The Belgian Grand Prix 2012 was the 12th round of the 2012 F1 season, and took place at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Spa, Belgium, on September 2nd.
Jenson Button won the race from the pole, followed by Sebastian Vettel, and Kimi Räikkönen completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 38 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 10-16: 13 stops
- Laps 18-21: 5 stops
- Laps 24-29: 13 stops
The fastest pit stop was Jenson Button's, stopping the clock at 19.668 seconds during his pit stop on lap 20, while the slowest one was was Heikki Kovalainen's, who stopped the clock at 52.206 seconds, 32.538 seconds slower than Button, during his pit stop on lap 14.
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 4 drivers tried a 1 stop, and 2 drivers tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Jenson Button, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
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14Pastor Maldonado
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6Charles Pic
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-Jenson Button
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8Sebastian Vettel
2 stops
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1Paul di Resta
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-Kimi Räikkönen
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6Mark Webber
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5Timo Glock
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7Daniel Ricciardo
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9Felipe Massa
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5Vitaly Petrov
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7Nico Hülkenberg
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1Heikki Kovalainen
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5Narain Karthikeyan
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7Jean-Éric Vergne
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5Bruno Senna
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6Michael Schumacher
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12Nico Rosberg
3 stops
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3Pedro de la Rosa
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11Kamui Kobayashi
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 4.67 positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy gained 5.31 positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 4 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 Jenson Button 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 Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, 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 6 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Narain Karthikeyan, who lost control and spun off the track on lap 29, and Pastor Maldonado, Sergio Pérez, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, and Romain Grosjean, all of whom retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars.
Spun off
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Narain KarthikeyanLap 29
Collision
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Pastor MaldonadoLap 4
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Sergio PérezLap 0
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Fernando AlonsoLap 0
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Lewis HamiltonLap 0
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Romain GrosjeanLap 0
Qualifying
Jenson Button managed to get the pole position by 0.298 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:47.573. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Kamui Kobayashi.
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 16 out of the 17 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 8 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.