Grand Prix of Germany 2012

 Grand Prix of Germany 2012

Racing data
10th of 20 races of the Formula 1 World Championship 2012
Surname:	Formula 1 Grand Prix Santander of Germany 2012
Date:	July 22, 2012
Place:	Hockenheim
Course:	Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg
Length:	306.458 km in 67 laps of 4.574 km
Weather:	dry
Spectator:	~ 59,000
Pole position
Driver:	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari
Time:	1: 40.621 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Michael sSchumacher	Mercedes
Time:	1: 18.725 min (lap 57)
Podium
First:	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari
Second:	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes
Third:	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus Renault

The 2012 German Grand Prix took place on July 22nd at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg in Hockenheim and was the tenth race of the 2012 Formula 1 World Championship .

Reports

background

After the British Grand Prix , Fernando Alonso led the drivers' standings with 13 points ahead of Mark Webber and 29 points ahead of Sebastian Vettel . In the constructors' championship, Red Bull-Renault led with 64 points ahead of Ferrari and with 72 points ahead of Lotus-Renault .

The German Grand Prix was held regularly in 2012 at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg . The 2011 German Grand Prix was held at the Nürburgring .

At the German Grand Prix, Pirelli provided the drivers with the tire compounds P Zero Medium (white) and P Zero Soft (yellow), as well as Cinturato Intermediates (green) and Cinturato Full Wets (blue) for wet conditions . In addition, the teams received a new version of the P Zero Hard (silver) for testing purposes on Friday .

Lewis Hamilton started a Formula 1 race for the 100th time at this Grand Prix.

With Michael Schumacher (four times), Alonso, Hamilton (twice each) and Webber (once), four former winners competed for this Grand Prix.

Paul Gutjahr (SUI), Detlef Kramp (GER), Tim Mayer (USA) and Derek Warwick (GBR) acted as race commissioners .

training

There were three light showers in the first free practice session. Jenson Button posted the fastest time ahead of his teammates Hamilton and Alonso. This training took Jules Bianchi the Force India of Paul di Resta , Valtteri Bottas the Williams of Bruno Senna and Dani Clos the HRT of Narain Karthikeyan . In the second free practice session, the track was wet and it rained at the beginning. The track dried out for a short time before it started to rain again. In the final phase of the training Daniel Ricciardo and Schumacher flew off, after which the training was terminated prematurely. Pastor Maldonado drove the fastest lap ahead of Nico Rosberg and Vettel. In the third free practice session there was a heavy rain shower a few minutes before the end, after it had been dry throughout. Alonso set the fastest time ahead of Hamilton and Sergio Pérez .

Qualifying

Qualifying took place under changing weather conditions. In the first section there was only light rain and the track was dry. Kimi Raikkonen achieved the fastest lap. The HRT, Marussia and Caterham pilots and Jean-Éric Vergne were eliminated. Before the second section it began to rain heavily, so the pilots made their first attempts on intermediates. The rain got heavier during the segment, so that time improvements were no longer possible after a few laps at the beginning. In the end, a few drivers tried to improve their times on rain tires, but they didn't succeed. Hamilton drove the fastest lap. The Sauber pilots as well as Rosberg, Senna, Romain Grosjean , Felipe Massa and Daniel Ricciardo were eliminated. In the final section it continued to rain. Alonso set the fastest lap and thus took pole position in front of the two Red Bull drivers Vettel and Webber.

Due to gear changes, Grosjean, Rosberg and Webber were moved five positions back on the grid. Since he had stopped Alonso and Raikkonen in the second qualifying segment, Pérez was also moved five positions back.

On Sunday morning there were discussions about the compliance of the Red Bull vehicles in qualifying. According to technical delegate Jo Bauer , there were irregularities in the engine maps. In his message it said: “ When examining the engine-base-speed mapping of the cars with the numbers 1 and 2 it became apparent that the maximum torque output of both engines in the middle speed range is well below what could be seen at previous events . In my opinion, this means a violation of Article 5.5.3 of the Technical Regulations 2012, because the engines are able to deliver more torque in the medium speed range at a certain engine speed. In addition, this new speed mapping will artificially change the aerodynamic properties of both cars, which is in contradiction to the Technical Guideline 036-11. “Bauer passed these investigations on to the race stewards. They decided against sanctions for the racing team. Their reasoning was: “ Although the commissioners do not accept all of the team's arguments, they decide that, as the regulations are formulated, the mapping presented does not constitute a violation of Article 5.5.3 of the Technical Regulations. “FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting announced a clarification of the regulations on race Sunday.

The people in charge at Red Bull saw their car as compliant. Red Bull had introduced a new exhaust system for the European Grand Prix and also contested the British Grand Prix with it. The modified engine settings ensured that more exhaust gases flowed from the exhaust onto the rear wing. According to media reports, this should allow an advantage of up to 0.3 seconds per lap. This type of system was actually banned for the 2012 season.

run

For the Grand Prix start, all drivers except Timo Glock , Charles Pic , Rosberg and Vergne opted for the softer tire compound.

There was an eventful first lap of the race. While Alonso was leading the way, Schumacher attacked the second-placed Vettel on the Parabolika . While still on the start-finish straight, Massa damaged the front wing in a collision with a Toro Rosso and had to pits for a repair stop. Grosjean and Senna also had their vehicles repaired in the pit lane. Grosjean had lost his front wing, Senna had a puncture.

Due to the Massa collision, parts were on the start-finish straight. Hamilton damaged his left rear tire while driving over these parts and had to pit for an unscheduled tire change. Hamilton said after the race that the car didn't feel like it did before, but that he was able to change his driving style accordingly. In the midfield several battles for position occurred in the initial phase. Di Resta lost his position to Raikkonen and Pérez. Button drove past Nico Hülkenberg and Schumacher to third position behind Vettel and Alonso. Alonso set himself apart from Vettel so that he could not use a Drag Reduction System (DRS).

During the first pit stops, Alonso lost the lead to Vettel, who stayed three laps longer on the track. Vettel fell back shortly behind Kamui Kobayashi after his stop , but managed to overtake him immediately. Alonso and Vettel switched from the softer to the harder tire compound. Hülkenberg overtook Schumacher at the box, but was overtaken by Schumacher and Raikkonen on the lap after his pit stop in front of the Mercedes grandstand . Shortly afterwards, Raikkonen also passed Schumacher into fourth position.

After the stops, Vettel and Button first caught up with Alonso. Vettel managed to get back to Alonso in less than a second and he was therefore allowed to use DRS. On the route, the lapped Hamilton was behind Alonso and Vettel. He was the faster of the trio at this stage of the race. After staying behind Vettel at first, he attacked him in front of the hairpin and, to Vettel's displeasure, rounded back. Hamilton then tried to drive up to Alonso in order to round back against him. However, he did not get close enough to overtake. Hamilton was 17th at this point.

At the second pit stops there were shifts in the top trio. Button pitted in the 40th round, Alonso and Vettel followed one lap later. While Alonso kept the lead, Button drove past Vettel. Button benefited from a very quick pit stop. With a standing time of 2.31 seconds, the McLaren boxing team set a new world record for a Formula 1 stop. Shortly after his pit stop, Button got a brake plate in front of the hairpin .

Button managed to get closer to Alonso in less than a second and he was able to use the DRS system in this racing phase to stay within striking distance of Alonso. However, he was not close enough to Alonso to attempt to overtake. Pat Fry , Ferrari's technical director, explained after the race that Alonso had a disadvantage compared to Button and Vettel in the first laps on the harder tire compound, and that they were therefore able to get close to him. While Hamilton finished the race in the pits after 56 laps, Button was unable to keep up with Alonso as his rear tires deteriorated too much. Vettel therefore managed to approach Button.

Two laps before the end of the race, Vettel dared an overtaking maneuver against Button. At the exit of the hairpin, Vettel drove past Button by leaving the track and using the asphalt run-off zone. Button immediately noted via pit radio that Vettel had left the track with all four tires. Vettel justified the use of the run-off zone as follows: “ I wasn't sure whether it was still on the inside or not. And the last thing you want there is of course a collision. I couldn't see him. I tried to give it enough space. I shot over the edge of the track. “Vettel finally crossed the finish line in second place before Button. The race stewards had already initiated an investigation against Vettel. They finally imposed a 20 second time penalty after the race because Vettel had left the track and had taken advantage of this situation on his return.

Alonso won the race ahead of Button and Raikkonen. It was Alonso's 30th Grand Prix win and the third of the season. With a fourth place, Kobayashi achieved his best result in a Formula 1 Grand Prix to date. Vettel was classified fifth after his sentence. Pérez crossed the finish line in sixth. Both Sauber drivers waited longer for their first pit stop and showed a fast racing pace. Schumacher finished seventh with a three-stop strategy and achieved the fastest race lap. The third stop had become necessary due to vibrations. The other points went to Webber, Hulkenberg and Rosberg.

In the drivers' world championship, Alonso extended his lead and could not be caught before the summer break, which began after the next Grand Prix. In terms of the designers, there was an exchange of places between McLaren, who were now third, and Lotus, who dropped to fourth place.

59,000 spectators attended the race on Sunday. A total of 158,000 spectators came to the Grand Prix weekend. Niki Lauda , who celebrated his victory in 1977 on the same spot , was allowed to interview the three podium finishers on the podium.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Red Bull Racing	01	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull RB8	Renault 2.4 V8	P
	02	Mark Webber
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	03	Jenson Button	McLaren MP4-27	Mercedes-Benz 2.4 V8	P
	04th	Lewis Hamilton
Scuderia Ferrari	05	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari F2012	Ferrari 2.4 V8	P
	06th	Felipe Massa
Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	07th	Michael sSchumacher	Mercedes F1 W03	Mercedes-Benz 2.4 V8	P
	08th	Nico Rosberg
Lotus F1 Team	09	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus E20	Renault 2.4 V8	P
	10	Romain Grosjean
Sahara Force India F1 Team	11	Jules Bianchi	Force India VJM05	Mercedes-Benz 2.4 V8	P
		Paul di Resta
	12	Nico Hulkenberg
Sauber F1 Team	14th	Kamui Kobayashi	Clean C31	Ferrari 2.4 V8	P
	15th	Sergio Perez
Scuderia Toro Rosso	16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso STR7	Ferrari 2.4 V8	P
	17th	Jean-Éric Vergne
Williams F1 team	18th	Pastor Maldonado	Williams FW34	Renault 2.4 V8	P
	19th	Valtteri Bottas
		Bruno Senna
Caterham F1 team	20th	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham CT01	Renault 2.4 V8	P
	21st	Vitaly Petrov
HRT F1 team	22nd	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT F112	Cosworth 2.4 V8	P
	23	Dani Clos
		Narain Karthikeyan
Marussia F1 Team	24	Timo Glock	Marussia MR01	Cosworth 2.4 V8	P
	25th	Charles Pic

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b} Bianchi drove the Force India with the number 11 in the first free practice. Di Resta then took over the vehicle for the remainder of the race weekend.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Bottas drove the Williams with the number 19 in the first free practice. Senna then took over the vehicle for the rest of the race weekend.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Clos drove the HRT with the number 23 in the first free practice. Karthikeyan then took over the vehicle for the rest of the race weekend.

Classifications

Qualifying

Item	driver	constructor	Q1	Q2	Q3	begin
01	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1: 16.073	1: 38.521	1: 40.621	01
02	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1: 16.393	1: 38.309	1: 41.026	02
03	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1: 16,500	1: 39.382	1: 41.496	08th
04th	Michael sSchumacher	Mercedes	1: 16.686	1: 38.010	1: 42.459	03
05	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1: 16.271	1: 39.467	1: 43.501	04th
06th	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	1: 16.181	1: 38.731	1: 43.950	05
07th	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1: 16.507	1: 38.659	1: 44.113	06th
08th	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1: 16.221	1: 37.365	1: 44.186	07th
09	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	1: 16.352	1: 39.703	1: 44.889	09
10	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus Renault	1: 15.693	1: 39.729	1: 45.811	10
11	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1: 16.516	1: 39.789	-	11
12	Sergio Perez	Clean Ferrari	1: 15.726	1: 39.933	-	17th
13	Kamui Kobayashi	Clean Ferrari	1: 16.481	1: 39.985	-	12
14th	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1: 16.265	1: 40.212	-	13
15th	Romain Grosjean	Lotus Renault	1: 16.685	1: 40.574	-	19th
16	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault	1: 16.426	1: 40.752	-	14th
17th	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1: 15.988	1: 41.551	-	21st
18th	Jean-Éric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1: 16.741	-	-	15th
19th	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	1: 17.620	-	-	16
20th	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault	1: 18.531	-	-	18th
21st	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	1: 19.220	-	-	20th
22nd	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	1: 19.291	-	-	22nd
23	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	1: 19.912	-	-	23
24	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	1: 20.230	-	-	24
107 percent time : 1: 20.991 min (based on Q1 best time of 1: 15.693 min)

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t} racing cars with KERS
2. ↑ Mark Webber was moved five positions back due to a gear change.
3. ↑ Sergio Pérez was moved five positions down due to a handicap in qualifying.
4. ↑ Romain Grosjean was moved five positions back due to a gear change.
5. ↑ Nico Rosberg was moved five positions back due to a gear change.

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap
01	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	67	2	1: 31: 05.862	01	1: 19.044 (66.)
02	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	67	2	+ 6.949	06th	1: 19.719 (62nd)
03	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus Renault	67	2	+ 16.409	10	1: 19.485 (56th)
04th	Kamui Kobayashi	Clean Ferrari	67	2	+ 21.925	12	1: 19,161 (61.)
05	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	67	2	+ 23.732	02	1: 19.469 (67.)
06th	Sergio Perez	Clean Ferrari	67	2	+ 27.896	17th	1: 19.270 (62.)
07th	Michael sSchumacher	Mercedes	67	3	+ 28.970	03	1: 18.725 (57.)
08th	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	67	2	+ 46.941	08th	1: 19.794 (59th)
09	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	67	3	+ 48.162	04th	1: 19.372 (56th)
10	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	67	3	+ 48.889	21st	1: 19.105 (59th)
11	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	67	2	+ 59.227	09	1: 19.717 (67.)
12	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	67	3	+1: 11.428	13	1: 19.225 (67.)
13	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	67	2	+1: 16.829	11	1: 20.066 (44th)
14th	Jean-Éric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	67	3	+1: 16.965	15th	1: 19.645 (59th)
15th	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	66	3	+ 1 lap	05	1: 19.607 (59th)
16	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault	66	3	+ 1 lap	18th	1: 19,997 (62.)
17th	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault	66	3	+ 1 lap	14th	1: 19.894 (62nd)
18th	Romain Grosjean	Lotus Renault	66	3	+ 1 lap	19th	1: 20.013 (60th)
19th	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	65	4th	+ 2 rounds	16	1: 20.596 (61.)
20th	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	65	2	+ 2 rounds	20th	1: 21.753 (45th)
21st	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	64	2	+ 3 rounds	23	1: 22.407 (51.)
22nd	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	64	2	+ 3 rounds	22nd	1: 22.778 (54th)
23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	64	2	+ 3 rounds	24	1: 21.788 (55th)
-	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	56	3	DNF	07th	1: 20.091 (34th)

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t} racing cars with KERS
2. ↑ Sebastian Vettel received a 20-second time penalty for leaving the route and an advantage achieved on return.

World Cup stands after the race

The first ten of the race got 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 point (s) respectively.

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  Fernando Alonso Ferrari 154 02  Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 120 03  Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 110 04th  Kimi Raikkonen Lotus Renault 98 05  Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 92 06th  Nico Rosberg Mercedes 76 07th  Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 68 08th  Romain Grosjean Lotus Renault 61 09  Sergio Perez Clean Ferrari 47 10  Kamui Kobayashi Clean Ferrari 33 11  Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 29 12  Michael sSchumacher Mercedes 29

Item driver constructor Points 13  Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 27 14th  Felipe Massa Ferrari 23 15th  Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 19th 16  Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 18th 17th  Jean-Éric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 4th 18th  Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2 19th  Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 0 20th  Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 0 21st  Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 0 22nd  Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 0 23  Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 0 24  Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 0

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Red Bull-Renault 230 02  Ferrari 177 03  McLaren-Mercedes 160 04th  Lotus Renault 159 05  Mercedes 105 06th  Clean Ferrari 80

Item constructor Points 07th  Williams-Renault 47 08th  Force India-Mercedes 46 09  Toro Rosso-Ferrari 6th 10  Caterham-Renault 0 11  Marussia-Cosworth 0 12  HRT-Cosworth 0

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mario Fritzsche, Dieter Rencken: "Pirelli: New hard tires probably only again in Suzuka". Motorsport-Total.com, July 20, 2012, accessed July 20, 2012 . 
2. ^ ^{A b} Christian Nimmervoll, Dieter Rencken: "For the time being no penalty: Vettel remains in second place". Motorsport-Total.com, July 22, 2012, accessed July 22, 2012 . 
3. ↑ Christian Nimmervoll: "First training: three times rain, twice McLaren". Motorsport-Total.com, July 20, 2012, accessed July 20, 2012 . 
4. ^ "GP Germany in Hockenheim / 1st free practice". Motorsport-Total.com, July 20, 2012, accessed July 20, 2012 . 
5. ↑ Fabian Hust: "Maldonado fastest in the second training when it rains". Motorsport-Total.com, July 20, 2012, accessed July 20, 2012 . 
6. ^ "GP Germany in Hockenheim / 2nd free practice". Motorsport-Total.com, July 20, 2012, accessed July 20, 2012 . 
7. ↑ Fabian Hust: "Alonso fastest in the final training". Motorsport-Total.com, July 21, 2012, accessed July 21, 2012 . 
8. ^ "GP Germany in Hockenheim / 3rd free practice". Motorsport-Total.com, July 21, 2012, accessed July 21, 2012 . 
9. ↑ Markus Lüttgens: "Five places back: Gear change at Webber". Motorsport-Total.com, July 21, 2012, accessed July 21, 2012 . 
10. ↑ Stefan Ziegler: "Competition hinders: Perez five places back". Motorsport-Total.com, July 21, 2012, accessed July 21, 2012 . 
11. ↑ Christian Nimmervoll: "Bad news for Vettel: FIA initiates investigation". Motorsport-Total.com, July 22, 2012, accessed July 23, 2012 . 
12. ↑ Falko Schoklitsch: "Formula 1 - Whiting announces clarification on map rules". Horner, Domenicali and Kaltenborn are waiting for the meeting. Motorsport-Magazin.com, July 22, 2012, accessed July 23, 2012 . 
13. ↑ Burkhard Nuppeney, sip: "Why Vettel was threatened with exclusion in Hockenheim". welt.de , July 22, 2012, accessed on July 23, 2012 . 
14. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} "GP Germany in Hockenheim / race". Motorsport-Total.com, July 22, 2012, accessed July 23, 2012 . 
15. ↑ Annika Kläsener: "Formula 1 - Massa: I feel strong in the car". Difficult race, but good pace. Motorsport-Magazin.com, July 22, 2012, accessed July 23, 2012 . 
16. ↑ ^{a b} Falko Schoklitsch: "Formula 1 race: Alonso wins in Hockenheim". Second place for Vettel. Motorsport-Magazin.com, July 22, 2012, accessed July 23, 2012 . 
17. ↑ ^{a b} Fabian Hust: "McLaren: Strong Button - Disappointed Hamilton". Motorsport-Total.com, July 22, 2012, accessed July 23, 2012 . 
18. ^ ^{A b c d e} Christian Nimmervoll: "German attack fizzles out: Third victory for Alonso". Motorsport-Total.com, July 22, 2012, accessed August 23, 2012 . 
19. ↑ Stefan Ziegler: "World record at McLaren: 2.31 seconds for changing tires". Motorsport-Total.com, July 22, 2012, accessed July 23, 2012 . 
20. ↑ Fabian Hust: "Ferrari: Victory for Alonso and a fly in the soup". Motorsport-Total.com, July 22, 2012, accessed July 23, 2012 . 
21. ↑ ^{a b} Christian Nimmervoll, Dieter Rencken: "20 seconds penalty: Vettel loses second place". Motorsport-Total.com, July 22, 2012, accessed July 23, 2012 . 
22. ↑ Christian Nimmervoll: "59,000 viewers on site, six million on RTL". Motorsport-Total.com, July 23, 2012, accessed July 23, 2012 .