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The Korean Grand Prix 2012 was the 16th round of the 2012 F1 season, and took place at the Korean International Circuit in Yeongam County, Korea, on October 14th.
Sebastian Vettel won the race after starting in the 2nd position, followed by Mark Webber, who originally had the pole position, and Fernando Alonso 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 13-15: 16 stops
- Laps 31-35: 15 stops
The fastest pit stop was Kamui Kobayashi's, stopping the clock at 13.986 seconds during his pit stop on lap 7, while the slowest one was was Kamui Kobayashi's, who stopped the clock at 33.003 seconds, 19.017 seconds slower than Kobayashi, 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
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 1 driver tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Sebastian Vettel, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
3Narain Karthikeyan
-
1Pastor Maldonado
2 stops
-
9Kamui Kobayashi
-
2Heikki Kovalainen
-
3Michael Schumacher
-
-Romain Grosjean
-
2Nico Hülkenberg
-
8Jean-Éric Vergne
-
-Kimi Räikkönen
-
2Timo Glock
-
2Felipe Massa
-
1Mark Webber
-
2Vitaly Petrov
-
2Bruno Senna
-
12Daniel Ricciardo
-
1Fernando Alonso
-
1Sebastian Vettel
-
2Paul di Resta
-
5Charles Pic
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1Sergio Pérez
3 stops
-
7Lewis Hamilton
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 2 positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy gained 2.24 positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 7 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 Korean International Circuit, 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 4 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, Pedro de la Rosa, who had a throttle issue on lap 16, Kamui Kobayashi, who retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars on lap 16, and Nico Rosberg, and Jenson Button, both retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars.
Throttle
-
Pedro de la RosaLap 16
Collision damage
-
Kamui KobayashiLap 16
Collision
-
Nico RosbergLap 1
-
Jenson ButtonLap 0
Qualifying
Mark Webber managed to get the pole position by 0.074 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:37.242. Sebastian Vettel 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 15 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 9 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.