The Monaco Grand Prix 2012 was the 6th round of the 2012 F1 season, and took place at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte-Carlo, Monaco, on May 27th.
Mark Webber won the race from the pole, followed by Nico Rosberg, and Fernando Alonso completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 26 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 29-31: 10 stops
- Laps 33-35: 4 stops
The fastest pit stop was Sergio Pérez's, stopping the clock at 19.677 seconds during his pit stop on lap 39, while the slowest one was was Vitaly Petrov's, who stopped the clock at 39.391 seconds, 19.714 seconds slower than Pérez, during his pit stop on lap 3.
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 1 stop. Only Jean-Éric Vergne, Narain Karthikeyan, Heikki Kovalainen, Timo Glock and Sergio Pérez decided to try something different with a 2 stops strategy.
The race winner, Mark Webber, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
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10Kamui Kobayashi
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2Vitaly Petrov
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-Nico Rosberg
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-Mark Webber
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2Lewis Hamilton
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1Kimi Räikkönen
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2Nico Hülkenberg
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3Bruno Senna
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2Fernando Alonso
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1Felipe Massa
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3Charles Pic
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13Michael Schumacher
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7Paul di Resta
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4Jenson Button
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2Daniel Ricciardo
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5Sebastian Vettel
2 stops
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4Jean-Éric Vergne
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7Narain Karthikeyan
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4Heikki Kovalainen
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5Timo Glock
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12Sergio Pérez
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 1.7 positions on average, while those on a 2 stops strategy gained 6.4 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, even if Mark Webber 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 Monaco, 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, Jenson Button, who retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars on lap 70, Daniel Ricciardo, and Charles Pic, both had to retire, Michael Schumacher, who suffered a fuel pressure loss on lap 63, Vitaly Petrov, who suffered from electrical problems on lap 15, and Kamui Kobayashi, Pedro de la Rosa, Pastor Maldonado, and Romain Grosjean, all of whom had to retire due to an accident.
Collision
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Jenson ButtonLap 70
Retired
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Daniel RicciardoLap 65
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Charles PicLap 64
Fuel pressure
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Michael SchumacherLap 63
Electrical
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Vitaly PetrovLap 15
Accident
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Kamui KobayashiLap 5
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Pedro de la RosaLap 0
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Pastor MaldonadoLap 0
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Romain GrosjeanLap 0
Qualifying
Michael Schumacher managed to get the pole position by 0.08 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:14.301. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Mark Webber.
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 7 out of the 9 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.