2012 Japanese Grand Prix

2012 Japanese Grand Prix
Previous←	2012 Singapore Grand Prix
Round	15 of 2012
Next→	2012 Korean Grand Prix
The 2005 layout of the Suzuka Circuit
Race Details
Date	October 7, 2012
Location	Suzuka Circuit Mie Prefecture, Japan
Course	Permanent Racing complex 5.807 km (3.608 mi)
Distance	53 laps, 307.771 km (191.240 mi)
Pole Position
Driver	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault
Time	1:30.839
Fastest Lap
Driver	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault
Time	1:35.774 on lap 52
Podium
First	Sebastian Vettel
Second	Felipe Massa
Third	Kamui Kobayashi
Lap Leaders

The 2012 Japanese Grand Prix was the 15th race of the 2012 Formula One Season, which took place on October 7 2012 at the Suzuka Circuit. It was the 28th running of the Japanese Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship and the 24th at the Suzuka Circuit.

Sebastian Vettel won in a dominant display, winning the race, leading every lap from from pole position and setting the fastest lap, his second Grand Chelem, after the 2011 Singapore Grand Prix and second consecutive victory. Second was Felipe Massa, who secured his first podium since the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix, over two years ago. Kamui Kobayashi, who started from third on the grid, mirrored Aguri Suzuki's efforts at the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix by finishing in third place. It was the first podium for a Japanese driver since Takuma Sato at the 2004 United States Grand Prix.

Vettel's win made him the first driver to complete back-to-back victories in 2012.

The result significantly cut Fernando Alonso's Drivers Championship lead to just 4 points, after the Spaniard spun out with a puncture at the first corner. Vettel's win extends Red Bull's lead in the Constructors' Championship to 41 points over McLaren-Mercedes.

Background

After a two week break, Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso went into the event leading the Driver's World Championship at a slightly reduced points margin to second placed Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull-Renault, who sat 29 points behind the championship leader. After Vettel's win at the previous event in Singapore, Red Bull-Renault were able to extend their lead in the Constructors World Championship over the second placed team McLaren-Mercedes by a 36 point margin.

Following his collision with Jean-Éric Vergne in Singapore, Michael Schumacher will take a 10-place grid penalty for the Japanese Grand Prix.

During the two week break between the Singapore Grand Prix and the Japanese Grand Prix there were some major driver announcements for the 2013 Formula One Season. After some impressive performances in 2012 Sauber-Ferrari driver Sergio Perez was confirmed to be joining the McLaren-Mercedes team for 2013 replacing Lewis Hamilton who had raced with the team since 2007. Hamilton, a major championship contender in 2012 was confirmed shortly after to have joined the Mercedes team for 2013 replacing Michael Schumacher in the team. Shortly after this announcement Schumacher announced his retirement from F1 at the conclusion of the 2012 season.

Entry list

The full entry list for the 2012 Japanese 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
Free Practice 1 only
19	Valtteri Bottas	Williams F1	Williams	FW34	Renault	RS27-2012	P
20	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham F1 Team	Caterham	CT01	Renault	RS27-2012	P

Practice

FP1

As the first practice session got underway at Suzuka it was the McLarens that had set the immediate pace at the Japanese circuit. Winner of the 2011 event, Jenson Button set the pace ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton. Mark Webber presented a strong challenge to the McLaren's in his Red Bull to finish a respectable third in the standings ahead of the two Mercedes's of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher.

Championship leader Fernando Alonso struggled in his Ferrari and could only finish the session 11th, some way off the pace of teammate Felipe Massa who finished 7th in the standings behind the Japanese home favourite Kamui Kobayashi. Another championship contender to struggle in the first practice session was Sebastian Vettel who could only manage a disappointing 17th in the standings.

In the midfield, Valtteri Bottas substituted for Bruno Senna at Williams where he finished the standings 18th, eight places behind teammate Pastor Maldonado. The other reserve driver participating in the first practice session was Giedo van der Garde at Caterham who replaced Heikki Kovalainen. Van der Garde finished the session 23rd, three places behind teammate Vitaly Petrov.

FP2

The second practice session turned out to be heavily action packed with many cars having either accidents or spins. Only 6 minutes into the session, Paul di Resta crashed his Force India at the Spoon Curve meaning that he was unable to set a competitive lap time. Shortly after, Michael Schumacher crashed his Mercedes at the exact same place meaning he would finish the session a disappointing 10th. It was an all round bad session for Mercedes with Nico Rosberg retiring from the session with oil pressure issues at the Esses, midway through the session.

The session saw minor spins for the Caterham of Heikki Kovalainen, both the Sauber's of Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi, Marussia's Timo Glock, Williams's Pastor Maldonado, Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen. In the dying minutes of the session however, the Caterham of Vitaly Petrov suffered a rear wing failure which detached from his car sending him flying into the barriers at the first corner. Petrov escaped the accident relatively unscathed.

Up at the front, McLaren and Red Bull continued to set the pace. This time with the Red Bull of Mark Webber leading the times ahead of the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton and his teammate Sebastian Vettelwho had made a strong recovery after a disappointing first practice session. Nico Hulkenberg impressed in his Force India to finish the session a strong fourth in the standings ahead of the recovering Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari.

FP3

At the conclusion of the final practice session at Suzuka it was the two Red Bull's that dominated the timing sheets with Sebastian Vettel topping the timesheets ahead of teammate Mark Webber. Ferrari driver Felipe Massa put in a strong performance to finish 3rd at the conclusion of the session, significantly ahead of teammate Fernando Alonso who finished a disappointing 13th.

Michael Schumacher finished the session 4th for Mercedes. Schumacher had looked strong throughout the session and had briefly topped the timesheets. Teammate Nico Rosberg faired less well and finished the session a disappointing 15th.

McLaren did not show particularly strong pace in the session with Jenson Button finishing in 8th position and Lewis Hamilton finishing in 13th position. Towards the end of the session Hamilton notably had a hair raising moment at the Bus Stop Chicane. Hamilton encountered slower cars while entering the chicane whilst on a hot lap, one of these slow cars was the Marussia of Charles Pic who was on an in-lap to the pits. Pic had been driving very slowly on the racing line and was nearly hit at very high speed by Lewis Hamilton who managed to avoid the trailing Marussia at the very last second.

The only other notable incident was when the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg went off the circuit at the second degner and landed his car into the barriers during the final 20 minutes of the session.

Practice Results

No.	Driver	Team		FP1			FP2			FP3
				Pos	Time		Pos	Time		Pos	Time
1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault		17	1:36.366		3	1:32.836		1	1:32.136
2	Mark Webber			3	1:34.856		1	1:32.493		2	1:32.371
3	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes		1	1:34.507		7	1:33.349		8	1:33.025
4	Lewis Hamilton			2	1:34.740		2	1:32.707		13	133.569
5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari		11	1:35.484		5	1:33.093		11	1:33.184
6	Felipe Massa			7	1:35.283		9	1:33.614		3	1:32.824
7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes		5	1:35.122		10	1:33.750		4	1:32.918
8	Nico Rosberg			4	1:35.059		11	1:33.866		15	1:33.899
9	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault		13	1:35.691		14	1:34.291		12	1:33.224
10	Romain Grosjean			14	1:35.724		6	1:33.107		7	1:33.008
11	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes		8	1:35.299		24	no time		9	1:33.094
12	Nico Hülkenberg			9	1:35.474		4	1:32.987		18	1:34.369
14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari		6	1:35.199		13	1:33.983		6	1:32.924
15	Sergio Pérez			12	1:35.584		12	1:33.903		5	1:32.920
16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari		15	1:36.123		16	1:34.863		17	1:34.023
17	Jean-Éric Vergne			16	1:36.222		17	1:35.080		14	1:33.722
18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault		10	1:35.478		15	1:34.300		10	1:33.160
19	Bruno Senna			DNP			8	1:33.499		16	1:33.984
	Valtteri Bottas			18	1:36.389		DNP			DNP
20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault		DNP			18	1:35.711		19	1:35.568
	Giedo van der Garde			23	1:39.374		DNP			DNP
21	Vitaly Petrov			20	1:38.295		19	1:35.870		20	1:36.355
22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth		24	1:39.688		22	1:37.342		24	1:36.875
23	Narain Karthikeyan			22	1:39.043		23	1:37.701		23	1:36.649
24	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth		19	1:37.717		20	1:36.194		21	1:36.389
25	Charles Pic			21	1:38.616		21	1:36.636		22	1:36.517

Qualifying

Qualifying Results

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team		Q1			Q2			Q3		Grid
					Pos	Time		Pos	Time		Pos	Time
1	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault
2	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault
3	3	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes
4	14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari
5	10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault
6	15	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari
7	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari
8	9	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus-Renault
9	4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes
10	12	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes
11	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari
12	11	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes
13	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes
14	18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault
15	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes
16	16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari
17	17	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari
18	19	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault
19	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault
20	24	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth
21	22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth
22	25	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth
23	21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault
24	23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth

Grid

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

Notes

*Button (Qualified 3rd, Grid 8th) and Hulkenberg (Qualified 10th, Grid 15th) were demoted five places each due to unscheduled gearbox changes.

†Vergne was demoted places from 17th to 19th for blocking Bruno Senna in Q1.

‡Schumacher was demoted from 13th to 23rd for causing a collision at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Race

Results

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	53	1:28.56.242	1	25
2	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	53	+20.632	10	18
3	14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	53	+24.538	3	15
4	3	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	53	+25.098	8	12
5	4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	53	+46.490	9	10
6	9	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus-Renault	53	+50.424	7	8
7	12	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	53	+51.159	15	6
8	18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	53	+52.364	12	4
9	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	53	+54.675	2	2
10	16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	53	+1:06.919	14	1
11	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	53	+1:07.769	23
12	11	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	53	+1:23.460	11
13	17	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	53	+1:28.648	19
14	19	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault	53	+1:28.709	16
15	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	52	+1 Lap	17
16	24	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	52	+1 Lap	18
17	21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault	52	+1 Lap	22
18	22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	52	+1 Lap	20
19	10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	51	Gearbox	4
Ret	25	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	36	Engine	21
Ret	23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	32	Vibrations	24
Ret	15	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari	19	Spun Off	5
Ret	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	0	Spun Off	6
Ret	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	0	Collision	13

Milestones

• Jenson Button's 225th race entry.

Standings after the race

Drivers' World Championship Pos. Driver Pts 1 Fernando Alonso 194 2 Sebastian Vettel 190 3 Kimi Räikkönen 157 4 Lewis Hamilton 152 5 Mark Webber 134 6 Jenson Button 131 7 Nico Rosberg 93 8 Romain Grosjean 82 9 Felipe Massa 69 10 Sergio Pérez 66 11 Kamui Kobayashi 50 12 Paul di Resta 44 13 Michael Schumacher 43 14 Nico Hülkenberg 37 15 Pastor Maldonado 33 16 Bruno Senna 25 17 Jean-Éric Vergne 8 18 Daniel Ricciardo 7 19 Heikki Kovalainen 0 20 Vitaly Petrov 0 21 Timo Glock 0 22 Charles Pic 0 23 Narain Karthikeyan 0 24 Pedro de la Rosa 0 25 Jérôme d'Ambrosio 0

Constructors' World Championship Pos. Team Pts 1 Red Bull-Renault 324 2 McLaren-Mercedes 283 3 Ferrari 263 4 Lotus-Renault 239 5 Mercedes 136 6 Sauber-Ferrari 114 7 Force India-Mercedes 81 8 Williams-Renault 58 9 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 14 10 Caterham-Renault 0 11 Marussia-Cosworth 0 12 HRT-Cosworth 0