2012 Korean Grand Prix grid

2012 Korean Grand Prix

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Row 11. Mark Webber 1’37.242
Red Bull
2. Sebastian Vettel 1’37.316
Red Bull
Row 23. Lewis Hamilton 1’37.469
McLaren
4. Fernando Alonso 1’37.534
Ferrari
Row 35. Kimi Raikkonen 1’37.625
Lotus
6. Felipe Massa 1’37.884
Ferrari
Row 47. Romain Grosjean 1’37.934
Lotus
8. Nico Hulkenberg 1’38.266
Force India
Row 59. Nico Rosberg 1’38.361
Mercedes
10. Michael Schumacher 1’38.513
Mercedes
Row 611. Jenson Button 1’38.441
McLaren
12. Sergio Perez 1’38.46
Sauber
Row 713. Kamui Kobayashi 1’38.594
Sauber
14. Paul di Resta 1’38.643
Force India
Row 815. Pastor Maldonado 1’38.725
Williams
16. Jean-Eric Vergne 1’39.34
Toro Rosso
Row 917. Bruno Senna 1’39.443
Williams
18. Vitaly Petrov 1’40.207
Caterham
Row 1019. Heikki Kovalainen 1’40.333
Caterham
20. Timo Glock 1’41.371
Marussia
Row 1121. Daniel Ricciardo* 1’39.084
Toro Rosso
22. Pedro de la Rosa 1’42.881
HRT
Row 1223. Narain Karthikeyan** No time
HRT
24. Charles Pic*** 1’41.317
Marussia

*Five-place grid penalty for gearbox change
**Did not set a time, stewards granted him a dispensation to start “due to setting a suitable lap time during a free practice session”.
***Ten-place penalty due to engine change

2012 Korean 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 Korean Grand Prix grid”

    1. I can’t believe it. Vettel choked when it mattered. :D

      Doesn’t change anything though. Webber will not be leading by lap 1. Team orders for sure, I just hope Hamilton and Alonso can jump them at the start, since Ferrari & Mclaren are much, much quicker in S1.

      1. fast start and slip streaming at back straight would be crucial for Alonso and Hamilton.

      2. @kingshark Why would they impose team orders on lap 1?

        If anything, it’ll be Mark struggling off the line (as usual), and Vettel streaming by.

        1. webber – always on the ‘Mark’ during qualy, but gets the ‘web’ feet at the race-start!

        2. @fer-no65

          Vettel streaming by.

          Of course Vettel qualified second here last year – he was leading by turn four.

        3. Webber is -3 on first lap places lost/gained this year according to james allen. Recent results are:

          SPA – Jumped Vettel at the start into turn 1.
          ITA – Lost 4 places on Red Bulls weakest circuit IIRC.
          SIN – Held position at the start.
          JPN – Lost 1 position to Kamui before getting grosjean’d off the track.

          He hasn’t been having a repeat of 2011 by any standards.
          As for team orders, RB will not do it if Mark is leading Sebastian for a 1-2 in the closing stages, as he would ignore them anyway. They might try it if Hamilton is P1 and Webber 2nd Vettel 3rd Alonso 4th with better race pace.

          1. Thanks for putting numbers to the image of Web still losing out at starts @njack. As for this race, I think Vettel will have a solid chance of doing what he did to Hamilton last year, but lest wait and see.
            As for RBR not doing TO in the last laps, I don’t share your optimism.

      3. whoever exits turn 4 first in lap 1 will have a big chance to with the race.

        1. Mark’s not a good starter though.

      4. Team orders for sure

        they are not stupid enough to tell Webber to back off after the start the 2 driver will try to get away maybe if Vettel got an excellent start Webber won’t be harsh with him but if Webber got an excellent start he will never back off because he could lose more than one position & even risk an accident

      5. @kingshark He was saying that Massa was in his way.

    2. Great job by mark, especially after the problems in PF3!

    3. Red Bull was unbeatable here so this is quite pleasant result for me.(would have been more pleasant if Alonso was P3 though!) the race could be quite interesting considering good race pace of Ferrari and Mclaren, also I wonder Red Bull would use team order for Vettel.

      Also in Mokpo, the nearest city from Yeongam, there’s a famous granny who exactly foreseen winners of the races last 2 years. She choose Webber for winner this year. Interesting.

      1. hope she is right but vettel has to do a DNF otherwise team order will be the order of the day..hehehe

    4. Hopefully Mark will ace the start; I think I speak for most when I say this: I don’t want any “Vettel dominance” tomorrow.

      Maybe Lewis can really perfect his start and win the race, reviving his championship.

      And I know it’s not really nice to say this but I would be over the moon if Vettel & Alonso both retire, making the championship even more spicy ;)

      1. Hopefully Mark will ace the start; I think I speak for most when I say this: I don’t want any “Vettel dominance” tomorrow.

        Well, if Mark aces the start and Vettel takes second, there will surely be a way for them to switch positions during the first round of pit stops. You can’t have “Webber dominance” without a certain degree of “Vettel dominance” as well, since the WDC standings look the way they do.

      2. Alonso said that Vettel will probably lose his position to Hamilton & he will probably lose his position to Raikonnen so i expect to see Webber,Hamilton,Vettel,Raikonnen,Alonso after turn 1 & this can be changed either after the straight line according to the driver’s top speed

    5. So the top 5 in the WDC are the top 5 on the grid in Korea. Not in the same particular order but still.

      Unless “the alternator” strikes again, I don’t see any way for Vettel to lose this one, with Mark being his closest opponent. Alonso, Hamilton and Raikkonen seem set to fight it out between them here, which can only be good news. Massa and Button seem capable of progressing throughout the race while the Saubers are to watch as well – since they understand the soft compound here a lot better than the super soft which means they should be able to pull longer first stints (provided they will start on the prime).

      Should be good fun tomorrow.

    6. Rbr’s dominance shrunk to .24s in the end. Maybe we’ll have a race.

      1. You should know that whenever Red Bull wins anything, fear of domination takes over the internet blogs. It’s quite annoying to read how quickly people like jumping to conclusions sometimes.

        1. @kingshark you can hardly blame them for over reacting.. just look at the run of form Red Bull has had over the past 2 seasons.

          1. These things go in cycles regarding teams dominating.In this case,Red Bull.I do recall a time in the not too distant past when Ferrari were dominating;)
            But Red Bull haven’t dominated this season like they did the last.

      2. Yeah, a Race!

    7. just hope for lewis to win tomorrow insyallah

    8. Tomorrow’s race has the potential to be the best of the season. Got some great elements –

      1) We got a Ferrari and Mclaren that are as probably slightly quicker than the Red Bull on race pace
      2) Mark Webber starting in front of Vettel.. which is always an interesting prospect. (without Horner’s interference of course)
      3) Felipe Massa can finally come into play. Felipe Massa looks pretty quick this weekend and you cant help but think that he will be used wisely by Ferrari
      4) Hamilton has nothing to lose… 42 points with 5 races to go. Expect Hamilton to give it all at the start of the race. Clean side of the grid helps his situation

      Can hardly wait for tomorrow’s race!

    9. Can have another Kimi / Alonso contact at the start.

      1. Or Hamilton/alonso… would be very interesting first lap.

        1. Loads of combinations there.. I think Hamilton/Vettel is the most likely, and maybe even Kimi / Massa

          1. @todfod – Hamilton isn’t Grosjean, he’s agrresive at the starts but he knows how to pick his fights. He wouldn’t through away a potential podium for a position at the start.

    10. Luckily Grosjean seems to be too far away to destroy this monster of a grid.

    11. what happened to the drivers who set PB’s in final sector whilst yellow flags were being waved?

      1. Yeah, I was expecting to see some grid penalties after all of those guys came in one after another setting their best times.

    12. You anglais et your.. mannerisms, quite frankly it makes me go ho he ho he haw! For the Grand Prix i will on the driver of the year – Mr Romain Paris La Francais Grosjean! Allez my careless friend!

    13. Probably we’ll see Vettel moving towards the clean side immediately and squeezing Hamilton towards the right line. Meanwhile Kimi will move to the inside of Hamilton and he will battle it out again with Alonso. Massa will pressure Crashjean on the inside and when they reach either turn 3 or 5, Crashjean will hit someone from behind, because he brakes too late. Oh no, I forgot, he hit Webber last race and on average he only has a crash every other race, so it won’t be until India that he will strike again.

    14. According to Toro Rosso’s website Ricciardo has had to change his gearbox and broken driveshaft, so that will be a 5 place grid penalty.

    15. Good effort from The Hulk! Also nice to see Pic out-qualifying Glock. Wonder what happened to Kovalainen?

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