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The German Grand Prix 2012 was the 10th round of the 2012 F1 season, and took place at the Hockenheimring in Hockenheim, Germany, on July 22nd.

Fernando Alonso won the race from the pole, followed by Jenson Button, and Kimi Räikkönen completing the podium.

Final results

1
-
ALO
Fernando Alonso
Ferrari
1:31:05.862
Finished
2
4
BUT
Jenson Button
McLaren
+6.949
Finished
3
7
RAI
Kimi Räikkönen
Lotus F1
+16.409
Finished
4
8
KOB
Kamui Kobayashi
Sauber
+21.925
Finished
5
3
VET
Sebastian Vettel
Red Bull
+23.732
Finished
6
11
PER
Sergio Pérez
Sauber
+27.896
Finished
7
4
MSC
Michael Schumacher
Mercedes
+28.970
Finished
8
-
WEB
Mark Webber
Red Bull
+46.941
Finished
9
5
HUL
Nico Hülkenberg
Force India
+48.162
Finished
10
11
ROS
Nico Rosberg
Mercedes
+48.889
Finished
11
2
DIR
Paul di Resta
Force India
+59.227
Finished
12
1
MAS
Felipe Massa
Ferrari
+71.428
Finished
13
2
RIC
Daniel Ricciardo
Toro Rosso
+76.829
Finished
14
1
VER
Jean-Éric Vergne
Toro Rosso
+76.965
Finished
15
10
MAL
Pastor Maldonado
Williams
+1 Lap
16
2
PET
Vitaly Petrov
Caterham
+1 Lap
17
3
SEN
Bruno Senna
Williams
+1 Lap
18
1
GRO
Romain Grosjean
Lotus F1
+1 Lap
19
3
KOV
Heikki Kovalainen
Caterham
+2 Laps
20
-
PIC
Charles Pic
Marussia
+2 Laps
21
2
DLR
Pedro de la Rosa
HRT
+3 Laps
22
-
GLO
Timo Glock
Marussia
+3 Laps
23
1
KAR
Narain Karthikeyan
HRT
+3 Laps
24
17
HAM
Lewis Hamilton
McLaren
Puncture
Show all

Race evolution

Pit Stops

0
1
MAS
SEN
GRO
2
3
HAM
4
5
6
VER
7
8
9
10
DIR
11
RAI
12
HUL
WEB
ROS
13
MAL
KOV
14
MSC
PET
15
16
17
PER
18
ALO
19
BUT
RIC
GLO
20
VET
DLR
21
PIC
22
KOB
KAR
23
24
MAS
GRO
25
SEN
26
27
VER
28
29
30
31
HUL
KOV
HAM
32
ROS
PET
33
34
35
36
MSC
37
38
RAI
MAL
RIC
39
DIR
40
BUT
PER
WEB
GLO
41
ALO
VET
42
GRO
43
KOB
PIC
44
KOV
45
VER
DLR
46
HUL
KAR
47
MAS
HAM
SEN
48
49
50
ROS
PET
51
52
MSC
53
KOV
54
55
56
57
MAL
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67

There were a total of 60 pit stops during the race.

The most popular pit stop windows were:

  • Laps 10-14: 9 stops
  • Laps 17-22: 10 stops
  • Laps 31-32: 5 stops
  • Laps 38-47: 21 stops

The fastest pit stop was Jenson Button's, stopping the clock at 16.831 seconds during his pit stop on lap 40, while the slowest one was was Bruno Senna's, who stopped the clock at 47.942 seconds, 31.111 seconds slower than Button, during his pit stop on lap 1.

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

The race was not obvious in terms of pit stop strategy, with different teams and different drivers choosing to make anywhere from 2 to 4 stops.

The race winner, Fernando Alonso, was on a 2 stops strategy.

2 stops

  • 2
    Paul di Resta
  • 7
    Kimi Räikkönen
  • -
    Mark Webber
  • 11
    Sergio Pérez
  • -
    Fernando Alonso
  • 4
    Jenson Button
  • 2
    Daniel Ricciardo
  • -
    Timo Glock
  • 3
    Sebastian Vettel
  • 2
    Pedro de la Rosa
  • -
    Charles Pic
  • 8
    Kamui Kobayashi
  • 1
    Narain Karthikeyan

3 stops

  • 1
    Felipe Massa
  • 3
    Bruno Senna
  • 1
    Romain Grosjean
  • 17
    Lewis Hamilton
  • 1
    Jean-Éric Vergne
  • 5
    Nico Hülkenberg
  • 11
    Nico Rosberg
  • 10
    Pastor Maldonado
  • 4
    Michael Schumacher
  • 2
    Vitaly Petrov

4 stops

  • 3
    Heikki Kovalainen

Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy gained 2 positions on average, the ones on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 0.67 positions, while those on a 4 stops strategy lost an average of 3 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.

It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Hockenheimring, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.

Incidents

There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 1 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.

These included, .

Puncture

  • Lewis Hamilton
    Lap 56

Qualifying

#1
ALO
#2
VET
#3
WEB
#4
MSC
#5
HUL
#6
MAL
#7
BUT
#8
HAM
#9
DIR
#10
RAI
#11
RIC
#12
PER
#13
KOB
#14
MAS
#15
GRO
#16
SEN
#17
ROS
#18
VER
#19
KOV
#20
PET
#21
PIC
#22
GLO
#23
DLR
#24
KAR

Fernando Alonso managed to get the pole position by 0.405 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:40.621. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Sebastian Vettel.

Q1

  • Kimi Räikkönen
    1:15.693
  • Sergio Pérez
    1:15.726
  • Nico Rosberg
    1:15.988
  • Fernando Alonso
    1:16.073
  • Pastor Maldonado
    1:16.181
  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:16.221
  • Felipe Massa
    1:16.265
  • Nico Hülkenberg
    1:16.271
  • Paul di Resta
    1:16.352
  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:16.393
  • Bruno Senna
    1:16.426
  • Kamui Kobayashi
    1:16.481
  • Mark Webber
    1:16.500
  • Jenson Button
    1:16.507
  • Daniel Ricciardo
    1:16.516
  • Romain Grosjean
    1:16.685
  • Michael Schumacher
    1:16.686
  • Jean-Éric Vergne
    1:16.741
  • Heikki Kovalainen
    1:17.620
  • Vitaly Petrov
    1:18.531
  • Charles Pic
    1:19.220
  • Timo Glock
    1:19.291
  • Pedro de la Rosa
    1:19.912
  • Narain Karthikeyan
    1:20.230

Q2

  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:37.365
  • Michael Schumacher
    1:38.010
  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:38.309
  • Fernando Alonso
    1:38.521
  • Jenson Button
    1:38.659
  • Pastor Maldonado
    1:38.731
  • Mark Webber
    1:39.382
  • Nico Hülkenberg
    1:39.467
  • Paul di Resta
    1:39.703
  • Kimi Räikkönen
    1:39.729
  • Daniel Ricciardo
    1:39.789
  • Sergio Pérez
    1:39.933
  • Kamui Kobayashi
    1:39.985
  • Felipe Massa
    1:40.212
  • Romain Grosjean
    1:40.574
  • Bruno Senna
    1:40.752
  • Nico Rosberg
    1:41.551

Q3

  • Fernando Alonso
    1:40.621
  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:41.026
  • Mark Webber
    1:41.496
  • Michael Schumacher
    1:42.459
  • Nico Hülkenberg
    1:43.501
  • Pastor Maldonado
    1:43.950
  • Jenson Button
    1:44.113
  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:44.186
  • Paul di Resta
    1:44.889
  • Kimi Räikkönen
    1:45.811

Track evolution

Q1
23.009
seconds slower
Q2
2.31
seconds slower
Q3

The conditions of the track worsened from Q1 to Q2, and none of the drivers were able to improve their Q1 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. However, the conditions of the track worsened from Q2 to Q3, and none of the drivers were able to improve their Q2 times.