Great Britain Grand Prix 2012

 Great Britain Grand Prix 2012

Racing data
9th of 20 races in the 2012 Formula 1 World Championship
Surname:	2012 Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix
Date:	July 8, 2012
Place:	Silverstone
Course:	Silverstone Circuit
Length:	306.198 km in 52 laps of 5.891 km
Spectator:	~ 127,000
Pole position
Driver:	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari
Time:	1: 51.746 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus Renault
Time:	1: 34.661 min (lap 50)
Podium
First:	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault
Second:	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari
Third:	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault

The 2012 British Grand Prix took place on July 8th at the Silverstone Circuit in Silverstone and was the ninth race of the 2012 Formula 1 World Championship .

Reports

background

After the European Grand Prix , Fernando Alonso led the drivers' standings with 20 points ahead of Mark Webber and 23 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton . In the constructors' championship, Red Bull-Renault led with 39 points ahead of McLaren-Mercedes and with 50 points ahead of Lotus-Renault .

At the British Grand Prix, Pirelli provided the drivers with the tire compounds P Zero Hard (silver) and P Zero Soft (yellow), as well as Cinturato Intermediates (green) and Cinturato Full Wets (blue) for wet conditions .

In the run-up to the Grand Prix, the use of the drag reduction system was modified. If yellow flags are shown behind the DRS zone , the DRS is deactivated for this time. Previously there were discussions about drive-through penalties for drivers who opened their DRS in front of a yellow flag at two races.

With Michael Schumacher (three times), Alonso (twice), Kimi Räikkönen , Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Webber (once each), six former winners competed in this Grand Prix.

Paul Gutjahr (SUI), Paolo Longoni (ITA), Nigel Mansell (GBR) and Richard Norbury (GBR) acted as race commissioners .

training

It rained at Silverstone on the first day of training. In the first free practice session the rain got heavier towards the end. Most of the drivers only drove a few laps. Romain Grosjean set the fastest time ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Hamilton. This training took Jules Bianchi the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg , Valtteri Bottas the Williams of Bruno Senna and Dani Clos the HRT of Narain Karthikeyan . In the second training session there was hardly any driving in the first half due to the heavy rain. One reason for the low traffic was that the teams only had three sets of the Cinturato full bet available for the entire weekend. In the Becketts , Senna lost control of his vehicle and hit the boundary. The training was briefly interrupted. At the end of practice, Alonso lost his front wing when he hit the wall, but drove back to the pits on his own. Hamilton drove the fastest lap ahead of Kamui Kobayashi and Schumacher.

The third free practice session on Saturday finally took place under dry weather conditions. Alonso posted the fastest time ahead of Jenson Button and Grosjean.

Qualifying

In the run-up to qualifying, the spectators were asked not to arrive, as the meadow parking spaces should be spared for Sunday due to the persistent rain.

In the first section of qualifying, which was held under rainy conditions, Vettel set the fastest time. The Marussia , HRT and Caterham pilots as well as Button were eliminated. Charles Pic failed because of the 107 percent rule and therefore failed to qualify. However, he received a start permit from the race stewards. The second part of the time practice was interrupted for over an hour 6:19 minutes before the end because the track was too wet. Hamilton ended up setting the fastest time. The Sauber and Toro Rosso pilots as well as Senna, Nico Rosberg and Paul di Resta were eliminated. Grosjean made it into the final segment, but because he got stuck in the gravel, he was no longer able to take part in the further qualifying. In the last section, Alonso secured pole position from Webber and Schumacher. It was Alonso's and Ferrari's first pole position since the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix .

run

Vitaly Petrov suffered engine damage on the way to the starting grid . He was therefore not able to take part.

At the start, Alonso changed lanes and was right in front of Webber. This then also changed lanes. As a result, he lost momentum and Alonso kept the lead. Alonso, who, in contrast to Webber, had started on the harder tire, easily pulled away from Webber over the next few laps. Schumacher initially kept third place, Felipe Massa took fourth place from Vettel, who dropped to fifth place. Already in the first corners di Resta suffered a flat tire in a collision with Grosjean. He changed tires, but shortly afterwards gave up the race with consequential damage. Grosjean had his damaged front wing changed as a result of the collision.

In the next laps, Massa put pressure on Schumacher, but initially failed with his attempts to overtake. More drivers gathered behind Schumacher. On the eleventh lap, Massa managed to overtake his rival in Stowe . Shortly afterwards, Pastor Maldonado and Sergio Pérez pitted. Pérez tried to overtake Brooklands on the outside lane. Maldonado countered and tried to defend the position. The two pilots collided. While Pérez retired, Maldonado continued after a repair stop. Maldonado was warned by the race management and fined 10,000 euros . After the race, Pérez was furious about Maldonado's behavior before the collision.

During the first pit stop phase, Vettel passed Massa and Schumacher. Both Vettel and Massa carried out overtaking maneuvers in midfield after their stops against pilots who were not yet in the pits. Alonso pitted on lap 15, one lap after Webber, and stayed ahead of him. For a short time, Hamilton took over the lead of the race. On the 19th lap, the two of them fought a duel over several corners in which Alonso finally drove past. Hamilton finally pitted on lap 21 and switched from hard to soft tires. He fell behind Schumacher and Raikkonen. Raikkonen and Hamilton overtook Schumacher in the following laps: Raikkonen before Brooklands, Hamilton before Copse .

While Alonso extended his lead at the front, Hamilton stopped again on lap 28. He switched back to the hard tires. Hamilton was initially ahead of Grosjean, who had made his second stop shortly before Hamilton. However, Hamilton did not succeed in keeping Grosjean behind for long. During the second pit stops, Webber was again the first to pit. He stayed on the hard tires and finally drove the fastest lap to date. Alonso switched to the soft tires several laps later and initially stayed in the lead. Kobayashi made a mistake on his second stop and knocked over several mechanics. Two team members were slightly injured. Kobayashi received a fine of 25,000 euros for this.

In the last ten laps, Webber caught up with leading Alonso, who was no longer able to keep up with Webber on the soft tires. On the 48th lap he managed to drive past Alonso in front of Brooklands with the help of the DRS. He pulled away from Alonso in the next few laps. Vettel also caught up with Alonso, but was no longer within striking distance.

There were also a few changes in midfield. Schumacher overtook Hamilton and took seventh place. In addition, there was a duel between Hülkenberg and Senna for ninth place. First, Senna overtook his opponent. This countered and lost further positions.

Webber eventually won his second race of the season ahead of Alonso and Vettel. Massa achieved his best season position to date with fourth place. In addition, he was in the top 4 for the first time since 2010. Raikkonen was fifth ahead of his teammate Grosjean. The other points went to Schumacher, Hamilton, Senna and Button.

In the World Cup, Alonso kept the lead over Webber. Among the constructors, Ferrari improved from fourth to second place. Lotus retained third place, McLaren dropped to fourth place. Red Bull continued to lead.

A new attendance record was set at the British Grand Prix. A total of 297,000 spectators came to the route over the three days. On Friday there were 80,000, on Saturday 90,000 and on Sunday 127,000 spectators.

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	Paul di Resta	Force India VJM05	Mercedes-Benz 2.4 V8	P
	12	Jules Bianchi
		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 12 in the first free practice. Hülkenberg then took over the vehicle for the rest 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: 46.515	1: 56.921	1: 51.746	01
02	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1: 47.276	1: 55.898	1: 51.793	02
03	Michael sSchumacher	Mercedes	1: 46.571	1: 55.799	1: 52.020	03
04th	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1: 46.279	1: 56.931	1: 52.199	04th
05	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1: 47.401	1: 56.388	1: 53.065	05
06th	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus Renault	1: 47.309	1: 56.469	1: 53.290	06th
07th	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	1: 46.449	1: 56.802	1: 53.539	07th
08th	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1: 47.433	1: 54.897	1: 53.543	08th
09	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1: 46.334	1: 55.556	1: 54.382	14th
10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus Renault	1: 47.043	1: 56.388	no time	09
11	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	1: 47.582	1: 57.009	-	10
12	Kamui Kobayashi	Clean Ferrari	1: 46.649	1: 57.071	-	17th
13	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1: 47.724	1: 57.108	-	11
14th	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1: 47.266	1: 57.132	-	12
15th	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault	1: 47.105	1: 57.426	-	13
16	Jean-Éric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1: 47.705	1: 57.719	-	23
17th	Sergio Perez	Clean Ferrari	1: 46.494	1: 57.895	-	15th
18th	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1: 48.044	-	-	16
19th	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault	1: 49.027	-	-	18th
20th	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	1: 49.477	-	-	19th
21st	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	1: 51.618	-	-	20th
22nd	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	1: 52.742	-	-	21st
23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	1: 53.040	-	-	22nd
107 percent time : 1: 53.718 min (based on Q1 best time of 1: 46.279 min)
DNQ	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	1: 54.143	-	-	24

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. ↑ Nico Hülkenberg was moved five positions back due to a gear change.
3. ↑ Kamui Kobayashi was moved five positions down for causing a collision at the European Grand Prix.
4. ↑ Jean-Éric Vergne was relocated ten positions for causing a collision at the European Grand Prix.
5. ↑ Charles Pic was moved five positions back due to a gear change.

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap
01	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	52	2	1: 25: 11.288	02	1: 34.934 (49.)
02	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	52	2	+ 3.060	01	1: 35.385 (49.)
03	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	52	2	+ 4.836	04th	1: 34.897 (52nd)
04th	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	52	2	+ 9.519	05	1: 35.041 (50th)
05	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus Renault	52	2	+ 10.314	06th	1: 34.661 (50th)
06th	Romain Grosjean	Lotus Renault	52	2	+ 17.101	09	1: 34.884 (50.)
07th	Michael sSchumacher	Mercedes	52	2	+ 29.153	03	1: 35,191 (52nd)
08th	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	52	2	+ 36.463	08th	1: 36,173 (44.)
09	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault	52	2	+ 43.347	13	1: 35.863 (48th)
10	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	52	2	+ 44.444	16	1: 36.086 (52nd)
11	Kamui Kobayashi	Clean Ferrari	52	2	+ 45.370	17th	1: 35.478 (48th)
12	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	52	2	+ 47.856	14th	1: 35.981 (37th)
13	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	52	2	+ 51.241	12	1: 35.448 (49.)
14th	Jean-Éric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	52	2	+ 53.313	23	1: 35,514 (49.)
15th	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	52	2	+ 57.394	11	1: 35,750 (49.)
16	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	51	2	+ 1 lap	07th	1: 37.515 (34.)
17th	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	51	2	+ 1 lap	19th	1: 38.050 (37th)
18th	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	51	2	+ 1 lap	20th	1: 37.422 (50.)
19th	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	51	2	+ 1 lap	24	1: 38.008 (50th)
20th	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	50	1	+ 2 rounds	21st	1: 39.618 (44.)
21st	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	50	2	+ 2 rounds	22nd	1: 38,339 (50th)
-	Sergio Perez	Clean Ferrari	11	1	DNF	15th	1: 39.781 ( 03rd)
-	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	02	1	DNF	10	-
-	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault	-	-	DNS	18th	-

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

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 129 02  Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 116 03  Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 100 04th  Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 92 05  Kimi Raikkonen Lotus Renault 83 06th  Nico Rosberg Mercedes 75 07th  Romain Grosjean Lotus Renault 61 08th  Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 50 09  Sergio Perez Clean Ferrari 39 10  Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 29 11  Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 27 12  Michael sSchumacher Mercedes 23

Item driver constructor Points 13  Felipe Massa Ferrari 23 14th  Kamui Kobayashi Clean Ferrari 21st 15th  Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 18th 16  Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 17th 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 216 02  Ferrari 152 03  Lotus Renault 144 04th  McLaren-Mercedes 142 05  Mercedes 98 06th  Clean Ferrari 60

Item constructor Points 07th  Williams-Renault 47 08th  Force India-Mercedes 44 09  Toro Rosso-Ferrari 6th 10  Caterham-Renault 0 11  Marussia-Cosworth 0 12  HRT-Cosworth 0

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sebastian Fränzschky: "The tire compounds for the next four races". Motorsport-Total.com, May 21, 2012, accessed May 25, 2012 . 
2. ↑ Marion Rott: "Formula 1 - No DRS under yellow flags". FIA disabled adjustable rear wing. Motorsport-Magazin.com, July 9, 2012, accessed July 9, 2012 . 
3. ↑ Christian Nimmervoll: "Rain in Silverstone: Start without expressiveness". Motorsport-Total.com, July 6, 2012, accessed July 7, 2012 . 
4. ^ "GP Great Britain in Silverstone / 1st free practice". Motorsport-Total.com, July 6, 2012, accessed July 7, 2012 . 
5. ↑ Christian Nimmervoll: “'Very British': Hamilton moving ahead in the rain”. Motorsport-Total.com, July 6, 2012, accessed July 7, 2012 . 
6. ^ "GP Great Britain in Silverstone / 2nd free practice". Motorsport-Total.com, July 6, 2012, accessed July 7, 2012 . 
7. ^ "GP Great Britain in Silverstone / 3rd Free Practice". Motorsport-Total.com, July 7, 2012, accessed July 8, 2012 . 
8. ↑ "Silverstone appeals to fans: 'Please stay at home!'" Motorsport-Total.com, July 7, 2012, accessed on July 8, 2012 . 
9. ↑ Dieter Rencken: "Silverstone: Alonso swims to pole position". Motorsport-Total.com, July 7, 2012, accessed July 8, 2012 . 
10. ↑ Fabian Hust: "Caterham: A failure even before the start". Motorsport-Total.com, July 8, 2012, accessed July 9, 2012 . 
11. ↑ Christian Nimmervoll, Dieter Rencken: "Red Bull: With contrasting Ferrari strategy for victory." Motorsport-Total.com, July 9, 2012, accessed July 9, 2012 . 
12. ↑ Fabian Hust: "Frustrating zero number for Force India". Motorsport-Total.com, July 8, 2012, accessed July 9, 2012 . 
13. ↑ Stefan Ziegler: "Grojean still strong sixth despite changing his nose". Motorsport-Total.com, July 8, 2012, accessed July 9, 2012 . 
14. ↑ Dieter Rencken, Stefan Ziegler: "Maldonado & Perez: Two Formula 1 drivers meet ..." Motorsport-Total.com, July 8, 2012, accessed on July 9, 2012 . 
15. ↑ Dominik Sharaf: "Two Sauber mechanics slightly injured". Motorsport-Total.com, July 8, 2012, accessed July 9, 2012 . 
16. ↑ Christian Nimmervoll: "Fines for Kobayashi and Maldonado". Motorsport-Total.com, July 8, 2012, accessed July 9, 2012 . 
17. ↑ Christian Nimmervoll: "Very dry: Webber wins before Alonso". Motorsport-Total.com, July 8, 2012, accessed July 9, 2012 . 
18. ^ Roman Wittemeier: "Silverstone: Record number of visits on race day". Motorsport-Total.com, July 9, 2012, accessed July 9, 2012 .