2012 Monaco Grand Prix lap charts

2012 Monaco Grand Prix

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Mercedes suspected Red Bull would use Mark Webber to slow the field in Monaco and help Sebastian Vettel – but the race data indicates they didn’t.

Monaco Grand Prix lap chart

The positions of each driver on every lap. Use the control below to show/hide different drivers:

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

0123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566676869707172737475767778
Mark Webber1111111111111111111111111111143222222222222222111111111111111111111111111111111
Nico Rosberg2222222222222222222222222226654333333333333333222222222222222222222222222222222
Lewis Hamilton3333333333333333333333333332266555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555
Romain Grosjean4
Fernando Alonso5444444444444444444444444443315444444444444444433333333333333333333333333333333
Michael Schumacher68888888888888888888888888888777661099988777777777777777777777789
Felipe Massa7555555555555555555555555554421677666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666
Kimi Raikkonen877777777777777777777777777771614141413131313131212111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111101010101010999999999
Sebastian Vettel9666666666666666666666666665532111111111111111344444444444444444444444444444444
Nico Hulkenberg1099999999999999999999999999991716151514121212121111101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010999999888888888
Kamui Kobayashi112121202020
Jenson Button121414141414141414141414141414141414141414141414141414141411101010109888141514141414141414141414141414141414141414141414141413131313141413
Bruno Senna13101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101817161615141414141313121212121212121212121212121212121212121212121212111111111111101010101010101010
Paul di Resta14111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111118888871111111010999999999999999999999998888888777777777
Daniel Ricciardo1512121212121212121212121212121212121212121212121212121212999998777771515151515151515151515151515151515151515151515151414
Jean-Eric Vergne1617171717171717171717171717171717191919191918181818181818151212121111101010998888888888888888888888777777771111111112121212
Heikki Kovalainen171313131313131313131313131313131313131313131313131313131310151717161515151515141313131313131313131313131313131313131313131313131212121212121212131313131313
Vitaly Petrov18191921212120202020202020202020
Timo Glock191515151515151515151515151515151516161616161616161616161613181818171616161616161616161616161616161616161616181818181818181818181716151515151514141414141414
Pedro de la Rosa20
Charles Pic2116161616161616161616161618181818171717171717171717171717141313131818181818181717171717171818181818181818181717171717171717171716
Narain Karthikeyan2220201919191919191919191919191919181818181819191919191919191919191919191919191919191919191919191919191919191919191919191919191918171616161616151515151515
Sergio Perez231818181818181818181818181616161615151515151515151515151512111111121717171717181818181818171717171717171717161616161616161616161515141413131413121211111111
Pastor Maldonado24

The chaos which broke out at the first corner on lap one affected more than just the drivers whose races it ended. Jean-Eric Vergne was unhappy about the number of drivers who cut the first corner and gained places, saying afterwards: “After the start, lots of cars in front of me cut the corner at the first turn and I found myself behind the Marussia and I was losing a lot of time.”

Later Vergne was told to give a position back to Sergio Perez after cutting the chicane – his response was to question why those who cut turn one hadn’t been punished.

The stewards did investigate the incident but decided to take no action. Looking at the replays, it’s not hard to see why. Sebastian Vettel, for example, had no option other than to cut across the apron, faced with Romain Grosjean’s Lotus spinning in front of him. It gained him a place over Kimi Raikkonen.

The field bunched up, slowing to avoid the carnage, and Pastor Maldonado piled into the back of Pedro de la Rosa. Those who cut the corner were trying to avoid doing the same. It’s harsh on those who stuck to the track and lost out, but the rules can’t account for every eventuality and this is probably one of them.

Monaco Grand Prix race chart

The gaps between each driver on every lap. Use the control below to show/hide different drivers:

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

123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566676869707172737475767778
Mark Webber00000000000000000000000000009.21710.7929.75211.65913.09913.84514.77415.89916.28616.09615.83616.03516.28316.89317.40117.26716.615000000000000000000000000000000000
Nico Rosberg0.610.7850.5150.760.8891.0291.0341.3561.4021.4071.4851.6191.6221.6342.0472.0712.1552.271.8832.2791.9262.2952.282.5592.1871.81118.77922.73112.69611.68911.15412.8614.56815.79116.57917.72817.76217.92718.00817.6518.05218.29318.94519.02518.6081.5081.2741.4681.3561.3661.5561.6531.8061.6371.7341.6291.7491.9911.5961.4191.641.5331.5310.9481.0530.8450.8940.7840.850.5890.5780.750.9060.810.9090.7650.6260.643
Lewis Hamilton1.5281.6831.5541.7751.8912.1832.3462.4372.4692.7592.8983.0573.2573.4613.9614.0663.8614.24.1834.2214.2324.8455.2035.8386.2626.5937.0717.59818.07718.76216.55717.20618.21319.42420.14220.90420.65320.95921.03520.87620.72120.99621.39721.62521.4084.1374.5284.4494.2684.8695.5245.9976.1086.066.7496.9567.1527.3847.0946.7036.6686.1546.3556.0025.795.0794.2423.922.1832.3542.3152.5913.1383.3533.2373.1883.5684.101
Romain Grosjean
Fernando Alonso2.3132.6091.8512.512.8153.3483.4723.9284.2274.6135.2385.7566.3547.0877.8278.3287.5367.1166.1255.6175.3675.9576.5626.9767.3527.4357.3647.742013.29914.48115.40216.41217.50717.86518.76218.97519.40419.24718.88418.85819.20219.89620.04719.4472.2722.3892.752.6513.0513.2763.7283.8334.1374.9614.5494.1374.1174.0323.7714.0823.7063.7633.4082.7692.2142.0121.8831.1410.9381.0841.2731.5451.5151.6141.3391.40.947
Michael Schumacher4.6096.9533.9595.2945.465.9756.3886.6566.8487.4728.0838.5169.34610.23211.69412.27212.68613.06913.47314.53815.2616.64918.61820.47122.1824.63426.7230.26225.00621.29118.70918.93719.22838.02941.72241.85441.89541.97442.29144.85445.26245.46845.33845.37545.3528.91127.94627.18527.76327.35526.62425.89725.25924.8124.34223.97923.83525.00326.3328.15731.98337.43944.524
Felipe Massa2.9093.6312.4443.0123.3813.7414.0534.3714.7915.1815.6846.3396.9197.8328.5218.8838.7128.6467.7057.3627.0027.4938.0868.999.3289.5349.66910.152.299016.58820.35320.51521.18421.74822.67622.70922.6822.62822.57622.25222.0822.21122.59422.7165.7895.3165.1825.2125.2946.086.6167.1897.1637.4287.6067.8227.997.6547.547.4316.8287.247.0497.1816.7385.9865.6843.6593.1673.1313.3834.2464.2424.0514.4235.1346.195
Kimi Raikkonen4.2515.6013.6114.7864.9295.4965.8065.8526.2426.8677.3677.8338.6599.63310.96711.66612.07912.51713.03814.03214.45616.19218.1219.91521.72924.22526.29529.92643.48343.96541.33944.36546.75750.04552.42653.15353.30753.95354.74355.33855.92856.38257.26958.23458.30342.28842.64842.43542.5542.36241.90542.05342.08142.46743.13643.07743.88643.8844.05344.2344.34544.84245.87546.82547.66848.44449.46251.13750.18649.11946.25644.26142.58241.69642.49642.96742.9544.036
Sebastian Vettel3.4644.7193.2014.1534.2584.8354.9845.1995.5856.1046.6177.0448.0198.729.91410.38610.4710.72710.5411.00410.91612.13112.27812.68413.0913.45213.22812.7323.9341.3530000000000000001.5833.5433.3773.2553.964.1564.654.6725.0485.6915.6145.6895.6625.2874.9195.1374.7394.6574.5124.0173.1822.6672.731.6321.5351.571.8872.1882.2032.3772.1622.3921.343
Nico Hulkenberg5.3997.484.5045.9566.1076.6147.0457.5357.5258.3089.0569.32210.06911.0212.55913.21913.61714.27714.47515.35416.18817.54919.16620.97122.62825.12927.21330.69344.5345.65743.24944.70948.26449.16848.26649.06349.65350.41251.14351.91752.53353.29654.28855.24955.87839.9239.37239.32739.08338.93238.94839.07239.24739.80640.46740.90341.50442.26642.53942.95943.22743.0844.71745.28145.8246.36447.03647.60246.44345.85942.54240.74138.91539.27540.83641.25341.33142.562
Kamui Kobayashi47.7438.70717.7220.34825.027
Jenson Button9.4613.6418.4119.81310.92512.28313.08713.85714.33415.34716.15916.83917.77118.76619.70920.421.24322.2922.63323.92425.0426.36927.44828.75130.17631.38932.80134.6628.55128.0226.17826.90628.41130.45131.93334.08335.90456.09760.48761.16962.28564.18765.83566.79967.852.18152.1252.41952.65653.5953.8154.5354.83556.17257.91358.47859.44360.54860.97961.32362.05462.34563.23865.40565.65266.34667.43978.77978.84679.023
Bruno Senna6.3648.0085.3076.9387.3038.0378.5759.2949.98410.45911.05611.16411.76912.58113.92514.7815.23815.96616.28517.06217.76318.7620.00521.85823.41625.8227.8931.43745.11846.21244.29345.46249.86751.00552.98953.66853.90554.60855.71856.45457.17557.68357.99458.77958.93942.79242.99942.93143.08542.97542.45942.56142.61742.99743.62243.49244.37544.53145.00945.09345.82845.7346.51447.42148.21148.95249.87151.93451.94349.69846.67544.84742.94742.42742.95843.4343.6644.516
Paul di Resta7.2669.0165.8887.7148.329.38410.10410.77811.22512.0612.8513.21213.84914.80715.82816.73317.30818.26418.37719.2819.77821.06921.91823.3324.6326.48328.60432.00926.60424.12622.19923.05923.83924.87743.58747.99748.48648.94449.62650.23151.15452.00653.10254.11354.80538.78138.18637.83737.63537.6337.68437.90638.31538.91639.44340.06340.51441.17641.35241.41342.08442.25444.01944.49144.50744.90645.39545.79245.03641.79639.69239.18337.437.32337.31938.31439.48241.537
Daniel Ricciardo8.05410.3186.3488.1928.7889.96910.62311.2311.65712.46713.30513.73214.63715.30516.44417.35918.0118.92819.20819.87520.5721.82622.78824.06725.2926.88629.16932.50427.16525.73524.32825.96427.27429.25431.03333.33135.25537.77541.06262.11967.44268.22268.97769.50769.81453.66853.57653.51153.47954.15954.5455.19155.62356.92258.42759.03460.04961.09661.52361.79562.49262.78563.77765.89666.399
Jean-Eric Vergne11.68817.3510.94712.12112.98115.03415.4517.04917.56418.50520.39721.5523.924.46225.52326.18747.16751.57351.11851.09450.93352.41752.15251.83951.03350.47349.548.86440.62838.42535.54136.10840.4241.17142.44343.47143.55543.71944.09445.2546.33846.68946.78747.57947.68131.16330.27829.5429.48730.52730.43429.88529.52529.05628.83529.50830.08730.70530.76230.67632.26832.98433.37833.50834.37534.45836.22841.34745.03566.97471.44774.37679.18192.624102.339112.387121.931
Heikki Kovalainen8.63212.8697.6729.0179.69110.86611.55912.28212.52113.49114.42515.02415.7916.60318.13918.96519.57520.64721.47423.0223.47824.59825.76627.28828.38629.40130.96833.22527.78345.45748.32950.06951.9553.40555.11556.91957.48258.37259.77460.87761.84763.77165.41166.32767.36951.74351.33851.63851.87952.34952.93953.5953.98855.3357.3957.88158.88159.85660.39560.67961.39861.6362.86164.79565.0965.89766.84471.82875.04278.86581.34991.248118.337127.627127.977127.269127.703
Vitaly Petrov13.96420.87645.28148.74648.14448.48448.83249.51449.88850.26250.80151.02651.84353.26757.015
Timo Glock10.22714.7439.49310.56811.68812.98413.9914.67615.2316.48317.86318.64119.99821.58423.40924.76627.97729.51930.39331.64832.74634.37935.80337.37538.88740.45341.87843.19636.01552.80957.25258.9160.44662.21263.92165.4366.56967.68969.29370.3971.43372.71274.05275.40776.53460.87160.89661.03261.40461.90862.65463.27963.902100.754112.597113.95115.138115.715115.735115.51117.437117.254117.659118.103119.074119.467122.875131.251136.859134.871132.546130.283128.715128.624128.742129.259131.953
Pedro de la Rosa
Charles Pic10.72716.24410.50911.81812.58614.04815.11416.37717.02717.9519.27321.36925.16526.66628.64930.13331.32333.42134.19535.71236.838.89840.58642.47643.9845.21145.99947.72940.20140.44340.37244.08169.42774.89776.39580.64282.24783.53784.74285.79886.62287.47890.15991.32393.93778.78287.44888.49889.33690.29891.17891.72392.70292.44792.45692.43992.66793.08593.1293.31793.39595.15196.55797.217
Narain Karthikeyan17.10921.65914.20515.32816.08517.37918.97820.44621.88123.55725.4227.47530.30132.74735.22538.52941.33943.29245.15447.66749.83654.57257.72560.40562.97465.36168.43771.55285.33489.19688.28889.88891.41494.996102.865104.823107.083108.572109.841111.383114.357116.19117.614118.678120.062104.576105.004106.766111.269113.603115.044116.513122.628126.767128.447130.415132.207133.797134.923136.21138.883141.365148.606151.961155.825159.06164.389179.003181.271182.614183.213185.368186.775209.691221.102230.34
Sergio Perez12.7818.111.38912.44913.44315.47416.00117.46117.95918.96821.10522.15622.88222.73423.79225.16927.00727.07326.47226.67527.19827.92628.42229.81531.21632.95435.06937.22330.51930.15730.78635.81842.55266.98471.53672.48672.51873.12586.60289.68688.94788.19990.65492.53192.52775.30272.83970.17167.46567.07966.78965.8464.72165.24364.12661.66760.5761.61162.00462.30763.12963.55564.43766.37866.75567.18267.94272.31275.20880.66381.64488.50485.4784.76884.83685.34287.282
Pastor Maldonado

The teams’ reluctance to pit at Monaco was down to more than just the usual concern about becoming stuck behind slower cars, unable to pass. For much of the race the strategists were operating under the expectation that rain was about to arrive.

No-one wants to pit for fresh slicks only to return to the pits two laps later for intermediates, so the drivers were told to sit tight and nurse their rubber. “We are expecting some light rain during the race,” di Resta was told, “and we’re looking to extend the stint to that point”.

Raikkonen did some quick sectors early in the race but was stuck in traffic. He reported to his team that he was quicker than the other cars, and was told to look after his tyres.

The message didn’t have the desired effect. As lap 22 on the chart shows, he began to drop back rapidly from the leaders, struggling with his tyres.

That opened a window of opportunity for Nico Rosberg. Once Mercedes were happy they could bring him in with no risk of falling behind Raikkonen, they scrambled, and tried to get the undercut on Webber. It didn’t work, but it was probably his best chance of getting ahead.

One driver who didn’t pit until later was Vettel, who’d started on softs instead of super-softs, and stayed out until lap 46. After the race he said on his team radio, “with hindsight we should have stayed out a bit longer”.

This is a classic example of a driver not having all the information that is available to those running his strategy. Vettel believed he could have made his soft tyres last longer in the first stint, allowing him to be more aggressive on the super-softs at the end of the race.

But his team were better-placed to judge the consequences of delaying his pit stop any later. As lap 45 on the chart above shows, he had just lost 0.6 seconds to Webber and his pursuers. Had they not brought him out on that lap he would not come out in front of Hamilton.

This is one of two points which refute Mercedes’ suggestion that Red Bull were using Webber to hold up the pack to help Vettel. Furthermore, the gap between Webber and Rosberg was not low enough at this point to suggest Webber was holding him up – unlike, for example, the last laps before Rosberg’s pit stop, or the final 15 laps of the race.

2012 Monaco Grand Prix

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Image © Pirelli/LAT

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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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25 comments on “2012 Monaco Grand Prix lap charts”

  1. How can webber on fresh softs lose over 3 tenths a lap average to vettel, over 15 laps, whose softs were 30 laps older? F1 doesn’t make sense any more…

    1. @newdecade try thinking again and you might find the answer. And it’s no different to other times in F1.

      They basically struggled to get the softs up to temperature, so as Vettel was on warm tyres (that were holding pretty well in terms of degradation) he was faster. They said it after the race…

      1. No way it took so long to get them up to temperature, look at other cars who changed them: Perez and even one of Marussia cars were setting purple sectors as soon as they put new tires.

        My guess is they were conserving tires.

        1. @ivan-vinitskyy Did you factor in the track temperature cooling down? Don’t be so quick to judge.

  2. What happened to Alonso in the first couple of laps?. Looking at the graph, he was losing a lot of time, and suddently, he started gaining a lot of time…

    Webber was slowing the pack down?

    1. try thinking again and you might find the answer ;)

      Apparently he was conserving the tyres to exploit them around the first pit stop window and it paid off. During the first stint running he could afford to drop time to Hamilton as the risk of losing track position was almost non-existent, and gaining it back was easy.

      1. It was also a big help that he man behind was his teammate and if Massa and an opportunistic move by Massa obviously was not going to happen.

        1. Its always a pity when people dont give ALonso’s intelligence the respect it deserves. He nursed his tyres initially and when the pit stop was near, he ate into Hamilton’s lead rapidly doing fastest laps one after the other. He mostly keeps all the cards while racing which makes him the best driver out there.

    2. @fer-no65 This is from F1 Fanatic Live just after lap 16:

      Massa asks why Alonso is going so slowly and is told he’s saving his tyres

      https://twitter.com/f1fanaticlive/status/206723031840731137

      1. @keithcollantine, I still wonder why McLaren didn’t catch that and respond by warning HAM to also slow and save tyres more until end of stint, it might have kept him ahead of ALO (and then Vettel later?).

        1. …. especially as HAM had already warned (or did so not much later?) the pits that his pace was making it hard to keep the tyres okay long enough.

        2. @bosyber I don’t remember hearing a message to that effect – doesn’t necessarily mean there wasn’t one, of course. Presumably they were hoping they’d get the first chance to pit among the front runners, and use it to jump Rosberg.

          1. Oh, that might well have been the plan @keithcollantine, good point, thanks.

    3. 1) ALO was staying out of the dirty air by keeping back. This saved his tyres.
      2) ALO was backing the guys behind him up, placing them in his hot air, damaging their tyres.
      3) ALO used his preserved tyres to then overtake HAM, and would have even if HAM had a perfect pitstop.

      1. I suspect Web was told to do the same towards the end of the race – and probably should have done it in the first stint before his pitstop.

      2. don’t you think Alonso could have passed Rosberg or even Webber at the pit stop if he had made 2 more laps before stopping? He was the quickest by far at lap 30.

  3. This problem in “turning on” the softs seems to have affected only Webber. Other drivers set quick laps immediately after they came out of the pits.
    I am not accusing Red Bull of making Webber slow down so that Seb could gain a few positions. I am just saying that no other driver had that problem and Mark should look into why he did.

    1. Actually in the first phase of the soft stints for the leaders WEB was pulling away, albeit only 1-2 tenths a lap, from ALO and ROS

    2. I am not accusing Red Bull of making Webber slow down so that Seb could gain a few positions.

      And even if you did, it would be nothing short of a master stroke of team work on Red Bulls part.

  4. While Webber was doing a solid string of 1.19.5’s after his pit stop, Perez dipped into the low 1.17’s. It’s no doubt Webber was going much slower than he could have gone. He kept the gap to Vettel at a steady 16 sec, ensuring to be ahead after Vettel’s stop and conserve tyres at the same time. It’s easy to criticise Webber for trying to win at the slowest possible speed, but the real blame for the lack of on-track action lies with the guys behind not trying harder to make something of this processional affair.

  5. I’m still confused what happened with Hamilton and McLaren between laps 35 and 46. In the press conference afterwards, Webber mentioned that the ‘magic number’ was 21 seconds (for stopping and coming out in front). From laps 35 to 46, the gap between Hamilton and Vettel was around that number. Was McLaren really asleep all that time? The radio message from Hamilton telling his team that “the tyres won’t last long at this pace” (I don’t remember exactly which lap, and anyway, we don’t know when it was sent) suggested that they did tell him to get a move on. Also, on the lap that Vettel was coming in, Hamilton was ‘going green’ in all sectors of the lap, suggesting his team had radioed that he had to push that lap. Finally, the gap between Hamilton and Alonso in those laps was always around 2 seconds, so Hamilton certainly had room to get a bit closer without getting into dirty air, if he could.

    Was Hamilton complaining needlessly, or did his team really give him too little information, too late?

  6. Crazy to see how many people were still criticising Pirelli after this race. I think the only high-factor tyre deliberation in this race was to see whether or not you should pit for inters. Seemed like a sensible decision to me!

  7. Schumacher was really pulling in the lead group until his car developed a problem.

  8. Having stopped wondering what McLaren/HAM were doing, and looking at Button, it’s a bit worrying that he was slower near the end of his stint than just about anyone (Kovi ~equal, and really seems only Narain, and maybe Glock losing more time to Vettel at that point? gosh), so no wonder he didn’t end up ahead of Kovalainen then. They might as well have brought him in earlier, giving him super soft tyres to try and at least get ahead. Not McLaren’s weekend indeed.

    1. Oh, I forgot to put Ricciardo in the graph, that’s who Button was stuck behind. Still, same thing: might have been better to pit him, considering how hard it is to pass at Monaco, take changes on blocking others on old tyres near end of race, rather than be blocked that way (or spinning out in exasperation).

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