2012 Australian Grand Prix

2012 Australian Grand Prix
Race 1 of 20 in the 2012 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	18 March 2012 (2012-03-18)
Official name	2012 Formula 1 Qantas Australian Grand Prix
Location	Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia
Course	Temporary street circuit
Course length	5.303 km (3.295 miles)
Distance	58 laps, 307.574 km (191.12 miles)
Pole position
Driver	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes
Time	1:24.922

The 2012 Australian Grand Prix (formally, the 2012 Formula 1 Qantas Australian Grand Prix) is a Formula One motor race due to be held on 18 March 2012 as the opening round of the 2012 Formula One season. It will be the 77th race in the combined history of the Australian Grand Prix that dates back to the 100 Miles Road Race of 1928, and the 17th time the event has been held at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit at Albert Park.

Report

Background

With Vitantonio Liuzzi unable to secure a 2012 seat and Jarno Trulli being replaced at Caterham during the pre-season, the race was the first Grand Prix since the 1973 German Grand Prix not to feature an Italian driver on the grid. It was also the first Grand Prix to feature six current and former Formula One World Champions taking part in the race.

After using one Drag Reduction System (DRS) zone in 2011, the circuit will feature two zones for the 2012 race. These will be located along the main straight and between Turns 2 and 3, with a single detection point for both zones – similar to the format trialled at the 2011 Canadian and European Grands Prix – located at the entry to Turn 14. Other modifications to the circuit included the introduction of thicker, spongier astroturf on the exit of several corners to discourage drivers from driving beyond the limits of the circuit.

Mercedes were the subject of an investigation by the scrutineers over the use of a "radical" rear wing concept on the F1 W03. Charlie Whiting, the FIA's technical delegate, examined the car on the Thursday before the race and declared it to be legal.

HRT experienced problems with the #22 chassis to be driven by Pedro de la Rosa on Thursday. Having completed a shakedown of the car to be driven by Narain Karthikeyan in Barcelona just two weeks before the Australian Grand Prix, the team were unable to complete work on de la Rosa's car in time for scrutineering on Thursday afternoon. The team requested a delay to the scrutineering process, with the FIA agreeing and allowing HRT until 11am local time to work on the car before presenting it to race stewards. The team were ultimately passed scrutineering, allowing de la Rosa to take part in practice and the race, but they failed to have the car ready on time to take part in the first session.

Free practice

The first hour of the first practice session saw very little running, as the circuit was considered too wet for slick tyres, but too dry for intermediates. Consequently, most drivers only completed installation laps in the first hour, before emerging later in the session once a dry line began to appear. Kamui Kobayashi and the Mercedes pair of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher set the pace, which was briefly interrupted by Karthikeyan's HRT cutting out on the approach to Turn 13, the engine automatically shutting itself off when the oil overheated. With de la Rosa's car not yet ready to take to the circuit, HRT finished the session without recording a single lap time. On his return to Formula One, Kimi Räikkönen experienced technical problems that limited him to just eight laps — later described by team personnel as making adjustments to the steering rack — while Felipe Massa spun out at Turn 9. Jenson Button finished the session fastest, with a late lap from Lewis Hamilton enough for second, and Schumacher half a second slower in third. Reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel ultimately finished the session eleventh overall.

Rain between the first and second session meant that the circuit was declared wet at the start of the second Friday session, with the water washing away the rubber than had been laid down by the first session and support events. The Scuderia Toro Rosso drivers were the first out, gathering data on the performance on wet tyres. A dry line began to appear after forty minutes, and it was Sergio Pérez who set the first representative time of the day. The final fifteen minutes of the session were dominated by drivers running on the soft tyres, with Michael Schumacher besting Nico Hülkenberg's fastest time by one tenth of a second on his final lap. Several drivers, including Heikki Kovalainen, Mark Webber and Pastor Maldonado went off the circuit, but the session passed without interruption. Kamui Kobayashi spun at the final corner and narrowly avoided the wall, whilst Narain Karthikeyan once again came to a halt on the circuit, this time at Turn 6 after the session had ended. With the team having successfully completed his car in time for the second session, Pedro de la Rosa was further paralysed by hydraulics issues.

The third session was warm and sunny, allowing for significant running by all teams. Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher were once again the early leaders before Romain Grosjean set the fastest time in the final twenty minutes, only to be surpassed by Lewis Hamilton in the final minute. There was much attention given to Red Bull Racing, following team principal Christian Horner's claims that the team had not done any qualifying simulations. Their plans were thrown into disarray when Sebastian Vettel spun off at Turn 5 shortly after switching to soft tyres, and Mark Webber's fastest lap was ruined when Michael Schumacher spun off at Turn 9. Pedro de la Rosa managed to set his first timed lap of the weekend, but was forced to return to the pits with power steering problems. Projected lap times at the end of the session suggested that HRT would fail to qualify for the race for the second consecutive year.

Qualifying

As a result of a six-car pile-up in a V8 Supercars support race held shortly after FP3, the exit of Turn 3 was covered with sand and fire-retardant foam. The accident resulted in a twenty-five minute delay to the restart of the race, and although commentators noted that the cars would move the debris off the racing line, the shortened race format meant that sand was still visible on the circuit at the start of qualifying.

The first qualifying period was marked by heavy traffic, with several drivers cited for blocking. Chief among them was Narain Karthikeyan, who impeded other, faster cars on three separate occasions. The expected running order was soon shaken up as the session ended with Kamui Kobayashi fastest ahead of Jean-Éric Vergne and Sergio Pérez. Felipe Massa was in danger of being eliminated until a late lap secured his place in Q2. When the chequered flag fell, it was Kimi Räikkönen who found himself in eighteenth place and eliminated from quailfying. Räikkönen ran wide on the exit of Turn 12, glancing the sandtrap and compromising his final lying lap. Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov finished in nineteenth and twentieth respectively, ahead of Marussia drivers Timo Glock and Charles Pic, both of whom were comfortably inside the 107% margin. The HRTs of Pedro de la Rosa and Karthikeyan were not, however; de la Rosa was 1.2 seconds away from the cut-off, while Karthikeyan was 1.4 seconds short.

The second period was marked by a second shock elimination, the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso. Seven minutes into the period, Alonso crossed the outer edge of the circuit in the braking zone for the first turn and spun into the gravel. As he was unable to return his car to the circuit under its own power, he was prevented from taking any further part in the session. He had been placed fourth at the time, but gradually fell down the order and was eliminated, ultimately qualifying in twelfth behind Vergne. Felipe Massa in the sole remaining Ferrari could do no better than sixteenth, culminating in Ferrari's first failure to advance at least one car to Q3 (in a dry qualifying session) since the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Despite setting the early pace in Q1, Kamui Kobayashi was unable to duplicate his time and finished thirteenth, ahead of Bruno Senna and Paul di Resta in fifteenth. Kobayashi's team-mate Pérez did not set a time during the period owing to a gearbox fault, and so finished the session in seventeenth.

The final period began with Rosberg and Schumacher attempting to set a time on used soft tyres. Rosberg made an early mistake, and while Schumacher briefly held provisional pole, he was soon unseated by Hamilton. Hamilton's time, the first and only lap of the weekend under one minute and twenty-five seconds, would remain unchallenged for the remainder of the period, despite a late effort from team-mate Jenson Button. Button ultimately finished a tenth of a second behind Hamilton, locking out the front row of the grid; the result was the first time since the 1995 Australian Grand Prix that two British drivers occupied the front row of the grid, and the first time since the 2010 Italian Grand Prix in which a Red Bull car failed to qualify on the front row of the grid. Schumacher's second flying lap was set on fresh rubber, and while he initially looked set to take third place, he had to settle for fourth after a surprise lap from Romain Grosjean placed the Lotus driver behind Button. Mark Webber qualified fifth ahead of reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel, who deliberately left his pit garage last so as to set the final time of the session, a habit he developed during the 2011 season. However, his final flying lap was not enough for anything more than sixth place, eight tenths of a second behind Hamilton. After making a mistake on his first flying lap, Rosberg made a second error while running on fresh tyres, and qualified seventh, with Pastor Maldonado in eighth and Nico Hülkenberg in ninth. Daniel Ricciardo finished tenth overall; like Pérez in the second period, Ricciardo elected not to complete a lap.

Post-qualifying

Both HRT cars failed to qualify within 107% of the fastest time set in Q1. Consequently, both cars failed to qualify for the race. Despite team principal Luis Pérez-Sala's prediction that the team would be unlikely to qualify for the race (and that they may not be able to qualify for the Malaysian Grand Prix), the team requested a special dispensation to race from the stewards on the grounds that, as both cars were not fully prepared to take part in the Grand Prix until the final practice session, the times set during qualifying were not fully representative of the car's ability to qualify for the race. The FIA later confirmed that neither car would be granted permission to start the race, meaning that the team failed to qualify for the Australian Grand Prix for the second consecutive year.

Several drivers, including Narain Karthikeyan, Fernando Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo were called before the stewards to answer to charges of blocking during the first qualifying period. However, no action was taken against any driver.

Despite Mercedes' rear wing concept being declared legal on Thursday, representatives from Red Bull Racing and Lotus F1 approached the race stewards and requested that the FIA review the original verdict after qualifying, claiming that the front wing system was in violation of Articles 3.15 and 3.18, which govern the use of DRS and driver-operated aerodynamic devices.

Race

At the start of the race, Jenson Button got off better than Lewis Hamilton and lead into the first corner as Mark Webber fell back to ninth, having contact with Bruno Senna and Nico Hulkenberg seeing the latter retire. Meanwhile the Mercedes cars took third and fourth whilst Vettel took fifth ahead of Grosjean. On Lap 2 Sebastian Vettel passed Nico Rosberg meanwhile Pastor Maldonado banged wheels with Romain Grosjean seeing the Frenchman go off. By Lap 5 Fernando Alonso had gone from twelth to seventh meanwhile in front Maldonado and Rosberg began fighting over 5th with Button pulling out a 3 second lead. On Lap 6, Sebastian Vettel went onto the grass at Turn 1 but rejoined in front of Rosberg and managed to keep his position strong. On Lap 8 Pastor Maldonado passed Felipe Massa dropping the Brazilian into the clutches of Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi. Then on Lap 10 Michael Schumacher went off at Turn 1 before going out with a gearbox problem. By Lap 14, Kimi Raikkonen had jumped up to eighth- a 10 place jump!

The next few laps were pit stop crazy which saw Vettel re-pass Jean-Eric Vergne on Lap 18 meanwhile Lewis Hamilton got stuck behind Sergio Perez for 2 laps before being released. Button has a 12 second lead at this moment as Vettel starts to catch up Hamilton but on Lap 25 Lewis just started to get a slight lead.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Part 1	Part 2	Part 3	Grid
1	4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:26.800	1:25.626	1:24.922	1
2	3	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:26.832	1:25.663	1:25.074	2
3	10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1:26.498	1:25.845	1:25.302	3
4	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1:26.586	1:25.571	1:25.336	4
5	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:27.117	1:26.597	1:25.651	5
6	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1:26.773	1:25.982	1:25.668	6
7	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:26.763	1:25.469	1:25.686	7
8	18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	1:26.803	1:26.206	1:25.908	8
9	12	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1:27.464	1:26.314	1:26.451	9
10	16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:27.024	1:26.319	no time	10
11	17	Jean-Éric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:26.493	1:26.429		11
12	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:26.688	1:26.494		12
13	14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	1:26.182	1:26.590		13
14	19	Bruno Senna	Williams-Renault	1:27.004	1:26.663		14
15	11	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	1:27.469	1:27.086		15
16	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:27.633	1:27.497		16
17	15	Sergio Pérez	Sauber-Ferrari	1:26.596	no time		221
18	9	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	1:27.758			17
19	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	1:28.679			18
20	21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham-Renault	1:29.018			19
21	24	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	1:30.923			20
22	25	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	1:31.670			21
107% time: 1:32.214
23	22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	1:33.495			DNQ2
24	23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT-Cosworth	1:33.643			DNQ2
Source:

Notes

• ^1 — Sergio Pérez took a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.
• ^2 — Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan failed to set a lap time within 107% of the fastest time recorded in Q1. As a result, both cars failed to qualify for the race.