2012 Chinese Grand Prix result

2012 Chinese Grand Prix

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Pos#DriverCarLapsGapDifferenceReason
18Nico RosbergMercedes56
23Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes5620.62620.626
34Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes5626.0125.386
42Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault5627.9241.912
51Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault5630.4832.559
610Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault5631.4911.008
719Bruno SennaWilliams-Renault5634.5973.106
818Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Renault5635.6431.046
95Fernando AlonsoFerrari5637.2561.613
1014Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari5638.7201.464
1115Sergio PerezSauber-Ferrari5641.0662.346
1211Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes5642.2731.207
136Felipe MassaFerrari5642.7790.506
149Kimi RaikkonenLotus-Renault5650.5737.794
1512Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes5651.2130.640
1617Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso-Ferrari5651.7560.543
1716Daniel RicciardoToro Rosso-Ferrari5663.15611.400
1821Vitaly PetrovCaterham-Renault551 lap1 lap
1924Timo GlockMarussia-Cosworth551 lap49.600
2025Charles PicMarussia-Cosworth551 lap0.398
2122Pedro de la RosaHRT-Cosworth551 lap42.671
2223Narain KarthikeyanHRT-Cosworth542 laps1 lap
2320Heikki KovalainenCaterham-Renault533 laps1 lap
Not classified
7Michael SchumacherMercedes1244 laps41 lapsWheel

2012 Chinese Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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44 comments on “2012 Chinese Grand Prix result”

  1. what an epic race! well done Britney

  2. Great race, congratz Nico.

  3. Great job Nico!

  4. I so wish it was Nico’s pit-stop that Mercedes had crewed up.
    We’d have a Schumi victory.

    1. Nah, Schumi’s won too often, Rosberg deserved this, he was far better than MSC, or anyone else today.

    2. christopheraser
      15th April 2012, 10:03

      It would have been criminal for Michael to have taken the new Mercedes teams maiden victory. Nico has been a much better driver since they were brought together in 2010.

      Well done Nico great race, thoroughly deserved

    3. Rubbish. Schumacher wouldn’t even have finished on the podium, he looked way off the pace and had already dropped to 4th before he retired.

      1. Were you watching the same race as me? He was second before pitstops, and dropped down AFTER the pitstop. I’m pretty sure that accounts for losing places, as well as having the problem on his way out of the pits. He was only a handful of seconds behind Rosberg before the stop, and based on Button also suffering a bad stop, he would have most likely filled that gap himself and finished 2nd, albeit a very distant one.

  5. Glad Rosberg finally won a race, I wonder if the Merc is a title contenderr? We’ll find out hopefully in the heat of Bahrain next week.

  6. NICOOOOOOO!!!!!

    1. BRITNEYYYYYYY!!!!!

  7. Ausgezeichnet Nico. Its something to hear that anthem again.

    Mclaren. Making more sows’ ears from silk purses. Luckily their drivers know how to pass.

  8. Feeling gutted for Kimi, but well done Nico!

    1. Gutted for Kimi’s strategy having been swapped from three to two, although Boullier insisted it was the right one in the face of the tyres just letting go completely before the end of the race after having been made to do over half the race distance :rolleyes:

      Also gutted for Kobayashi’s poor start. His pace particularly on the medium compound, showed he could have been a contender for more points.

      Pleased for Nico though. Awesome race to complement his perfect qualifying. Number 1s all around for him on his 111th race :)

  9. It’s going to take a few replays and looks at the data to see exactly what happened today, with the exception of Rosberg. At first glance it looks like Massa did a better job than usual though, not far behind Golden-Balls Alonso despite team orders again!

    1. Pointless team orders. ALO was on diferent tires (faster) and MAS surely would get DRSed. Absolutely no need to remind Felipe he shouldn’t defend like a maniac.

      1. If the team order had been an accurate description it would have been: “Felipe, Fernando is on a different strategy from you. Your strategy will beat his if you keep him behind you as long as possible, Fernando’s works only if he can get past you quickly.”

        Of course the actual radio message overlooked the fact that they were racing each other even though it came from Felipe’s side of the garage.

        Contrast that with Mclaren’s message to Button late in the race that he had to build a gap before Hamilton got past Webber which demonstrates each side of the garage working to help their own driver.

        1. To be honest Ferrari sees no point in Massa racing Fernando.

          Massa is not fighting for a championship, podium or even points. Massa adds no value to the Ferrari team, and the least he can do is get out of the way of focused and determined teammate who brings home the results.

          So your comparison with the Mclaren garage is absolutely pointless.

      2. I agree with you. I also have the impression that Massa managed to improve his game today. And IF (a BIG IF) he gets closer to Alonso, Ferrari will have a highly rotten environment very quickly. Alonso is a great driver but only when 1) he has a good car and 2) his teammate is not fighting for points, so he can have all the attention.

  10. Wahoo, look at Williams! :)

    1. Yes! I wonder how far up the grid that car would be if Kimi had taken that ride instead of the one at Lotus? :) Great to see Senna have another solid performance and Moldonado finally bring it home in the points. Now for a little more sponsorship…

  11. Excellent race! It’s been a long time coming for Nico…well done! I’m not sure what Lotus was thinking by leaving Kimi out for so long, especially after he went from 2nd to out of the points within a lap. I was hoping that Sauber would perform a bit better, especially with Kobayashi starting on the second row. Great race, I’ll be glad to get some sleep now (it’s 5:15am in the States).

    1. I’m not sure what Lotus was thinking by leaving Kimi out for so long, especially after he went from 2nd to out of the points within a lap.

      You’ve got to admit, it was very entertaining to watch. ;p

      1. Without a doubt!

      2. You’ve got to admit, it was very entertaining to watch. ;p

        But it wasn’t!

        Indycar race at barber was better as it was real racing. This so called racing in F1 now is just artificial BS which im not finding that exciting at all. I’d much rather watch a real race with real racing.

        All those great racers from the past must be turning in there graves looking at the state of F1 today.

    2. Kimi, welcome to the new 2010 tire regulations. It is not the age when last driver to pit can win..learn that.

      1. Kimi is a driver not a race strategist.

        You should know that someone else in the team makes tyre strategic decisions, especially since Boullier himself admitted that they were the ones who thought of the 2 pit stop strategy.

        Its surprising how the exact strategy worked for Vettel, but you aren’t criticising Vettel for it.

        1. But did you hear his interview on Sky after? Where he blamed Kimi for losing places and the bad strategy? Boullier can’t face the fact that the team made mistake and dish it out on drivers. Now just sit back and watch 2011 all over again as Kimi will fall from grace as Quick Nick did. By the way, I like Kimi! Go Kimi!

          1. I didn’t – got a link or a transcript?

  12. Very, very happy for Rosberg. I always wanted him to win, but I couldn’t cheer when Button’s stop went wrong, such a pity for him, although second place is still a great result.
    A pity also for Schumacher, as the car had potential.
    A pity for Raikkonen, who was very good to keep 2nd place for a long time. So unlucky in the end to lose 12 places, I’d have loved to see him on the podium.
    A pity for Massa: I bet I wasn’t the only one to think the drivers ahead would have done a 3-pit strategy. Felipe was 2nd when, theoretically, he and the others (bar Webber) had to make another stop. He would have been in a great position, but unfortunately he was forced to pit as he hadn’t used the softs, whilst the others continued.

    1. I thought Massa was actually great today even if the result doesn’t show it plus I think he was only 5 seconds down on Alonso in the end.

  13. Beatiful race :)

    1. what part of it was a race?

      1. The bit into the first corner, after that a tyre conservation contest ,normally expected to be won by Mr Gently does it. JB. But the script got changed by a Merc. Great for Nico though he deserves it from his performances in the past when the drivers could really race.

  14. anyone else surprised more wasn’t made of hamilton’s weaving?

    not saying he should be penalised or anything but i expected more to be said of it given he’s been warned for similar in the past & that the defensive driving rules are stricter this year.

    1. I don’t think it was weaving. The racing line down that straight is to move over to the left so Hamilton had every right to do that and then make another move off the line. So what looked like a move to the left wasn’t actually a move, meaning he only made one move and then kept his line. Perfectly legal

      1. Hamilton was clearly breaking the rules with his weaving.

        20.3 More than one change of direction to defend a position is not permitted. Any driver moving back towards the racing line, having earlier defended his position off‐line, should leave at least one car width between his own car and the edge of the track on the approach to the corner.

    2. anyone else surprised more wasn’t made of hamilton’s weaving?

      No, because he didn’t break the rules. You’re not allowed to move away from the racing line twice, and he didn’t.

      Assuming we’re referring of the same moment in the race, but I didn’t see anything else that came close to it.

  15. I wondered for a few moments whether Grosjean would get P6 or P45.

  16. Can Massa make it his worst start to the season since 2009? Didn’t score any points in the first four races then, and that looks possible now.

    I thought it was a thriller, start was a bit slow but enjoyed watching Buttons chase until his unfortunate final pit stop, and the chaotic last 20 laps were thrilling. And congrats to Rosberg. An ex-Williams man once told me that he has a habit of dropping off in the middle of the race, and I was worried that would happen today, very happy it didn’t!

    1. @marcusbreese I must admit, I was scared he might end up getting stage-fright and lose it somewhere. I was panicking a little when he kept setting green sector times, but I guess looking back that would be attributed to burning off fuel. I think he drove a very intelligent race.

  17. Another cracking result. Some good damage limitation from Vettel today. I think a podium finish for him would have been brilliant.

    I like how the entire classification is a Mercedes sandwich. Well, I say like, more notice!

  18. Was a thrilling race to watch and am very happy that Marussia are moving forward with the performance of their car in leaps and bounds at the moment. I hope that they can continue to improve and catch caterham before the end of the season :)

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