The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2012 was the 18th round of the 2012 F1 season, and took place at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on November 4th.
Kimi Räikkönen won the race after starting in the 4th position, followed by Fernando Alonso, and Sebastian Vettel completing the podium with an expectacular comeback, all the way from the 24th position of the grid.
Lewis Hamilton started from the pole position, but didn't manage to cross the finish line, as he suffered from electrical problems, and had to retire on lap 19th.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 30 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 25-33: 17 stops
- Laps 37-39: 4 stops
The fastest pit stop was Mark Webber's, stopping the clock at 19.066 seconds during his pit stop on lap 30, while the slowest one was was Sergio Pérez's, who stopped the clock at 33.431 seconds, 14.365 seconds slower than Webber, during his pit stop on lap 38.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 1 stop. Only 5 drivers tried a 2 stops, and 2 drivers tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Kimi Räikkönen, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
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16Nico Rosberg
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9Kamui Kobayashi
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1Felipe Massa
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1Charles Pic
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7Timo Glock
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4Vitaly Petrov
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4Fernando Alonso
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5Heikki Kovalainen
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5Pedro de la Rosa
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1Jenson Button
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2Pastor Maldonado
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18Mark Webber
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3Kimi Räikkönen
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6Bruno Senna
2 stops
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10Romain Grosjean
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5Jean-Éric Vergne
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21Sebastian Vettel
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6Daniel Ricciardo
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2Michael Schumacher
3 stops
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3Paul di Resta
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4Sergio Pérez
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 3.91 positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy gained 8.5 positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 0.5 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 2 stops strategy was the best option, even if Kimi Räikkönen managed to win the race making 1 stop.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Yas Marina Circuit, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There were some incidents during the race, with 7 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Charles Pic, who had to retire on lap 41, Romain Grosjean, Mark Webber, Narain Karthikeyan, Nico Rosberg, and Nico Hülkenberg, all of whom retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars, and Lewis Hamilton, who suffered from electrical problems on lap 19.
Retired
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Charles PicLap 41
Collision
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Romain GrosjeanLap 37
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Mark WebberLap 37
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Narain KarthikeyanLap 7
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Nico RosbergLap 7
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Nico HülkenbergLap 0
Electrical
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Lewis HamiltonLap 19
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton dominated all the qualifying sessions and took the pole by 0.348 seconds, with a final lap time of 1:40.630. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Mark Webber.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and all of the drivers that took place in Q2 improved their times in this second session.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that 8 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.