Japan 2012: Race analysis

At a glance

Results

Pos	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Gap
1	Vettel	Red Bull	1:32.608	1:31.501	1:30.839
2	Webber	Red Bull	1:32.951	1:31.950	1:31.090	+0.251
3	Button	McLaren	1:33.077	1:31.772	1:31.290	+0.451
4	Kobayashi	Sauber	1:32.042	1:31.886	1:31.700	+0.861
5	Grosjean	Lotus	1:32.029	1:31.988	1:31.898	+1.059
6	Pérez	Sauber	1:32.147	1:32.169	1:32.022	+1.183
7	Alonso	Ferrari	1:32.459	1:31.833	1:32.114	+1.275
8	Räikkönen	Lotus	1:32.221	1:31.826	1:32.208	+1.369
9	Hamilton	McLaren	1:33.061	1:32.121	1:32.327	+1.488
10	Hülkenberg	Force India	1:32.828	1:32.272		+0.771
11	Massa	Ferrari	1:32.946	1:32.293		+0.792
12	Di Resta	Force India	1:32.898	1:32.327		+0.826
13	Schumacher	Mercedes	1:33.349	1:32.469		+0.968
14	Maldonado	Williams	1:32.834	1:32.512		+1.011
15	Rosberg	Mercedes	1:33.015	1:32.625		+1.124
16	Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	1:33.059	1:32.954		+1.453
17	Vergne	Toro Rosso	1:33.370	1:33.368		+1.867
18	Senna	Williams	1:33.405			+1.376
19	Kovalainen	Caterham	1:34.657			+2.628
20	Glock	Marussia	1:35.213			+3.184
21	De la Rosa	HRT	1:35.385			+3.356
22	Pic	Marussia	1:35.429			+3.400
23	Petrov	Caterham	1:35.432			+3.403
24	Karthikeyan	HRT	1:36.734			+4.705

Gap to the fastest time in the last session the driver took part in. Yellow: fastest time of the session.

Pos	Driver	Team	Grid	Laps	Gap	Stops	Engine
1	Sebastian VettelFastest lap	Red Bull	1	53	1:28:56.242	2	Renault
2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	10	53	+20.639	2	Ferrari
3	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	3	53	+24.538	2	Ferrari
4	Jenson Button	McLaren	8	53	+25.098	2	Mercedes
5	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	9	53	+46.490	2	Mercedes
6	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus	7	53	+50.424	2	Renault
7	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India	15	53	+51.159	2	Mercedes
8	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	12	53	+52.364	2	Renault
9	Mark Webber	Red Bull	2	53	+54.675	2	Renault
10	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	14	53	+1:06.919	2	Ferrari
11	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	23	53	+1:07.769	2	Mercedes
12	Paul di Resta	Force India	11	53	+1:23.460	2	Mercedes
13	Jean-Éric Vergne	Toro Rosso	19	53	+1:28.645	2	Ferrari
14	Bruno Senna	Williams	16	53	+1:28.709	4	Renault
15	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham	17	52	+1 lap	2	Renault
16	Timo Glock	Marussia	18	52	+1 lap	2	Cosworth
17	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham	22	52	+1 lap	3	Renault
18	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT	20	52	+1 lap	2	Cosworth
19	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	4	51	Gearbox	3	Renault
DNF	Charles Pic	Marussia	21	37	Engine	2	Cosworth
DNF	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT	24	32	Vibrations	1	Cosworth
DNF	Sergio Pérez	Sauber	5	18	Spun off	1	Ferrari
DNF	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	6	0	Collision	0	Ferrari
DNF	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	13	0	Collision	0	Mercedes

Starting grid vs qualifying

Button Qualified 3, started 8 · 5-place penalty
Hülkenberg Qualified 10, started 15 · 5-place penalty
Vergne Qualified 17, started 19 · 3-place penalty
Schumacher Qualified 13, started 23 · 10-place penalty

Penalties and pit lane starts. Everyone else moves up accordingly.

Race

Highlight a driver

Places gained

Schumacher23→11+12
Massa10→2+8
Hülkenberg15→7+8
Vergne19→13+6
Petrov22→17+5
Button8→4+4
Hamilton9→5+4
Maldonado12→8+4
Ricciardo14→10+4
Senna16→14+2
Kovalainen17→15+2
Glock18→16+2
De la Rosa20→18+2
Räikkönen7→6+1
Vettel1→10
Kobayashi3→30
Di Resta11→12-1
Webber2→9-7
Grosjean4→19-15

PL: started from the pit lane. Retired drivers are listed below.

Fastest pit stops

1Petrov14.250R48
2Senna14.608R21
3Hamilton19.794R31
4Button20.233R13
5Vettel20.346R37
6Schumacher20.379R36
7Vettel20.508R17
8Schumacher20.643R17
9Glock20.662R20
10Webber20.691R26

Time in the pit lane from entry to exit, in seconds.

Stints of the top 10

Vettel1720162 stops
Massa1719172 stops
Kobayashi1417222 stops
Button1322182 stops
Hamilton1615222 stops
Räikkönen1317232 stops
Hülkenberg1318222 stops
Maldonado1617202 stops
Webber125272 stops
Ricciardo1717192 stops

Stint length in laps, worked out from the pit stops. Which tyre compound was used per stint needs a licence for timing data, so it is not shown here. Lapped drivers covered fewer laps, so their bar ends earlier.

Retirements

GrosjeanGearbox, classified P19Lotus
PicEngineMarussia
KarthikeyanVibrationsHRT
PérezSpun offSauber
AlonsoCollisionFerrari
RosbergCollisionMercedes

This race in history

23 races here since 1987Won from pole: 11 of 23

Win from furthest back (P17): Kimi Räikkönen 2005

Most wins here

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Statistics: F1DB by Marcel Overdijk and contributors, licence CC BY 4.0, prepared by Hotlap Delta.

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