 22, 2011

F1 2011 | The statistics Dec 22, 2011

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So, what happened in 2011? Here's the story of the F1 season just past in statistics

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Event Details

Location
Valencia, Spain (Map this address )
Start
JUN 24, 2011 at 12:00 AM
End
JUN 27, 2011 at 12:00 AM
About
The European Grand Prix has had a long and complex journey. It was originally created as an honorific title by the AIACR, the FIA's predecessor in the organisation of motor racing events. The first race to receive the title was the Italian Grand Prix, in 1923, it fell away during the war and was revived in 1947. In 1977 the British Grand Prix became the last race to receive the honorific title.

In 1983, the Formula One schedule originally featured a race near Flushing Meadows Park in New York. When the race was cancelled three months before the event, track organisers at Brands Hatch moved quickly to replace it with a European Grand Prix. The success of the event led to it returning on the schedule the following year. In 1990, a wealthy Japanese businessman built an extravagant race track called Nippon Autopolis with the idea of hosting a Formula One race. In 1992, plans were made to have an Asian Grand Prix added to the schedule. However, these plans failed to materialise and Bernie Ecclestone added a race at Donington Park, which brought back the European Grand Prix moniker. Several countries hosted the European Grand Prix until in 2008 when it took place in Valencia, the following year they signed a 5 year deal which puts them on the calendar until at least 2014. The Valencia Street Circuit is a semi-permanent street circuit which utilises roads around the city's port area, including a section over a 140 metre long swing bridge. The track is 5.419km (3.367m) long and incorporates a total of 25 turns – 11 right-handers and 14 left-handers. It's estimated that the track has a top speed of around 323kph (201mph), with a lap record of 1:38.683, held by Timo Glock and set during the 2009 European Grand Prix.