2012 Canadian Grand Prix

2012 Canadian Grand Prix
Previous←	2012 Monaco Grand Prix
Round	7 of 2012
Next→	2012 European Grand Prix
Race Details
Date	June 10, 2012
Official Name	Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada 2012
Location	Circuit Gilles Villeneuve Montreal, Canada
Course	Street Circuit 4.361 km (2.710 mi)
Distance	70 laps, 305.27 km (189.686 mi)
Pole Position
Driver	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault
Time	1:13.784
Fastest Lap
Driver	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault
Time	1:15.752 on lap 70
Podium
First	Lewis Hamilton
Second	Romain Grosjean
Third	Sergio Pérez
Lap Leaders

The 2012 Canadian Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada 2012) was a Formula One race that took place on June 10th, 2012 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal, Canada.

Sebastian Vettel took pole position, but finished fourth. Lewis Hamilton won the race, ahead of Romain Grosjean and Sergio Pérez.

Background

Available Tyres
Option	Supersoft
Prime	Soft
Inters	Intermediate
Wets	Wet

After complaints from McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari and Lotus during the Monaco Grand Prix weekend that the design of the floor of the Red Bull car is illegal, Red Bull were forced to alter the design of the floor of the car after FIA technical head Charlie Whiting informed all the teams that "fully enclosed holes may not be located" in that area of the car.

The DRS zones were changed from 2011. In 2011, the DRS zone was 650 metres along the main straight, followed by a secondary zone on the start/finish straight. In 2012, however, the DRS zone down the main straight has been shortened to 600 metres, with no secondary zone. This was done because overtaking was considered to be too easy in 2011.

In the championship race, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso leads Red Bull's second-placed Sebastian Vettel and third-placed Mark Webber by three points. Vettel is ahead of Webber on second places.

In the constructors' championship, Red Bull-Renault lead McLaren-Mercedes by 38 points.

Entry list

The full entry list for the 2012 Canadian Grand Prix is shown below:

No.	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model	Tyre
1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB8	Renault	RS27-2012	P
2	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB8	Renault	RS27-2012	P
3	Jenson Button	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	McLaren	MP4-27	Mercedes	FO 108Z	P
4	Lewis Hamilton	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	McLaren	MP4-27	Mercedes	FO 108Z	P
5	Fernando Alonso	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	F2012	Ferrari	056	P
6	Felipe Massa	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	F2012	Ferrari	056	P
7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes	W03	Mercedes	FO 108Z	P
8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes	W03	Mercedes	FO 108Z	P
9	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus F1 Team	Lotus	E20	Renault	RS27-2012	P
10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Team	Lotus	E20	Renault	RS27-2012	P
11	Paul di Resta	Sahara Force India F1 Team	Force India	VJM05	Mercedes	FO 108Z	P
12	Nico Hülkenberg	Sahara Force India F1 Team	Force India	VJM05	Mercedes	FO 108Z	P
14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber F1 Team	Sauber	C31	Ferrari	056	P
15	Sergio Pérez	Sauber F1 Team	Sauber	C31	Ferrari	056	P
16	Daniel Ricciardo	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso	STR7	Ferrari	056	P
17	Jean-Éric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso	STR7	Ferrari	056	P
18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams F1	Williams	FW34	Renault	RS27-2012	P
19	Bruno Senna	Williams F1	Williams	FW34	Renault	RS27-2012	P
20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham F1 Team	Caterham	CT01	Renault	RS27-2012	P
21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham F1 Team	Caterham	CT01	Renault	RS27-2012	P
22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT F1 Team	HRT	F112	Cosworth	CA2012	P
23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT F1 Team	HRT	F112	Cosworth	CA2012	P
24	Timo Glock	Marussia F1 Team	Marussia	MR01	Cosworth	CA2012	P
25	Charles Pic	Marussia F1 Team	Marussia	MR01	Cosworth	CA2012	P

Practice Overview

Free Practice 1 (Friday)

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in FP1, over a tenth of a second quicker than second-fastest Sebastian Vettel, who only set his fastest with a few minutes remaining. He and Bruno Senna were investigated by the stewards, as Vettel held up Senna before the last chicane, but no action was taken. Heikki Kovalainen crashed 50 minutes into the session at turn 9, which stopped the session for ten minutes. Jenson Button's car had an oil leak in the morning, and McLaren have had to change the seal on his car's gearbox, although he was able to do some running in the practice session.

Free Practice 2 (Friday)

As in FP1, Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets, this time ahead of Fernando Alonso. Also similar to FP1, there was an accident about fifty minutes into the session, as Bruno Senna crashed his Williams into the Wall of Champions (the right-hand wall of the start/finish line), bringing out a red flag. Fifteen minutes later, the session was restarted. Jenson Button managed to get his some distance in his McLaren MP4-27 after his car underwent more repairs, although his lap times were not ideal, and he was ninth-fastest in the session.

Nico Rosberg's broken car being rescued.

Free Practice 3 (Saturday)

In a relatively uneventful session, Sebastian Vettel came top, but the top seven cars were within just four tenths of a second. Fernando Alonso set the second best time, and Lewis Hamilton came in third-fastest. The only incidents involved Nico Rosberg after about five minutes, with a fuel connector issue; and Jean-Éric Vergne after roughly fifteen minutes, when he crashed at turn two. Both incidents brought out yellow flags, and neither driver set a time during the session.

Practice Results

No.	Driver	Team		FP1			FP2			FP3
				Pos	Time		Pos	Time		Pos	Time
1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault		2	1:15.682		4	1:15.531		1	1:14.442
2	Mark Webber			5	1:15.897		12	1:15.907		4	1:14.724
3	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes		10	1:16.347		9	1:15.812		15	1:15.327
4	Lewis Hamilton			1	1:15.564		1	1:15.239		3	1:14.712
5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari		4	1:15.842		2	1:15.313		2	1:14.448
6	Felipe Massa			12	1:16.619		3	1:15.410		6	1:14.767
7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes		9	1:16.264		7	1:15.697		7	1:14.796
8	Nico Rosberg			3	1:15.782		10	1:15.878		24	no time
9	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault		15	1:17.014		15	1:16.562		9	1:14.977
10	Romain Grosjean			14	1:16.890		14	1:16.360		8	1:14.873
11	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes		11	1:16.460		5	1:15.544		11	1:15.067
12	Nico Hülkenberg			6	1:15.986		8	1:15.799		10	1:14.992
14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari		7	1:16.000		6	1:15.651		13	1:15.126
15	Sergio Pérez			8	1:16.249		11	1:15.898		12	1:15.112
16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari		17	1:17.580		20	1:17.716		16	1:15.498
17	Jean-Éric Vergne			16	1:17.352		19	1:17.124		23	no time
18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault		13	1:16.859		13	1:15.987		5	1:14.755
19	Bruno Senna			21	1:18.762		17	1:17.022		14	1:15.327
20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault		19	1:18.177		16	1:16.981		18	1:16.545
21	Vitaly Petrov			18	1:17.935		18	1:17.075		17	1:16.268
22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth		20	1:18.182		21	1:18.908		19	1:17.705
23	Narain Karthikeyan			22	1:19.354		23	1:19.378		21	1:18.189
24	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth		23	1:20.004		22	1:19.084		20	1:17.974
25	Charles Pic			24	1:20.067		24	1:19.902		22	1:18.684

Qualifying

Lewis Hamilton, who qualified on the front row.

Q1

Sebastian Vettel was fastest in the first qualifying session. The Caterhams of Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov came 18th and 19th, Jean-Éric Vergne was the unlucky non-new team driver out of Q1, in 20th, HRT's Pedro de la Rosa (21st) beat the Marussias of Timo Glock (22nd) and Charles Pic (23rd). Narain Karthikeyan in the other HRT came 24th and last.

Q2

Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time in the second qualifying session. 11th-placed Kamui Kobayashi was beaten into Q2 by Jenson Button by a margin of 0.008 seconds. Kimi Räikkönen came 12th, Nico Hülkenberg was 13th, followed by 14th place Sergio Pérez. Williams team-mates Bruno Senna and Pastor Maldonado came 16th and 17th. Maldonado crashed at the end of the session.

Q3

Sebastian Vettel set pole position over Lewis Hamilton, beating him by three-tenths of a second. Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso qualified third. Vettel's Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber came in fourth. Fifth was Nico Rosberg, just ahead of Felipe Massa. Romain Grosjean, the sole Lotus in the top 10, qualified seventh, ahead of the only Force India in the Q3, Paul di Resta. Ninth was Michael Schumacher, and a long way back in tenth was McLaren driver Jenson Button.

Post-Qualifying

Pastor Maldonado had his gearbox changed, which resulted in a five-place grid penalty.

Qualifying Results

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team		Q1			Q2			Q3		Grid
					Pos	Time		Pos	Time		Pos	Time
1	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault		1	1:14.661		1	1:14.187		1	1:13.784	1
2	4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes		3	1:14.891		3	1:14.371		2	1:14.087	2
3	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari		5	1:14.916		2	1:14.314		3	1:14.151	3
4	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault		6	1:14.956		4	1:14.479		4	1:14.346	4
5	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes		11	1:15.098		6	1:14.568		5	1:14.411	5
6	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari		15	1:15.194		9	1:14.641		6	1:14.465	6
7	10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault		14	1:15.163		7	1:14.627		7	1:14.645	7
8	11	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes		10	1:15.019		8	1:14.639		8	1:14.705	8
9	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes		4	1:14.892		5	1:14.480		9	1:14.812	9
10	3	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes		2	1:14.799		10	1:14.680		10	1:15.182	10
11	14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari		12	1:15.101		11	1:14.688				11
12	9	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault		9	1:14.995		12	1:14.734				12
13	12	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India-Mercedes		13	1:15.106		13	1:14.748				13
14	16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari		17	1:15.552		14	1:15.078				14
15	15	Sergio Pérez	Sauber-Ferrari		16	1:15.326		15	1:15.156				15
16	19	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault		8	1:14.995		16	1:15.170				16
17	18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault		7	1:14.979		17	1:15.231				22*
18	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault		18	1:16.263							17
19	21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault		19	1:16.482							18
20	17	Jean-Éric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari		20	1:16.602							19
21	22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth		21	1:17.492							20
22	24	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth		22	1:17.901							21
23	25	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth		23	1:18.255							23
24	23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth		24	1:18.330							24

Grid

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
	______________
Row 1	1	______________
	Sebastian Vettel	2
	______________	Lewis Hamilton
Row 2	3	______________
	Fernando Alonso	4
	______________	Mark Webber
Row 3	5	______________
	Nico Rosberg	6
	______________	Felipe Massa
Row 4	7	______________
	Romain Grosjean	8
	______________	Paul di Resta
Row 5	9	______________
	Michael Schumacher	10
	______________	Jenson Button
Row 6	11	______________
	Kamui Kobayashi	12
	______________	Kimi Räikkönen
Row 7	13	______________
	Nico Hülkenberg	14
	______________	Daniel Ricciardo
Row 8	15	______________
	Sergio Pérez	16
	______________	Bruno Senna
Row 9	17	______________
	Heikki Kovalainen	18
	______________	Vitaly Petrov
Row 10	19	______________
	Jean-Éric Vergne	20
	______________	Pedro de la Rosa
Row 11	21	______________
	Timo Glock	22
	______________	Pastor Maldonado*
Row 12	23	______________
	Charles Pic	24
	______________	Narain Karthikeyan

* Pastor Maldonado was demoted five places on the grid for a gearbox change.

Race

Report

The leaders at the start of the race.

Both Narain Karthikeyan and his HRT teammate Pedro de la Rosa retired in the first 25 laps with brake issues.

The race started without incident, with Sebastian Vettel holding his lead from pole. The first round of pit stops started on lap 13 with Felipe Massa coming in. When the three leaders, Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso pit in that order, the come out with Alonso in front, Hamilton behind and Vettel in third of the leaders. Hamilton overtakes Alonso, and inherits the lead when Romain Grosjean pitted. Hamilton then set a string of fastest laps to stretch his lead to four seconds in fifteen laps.

Narain Karthikeyan was the first retirement, who retired his car with braking issues a few corners after spinning in turn 1. Karthikeyan's HRT team-mate, Pedro de la Rosa retired a laps later, also with brake issues. On lap 45, Michael Schumacher's DRS jammed open, forcing him to retire. About the same time, Toro Rosso's Jean-Éric Vergne was handed a drive-thorugh penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

On lap 50, Hamilton pitted, and emerged in third place, ahead of fourth-placed Mark Webber, just as Hamilton was coming up to lap his team-mate, Jenson Button. Hamilton then started to set a string of fastest laps. Timo Glock retired on lap 60, with brake issues, like the HRTs. Eventually, on lap 62, Hamilton catches Vettel and takes second place with the aid of DRS. Vettel pits on lap 63, and falls to fifth. Hamilton overtook Alonso with DRS on lap 64. On lap 66, Grosjean, on the same strategy as Alonso, speeds past with ease. Sergio Pérez passed Alonso, who was finishing the race about four seconds slower than his rivals. Alonso was passed by Vettel at the hairpin on lap 69, not even needing the DRS.

Hamilton won the race to become the seventh winner in seven races. Second was Grosjean, and Pérez completed the podium. Vettel came fourth. Alonso came in fifth, only 0.4 seconds ahead of Rosberg. Webber was seventh, Räikkönen eighth, Kobayashi ninth and Massa tenth. Button came in 16th, a lap down on his team-mate.

Post-Race

The win propelled Lewis Hamilton into the lead of the world championship, on 88 points, but by just two points over Fernando Alonso on 86 and three ahead of Sebastian Vettel on 85.

Red Bull-Renault still lead the constructors' championship, but with their lead reduced to 31 points ahead of McLaren-Mercedes, and Lotus-Renault took third place back off Ferrari as passed the 100 point mark.

Results

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Avg Speed	Grid	Pts
1	4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	70	1:32:29.586	198.028	2	25
2	10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	70	+ 2.513 s	197.938	7	18
3	15	Sergio Pérez	Sauber-Ferrari	70	+ 5.260 s	197.840	15	15
4	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	70	+ 7.295 s	197.768	1	12
5	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	70	+ 13.411 s	197.550	3	10
6	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	70	+ 13.842 s	197.535	5	8
7	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	70	+ 15.085 s	197.491	4	6
8	9	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	70	+ 15.567 s	197.474	12	4
9	14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	70	+ 24.432 s	197.160	11	2
10	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	70	+ 25.272 s	197.130	6	1
11	11	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	70	+ 37.693 s	196.692	8
12	12	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	70	+ 46.236 s	196.392	13
13	18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	70	+ 47.052	196.363	22
14	16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	70	+ 1 m 4.475 s	195.753	14
15	17	Jean-Éric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	69	+ 1 lap	194.671	19
16	3	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	69	+ 1 lap	194.490	10
17	19	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault	69	+ 1 lap	194.440	16
18	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	69	+ 1 lap	193.984	17
19	21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault	69	+ 1 lap	193.825	18
20	25	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	67	+ 3 laps	189.426	23
Ret	24	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	56	Brakes	188.421	21
Ret	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	43	Rear Wing	193.646	9
Ret	22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	24	Hydraulics	189.402	20
Ret	23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	22	Brakes	187.421	24

Fastest Laps

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Lap	Time	Gap	Avg Speed	Race
1	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	70	1:15.752		207.250	4
2	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	69	1:16.182	0.430	206.080	10
3	15	Sergio Pérez	Sauber-Ferrari	67	1.16.414	0.662	205.454	3
4	16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	70	1:16.609	0.857	204.932	14
5	9	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	70	1:16.764	1.012	204.518	8
6	4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	59	1:17.020	1.268	203.838	1
7	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	67	1:17.060	1.308	203.732	6
8	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	62	1:17.131	1.379	203.545	7
9	12	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	62	1:17.202	1.450	203.357	12
10	11	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	63	1:17.219	1.467	203.313	11
11	10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	57	1:17.264	1.512	203.194	2
12	14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	61	1:17.464	1.712	202.670	9
13	18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	67	1:17.489	1.737	202.604	13
14	19	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault	67	1:17.817	2.065	201.750	17
15	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	42	1:17.820	2.068	201.742	5
16	3	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	63	1:17.843	2.091	201.683	16
17	17	Jean-Éric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	55	1:17.875	2.123	201.600	15
18	21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault	58	1:18.093	2.341	201.037	19
19	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	62	1:18.128	2.376	200.947	18
20	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	47	1:18.433	2.681	200.166	Ret
21	25	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	63	1:20.632	4.880	194.707	20
22	24	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	47	1:21.032	5.280	193.746	Ret
23	22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	23	1:21.535	5.783	192.550	Ret
24	23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	12	1:22.044	6.292	191.356	Ret

Lead laps

Lap-by-lap

Stint	Driver	Laps	Lap Count	Distance (km)
1	Sebastian Vettel	1 – 15	15	65.415
2	Lewis Hamilton	16	1	4.361
3	Fernando Alonso	17 – 19	3	13.083
4	Romain Grosjean	20	1	4.361
5	Lewis Hamilton	21 – 49	29	126.469
6	Fernando Alonso	50 – 63	14	61.054
7	Lewis Hamilton	64 – 70	7	30.527

Totals

Pos.	Driver	Total	Distance (km)
1	Lewis Hamilton	37	161.357
2	Fernando Alonso	17	74.137
3	Sebastian Vettel	15	65.415
4	Romain Grosjean	1	4.361

Milestones

• Sergio Pérez's 25th Grand Prix (24 starts).
• First time in F1 history that the first 7 races have been won by 7 different drivers (Button, Alonso, Rosberg, Vettel, Maldonado, Webber & Hamilton)

Standings after race

Drivers' World Championship Pos. Driver Pts +/- 1 Lewis Hamilton 88 ▲ 3 2 Fernando Alonso 86 ▼ 1 3 Sebastian Vettel 85 ▼ 1 4 Mark Webber 79 ▼ 1 5 Nico Rosberg 67 — Only top five are shown

Constructors' World Championship Pos. Team Pts +/- 1 Red Bull-Renault 164 — 2 McLaren-Mercedes 133 — 3 Lotus-Renault 108 — 4 Ferrari 97 — 5 Mercedes 69 — Only top five are shown

Notes

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