2012 Japanese Grand Prix

 2012 Japanese Grand Prix

Racing data
15th of 20 races in the 2012 Formula 1 World Championship
Surname:	2012 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix
Date:	October 7, 2012
Place:	Suzuka
Course:	Suzuka International Racing Course
Length:	307.471 km in 53 laps of 5.807 km
Pole position
Driver:	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault
Time:	1: 30.839 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault
Time:	1: 35.774 min (lap 52)
Podium
First:	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault
Second:	Felipe Massa	Ferrari
Third:	Kamui Kobayashi	Clean Ferrari

The 2012 Japanese Grand Prix took place on October 7th at the Suzuka International Racing Course in Suzuka and was the 15th race of the 2012 Formula 1 World Championship .

Reports

background

After the Singapore Grand Prix , Fernando Alonso led the drivers' standings with 29 points ahead of Sebastian Vettel and 45 points over Kimi Raikkonen . In the constructors' championship, Red Bull-Renault led by 36 points over McLaren-Mercedes and 52 points over Ferrari .

At the Japanese 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 .

With Michael Schumacher (six times), Alonso, Vettel (twice each), Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button (once each), six former winners competed in this Grand Prix.

Lars Österlind (SWE), Vincenzo Spano (VEN), Derek Warwick (GBR) and Kazunari Yamanashi (JPN) acted as race stewards .

training

In the first free practice, Button drove the fastest lap ahead of his teammates Hamilton and Mark Webber . In this training Valtteri Bottas took over the Williams from Bruno Senna and Giedo van der Garde took over the Caterham from Heikki Kovalainen . In the second free practice, Webber took the lead from Hamilton and Vettel. Paul di Resta and Schumacher damaged their vehicles in this training session in similar accidents on the Spoon curve. In the third free practice session, Vettel set the fastest time ahead of Webber and Felipe Massa . Nico Hülkenberg had an accident in the Degner curve during this training session . Charles Pic was cautioned following the third free practice session for obstructing Hamilton in the chicane. In addition, his team was fined 5,000 euros .

Qualifying

Romain Grosjean set the fastest lap in the first section of qualifying . The HRT , Marussia and Caterham pilots and Bruno Senna were eliminated. In the second section, Vettel was in the lead. The Toro Rosso and Mercedes drivers as well as Pastor Maldonado , Paul di Resta and Massa were eliminated. In the third section, Raikkonen turned into the gravel trap in the final phase and triggered a brief yellow phase, which made it impossible for some competitors to improve their time. Vettel kept the top position and secured pole position in front of Webber and Button, who was moved five positions back due to a gear change. The Buttons gearbox had the same problem as Hamiltons, which was damaged during the race at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Nico Hülkenberg , Schumacher and Jean-Éric Vergne were also affected by starting place penalties : Hülkenberg because of a gear change that was necessary after his accident in the third free practice, Schumacher because of a collision he caused with Vergne at the Singapore Grand Prix and Vergne because he had hindered Senna in the chicane in the first qualifying segment.

Pole-setter Vettel was cautioned after qualifying for obstructing Alonso in the last qualifying stage.

run

At the start of the Japanese Grand Prix there were several collisions in the first corner. The trigger was a contact between Raikkonen and Alonso. Alonso slit open his left rear tire on the front wing of Raikkonen. In addition, Grosjean caused a collision by driving Webber in the back. Nico Rosberg had to brake, which is why there was a collision between him and Senna. Alonso and Rosberg retired due to collision damage, Grosjean, Senna and Webber came to the pits for repairs. The race management punished Grosjean for his behavior in the start phase with a 10-second stop-and-go penalty; Senna was given a drive-through penalty. The collisions resulted in a safety car phase. Vettel led in this before Kobayashi, Button, Massa and Räikkönen.

After the restart, Vettel managed to gain a lead at the front, while there were battles for positions in the rest of the field. In the 13th lap Button began the phase of the first pit stops. In the following laps, the remaining drivers in the leading group completed their stops. Vettel and Massa waited the longest, which turned out to be the right decision. Vettel kept the lead and Massa overtook Button and Kobayashi at the box and was in second place. In the 19th round there was a duel between Hamilton and Pérez. Hamilton had previously come through the pit stops before Pérez. Pérez attempted an overtaking maneuver on the outside lane in front of the hairpin, lost control of his vehicle and retired. In the early stages of the race, he managed to overtake Hamilton at this point.

The second pit stop phase began on lap 31. Kobayashi was the first pilot to pit. Vettel extended his lead on Massa before their stops and again remained the longest of the leading group on the track, so that he remained in the lead throughout. At this stage of the race, Narain Karthikeyan and Pic gave up the race with technical problems. In addition, Senna passed Grosjean by attacking him outside of the 130R.

While Vettel led the race safely ahead of Massa, a duel between Kobayashi and Button developed for third place. However, Button did not launch an attack. Shortly before the end of the race, Grosjean gave up in the pits.

Vettel finally won the race with about 20 seconds ahead of Massa and Kobayashi, who successfully defended third position against Button. There was a bigger gap behind the first four pilots. The other points went to Hamilton, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Maldonado, Webber and Ricciardo.

Vettel started from pole position, led the race throughout and achieved the fastest lap on the penultimate lap. With that he managed a Grand Slam . Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko commented on Vettel's fastest race lap: “ Completely unnecessary, but that's Vettel. "

Massa took the first podium since the 2010 Korean Grand Prix and Kobayashi stood on the podium for the first time in his Formula 1 career. Maldonado managed to score points again for the first time after winning the Spanish Grand Prix in 2012 .

With the victory, Vettel reduced the gap to world championship leader Alonso from 29 to 4 points. Raikkonen stayed in third place. There were no changes in the first three positions for the designers.

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	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	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham CT01	Renault 2.4 V8	P
		Heikki Kovalainen
	21st	Vitaly Petrov
HRT F1 team	22nd	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT F112	Cosworth 2.4 V8	P
	23	Narain Karthikeyan
Marussia F1 Team	24	Timo Glock	Marussia MR01	Cosworth 2.4 V8	P
	25th	Charles Pic

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{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.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Van der Garde drove the Caterham with the number 20 in the first free practice. Kovalainen then took over the vehicle for the rest of the race weekend.

Classifications

Qualifying

Item	driver	constructor	Q1	Q2	Q3	begin
01	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1: 32.608	1: 31.501	1: 30.839	01
02	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1: 32.951	1: 31.950	1: 31.090	02
03	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1: 33.077	1: 31.772	1: 31.290	08th
04th	Kamui Kobayashi	Clean Ferrari	1: 32.042	1: 31.886	1: 31.700	03
05	Romain Grosjean	Lotus Renault	1: 32.029	1: 31.988	1: 31.898	04th
06th	Sergio Perez	Clean Ferrari	1: 32.147	1: 32.169	1: 32.022	05
07th	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1: 32.459	1: 31.833	1: 32.114	06th
08th	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus Renault	1: 32.221	1: 31.826	1: 32.208	07th
09	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1: 33.061	1: 32.121	1: 32.327	09
10	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1: 32.828	1: 32.272	no time	15th
11	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1: 32.946	1: 32.293	-	10
12	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	1: 32.898	1: 32.327	-	11
13	Michael sSchumacher	Mercedes	1: 33.349	1: 32.469	-	23
14th	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	1: 32.834	1: 32.512	-	12
15th	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1: 33.015	1: 32.625	-	13
16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1: 33.059	1: 32.954	-	14th
17th	Jean-Éric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1: 33.370	1: 33.368	-	19th
18th	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault	1: 33.405	-	-	16
19th	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	1: 34.657	-	-	17th
20th	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	1: 35.213	-	-	18th
21st	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	1: 35.385	-	-	20th
22nd	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	1: 35.429	-	-	21st
23	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault	1: 35.432	-	-	22nd
24	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	1: 36.734	-	-	24
107 percent time : 1: 38.471 min (based on Q1 best time of 1: 32.029 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. ↑ Jenson Button was moved five positions back due to a gear change.
3. ↑ Nico Hülkenberg was moved five positions back due to a gear change.
4. ↑ Michael Schumacher was relocated ten positions for causing a collision at the Singapore Grand Prix.
5. ↑ Jean-Éric Vergne was moved three positions back because of Bruno Senna's handicap.

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap
01	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	53	2	1: 28: 56.242	01	1: 35.774 (52nd)
02	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	53	2	+ 20.639	10	1: 36.894 (50.)
03	Kamui Kobayashi	Clean Ferrari	53	2	+ 24,538	03	1: 36.679 (52nd)
04th	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	53	2	+ 25.098	08th	1: 36.606 (51st)
05	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	53	2	+ 46.490	09	1: 37,760 (45th)
06th	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus Renault	53	2	+ 50.424	07th	1: 37.886 (49.)
07th	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	53	2	+ 51.159	15th	1: 37.938 (46.)
08th	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	53	2	+ 52.364	12	1: 37.771 (45th)
09	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	53	2	+ 54.675	02	1: 37.128 (49.)
10	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	53	2	+1: 06.919	14th	1: 37.455 (50th)
11	Michael sSchumacher	Mercedes	53	2	+1: 07.769	23	1: 36.942 (43rd)
12	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	53	2	+1: 23.460	11	1: 37.535 (48th)
13	Jean-Éric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	53	2	+1: 28.645	19th	1: 37,533 (39.)
14th	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault	53	4th	+1: 28.709	16	1: 36.819 (44.)
15th	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	52	2	+ 1 lap	17th	1: 38.043 (52nd)
16	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	52	2	+ 1 lap	18th	1: 38.756 (48th)
17th	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault	52	3	+ 1 lap	22nd	1: 38,344 (47th)
18th	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	52	2	+ 1 lap	20th	1: 39.351 (50th)
19th	Romain Grosjean	Lotus Renault	51	3	DNF	04th	1: 38.277 (32nd)
-	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	37	2	DNF	21st	1: 40.493 (34.)
-	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	32	1	DNF	24	1: 41.388 (21.)
-	Sergio Perez	Clean Ferrari	18th	1	DNF	05	1: 38.983 (17.)
-	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	00	0	DNF	06th	-
-	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	00	0	DNF	13	-

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 194 02  Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 190 03  Kimi Raikkonen Lotus Renault 157 04th  Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 152 05  Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 134 06th  Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 131 07th  Nico Rosberg Mercedes 93 08th  Romain Grosjean Lotus Renault 82 09  Felipe Massa Ferrari 69 10  Sergio Perez Clean Ferrari 66 11  Kamui Kobayashi Clean Ferrari 50 12  Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 44 13  Michael sSchumacher Mercedes 43

Item driver constructor Points 14th  Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 37 15th  Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 33 16  Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 25th 17th  Jean-Éric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 8th 18th  Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 7th 19th  Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 0 20th  Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 0 21st  Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 0 22nd  Jérôme D'Ambrosio Lotus Renault 0 23  Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 0 24  Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 0 25th  Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 0

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Red Bull-Renault 324 02  McLaren-Mercedes 283 03  Ferrari 263 04th  Lotus Renault 239 05  Mercedes 136 06th  Clean Ferrari 116

Item constructor Points 07th  Force India-Mercedes 81 08th  Williams-Renault 58 09  Toro Rosso-Ferrari 15th 10  Marussia-Cosworth 0 11  Caterham-Renault 0 12  HRT-Cosworth 0

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Extreme load Suzuka: Pirelli warns of blistering". Motorsport-Total.com, October 2, 2012, accessed October 5, 2012 . 
2. ^ "GP Japan in Suzuka / 1st free practice". Motorsport-Total.com, October 5, 2012, accessed October 5, 2012 . 
3. ↑ Christian Nimmervoll: "McLaren sets the tone: Button before Hamilton". Motorsport-Total.com, October 5, 2012, accessed October 5, 2012 . 
4. ^ "GP Japan in Suzuka / 2nd free practice". Motorsport-Total.com, October 5, 2012, accessed October 5, 2012 . 
5. ↑ Christian Nimmervoll: "Friday in Suzuka: tips close together". Motorsport-Total.com, October 5, 2012, accessed October 5, 2012 . 
6. ^ "GP Japan in Suzuka / 3rd free practice". Motorsport-Total.com, October 6, 2012, accessed October 6, 2012 . 
7. ↑ Christian Nimmervoll: "Red Bull dominates final training in Suzuka". Motorsport-Total.com, October 6, 2012, accessed October 6, 2012 . 
8. ↑ Stefan Ziegler: "Hamilton blocked: Warning and fine for Pic". Motorsport-Total.com, October 6, 2012, accessed October 6, 2012 . 
9. ↑ Sebastian Fränzschky, Dieter Rencken: "McLaren: Transmission problems solved?" Motorsport-Total.com, October 5, 2012, accessed on October 6, 2012 . 
10. ↑ Falko Schoklitsch: "Formula 1 - Gear change at Hülkenberg". Warning for Pic. Motorsport-Magazin.com, October 6, 2012, accessed October 6, 2012 . 
11. ↑ Christian Nimmervoll: "Schumacher: In Japan ten starting positions behind". Motorsport-Total.com, September 23, 2012, accessed on September 28, 2012 . 
12. ↑ Christian Nimmervoll, Dieter Rencken: "Vergne: Three starting places behind". Motorsport-Total.com, October 6, 2012, accessed October 6, 2012 . 
13. ↑ Christian Nimmervoll, Dieter Rencken: "Vettel gets away with a warning". Motorsport-Total.com, October 6, 2012, accessed October 6, 2012 . 
14. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Christian Nimmervoll: "World Cup completely open: Vettel dominates in Japan". Motorsport-Total.com, October 7, 2012, accessed March 10, 2013 . 
15. ↑ ^{a b c d} "GP Japan in Suzuka / Race". Motorsport-Total.com, October 7, 2012, accessed March 10, 2013 .