2012 Hungarian Grand Prix

The 2012 Hungarian Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 Eni Magyar Nagydíj 2012)[1] was a Formula One motor race that took place at the Hungaroring circuit near Mogyoród, Hungary on 29 July 2012.[4] It was the eleventh round of the 2012 season, and the 27th running of the Hungarian Grand Prix as a round of the World Championship. The race was held 2 days after the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London.

2012 Hungarian Grand Prix
Race 11 of 20 in the 2012 Formula One World Championship
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The Hungaroring circuit
The Hungaroring circuit
Race details
Date 29 July 2012
Official name Formula 1 Eni Magyar Nagydíj 2012[1]
Location Hungaroring, Mogyoród, Hungary
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.381 km (2.722 miles)
Distance 69 laps, 302.249 km (187.809 miles)
Scheduled distance 70 laps, 306.630 km (190.531 miles)
Weather

Fine and Dry. Very Hot[2][3] Air Temp 30 °C (86 °F)[3]


Track Temp 45 °C (113 °F)[3]
Pole position
Driver McLaren-Mercedes
Time 1:20.953
Fastest lap
Driver Germany Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault
Time 1:24.136 on lap 68
Podium
First McLaren-Mercedes
Second Lotus-Renault
Third Lotus-Renault
Lap leaders

Lewis Hamilton started the sixty nine lap race from pole position[5]—his first since the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix—alongside Romain Grosjean, in his career-best starting position.[6] Hamilton went on to win the race with Kimi Räikkönen second and Grosjean finishing third.[7]

Report

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Background

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Regulation changes

Red Bull Racing were referred to race stewards at the German Grand Prix after FIA Technical Delegate Jo Bauer noted that their engine maps had the potential to violate the technical regulations.[8] Red Bull stood accused of manipulating the relationship between the torque produced by the Red Bull RB8 and the degree to which the throttle was open—particularly in medium-speed corners—thereby allowing more air to pass through the exhaust and over the diffuser, generating more downforce. Red Bull were cleared of wrongdoing, as, in the stewards' words, they had not technically broken any rules, but the FIA announced plans to rewrite the regulations governing throttle mapping so as to outlaw the practice entirely ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.[9]

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought its white-banded medium compound tyre as the harder "prime" tyre and the yellow-banded soft compound tyre as the softer "option" tyre. It was the first time at the track in the single tyre supplier era (2008–present(Bridgestone then Pirelli)) where the 'supersoft' tyre had not been used.[10]

Driver changes

Dani Clos took Narain Karthikeyan's place once again for the first free practice session on Friday morning.[11] Jules Bianchi drove in the place of Nico Hülkenberg at Force India, while Valtteri Bottas drove for Williams, replacing Bruno Senna.

Race

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At the end of the formation lap, Michael Schumacher stopped in the 19th place grid position, instead of 17th where he had qualified. Yellow lights were flashed as a result, with the intention of waving the cars through for a second formation lap. However, Schumacher switched his car off believing that the race was being delayed. The cars were waved through for the second formation lap, and Schumacher had to be pushed into the pits for his car to be restarted. Once his car was restarted, he failed to activate the pit speed limiter and exceeded the pit speed limit while driving to the end of the pits for the start of the race.

At the start of the race, Sebastian Vettel attempted to pass Romain Grosjean in turn one, but was blocked. The loss of momentum allowed Jenson Button to pull alongside Vettel through turn two and then pass him in turn three. Mark Webber, starting on medium compound tyres, made a great start to jump from 11th to 7th by turn two. Pastor Maldonado made a poor start and fell from 8th to 12th position.

Schumacher pitted on lap two to switch to medium compound tyres. He then served a drive-through penalty on lap five for speeding in the pit lane at the start. Kimi Räikkönen initially had no KERS and was stuck behind Fernando Alonso. Romain Grosjean began to catch up with Lewis Hamilton towards the end of the first stint. Hamilton pitted first on lap 19, taking a second longer than normal due to a wheel gun problem, but Grosjean's pit stop on the next lap was even slower, leaving the running order the same.

Romain Grosjean was finally able to catch Lewis Hamilton on lap 24, only to lose time due to mistakes, and then catch up again by lap 30. Kimi Räikkönen's KERS had recovered by this point, allowing him to make up ground. Jenson Button pitted from 3rd position on lap 35 and got stuck behind Bruno Senna, who was up to 7th running a long stint. Button was unable to pass Senna until Senna pitted on lap 43. This allowed Sebastian Vettel to come out ahead of Button when he pitted on lap 39.

Kimi Räikkönen began turning out blistering lap times in clear air. He pitted for the second time on lap 46, and came out of the pits alongside his teammate Romain Grosjean. Räikkönen pushed Grosjean to the edge of the track in turn 1, Grosjean ran wide, and Räikkönen took second place. Räikkönen then began to reel in Lewis Hamilton, but was unable to pass. Pastor Maldonado slid into the side of Paul di Resta on lap 48, earning Maldonado a drive-through penalty.

In the closing laps of the race, Red Bull pitted both of their drivers. Mark Webber fell from fifth to eighth, where he remained until the end of the race. Sebastian Vettel remained in fourth, and by the last lap was able to catch back up to Romain Grosjean on fresher tyres, but was unable to pass. Narain Karthikeyan pulled off the track and retired on lap 65 due to suspension damage. The final lap of the race was on lap 69 instead of 70 due to the extra formation lap.

This race marked Heikki Kovalainen's 100th race.[12]

It would be eight years until the next race where no Red Bull, Mercedes or Ferrari driver was on the podium, the 2020 Italian Grand Prix.[13]

Classification

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Qualifying

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Pos. No. Driver Constructor Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Grid
1 4   Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.794 1:21.060 1:20.953 1
2 10   Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:22.755 1:21.657 1:21.366 2
3 1   Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:22.948 1:21.407 1:21.416 3
4 3   Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.028 1:21.618 1:21.583 4
5 9   Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 1:22.234 1:21.583 1:21.730 5
6 5   Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:22.095 1:21.598 1:21.844 6
7 6   Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:22.203 1:21.534 1:21.900 7
8 18   Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1:22.475 1:21.504 1:21.939 8
9 19   Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1:22.271 1:21.697 1:22.343 9
10 12   Nico Hülkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:22.176 1:21.653 1:22.847 10
11 2   Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:22.829 1:21.715 11
12 11   Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:21.912 1:21.813 12
13 8   Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:22.079 1:21.895 13
14 15   Sergio Pérez Sauber-Ferrari 1:22.110 1:21.895 14
15 14   Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:22.801 1:22.300 15
16 17   Jean-Éric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:22.799 1:22.380 16
17 7   Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:22.436 1:22.723 17
18 16   Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:23.250 18
19 20   Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1:23.576 19
20 21   Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1:24.167 20
21 25   Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1:25.244 21
22 24   Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1:25.476 22
23 22   Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 1:25.916 23
24 23   Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1:26.178 24
107% time: 1:27.519
Source:[5]

Race

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Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 4   Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 69 1:41:05.503 1 25
2 9   Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 69 +1.032 5 18
3 10   Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 69 +10.518 2 15
4 1   Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 69 +11.614 3 12
5 5   Fernando Alonso Ferrari 69 +26.653 6 10
6 3   Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 69 +30.243 4 8
7 19   Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 69 +33.899 9 6
8 2   Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 69 +34.458 11 4
9 6   Felipe Massa Ferrari 69 +38.350 7 2
10 8   Nico Rosberg Mercedes 69 +51.234 13 1
11 12   Nico Hülkenberg Force India-Mercedes 69 +57.283 10
12 11   Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 69 +1:02.887 12
13 18   Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 69 +1:03.606 8
14 15   Sergio Pérez Sauber-Ferrari 69 +1:04.494 14
15 16   Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 68 +1 Lap 18
16 17   Jean-Éric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 68 +1 Lap 16
17 20   Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 68 +1 Lap 19
18 14   Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 67 Hydraulics 15
19 21   Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 67 +2 Laps 20
20 25   Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 67 +2 Laps 21
21 24   Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 66 +3 Laps 22
22 22   Pedro de la Rosa HRT-Cosworth 66 +3 Laps 23
Ret 23   Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 60 Steering 24
Ret 7   Michael Schumacher Mercedes 58 Technical 17
Source:[7]

Championship standings after the race

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

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Formula One Eni Magyar Nagydij 2012". Formula One. Archived from the original on 31 August 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  2. ^ "Weather History for Budapest Ferihegy, Hungary". Weather Underground. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  3. ^ a b c "FORMULA 1 ENI MAGYAR NAGYDÍJ 2012 (Race)". F1Standings. 29 July 2012. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  4. ^ Collantine, Keith (7 December 2011). "United States Grand Prix remains on unchanged 2012 F1 calendar". F1 Fanatic. Keith Collantine. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  5. ^ a b "Formula One Eni Magyar Nagydij 2012". Formula One. 28 July 2012. Archived from the original on 30 July 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
  6. ^ Elizalde, Pablo (28 July 2012). "Grosjean delighted to answer German GP woes with best F1 qualifying at Hungary". Autosport. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
  7. ^ a b "FORMULA 1 ENI MAGYAR NAGYDÍJ 2012 Provisional Results". Formula One. 29 July 2012. Archived from the original on 1 August 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
  8. ^ Benson, Andrew (22 July 2012). "German GP: Red Bull cleared of illegal engine mapping". BBC F1. BBC. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  9. ^ Benson, Andrew (23 July 2012). "F1 seeks computer rule change on Red Bull". BBC F1. BBC. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  10. ^ "Pirelli reveal tyre choices for final three rounds". Formula One. 16 October 2012. Archived from the original on 29 September 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  11. ^ Elizlde, Pablo (23 July 2012). "Clos to get another F1 Friday outing with HRT at Hungarian Grand Prix". Autosport. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  12. ^ Collantine, Keith (30 July 2020). "Hamilton closes on Hakkinen's win tally". racefans.net. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  13. ^ "Italian GP Facts & Stats: First podium since 2012 with no Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull". formula1.com. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  14. ^ a b "Hungary 2012 - Championship • STATS F1". statsf1.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.


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2012 German Grand Prix
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