2012 United States Grand Prix fastest laps

2012 United States Grand Prix

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Unusually, Felipe Massa was the quicker of the two Ferraris at the Circuit of the Americas and matched Sebastian Vettel’s lap times at the end of the race.

United States Grand Prix lap times

All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded):

https://www.racefans.net/charts/2012drivercolours.csv

1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435363738394041424344454647484950515253545556
Sebastian Vettel107.821106.344106.716105.592104.598104.432103.992103.879103.85103.802103.668103.181103.578104.143103.889103.944103.84103.548104.154104.228104.757121.742103.042102.707102.199102.22101.998101.847101.81101.877102.019102.008101.688102.15100.969100.911101.132101.059100.925101.539100.85102.746100.677100.382100.539100.506100.556100.653100.686100.239100.422100.468100.082100.13299.86199.347
Lewis Hamilton109.559107.384106.64105.497104.783104.293103.614103.794103.279103.683103.677103.272103.472103.914103.58104.053104.251104.667104.84105.09121.759102.754102.812103.156101.826102.052101.752102.704101.95101.833101.632101.525101.292101.502101.339101.024101.069100.961101.041101.162101101.001100.24100.52100.435100.549100.406101.069100.311100.366100.294100.263100.21299.91399.709100.494
Mark Webber108.558107.065107.139107.084105.444104.719104.1104.405104.063104.469104.125103.766103.599104.468104.115106.008
Kimi Raikkonen114.246112.114107.073105.923105.247105.317105.12104.341104.432105.639105.57105.733104.084103.663103.721104.049103.558103.154103.301103.184103.423103.808103.481104.937126.451103.851104.863103.761105.058102.767102102.061101.886102.148102.154101.71102.069102.112103.212102.524101.907102.071101.326102.073102.697101.62101.924101.657102.333103.752101.945101.735100.826100.73699.87399.474
Michael Schumacher113.401112.593108.802108.553107.301107.435107.943106.607106.206107.793105.38104.951107.349106.816126.728105.585104.58104.429104.892104.564105.074104.132104.101103.72103.651104.518103.833103.903103.554103.67103.223103.056103.219103.069104.133102.91104.261103.317102.478123.453102.996102.232101.44101.624101.369101.194101.374101.308101.482101.165102.195101.553101.512100.923101.067
Nico Hulkenberg113.678108.849107.264106.888106.111105.696105.141104.831104.837105.758105.559105.855106.803105.35106.257105.863105.93123.615103.507103.382103.268103.588105.452104.109103.379103.782103.586103.626103.815103.125102.913102.616102.667102.757101.961101.933102.168102.391102.257101.936101.638101.48101.811101.991101.243101.379101.597101.734102.353101.27101.704101.748101.048101.685102.415101.462
Fernando Alonso110.603108.915106.931106.448105.329105.101104.567104.376104.033104.237104.278103.756104.098103.834105.37104.603104.519103.893104.877105.411127.268104.644104.711103.305102.734102.832103.046102.921102.617102.368102.57101.98101.864102.003101.772101.455101.542101.566101.484101.234100.987101.256100.956101.051100.141101.618101.048100.977101.322100.549100.328101.352101.689101.453101.00499.672
Romain Grosjean115.014109.849106.502105.81106.034115.202108.597107.174108.057123.774103.54104.106103.64105.195103.586103.942103.319102.458103.29102.681103.534103.447103.47102.887102.797103.471102.879104.288103.233102.728102.572102.444102.213101.967101.777102.013101.47103.205102.066101.731101.633101.982101.84101.691101.825101.604101.667102.632102.246102.618103.094101.514101.661101.572100.625101.416
Pastor Maldonado119.311109.563109.542107.104107.397107.359107.688107.503105.872105.8105.726104.762104.909104.194104.4103.864103.792104.029103.779103.677104.495122.957103.479103.525102.974103.584103.479104.562104.518102.719103.788102.064102.222102.198101.582101.76101.322101.249101.267101.301102.039101.024101.305102.397101.885101.084101.56101.249101.478101.248101.697101.442100.719101.306102.652101.393
Bruno Senna118.883109.53108.477108.006107.235106.87107.468104.94104.431103.924103.979104.555105.234105.071104.853105.367105.092104.234104.411106.703122.388103.371102.39102.736102.565102.922103.689103.431103.762103.279102.771102.721102.834102.774102.356101.591102.047102.649101.71102.37101.622101.239101.66103.355101.519100.938101.29101.286102.169101.31101.785102.782100.745101.483102.263101.337
Felipe Massa116.792110.443108.659107.877107.293106.837105.272104.679104.246104.478104.26103.884104.059104.507104.422103.769103.646102.93103.161103.036103.252103.22103.532103.453103.292103.925124.964105.561104.473102.795102.336102102.338101.95102.097101.734101.578101.722101.339100.934100.572100.737100.904100.981101.148100.972101.911101.275100.884100.49101.469100.254100.0599.74399.74599.402
Jenson Button120.82108.893107.713108.496107.292106.418107.654105.784106.071104.483103.839103.712103.767104.166104.769105.602105.056104.133104.563104.476105.208104.67103.039102.007101.986103.42104.445102.656102.171101.898102.071101.932101.626102.159101.234120.332100.97101.69101.018102.103101.958102.252101.276101.973101.135100.33100.871100.673101.032100.35100.903100.842100.245100.15100.95102.419
Paul di Resta115.873110.83108.75106.998106.864106.044105.257105.359104.91105.096105.874105.165105.077104.874104.989105.153104.95104.338104.508104.743106.179124.304104.017103.483103.139103.642103.586104.864113.07105.038124.111104.058103.458103.119102.904102.633102.757102.835102.457105.356102.45102.496101.806102.191102.029101.997101.75102.033101.818101.596101.965101.597101.445101100.594
Jean-Eric Vergne121.811109.971108.251106.663107.12108.512106.656107.695106.011105.032105.698104.775106.741107.438
Sergio Perez118.172109.43108.852107.836107.336107.002106.044104.894104.326104.2104.38105.168105.16104.878105.129105.435105.036104.184104.39105.176106.945105.991124.265103.831103.111103.107102.885103.345103.832103.217103.472103.294102.338102.622102.126102.582102.226102.225102.553102.644102.024101.944101.992101.877102.417102.069101.441101.665101.348100.905101.022100.958100.701101.015101.873102.72
Kamui Kobayashi122.647110.929107.888108.276107.02107.149106.422107.514106.246105.503105.281106.72105.414128.205105.615105.149104.533104.095104.852104.529104.675104.154104.328104103.626104.133104.209103.882103.288103.422103.091102.758102.802102.779104.266103.3103.706103.571102.288101.976101.956102.068101.884101.765102.462102.538102.209101.67103.644106.031101.442100.946101.599102.959100.315
Nico Rosberg120.34110.749109.806106.9107.217107.844106.678107.585106.147105.377105.252105.138106.262106.203104.19104.146104.106103.514104.264104.058104.129103.9103.804103.548103.675104.043104.297105.009105.837103.375103.197102.662102.847102.909124.168102.764101.949101.872101.605100.94101.141101.365101.042101.363101.669102.802101.342100.942100.857100.518100.428100.713100.579100.738100.942102.032
Daniel Ricciardo124.004110.118107.82106.313105.996106.879107.136106.368105.645104.94104.412104.252104.39104.47104.051104.423104.497104.296104.18104.381105.975103.778104.239103.646104.495103.982104.014104.59104.282104.383124.693103.324103.69102.509102.363102.105102.035101.96101.785101.823102.097101.609101.489101.582101.96101.461101.198101.33101.174100.848100.945101.037100.772101.035101.394101.967
Timo Glock123.781112.951108.757108.024107.955107.314107.015106.977107.785108.365106.611106.185106.976106.833106.432106.245106.356105.317105.77105.519106.458126.015105.087105.169104.927105.03105.112105.672104.853104.776106.476105.137104.563103.922103.795103.783103.829103.656103.356103.324103.608104.424103.575103.346103.991105.186104.07104.485106.568105.007106.232103.646103.367104.211105.619
Charles Pic125.705112.004110.798109.661108.078107.387106.968106.687107.134107.069106.621107.246106.703106.69110.013106.879107.631105.997105.942105.927106.133105.963105.425105.345105.033106.56129.105105.816105.344105.281104.92105.274105.239107.449104.527104.563106.162107.207104.417106.87104.499103.923104.522107.476105.93103.903104.074103.943103.699103.33106.088104.401105.584102.481
Vitaly Petrov123.382112.529108.906107.766107.378107.508106.84106.559106.685106.748105.864106.027106.19105.905106.306107.285106.125105.368105.915105.787105.744105.937106.105125.647104.593105.086104.772104.705104.355104.72104.972104.642106.397104.697104.203103.909103.533104.697103.56103.198103.735103.632103.395104.806104.05104.45104.274105.075104.546103.94104.301104.841106.418103.942102.824
Heikki Kovalainen125.479113.221109.556107.96107.507106.605106.29106.645107.935106.944106.238105.97106.503106.937106.352106.331105.938105.523106.24106.125106.178125.908105.424105.044104.654104.852104.757104.856104.572104.636104.586107.179104.645104.43103.831103.603103.809103.796103.565103.591103.717103.557104.911103.816104.186105.265103.656104.938104.899103.072106.673106.172103.904103.324106.12
Pedro de la Rosa126.427113.538111.415109.968109.203108.313107.782107.681107.879107.675107.395107.936107.67107.713107.448107.685107.229107.126107.061107.592107.703107.457108.045108.418130.628109.252106.642112.7107.815106.589107.595105.801106.141105.978105.363107.074105.297106.152105.377105.247107.912106.199104.664104.698105.528104.892106.272104.775106.865105.645105.188104.771105.461104.684
Narain Karthikeyan126.86113.765111.256110.334109.145108.483107.824107.555108.069108.143107.463107.243107.71107.838108.196107.386106.992107.343107.254107.307107.285107.181108.148107.785108.167133.31112.102108.412106.633107.723106.169106.47105.378105.492107.811106.092106.27105.304105.257108.865106.505105.265104.762105.498104.593106.793105.443104.952107.783105.443104.508105.819110.171105.888

There haven’t been many races this year where Fernando Alonso was slower than his team mate, but this was definitely one.

Massa out-qualified Alonso by over three-tenths of a second – the first time he has done so on merit all year (Alonso had a technical problem during qualifying at Monza).

As the graph above shows during the race Massa’s car was often the quicker of the two when not in traffic, particularly towards the end of the stints.

But Ferrari’s decision to sacrifice Massa’s starting position to move Alonso up one place was another reminder that he is unlikely to be allowed to finish in front of his team mate.

Tyre warm-up was a particular problem for the Ferrari drivers, as can be seen from their slower times at the start of each stint. But at the end of the race Massa was lapping as quickly as Vettel.

United States Grand Prix fastest laps

Each driver’s fastest lap:

RankDriverCarFastest lapGapOn lap
1Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’39.34756
2Felipe MassaFerrari1’39.4020.05556
3Kimi RaikkonenLotus-Renault1’39.4740.12756
4Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’39.6720.32556
5Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1’39.7090.36255
6Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’40.1500.80354
7Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari1’40.3150.96855
8Nico RosbergMercedes1’40.4281.08151
9Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1’40.5941.24755
10Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1’40.6251.27855
11Sergio PerezSauber-Ferrari1’40.7011.35453
12Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Renault1’40.7191.37253
13Bruno SennaWilliams-Renault1’40.7451.39853
14Daniel RicciardoToro Rosso-Ferrari1’40.7721.42553
15Michael SchumacherMercedes1’40.9231.57654
16Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’41.0481.70153
17Charles PicMarussia-Cosworth1’42.4813.13454
18Vitaly PetrovCaterham-Renault1’42.8243.47755
19Heikki KovalainenCaterham-Renault1’43.0723.72550
20Timo GlockMarussia-Cosworth1’43.3243.97740
21Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’43.5994.25213
22Narain KarthikeyanHRT-Cosworth1’44.5085.16151
23Pedro de la RosaHRT-Cosworth1’44.6645.31743
24Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso-Ferrari1’44.7755.42812

Vettel set the fastest lap for the sixth time this year, with Massa second-quickest.

2012 United States Grand Prix

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    Image © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo

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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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    30 comments on “2012 United States Grand Prix fastest laps”

    1. Fastest laps are pretty much meaningless now. The fact that the two best drivers of this season (Hamilton and Alonso) don’t have one fastest lap between them is sufficient proof that the fastest lap has lost its significance in the Pirelli era.

      1. They were never as meaningful as winning or taking pole position. And the likes of Raikkonen and Vettel have been as good as those two this year, and do have some fastest laps.

    2. Alonso randomly set fastest lap on lap 45. The laps before and after were both 1 second a lap slower. With a 30 second gap to those in front and a 18 second gap to Button behind, Alonso had no reason to push.

      I think it is obvious that he did a quick lap just to check what kind of time he could pull out of the bag if he ever wanted/needed to.

      Considering Massa was in a battle with Button, he had to push harder than Alonso to maintain a gap, which is why his times were often much quicker. Considering Alonso had been going so slow and looking after his tires, if he had decided to push he probably could have set quicker times than not only his team mate, but also the two in front of him (HAM/VET had worn tires), as shown by his fastest lap.

      1. I found Alonso’s lap 45 very strange – it was right on the leaders pace – well infact quicker – then Massa at the end had remarkable pace with a very light car – makes you wonder about Pat Fry’s comments.

        1. Where can I read his comments?

    3. So now my to-come vote for Driver Of the Weekend will look less “political”. Good job Massa :)

      1. I’m still split between Massa, Hamilton and the Hulk.

    4. But Ferrari’s decision to sacrifice Massa’s starting position to move Alonso up one place was another reminder that he is unlikely to be allowed to finish in front of his team mate.

      At this stage of the championship obviously, what can you expect?

      1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
        19th November 2012, 16:00

        @oel-f1 yeah I could have expected it. The problem is they look the more unsportive team by now. I wan’t fan of Ferrari but I quite respected them, even when they had some team decisions which put Massa’s down on the game (mostly because of Massa’s bad performances at the beginning of the year). But to affect the starting grid by making the gearbox change ON PURPOSE… come on! what a shame for Ferrari and Alonso if they win the driver’s championship in that way!

        1. There is not a single team in the grid that would n’t have done what ferrari did , if they were in ferrari’s position… Many teams have bend the rules as much as they can plenty of times … I dont understand why people are complaining so much over it…

          1. that is right. And quoting what Ferrari published on their website regarding the penalty:”something for which we would publicly like to express our gratitude”. So really, why do some people complain about such acts? Ferrari has been always proud of being a “team”, doing anything to help each others. Finally, I am sure that in case the situation is opposite (I mean in case Felipe was in the title fight instead of Fernando), then the team would have done the same to help Felipe keep in the fight. Just remember the situation back in 2008, when Felipe was in the title fight, and when in China, Kimi was faster than Felipe, but he let Felipe pass him during the race.
            Link:

            1. @hzh00

              why do some people complain about such acts? Ferrari has been always proud of being a “team”

              Because they don’t swallow Ferrari’s PR claim about it being for the benefit of the “team”. Clearly it was done for the benefit of Alonso.

            2. @KeithCollantine I agree, I will believe the stories about ‘team’ when Ferrari have a second driver that is as strong as Alonso and when Alonso happily moves over for Massa / Vettel / You-name-him when asked to do so.

              However, Ferrari haven’t issued team orders during the first races of the season over the last years as, for example, the 2010 Australian Grand Prix or the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix prove. It will be interesting to watch how they are going to act in the first races of the next year if Massa maintains the current form.

            3. Guys, you are missing the point here, Alonso is a Ferrari driver, so if Alonso wins the championship, Ferrari will have also won.

            4. Come on man!!! Of course they will. Then what will be the point of racing???!!!!
              Then why do they have him as a driver????!!!!!
              And what’s the point of having him as a driver if he will not be fighting for the championship????!!!! In this case they would have let go the driver’s championship since the season started.
              Then why won’t they hire some lazy driver instead of Alonso???!!!!! In this case it won’t matter winning or losing the championship.

        2. @omarr-pepper how on earth is this tactical move any worse than team orders? Especially when they only have one of their drivers in the fight for the championship! Was this worse than Hockenheim 2010, or worse than Interlagos 2007???

          1. And besides, it would’ve been the easiest thing in the world for Ferrari to tell the world that there was something wrong with the gearbox, they even could’ve lied to Felipe, but insead they chose to be honest. So stop kicking at them for trying to win a world championship!

            1. Thumbs up for your comments, this is a world championship on the line, and not a simple challenge between teammates

    5. It appears ALO and Massa have significantly higher out laps than other top teams, and nearly in parity with the bottom runners. Might it be these Ferrari guys working harder for tire temp?

      Understandably, this graph does not accomodate for time lost due to track action, there is an interesting trend when the comparing the outlap (and 5 immediate subsequent laps) of VET & HAM vs ALO. Massa’s data seems to support this trend rather than contradict it.

      Seems it is this, outlap/tire warming cycle is really costing the Ferrari team…

      1. Just did a bit more research, ALO was under heavy threat from BUT PER and RIC behind him upon exiting the pits, and was not held up by a driver in front (HAM was +11 ahead). I cant imagine he was doing anything more than going as fast as he could to keep those behind him, yet even still took him 3 laps to get back down to “fresh tire” speeds. But eventually passed him on lap 23.

        A look at VET and HAM data shows they were able to get back down to “fresh tire” speeds right away…

        1. Given that Pirelli bought harder tyres than normal for this race, I guess it hurt Ferrari the most as they seem to struggle more than Red Bull and McLaren normally in qualifying when it comes to getting the tyres working as quickly as possible.

      2. Alonso and to a lesser extent massa had slow stops

        1. I see my point is lost…
          Mine is a commentary on the slow outlaps Ferrari seems to be producing when compared to the next top competitors. I listen to pundits and they say “the Ferrari car is not up to snuff with the other leaders” and my mind demands more details. Specifically WHY is it not up to snuff, WHERE is the time lost, What part of the design is causing this. To a large extent, nobody can/will say, and I cant get access to ALO to ask him, so Ive been looking at data to try to understand for myself.

          With these Out Laps, I think I have found some of the problem. I have not looked at data from every race, but it seems Ferrari cant get the tires up to temp like the others can. Similarly, I cannot find data that says the Ferrari is harder on their tires than the other cars, they dont need more pit stops, nor do they seem to drop speed at the the end of stints more than others or exhibit other signs that the tires are wearing faster.

    6. I think Alonso was just managing gaps to maintain P3. No need to push too hard, he wasn’t going to catch Hamilton or Vettel anyways. Maybe using same engine in Brazil?

    7. On his out lap, ALO had BUT, PER and RIC right behind, and nobody slowing him down from the front. BUT eventually got passed after 2 laps. Strange when you consider BUT was on old tires and ALO was on fresh shoes… something seems amiss

      1. Nothing was ‘amiss’, it was clear that degradation wasn’t an issue, but warming the tyres up was. Given that Ferrari have been easier on their tyres, they were never going to extract the maximum from the tyres immediately, whereas Button was flying on well-heated hard tyres, which some regarded as a great race tyre anyway, so it’s pretty clear as to why Button was able to get passed so easily.

    8. In the first stint, from lap 10 to 20 Button was able to set equal lap times if not faster than Alonso although he was on the hard tyres. Interesting! Also in the last few laps Alonso’s lap times seem to have increased. I guess Alonso was cruising.

    9. I was watching Alonso’s onboard for a while and he just wasn’t going anywhere, he couldn’t catch Webber, he was about the same pace. Hamilton, on the other hand…

    Comments are closed.