The Japanese Grand Prix 2012 was the 15th round of the 2012 F1 season, and took place at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Japan, on October 7th.
Sebastian Vettel won the race from the pole, followed by Felipe Massa, and Kamui Kobayashi completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 46 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 13-22: 22 stops
- Laps 30-37: 15 stops
The fastest pit stop was Vitaly Petrov's, stopping the clock at 14.250 seconds during his pit stop on lap 48, while the slowest one was was Charles Pic's, who stopped the clock at 42.505 seconds, 28.255 seconds slower than Petrov, during his pit stop on lap 31.
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, 2 drivers tried a 3 stops, and 1 driver tried a 4 stops.
The race winner, Sebastian Vettel, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
17Sergio Pérez
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3Narain Karthikeyan
2 stops
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7Mark Webber
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4Jenson Button
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1Kimi Räikkönen
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8Nico Hülkenberg
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1Paul di Resta
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-Kamui Kobayashi
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1Charles Pic
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4Lewis Hamilton
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4Pastor Maldonado
-
-Sebastian Vettel
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8Felipe Massa
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4Daniel Ricciardo
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12Michael Schumacher
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2Pedro de la Rosa
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2Heikki Kovalainen
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6Jean-Éric Vergne
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2Timo Glock
3 stops
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15Romain Grosjean
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5Vitaly Petrov
4 stops
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2Bruno Senna
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy gained 3.06 positions on average, the ones on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 5 positions, while those on a 4 stops strategy gained 2 positions on average.
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 Suzuka 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 5 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Charles Pic, who suffered an engine malfunction on lap 37, Narain Karthikeyan, who suffered from unhandable vibrations on lap 32, Sergio Pérez, who lost control and spun off the track on lap 18, and Fernando Alonso, and Nico Rosberg, both retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars.
Engine
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Charles PicLap 37
Vibrations
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Narain KarthikeyanLap 32
Spun off
-
Sergio PérezLap 18
Collision
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Fernando AlonsoLap 0
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Nico RosbergLap 0
Qualifying
Sebastian Vettel managed to get the pole position by 0.251 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:30.839. Mark Webber was right behind him, helping Red Bull 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 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 6 out of the 9 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.