Red Bull Racing took the opportunity to pit him early, with the downside being that Vettel would have to do 42 laps on the soft tyre when supplier Pirelli predicted they could only do 36. [141][142], 2009 World Drivers' Champion Jenson Button on the competitive nature of the 2012 season. Three teams changed their names for 2012: "We are all terrified that somebody will unlock the secret and win everything. [310] As Lewis Hamilton led the race away from the start, Vettel started from pit lane and took advantage of a chaotic opening corner that saw Nico Hülkenberg, Paul di Resta, Romain Grosjean and Bruno Senna tangle; Hülkenberg was forced out, while di Resta and Grosjean pitted with damage. On the exit of his pit box, Hamilton appeared to run over something. April, 1st. [322] Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner later admitted that the team's perpetual alternator problems were a serious concern with just one race left in the championship, a World Championship at stake and very little time to diagnose and correct the problem. [239] The result meant Webber closed to within thirteen points of Alonso's championship lead, with both drivers breaking away from third-placed Vettel. 23rd February 2012, 16:03 9th March 2012, 21:52 | Written by Keith Collantine. This was evidenced by Kimi Räikkönen, who inherited the lead after the first set of stops and produced a series of fast laps that allowed him to rejoin in second, coming dangerously close to team-mate Grosjean under brakes as he emerged from the pit lane. [61] Sutil was later the subject of criminal action, charged with grievous bodily harm after allegedly assaulting a senior Renault team member with a glass in a Shanghai nightclub following the 2011 Chinese Grand Prix. Webber held on for his second win of the season, with Vettel third and Felipe Massa in fourth, his best result since achieving a podium in South Korea in 2010. On lap 13, Michael Schumacher hit Bruno Senna from behind after misjudging his braking, forcing both of them out of the race. Eddig 851 alkalommal nézték meg. [276] The race was shortened by two laps to fit the two-hour time limit for a Grand Prix following a pair of lengthy safety car interventions; first, Narain Karthikeyan understeered into the barriers under the grandstands on lap 30, forcing the safety car to be deployed. At the time, the first sector of the circuit was under yellow flag conditions following the spin and retirement of Pastor Maldonado at Curva do Sol, the Interlagos circuit's third corner, which feeds onto the back straight. 88.89% Did you like this video? He, too, made a one-race appearance at the Indian Grand Prix, before leaving the team until the 2012 season began. Runners and Riders at the F1 event at the Catalunya Circuit [10] The test saw teams introduce major aerodynamic upgrades ahead of the race. We know that La Source is a very tough corner. Tags: F1, f1 2012 testing, f1 barcelona 2012, f1 testing, sutton images 0 3 weeks break is too long…can’t wait for the race this weekend…thank you Sutton Images, always such … Following their worst season in their thirty-year history[46] – in which they finished ninth in the World Constructors' Championship with just five points – the team underwent a technical review, employing former McLaren designer Mike Coughlan (having served his suspension for his role in the 2007 Formula One espionage controversy) as Chief Designer, and promoting Jason Somerville to Head of Aerodynamics. Ferrari wrote to the FIA, requesting clarification on the matter. Pastor Maldonado was quickest for Williams on the third day of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya. The race had modest beginnings as a production car race. ", "Lotus's rivals set to be forced to copy innovative reactive ride height system", "Ferrari has developed its own reactive ride-height system for 2012 F1 car", "FIA sends note to teams: Reactive suspension system is not legal", "FIA ban new technical innovation developed by Lotus and Ferrari", "Reactive ride banned because FIA believed it gave an aerodynamic benefit", "Caterham F1 team unveils 2012 challenger", "Ross Brawn explains how F1's ugly noses could have been avoided", "Pastor Maldonado given five-place grid penalty for gearbox change", "FIA announces new sporting rules for 2012 Formula 1 season", "McLaren will be ready for first 2012 Formula 1 test", "Formula 1 teams told trick brake systems are illegal", "Formula 1 teams pick Mugello for 2012's new mid-season test", "Ferrari pushing for increase in F1 testing limit, so as not to stifle opportunities for young drivers", "Pirelli promises more exciting races in 2012 Formula 1 season", "Pirelli to trial 2012 compounds in Abu Dhabi Young Driver testing", "High tyre degradation makes three-stop strategies likely – 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix Friday practice analysis", "Renault backs Formula 1 team name change to Lotus", "Virgin applies for name change to become Marussia", "Ferrari: No issue with Lotus name change", "Mercedes unveils new gull-wing safety car", "Mercedes-AMG GT S: Bernd Mayländers neues Safety-Car", "Mercedes unveils new 2015 safety and medical cars", "Lapped cars allowed to pass safety car again in 2012", "Four-hour time limit among new 2012 rules", "FIA to disable use of DRS under yellow flag situations during F1 races", "Michael Schumacher keeps Valencia podium as stewards decide against penalty for yellow-flag DRS use", "Sky and BBC to share UK F1 television coverage from 2012 to 2018", "Bernie Ecclestone says Sky pay-to-view TV deal will grow F1's audience", "Formula 1 teams accept there is no going back on Sky deal", "BBC to face questioning from MPs over switch to shared F1 coverage", "Red Bull out of FOTA but still 'committed to cost saving, "Christian Horner insists Red Bull Racing still committed to cost controls despite FOTA exit", "Sauber also confirms FOTA exit, Scuderia Toro Rosso could follow", "Ross Brawn says F1's competitors could end up regretting that four teams quit FOTA", "Red Bull downplays reliability worries despite troubled last day of F1 testing", "Analysis: mounting issue to blame for Lotus's chassis problems? It featured the 63rd FIA Formula One World Championship, a motor racing series for Formula One cars, recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) – the governing body of motorsport – as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. Maldonado's previous best was seventh, set at the 2011 British Grand Prix, and his second place in Spain was elevated to pole position on the grid after Hamilton was excluded from qualifying. [33] Maldonado rescued his twelve-year-old cousin Manuel from the fire, as he had a broken foot. [18] He qualified sixteenth, and went on to finish thirteenth overall. After his final pit stop, Räikkönen was 22.809 seconds down on the leader but fresher tyres meant that he would have a speed advantage for the last 16 laps. Felipe Massa finished second, his first podium result since the 2010 Korean Grand Prix,[284] whilst Kamui Kobayashi claimed the first podium of his career – and the first podium for a Japanese driver at the Suzuka Circuit since Aguri Suzuki finished third in 1990[285] – after withstanding late pressure from Jenson Button. In fact no car went on the track for the first four minutes of the twenty-minute session. Tags All tags. [28][31] De la Rosa had been without a full-time drive since the 2010 Italian Grand Prix, having spent the majority of the 2011 season as a test driver for McLaren and making one appearance racing for Sauber; Karthikeyan was dropped by the team before the 2011 British Grand Prix in favour of Ricciardo. [305] Webber held off a late challenge from Lewis Hamilton to complete the podium. At this stage the Hamilton was charging his way through the field while the three at the front (Alonso, Maldonado, and Räikkönen) were building a twelve-second gap to 4th-placed Grosjean. [316] With both Alonso and Vettel finishing on the podium with him, Räikkönen's win was not enough to keep him in contention for the World Drivers' Championship, leaving the title to be fought out between Alonso and Vettel over the final two races of the season. Mark Webber was also caught up in the opening lap melee when he was hit by Romain Grosjean; Webber was forced to pit straight away, while Grosjean was given a ten-second stop-go penalty for causing yet another first lap incident. In fact it was only his third ever points scoring finish in 24 races. [293] Vettel ignored six radio calls from his pit wall cautioning him that a tyre failure was imminent, only backing off just enough in the final few laps to secure victory over Webber by six seconds. Hamilton had twenty laps to make up a twelve-second deficit, and he easily reeled Vettel in; in response, Red Bull pitted the reigning World Champion, and Vettel fell to fifth. Shortly afterwards, the majority of the other drivers made their first scheduled pit stop, with Lotus, Mercedes and Force India the only front running teams to opt for the soft compound tyre again. The only running Sauber of Sergio Pérez crossed the line third fastest only to be squeezed down the order by the other Lotus of Frenchman Romain Grosjean who claimed second place from Räikkönen. It's harder to handle it was a challange. [234] The torrential rain lasted throughout the weekend, forcing qualifying to be suspended for ninety minutes,[235] before race day dawned clear. Finally Paul di Resta broke the deadlock and, like with many previous qualifying sessions, was the first onto the track choosing to use the hard compound tyres. Button seized the lead from Hamilton, but soon found himself under pressure from Nico Hülkenberg and lost the lead to the German driver on lap 18, and second place to Hamilton shortly thereafter. [163] The result was also Mercedes's first win as a constructor since Juan Manuel Fangio won the 1955 Italian Grand Prix. The car passed the test after Bahrain, the car passed the test after Monaco, and now there has been a clarification on the rule. Crucially for the Australian, before he lost front wing performance he led a train of six cars all close behind each other. [77] Jenson Button qualified on pole[258] and broke away at the start while a four-car pile-up started behind him when Romain Grosjean made contact with Lewis Hamilton and they both slammed into Fernando Alonso and Sergio Pérez, eliminating all four on the spot and triggering the safety car. Following his final pit stop (lap 49), Räikkönen also began to make up ground on the two leaders. Despite its troubled construction period, the Circuit of the Americas passed its final FIA inspection on 25 September, allowing the race to go ahead. Alonso found himself third at the restart and pounced on a mistake by second-placed Romain Grosjean to lead the chase against Vettel. Driving. Drivers were no longer permitted to have a "joker" gearbox change. The second phase of Q2 began with two minutes remaining in the session and the only two cars not to go back out were Hamilton, sitting in first on a 1:22.465, and Webber in fourth on 1:22.977. [22] This penalty was applied in accordance with article 16.1 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations. Alonso maintained his hold on the championship lead for the next seven races, taking his third win in Germany and finishing on the podium in the United Kingdom, Italy and Singapore. Vitantonio Liuzzi, who drove for HRT in 2011, joined the Indian i1 Super Series. Mercedes GP also changed the name of their team, announcing that they were to become known as Mercedes AMG. Of particular note was the difference in the top three drivers to their teammates. The 2012 Formula One season was the 63rd season of the Formula One World Championship.The season had 20 races, starting in Australia on 18 March and ended in Brazil on 25 November. 23rd February 2012, 16:03 9th March 2012, 21:52 | Written by Keith Collantine. Just as the drivers established a rhythm, Hamilton's gearbox failed, forcing him out of the race and handing the lead to Sebastian Vettel. your own Pins on Pinterest .. [156] Sebastian Vettel finished outside the points after making contact with Karthikeyan and developing a puncture. The pre-2012 regulations allowed the nose to be as high as 62.5 centimetres (24.6 in) above ground, but the revisions to the sporting code lowered the maximum allowable height to 55 centimetres (22 in) 150mm ahead of the front bulkhead. Peter Sauber formally stepped down from his position as team principal of Sauber F1 in the week before the Korean Grand Prix, appointing the team's CEO, Monisha Kaltenborn as his successor. [274], As the teams returned to Asia, the focus shifted to the championship race. Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi stopped on track at the conclusion of Q2 due to a hydraulic leak,[18] and therefore could not take part in Q3. [323] With Webber now out of the running, Hamilton then turned his attentions on Vettel and steadily closed the gap to the lead, overtaking the World Championship leader on lap 42 when Vettel got caught behind Narain Karthikeyan in the meandering first sector,[324] which allowed Hamilton to pass Vettel along the long back straight. rFactor | F1 2012 | Rosa | Onboard at Barcelona Watched 2,817 times. Webber, after his front wing replacement, was stuck behind Nico Hülkenberg in the second Force India and could not find enough straight line speed to pass him under DRS. Your go-to source for the latest F1 news, video highlights, GP results, live timing, in-depth analysis and expert commentary. For the video game based on the 2012 Formula One season, see. F1 2012 Barcelona test - Mclaren Ferrari.jpg 700 × 465; 264 KB F1 2012 Jerez test - McLaren 2.jpg 3,888 × 2,592; 3.41 MB F1 2012 Jerez test - McLaren 3.jpg 3,888 × 2,592; 3.97 MB [190], Following criticism over the sensitivity of their tyre compounds,[190][191][192] tyre supplier Pirelli announced changes to their tyre allocation for the Spanish Grand Prix, making pit strategy the focal point of the Grand Prix. Options for buying your Grand Prix Tickets for Barcelona . Kimi Raikkonen - Gladiator. [178], The decision to hold the race despite the ongoing protests made it one of the most controversial Grands Prix in the sport's sixty-year history. Jenson Button took an early lead from pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton and the Red Bull cars while the rest of the field was bottle-necked by contact in the first corner. Vettel entered the final race of the season with a thirteen-point lead over Alonso. The 2012 season saw the return of the United States Grand Prix, which was held at the Circuit of the Americas, in Austin, Texas. Any driver in the pit lane when a race is suspended was permitted to return to the circuit and take up the position on the grid that they were running in at the time of the suspension. Moments after Hamilton caught him on lap 17, the Australian suffered yet another alternator problem, and coasted to a halt. With five minutes remaining, only four cars were out on the track – the two Lotus and Toro Rosso cars – who were the only drivers not to set a timed lap for Q2. The following twelve teams and twenty-five race drivers competed in the 2012 Formula One World Championship. Further down the order, Caterham was summoned to the stewards on charges of an unsafe pit release when Heikki Kovalainen was released directly into the path of Karthikeyan and the team was given a €10,000 fine for the incident. [269] Starting outside the top ten, Pérez elected to start on the harder compound tyres and complete one stop, producing fastest lap after fastest lap as McLaren's confidence was broken when Jenson Button's car was paralysed by a fuel pressure problem. [215] Grosjean's second place saw Lotus take third place in the Constructors' Championship from Ferrari. Chief among these is the re-introduction of a rule that will allow all lapped traffic under the, Drivers were not permitted to leave the confines of the circuit without a justifiable reason, following a spate of incidents in, Races were run to a maximum four-hour time limit to prevent the indefinite suspension of a race. [289], Sebastian Vettel's momentum continued one week later in Korea, winning his third consecutive race and taking a six-point championship lead as Fernando Alonso finished third. [195] Hamilton was later excluded from the qualifying results after his car did not have enough fuel to return to the pits for scrutineering, promoting Maldonado to pole position[196] and moving Hamilton to the back of the grid. [183][184] HRT elected not to take part in the test, instead choosing to concentrate on establishing themselves at their new headquarters in Madrid. After the session Lewis Hamilton was excluded from the results of the qualifying session due to insufficient fuel aboard his car. The wind speed was still around the 2.5 m/s mark from the previous days qualifying. Lewis Hamilton finished a meritorious 8th after starting from the back of the grid, with Jenson Button and Nico Hülkenberg (who had kept Mark Webber (11th) behind from lap 22 until the end) taking the final points. After being cancelled in 2011 due to civil protests, the Bahrain Grand Prix also returned to the calendar.[1]. Räikkönen held on to secure his – and Lotus F1's – first victory of the season. [311] Vettel began to round up the HRTs, Marussias and Caterhams, but his early progress came at the expense of his front wing endplate when he made contact with Senna at Turn 8 switchback. [262] Button's win allowed him to regain precious ground on the championship fight, while Alonso's retirement from the race and Vettel's second place moved the reigning World Champion to within twenty-four points of the championship lead. Bruno Senna finished in sixth, scoring more points in a single race than his team scored in 2011. The first 2012 Barcelona Test was a four-day test session that started on February 21st and ended on February 24th. The 2012 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 66th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. [214], One week before the Canadian Grand Prix, the FIA declared the floor used by Red Bull in Monaco to be illegal, forcing the team to change the offending parts for the Canadian Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton initially qualified on pole, but he was excluded from the results for a technical infringement, and Williams' Pastor Maldonado inherited pole. Webber caught Alonso with five laps to go, passing him on the Wellington Straight. [263] Scuderia Toro Rosso scored their first points since the Malaysian Grand Prix, with Jean-Éric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo finishing eighth and ninth respectively. After showing early promise in the wet conditions, McLaren went backwards in the dry, losing second place in the Constructors' Championship to Ferrari and third to Lotus.[240]. The race was preceded by a four-day test at the Mugello Circuit in Italy, starting on 1 May. The two Red Bull drivers, Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, made very early pit stops on laps 7 and 8 respectively, switching to the harder tyres. Points were awarded to the top 10 classified finishers. The calendar for the season included twenty races, breaking the previous record of nineteen, which was first set in 2005. [64][65] Alguersuari was offered a seat at HRT, but turned it down[66] and instead joined tyre supplier Pirelli as their test driver, developing tyre compounds for use in racing alongside former Virgin Racing driver Lucas di Grassi. Pastor Maldonado was quickest for Williams on the third day of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya. Prices and download plans . Further down the order, Kimi Räikkönen finished seventh after spending most of the race trapped behind Felipe Massa, and later claimed that mistakes on Saturday had robbed him of a podium on Sunday,[306] while Pedro de la Rosa retired from the race when he suffered a brake failure that saw him spin into the barriers at Turn 4. As the session ended, most of the cars were still on 'hot' laps so a frantic finish to the session was a high probability. The countdown to F1 2012 continues this week, with the second pre-season test at Barcelona getting underway on Tuesday, February 21.. All … [179][180][181][182], Starting on 1 May, the teams conducted a three-day test at the Mugello Circuit in Italy ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix. 3D Gameplay. The team later denied that there had ever been a problem with Vettel's tyres. His sixth place was elevated to fifth on the grid due to Hamilton's exclusion. Ferrari driver Felipe Massa posted the slowest time in Q2 and took seventeenth place in a disappointing performance. Pastor Maldonado, Williams, Barcelona, 2012. [244] Lewis Hamilton's one hundredth Grand Prix started with a disaster when he picked up a puncture on the third lap and spent most of the race at the tail end of the field before retiring on lap 56 with a suspension problem. [44], Williams announced that they would be using Renault engines for the 2012 and 2013 seasons, with an option to use Renault engines again in 2014 under the next generation of engine regulations. Hamilton's next target was Alonso, whose tyres lost all grip and he fell victim to Hamilton, Romain Grosjean, Sergio Pérez and Vettel in quick succession. The graphics and sound are much improved from F1 2011. [328] In the wake of their collision, Button re-took the lead and held on to the end of the race. [176] He was later involved in an altercation with Nico Rosberg that saw Rosberg referred to the stewards for forcing Hamilton beyond the boundary of the circuit while defending his position, but he escaped without penalty. … [16] In the same session, Dani Clos replaced HRT's Narain Karthikeyan, Jules Bianchi replaced Paul di Resta at Force India and Valtteri Bottas replaced Bruno Senna at Williams.[17]. Kamui Kobayashi was the first to set a timed lap followed by a host of other cars. [27][28] All were later released. We had a car which was legal for the first part of the season. Hülkenberg spun on lap 48 and lost the lead to Hamilton, but caught the McLaren on lap 54 as they encountered lapped traffic. It was Schumacher's first podium since the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix. Prior to 2012, drivers were entitled to change their gearboxes once over the course of the season without incurring a five-place grid penalty.