F1 News
About the 2012 Brazilian F1 Grand Prix
All drivers that finished the 2012 F1 season and started the 2012 Brazil F1 GP
Red Bull Racing driver Sebastian Vettel has claimed his third consecutive F1 world drivers title yesterday. He now is the youngest-ever triple world champion.
After a dramatic Brazilian Grand Prix, where McLaren driver Jenson Button took his third win of the 2012 F1 season. Vettel made 4 pitstops and finished on 6th place. He had a difficult race because he spun and had damage on his car because of hitting Bruno Senna in the first lap.
The Pirelli (silver) hard and (white) medium tyres were nominated for the race, while the Cinturato Green intermediates and Cinturato Blue full wets were also used. All the drivers started on the medium tyre apart from Michael Schumacher (Mercedes), Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) and Romain Grosjean (Lotus), who started on the hard tyre.
First corner 2012 Brazil F1 GP
The race started in ambient temperatures of only 19°C with a light drizzle. After 5 laps this drizzle became rain and Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen was the first to change his slick tyres into intermediates (green), on lap five, followed progressively by many other drivers all the way down the field.
Button, who passed teammate Hamilton lead from second on the grid, stayed out as long as he could on the medium tyres while the rain fell. The different strategies shook up the established order: the Caterham of Heikki Kovalainen running as high as sixth overall, ahead of the Marussia of Timo Glock in seventh – who also both remained on the slicks until laps 15 and 14 respectively.
First corner 2012 Brazil F1 GP
When the safety car came out for 10 laps, Button pitted on lap 23 for hard tyres because the track still remained damp as the rain eased off. In the closing stages of the race, the rain returned with a vengeance, meaning that it was no longer possible to stay out on the slicks.
On lap 50 Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg choose the intermediates, while Vettel stopped for medium tyres on lap 52 and then two laps later for intermediates as the rain fell harder. On lap 57 Button made his second and final stop onto intermediate tyres without losing the lead. Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo and Kovalainen ended the race on full wets.
Vettel’s tyre strategy consisted of starting on the medium tyre, switching to the intermediate, then to the hard, then to the medium, and finally to the intermediate again.
Podium 2012 Brazil F1 GP: 1. Button, 2. Alonso, 3. Massa
His title rival Fernando Alonso, who needed to finish at least third with Vettel 10th or lower to claim the championship, made one less stop: starting on the medium, then to the intermediate, then to the medium, then to the intermediate again.
The regulations state that drivers have to use both slick compounds during the race unless they have used either the intermediate or wet tyre. Button was the only finisher to stop just twice: all the others made at least one more stop.
Pit stop summary – 2012 Brazilian F1 Grand Prix
| Driver | Start | 1st Pit | 2nd Pit | 3rd Pit | 4th Pit | 5th Pit | Total Pits |
| Button: | MU | HN (23) | IN (57) | 2 | |||
| Alonso: | MU | IN (10) | MU (18) | IN (56) | 3 | ||
| Massa: | MU | IN (15) | MU (19) | IN (55) | 3 | ||
| Webber: | MU | IN (9) | HU (19) | IN (55) | 3 | ||
| Hülkenberg: | MU | HN (23) | IN (57) | DT (58) | 3 | ||
| Vettel: | MU | IN (10) | HN (19) | MU (52) | IN (54) | 4 | |
| Schumacher: | HN | HN (5) | IN (8) | HN (17) | IN (54) | 4 | |
| Vergne: | MN | IN (15) | HN (20) | HN (29) | IN (56) | 4 | |
| Kobayashi: | HN | IN (8) | HN (18) | IN (54) | 3 | ||
| Räikkönen: | MU | IN (5) | MU (19) | IN (53) | 3 | ||
| Petrov: | MN | IN (14) | HN (19) | IN (54) | 3 | ||
| Pic: | MN | IN (13) | MU (20) | IN (55) | 3 | ||
| Ricciardo: | MN | IN (9) | HN (19) | HN (51) | IN (56) | WN (61) | 5 |
| Kovalainen: | MN | IN (15) | MU (19) | HN (37) | IN (56) | WN (59) | 5 |
| Rosberg: | MU | IN (9) | HN (18) | HN (20) | IN (50) | 4 | |
| Glock: | MN | IN (14) | MU (19) | HN (31) | IN (56) | 4 | |
| De La Rosa: | MU | IN (14) | MU (19) | HN (50) | IN (55) | 4 | |
| Kartikeyan: | MU | IN (13) | HN (20) | HN (51) | IN (55) | 4 | |
| Di Resta: | MN | IN (10) | HN (18) | IN (57) | 3 | ||
| Hamilton: | MU | IN (10) | HN (18) | 2 | |||
| Grosjean: | HN | 0 | |||||
| Maldonado: | MU | 0 | |||||
| Senna: | MN | 0 | |||||
| Perez: | MU | 0 |
M = Medium compound
H = Hard compound
I = Intermediate compound
W = Wet compound
N = New compound
U = Used compound
NC = Not classified
DT = Drive Through
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