The Australian Grand Prix 2012 was the 1st round of the 2012 F1 season, and took place at the Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit in Melbourne, Australia, on March 18th.
Jenson Button won the race after starting in the 2nd position, followed by Sebastian Vettel, and Lewis Hamilton, who originally had the pole position, completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 41 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 11-14: 7 stops
- Laps 16-22: 10 stops
- Laps 33-38: 16 stops
The fastest pit stop was Charles Pic's, stopping the clock at 17.088 seconds during his pit stop on lap 51, while the slowest one was was Charles Pic's, who stopped the clock at 48.984 seconds, 31.896 seconds slower than Pic, during his pit stop on lap 35.
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 2 stops. Only 2 drivers tried a 1 stop, and 5 drivers tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Jenson Button, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
-Vitaly Petrov
-
14Sergio Pérez
2 stops
-
5Nico Rosberg
-
7Fernando Alonso
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7Kamui Kobayashi
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5Paul di Resta
-
1Mark Webber
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1Jenson Button
-
4Sebastian Vettel
-
5Pastor Maldonado
-
2Lewis Hamilton
-
10Kimi Räikkönen
-
-Jean-Éric Vergne
-
6Timo Glock
3 stops
-
2Bruno Senna
-
1Daniel Ricciardo
-
1Felipe Massa
-
-Heikki Kovalainen
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6Charles Pic
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 14 positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy gained 3.09 positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy gained 3.5 positions on average.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 1 stop strategy was the best option, even if Jenson Button managed to win the race making 2 stops.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
The reace did not end without incidents... 9 drivers out of the original 24 who started did not managed to cross the finish line.
These included, Pastor Maldonado, who had to retire due to an accident on lap 57, Bruno Senna, Felipe Massa, Romain Grosjean, and Nico Hülkenberg, all of whom retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars, Heikki Kovalainen, who suffered a suspension problem on lap 38, Vitaly Petrov, who had issues with the steering of the car on lap 34, and Michael Schumacher, who experienced issues with the gearbox on lap 10.
Accident
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Pastor MaldonadoLap 57
Collision
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Bruno SennaLap 52
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Felipe MassaLap 46
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Romain GrosjeanLap 1
-
Nico HülkenbergLap 0
Suspension
-
Heikki KovalainenLap 38
Steering
-
Vitaly PetrovLap 34
Gearbox
-
Michael SchumacherLap 10
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton managed to get the pole position by 0.152 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:24.922. Jenson Button was right behind him, helping McLaren score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.
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 15 out of the 16 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.
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 7 out of the 9 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.