2012 German Grand Prix

  2012 German Grand Prix

Race details
Race 10 of 20 in the 2012 Formula One season
The Hockenheimring
Date	22 July 2012
Official name	Formula 1 Großer Preis Santander von Deutschland 2012[1]
Location	Hockenheimring, Hockenheim, Germany
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.574 km (2.842 mi)
Distance	67 laps, 306.458 km (190.433 mi)
Weather	Fine and Dry[2] Air Temp 22 °C (72 °F)[2] Track Temp 30 °C (86 °F)[2]
Pole position
Driver	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari
Time	1:40.621
Fastest lap
Driver	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes
Time	1:18.725 on lap 58
Podium
First	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari
Second	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes
Third	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault
Lap leaders

The 2012 German Grand Prix, formally the Formula 1 Großer Preis Santander von Deutschland,^[1] was a Formula One motor race that took place on 22 July 2012 as the tenth round of the 2012 season.^[3] After being held at the Nürburgring in 2011,^[4] the race returned to the Hockenheimring in Baden-Württemberg, making the 2012 race the thirty-third time the circuit hosted the German Grand Prix, and the eighth time the shortened circuit hosted the race since its 2002 redesign.

Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso started the 67-lap race from pole position and won the race.^[5]

This race marks Lewis Hamilton's 100th race.

Report

Background

As there was no race at Hockenheim in 2011, 2012 is the first year that the drag reduction system (DRS) and Pirelli tyres featured at the circuit. The DRS detection zone for the race was located at turn four, with the activation zone located 260 metres (850 ft) further down the road, so that it could be used on the approach to the hairpin.^[6]

Tyre supplier Pirelli chose to run with the most commonly run tyre combination of the year to date, and brought its white-banded medium compound tyre as the harder "prime" tyre and the yellow-banded soft compound tyre as the softer "option" tyre to the Hockenheim circuit.^[7]

Driver penalties

Romain Grosjean took a five-place grid penalty after his team discovered a terminal issue in his gearbox.^[8] Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber were also given five-place penalties for gearbox changes.^[9][10] Sergio Pérez was given a five-place grid penalty for impeding Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen in the second qualifying session.^[11]

Driver changes

Dani Clos took over Narain Karthikeyan's HRT during the first free practice session.^[12] Jules Bianchi replaced Paul di Resta at Force India,^[13] while Valtteri Bottas once again drove Bruno Senna's Williams for the same session.

Race

The conditions on the grid were dry and sunny before the race; the air temperature ranged between 20–21 °C (68–70 °F) and the track temperature was between 30–32 °C (86–90 °F).^[14][15]

Classification

Michael Schumacher qualified fourth

Qualifying

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Part 1	Part 2	Part 3	Grid
1	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:16.073	1:38.521	1:40.621	1
2	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1:16.393	1:38.309	1:41.026	2
3	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:16.500	1:39.382	1:41.496	8^1
4	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1:16.686	1:38.010	1:42.459	3
5	12	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1:16.271	1:39.467	1:43.501	4
6	18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	1:16.181	1:38.731	1:43.950	5
7	3	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:16.507	1:38.659	1:44.113	6
8	4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:16.221	1:37.365	1:44.186	7
9	11	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	1:16.352	1:39.703	1:44.889	9
10	9	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	1:15.693	1:39.729	1:45.811	10
11	16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:16.516	1:39.789		11
12	15	Sergio Pérez	Sauber-Ferrari	1:15.726	1:39.933		17^2
13	14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	1:16.481	1:39.985		12
14	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:16.265	1:40.212		13
15	10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1:16.685	1:40.574		19^1
16	19	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault	1:16.426	1:40.752		14
17	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:15.988	1:41.551		21^1
18	17	Jean-Éric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:16.741			15
19	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	1:17.620			16
20	21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault	1:18.531			18
21	25	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	1:19.220			20
22	24	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	1:19.291			22
23	22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	1:19.912			23
24	23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	1:20.230			24
107% time: 1:20.991
Source:[5]

Notes:

^1 — Romain Grosjean, Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber were each demoted five places as a penalty for changing their gearboxes before the race.^[8][9][10]

^2 — Sergio Pérez was demoted five places as a penalty for impeding Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen in the second qualifying session.^[11]

Race

Fernando Alonso started the race from pole position and won.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	67	1:31:05.862	1	25
2	3	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	67	+6.931	6	18
3	9	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	67	+16.409	10	15
4	14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	67	+21.925	12	12
5	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	67	+23.732^1	2	10
6	15	Sergio Pérez	Sauber-Ferrari	67	+27.896	17	8
7	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	67	+28.970	3	6
8	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	67	+46.941	8	4
9	12	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	67	+48.162	4	2
10	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	67	+48.889	21	1
11	11	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	67	+59.227	9
12	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	67	+1:11.428	13
13	16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	67	+1:16.829	11
14	17	Jean-Éric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	67	+1:16.965	15
15	18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	66	+1 Lap	5
16	21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault	66	+1 Lap	18
17	19	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault	66	+1 Lap	14
18	10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	66	+1 Lap	19
19	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	65	+2 Laps	16
20	25	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	65	+2 Laps	20
21	22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	64	+3 Laps	23
22	24	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	64	+3 Laps	22
23	23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	64	+3 Laps	24
Ret	4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	56	Puncture damage	7
Source:[16]

Notes:

^1 — Sebastian Vettel was given a 20 second post-race drive-through penalty for an illegal overtaking manoeuvre on Jenson Button on lap 66, dropping him from second to fifth.^[17]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos. Driver Points 1 Fernando Alonso 154 2 Mark Webber 120 3 Sebastian Vettel 110 1 4 Kimi Räikkönen 98 1 5 Lewis Hamilton 92

Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 Red Bull-Renault 230 2 Ferrari 177 1 3 McLaren-Mercedes 160 1 4 Lotus-Renault 159 5 Mercedes 105

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

1. "Formula 1 Großer Preis Santander von Deutschland 2012". Formula1.com (Formula One Management). Archived from the original on June 20, 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
2. "FORMULA 1 GROSSER PREIS SANTANDER VON DEUTSCHLAND 2012 (Race)". Formula One. 22 July 2012. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
3. Collantine, Keith (7 December 2011). "United States Grand Prix remains on unchanged 2012 F1 calendar". F1 Fanatic (Keith Collantine). Retrieved 8 July 2012.
4. "World Motor Sport Council: 03/11/2010". fia.com (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile). 3 November 2010. Archived from the original on 5 November 2010. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
5. "Formula 1 Großer Preis Santander von Deutschland — Provisional Results". Formula1.com (Formula One Management). 21 July 2012. Archived from the original on July 24, 2012. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
6. Vermeeren, Frances (17 July 2012). "One DRS zone for Hockenheim GP". GPnow.com (GPNow). Retrieved 17 July 2012.
7. "Pirelli reveal tyre choices for final three rounds". Formula One. 16 October 2012. Archived from the original on September 29, 2013. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
8. Noble, Jonathan (13 July 2012). "Grosjean to take five-place grid penalty at Hockenheim after team discovers gearbox issue". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). Retrieved 13 July 2012.
9. Straw, Edd; Strang, Simon (20 July 2012). "Rosberg to get five-place grid penalty after gearbox change ahead of German GP". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). Retrieved 20 July 2012.
10. Straw, Edd (21 July 2012). "Red Bull's Mark Webber gets gearbox change penalty for German Grand Prix". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). Retrieved 21 July 2012.
11. Beer, Matt (21 July 2012). "Sergio Perez handed penalty for impeding during qualifying for the German Grand Prix". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). Retrieved 21 July 2012.
12. Elizalde, Pablo (16 July 2012). "Clos to replace Karthikeyan at HRT for opening session of the German Grand Prix". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). Retrieved 16 July 2012.
13. Elizalde, Pablo (17 July 2012). "Bianchi gets another practice outing with Force India in Germany". Autosport (Haymarket Publications). Retrieved 17 July 2012.
14. Creighton, Geoff; Hughes, Emlyn (22 July 2012). "As it happened: The German Grand Prix". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
15. Symonds, Pat (August 2012). "Race Debrief". F1 Racing (Haymarket Publications): 106–109. ISSN 1361-4487.
16. "FORMULA 1 GROSSER PREIS SANTANDER VON DEUTSCHLAND 2012". Formula One World Championship Limited. 22 July 2012. Archived from the original on July 24, 2012. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
17. "Vettel penalised for Button pass, drops from second to fifth in the German Grand Prix". Autosport. 22 July 2012.