The Singapore Grand Prix 2012 was the 14th round of the 2012 F1 season, and took place at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Marina Bay, Singapore, on September 23rd.
Sebastian Vettel won the race after starting in the 3rd position, followed by Jenson Button, and Fernando Alonso completing the podium.
Lewis Hamilton started from the pole position, but didn't manage to cross the finish line, as he experienced issues with the gearbox, and had to retire on lap 22nd.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 56 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 10-14: 16 stops
- Laps 18-19: 6 stops
- Laps 24-26: 4 stops
- Laps 28-33: 18 stops
- Laps 40-40: 5 stops
The fastest pit stop was Sebastian Vettel's, stopping the clock at 29.117 seconds during his pit stop on lap 10, while the slowest one was was Pedro de la Rosa's, who stopped the clock at 44.101 seconds, 14.984 seconds slower than Vettel, during his pit stop on lap 40.
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 1 to 4 stops.
The race winner, Sebastian Vettel, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
23Lewis Hamilton
-
-Narain Karthikeyan
2 stops
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2Sebastian Vettel
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2Fernando Alonso
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12Michael Schumacher
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6Daniel Ricciardo
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2Paul di Resta
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5Nico Rosberg
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4Jean-Éric Vergne
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6Kimi Räikkönen
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8Timo Glock
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2Jenson Button
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1Romain Grosjean
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5Charles Pic
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4Sergio Pérez
3 stops
-
5Felipe Massa
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4Mark Webber
-
4Bruno Senna
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4Heikki Kovalainen
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20Pastor Maldonado
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4Kamui Kobayashi
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3Nico Hülkenberg
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7Pedro de la Rosa
4 stops
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1Vitaly Petrov
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy gained 3.91 positions on average, the ones on a 3 stops strategy gained 2.17 positions on average, while those on a 4 stops strategy lost an average of 1 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 Marina Bay Street 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 6 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Bruno Senna, who had to retire on lap 57, Jean-Éric Vergne, and Michael Schumacher, both retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars, Pastor Maldonado, who experienced an hydraulic malfunction on lap 36, Narain Karthikeyan, who had to retire due to an accident on lap 30, and Lewis Hamilton, who experienced issues with the gearbox on lap 22.
Retired
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Bruno SennaLap 57
Collision
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Jean-Éric VergneLap 38
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Michael SchumacherLap 38
Hydraulics
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Pastor MaldonadoLap 36
Accident
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Narain KarthikeyanLap 30
Gearbox
-
Lewis HamiltonLap 22
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton managed to get the pole position by 0.442 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:46.362. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Pastor Maldonado.
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 16 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 8 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.