2012 Korean Grand Prix

2012 Korean Grand Prix
Race 16 of 20 in the 2012 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 14 October 2012
Official name 2012 Formula 1 Korean Grand Prix
Location Yeongam, South Jeolla, South Korea
Course Korea International Circuit
Course length 5.621 km (3.493 miles)
Distance 55 laps, 309.155 km (192.100 miles)
Weather

Fine and Dry Air Temp 21 °C (70 °F)


Track Temp 27 °C (81 °F) dropping to 23 °C (73 °F)
Attendance Poor
Pole position
Driver Red Bull-Renault
Time 1:37.242
Fastest lap
Driver Australia Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault
Time 1:42.037 on lap 54
Podium
First Red Bull-Renault
Second Red Bull-Renault
Third Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 2012 Korean Grand Prix (formally known as the 2012 Formula 1 Korean Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race that was the sixteenth round of the 2012 Formula One season. It was held on 14 October 2012 at the Korea International Circuit near Yeongam in South Korea's South Jeolla Province. The race marked the third running of the Korean Grand Prix.

Mark Webber started the race from pole alongside Sebastian Vettel, who went on to win the race. With championship rival Fernando Alonso finishing third, Vettel took a six-point championship lead. The organisers of the race invited Korean rapper PSY to wave the chequered flag. This was Red Bull's only 1-2 finish of the year.

Report

Background

In the week before the race, the FIA announced that the drag reduction system zone on the circuit would be altered from its 2011 position, bringing the activation point forward by 200 metres (660 ft). The detection point was brought forward; in 2011, it was positioned between the first two corners, but for 2012, it was moved to be 90 metres (300 ft) before the first corner.

Like the 2011 Korean Grand Prix, tyre supplier Pirelli brought its yellow-banded soft compound tyre as the harder "prime" tyre and the red-banded supersoft compound tyre as the softer "option" tyre.

Marussia's Charles Pic was given a ten-place grid penalty for exceeding the maximum number of engines that he was permitted to use over the course of the season.

Several reserve drivers took the place of regular drivers for the first free practice session. Giedo van der Garde drove in place of Caterham's Vitaly Petrov, while Jules Bianchi replaced Nico Hülkenberg at Force India, Valtteri Bottas drove Bruno Senna's Williams and Dani Clos took Narain Karthikeyan's place at HRT.

Free practice

Räikkönen leads Massa. They would finish the race in 5th and 4th respectively

In contrast to the practice sessions of the 2010 and 2011 races, the first free practice session of the 2012 race took place in dry conditions. Lewis Hamilton ended the session as fastest driver, three tenths of a second ahead of Fernando Alonso — who had led most of the ninety-minute session — with Mark Webber in third place. Sebastian Vettel was fastest in the second session, leading teammate Webber and Alonso in third. Like the first session, the second passed without incident, although Sergio Pérez was forced out after forty-five minutes of running when his Sauber lost all power and ground to a halt at Turn 12. Pérez was able to safely park the car, allowing the session to continue uninterrupted.

Race

Mark Webber, who qualified on pole, lost his lead at start to teammate Sebastian Vettel at the first turn. Lewis Hamilton lost his third place to Alonso on first lap, while his team mate Jenson Button had to retire after a collision with Kobayashi, who also collided with Nico Rosberg of Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton made a pit stop on lap 14, creating a chain reaction where Massa and Webber stopped on lap 15 and finally Vettel and Alonso stopped on lap 16. The latter rejoined side-by-side with Sergio Pérez, outdragging him on the back straight. Hamilton seized his opportunity and swept around the outside of Pérez just a few corners later. Felipe Massa moved to 4th place after overtaking Hamilton who was suffering from an anti-roll bar failure on his car, which led him to lose couple of places in the race. Massa was quickly gaining on his teammate when he was told to hold his position on his team radio as Alonso was the championship contender. At the end of the race Vettel was continuously told on his team radio to slow down and save tyres as he had a problem with tyre degradation on his right-front tyre. Vettel finished first and took a six-point lead in the Championship over third-placed Fernando Alonso, who had led since the European Grand Prix. Webber finished second, setting the fastest lap. Lewis Hamilton finished 10th after battling for position with the two Toro Rossos of Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Éric Vergne, but fell back in the closing laps as a piece of AstroTurf got stuck on one of his car's sidepods.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Grid
1 2 Australia Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:38.397 1:38.220 1:37.242 1
2 1 Germany Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:38.208 1:37.767 1:37.316 2
3 4 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:39.180 1:38.000 1:37.469 3
4 5 Spain Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:39.144 1:37.987 1:37.534 4
5 9 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 1:38.887 1:38.227 1:37.625 5
6 6 Brazil Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:38.937 1:38.253 1:37.884 6
7 10 France Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:38.863 1:38.275 1:37.934 7
8 12 Germany Nico Hülkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:38.981 1:38.428 1:38.266 8
9 8 Germany Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:38.999 1:38.417 1:38.361 9
10 7 Germany Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:38.808 1:38.436 1:38.513 10
11 3 United Kingdom Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:38.615 1:38.441 11
12 15 Mexico Sergio Pérez Sauber-Ferrari 1:38.630 1:38.460 12
13 14 Japan Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:38.719 1:38.594 13
14 11 United Kingdom Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:38.942 1:38.643 14
15 18 Venezuela Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1:39.024 1:38.725 15
16 16 Australia Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:38.784 1:39.084 211
17 17 France Jean-Éric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:38.774 1:39.340 16
18 19 Brazil Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1:39.443 17
19 21 Russia Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1:40.207 18
20 20 Finland Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1:40.333 19
21 25 France Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1:41.317 242
22 24 Germany Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1:41.371 20
23 22 Spain Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1:42.881 22
107% time: 1:45.082
23 India Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth No time3 23
Source:

Notes:

  • ^1Daniel Ricciardo received a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.
  • ^2Charles Pic was given a ten-place grid penalty for exceeding the maximum number of engines permitted for use over the course of the season.
  • ^3Narain Karthikeyan failed to set a time after having a brake failure. He was allowed to race at the stewards' discretion.

Race

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1 Germany Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 55 1:36:28.651 2 25
2 2 Australia Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 55 +8.231 1 18
3 5 Spain Fernando Alonso Ferrari 55 +13.944 4 15
4 6 Brazil Felipe Massa Ferrari 55 +20.168 6 12
5 9 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 55 +36.739 5 10
6 12 Germany Nico Hülkenberg Force India-Mercedes 55 +45.301 8 8
7 10 France Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 55 +54.812 7 6
8 17 France Jean-Éric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 55 +1:09.589 16 4
9 16 Australia Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 55 +1:11.787 21 2
10 4 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 55 +1:19.692 3 1
11 15 Mexico Sergio Pérez Sauber-Ferrari 55 +1:20.062 12
12 11 United Kingdom Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 55 +1:24.448 14
13 7 Germany Michael Schumacher Mercedes 55 +1:29.241 10
14 18 Venezuela Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 55 +1:34.924 15
15 19 Brazil Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 55 +1:36.902 17
16 21 Russia Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 54 +1 Lap 18
17 20 Finland Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 54 +1 Lap 19
18 24 Germany Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 54 +1 Lap 20
19 25 France Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 53 +2 Laps 24
20 23 India Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 53 +2 Laps 23
Ret 22 Spain Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 16 Throttle 22
Ret 14 Japan Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 16 Collision damage 13
Ret 8 Germany Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1 Collision damage 9
Ret 3 United Kingdom Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 0 Collision 11
Source:

Championship standings after the race

  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
  • Bold text and an asterisk indicates competitors who still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.

This page was last updated at 2023-11-16 19:20 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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