2012 rated the best season of the last five years
2012 F1 season review
The 2012 F1 season was the best of the last five years according to F1 Fanatic readers.
The results of F1 Fanatic’s regular Rate the Race polls produced the highest average score since they began in 2008.
Top of the list was the thrilling season finale in Brazil, which was rated the best race of the last five seasons.
Rating the races of 2012
F1 Fanatic readers were invited to rate every race out of ten during the season.
Here are the average scores for each race in 2012:
| Race | Rating |
|---|---|
| 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix | 9.449 |
| 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | 8.854 |
| 2012 European Grand Prix | 8.784 |
| 2012 United States Grand Prix | 8.772 |
| 2012 Chinese Grand Prix | 8.648 |
| 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix | 8.452 |
| 2012 Spanish Grand Prix | 8.274 |
| 2012 Canadian Grand Prix | 8.197 |
| 2012 Australian Grand Prix | 7.662 |
| 2012 Italian Grand Prix | 7.64 |
| Race | Rating |
|---|---|
| 2012 Belgian Grand Prix | 7.467 |
| 2012 German Grand Prix | 7.055 |
| 2012 British Grand Prix | 7.048 |
| 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix | 6.904 |
| 2012 Japanese Grand Prix | 6.381 |
| 2012 Singapore Grand Prix | 5.998 |
| 2012 Hungarian Grand Prix | 5.975 |
| 2012 Monaco Grand Prix | 5.436 |
| 2012 Indian Grand Prix | 5.194 |
| 2012 Korean Grand Prix | 5.158 |
The final three races of the season were among the highest-rated as the contest for the championship between Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso went down to the last lap of the last race.
The only other race to appear in the top four was the European Grand Prix, which saw a superb win for Alonso from 11th on the grid. While last year’s race was the lowest-rated of the season at 3.8 out of ten, this year it scored 8.7.
At the opposite end of the sale processional races in Korea, India and Monaco were among five Grands Prix to score less than six out of ten.
Comparing the last five seasons
| Australia | Malaysia | China | Bahrain | Spain | Monaco | Canada | Europe | Britain | Germany | Hungary | Belgium | Italy | Singapore | Japan | Korea | India | Abu Dhabi | United States | Brazil | |
| 2008 | 7.609 | 5.738 | 4.446 | 5.364 | 5.085 | 8.177 | 7.809 | 3.977 | 8.164 | 7.18 | 6.202 | 7.736 | 8.153 | 6.302 | 6.66 | 8.756 | ||||
| 2009 | 7.937 | 5.284 | 6.69 | 6.42 | 5.33 | 5.504 | 5.355 | 5.755 | 7.096 | 6.808 | 7.852 | 7.049 | 5.336 | 5.58 | 5.794 | 8.309 | ||||
| 2010 | 8.638 | 6.684 | 8.326 | 4.587 | 4.919 | 6.217 | 8.668 | 5.454 | 7.203 | 3.74 | 6.654 | 8.368 | 6.759 | 7.194 | 6.642 | 7.536 | 6.602 | 6.253 | ||
| 2011 | 6.751 | 7.775 | 9.241 | 7.319 | 7.684 | 9.095 | 3.871 | 7.96 | 8.43 | 8.344 | 7.772 | 7.494 | 6.39 | 7.57 | 6.915 | 5.555 | 6.127 | 5.771 | ||
| 2012 | 7.662 | 8.452 | 8.648 | 6.904 | 8.274 | 5.436 | 8.197 | 8.784 | 7.048 | 7.055 | 5.975 | 7.467 | 7.64 | 5.998 | 6.381 | 5.158 | 5.194 | 8.854 | 8.772 | 9.449 |
F1 Fanatic readers having been rating the races since the beginning of the 2008 season. The results for the 20 rounds that are still on the calendar can be seen above, arranged in the order they were run this year.
The average ratings for each season reveal 2012 was rated slightly higher than last year:
| Year | Average rating |
|---|---|
| 2008 | 6.651 |
| 2009 | 6.316 |
| 2010 | 6.759 |
| 2011 | 7.23 |
| 2012 | 7.367 |
Top ten races, 2008-2012
| Race | Rating |
|---|---|
| 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix | 9.449 |
| 2011 Chinese Grand Prix | 9.241 |
| 2011 Canadian Grand Prix | 9.095 |
| 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | 8.854 |
| 2012 European Grand Prix | 8.784 |
| 2012 United States Grand Prix | 8.772 |
| 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix | 8.756 |
| 2010 Canadian Grand Prix | 8.668 |
| 2012 Chinese Grand Prix | 8.648 |
| 2010 Australian Grand Prix | 8.638 |
The gripping season finale in Brazil set a new record as the highest-rated race of the last five years. Of the 835 votes cast, 536 rated it ten out of ten. It’s only the third race to get a higher rating than nine out of ten.
Reflecting the quality of the season we’ve just had, five of this year’s races feature among the best races of the last five years. F1′s return to the Unites States for the first race at the Circuit of the Americas ranks sixth overall.
This year’s lowest-rated race, the Korean Grand Prix, ranks eighth from bottom on the list.
Over to you
How do you think the 2012 season compared to the previous four years of Formula One? What did you think was the best race of the season?
Did you think the racing was better or worse this year – and if so, why?
Have your say in the comments.
2012 F1 season review
- The complete F1 Fanatic 2012 season review
- What F1 Fanatics thought of 2012: The year in polls
- The drivers and cars of 2012
- F1 Fanatic’s 50 article highlights of 2012
- 11 different Driver of the Weekend winners in 2012
Browse all 2012 F1 season review articles
Image © Renault Sport
I\'ve had it (@joey-zyla) said on 4th December 2012, 2:43
Why did ANYONE dare vote Monaco 5 or lower?
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys) said on 4th December 2012, 7:48
I think the 2012 season started strongly, but it kind of flat-lined once the teams got on top of the tyres, and it was pretty much brain-dead from Singapore until Abu Dhabi, when it finally came alive again. But I still feel that it was a fairly weak end to the season, simply because Vettel dominated so much of the last part of it, and in the end, the boring races like India proved to be more important to the championship outcome than the exciting ones like Austin. I still feel that Brazil was perhaps a bit too chaotic for its own good, because watching it in review, everything tended to happen at once. The start was frantic, the middle was flat and the end was frantic. I don’t think it’s a good thing when you have to pay more attention to the timing screens in order to understand what is going on than to the actual racing.
magon4 (@magon4) said on 4th December 2012, 18:32
fact: Brazilian GP had 147 passing moves, record in F1 history!
Steven Smith (@ragwort) said on 4th December 2012, 18:47
A flying start from McLaren in Oz, who then fell away slightly only to return at the end of the season.
First wins for Rosberg, Maldanado and Kimi (MkII).
The unpredictability of who Grosjean or Mad Mal will crash into next.
Fernando cruising nicely until Red Bull got back to Asia.
A last race that is voted the best of the last five years.
All the drivers that started the season finishing it too.
Me actually going to Brazil for the finale.
Yes. It’s been a pretty decent season.
wheresF1gone said on 4th December 2012, 20:31
The half of the 2012 season I saw on the BBC was good, but the best in the last 5 years…..hmmmmmm…..no
wheresF1gone said on 4th December 2012, 20:55
There was something bugging me about the photo above of the cars going through the Senna Esses.
And it is please please the FIA do something about the side plates? at the end of each front wing.
The huge wings are bad enough, but the great big bookends is getting to much :-/
Max Jacobson (@vettel1) said on 4th December 2012, 21:09
I believe that in 2014 the FIA are reverting back to the pre-2009 front wings, both for less downforce and possibly also as a secondary reason to prevent so many punctures. I think it’ll be for the better!
Lamba said on 5th January 2013, 2:36
i feel the FIA is really working hard to make every gp competitive for all of us. never befrore show by smaller teams..nice job..i think sauber and force india have been the highlights this year apart from the big things. i see that F1 is more realistic now then ever before and that’s the reason we enjoyed so much in 2012.
apart from that all the new circuits have been designed by this one guy who has made them terrible. so the vintage circuits are the highlights still and will be in the near future.