2012 Spanish Grand Prix lap chart

2012 Spanish Grand Prix

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Front wing trouble delayed the Red Bulls and Rosberg during the race – and Rosberg’s final stint did not go according to plan.

Spanish 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

0123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
Pastor Maldonado1222222222112222222222222331111111111111113332211111111111111111111
Fernando Alonso2111111111231111111111111113222222222222221113332222222222222222222
Romain Grosjean3555555554497665444444444445444444444444444444444334444444444444444
Kimi Raikkonen4333333333323333333333333222333333333333332221123443333333333333333
Sergio Perez524242424242424242422202018161617181919181818181817171716161515151515151616
Nico Rosberg64444444451386554555555713111098877666655555776555555555555555556666777
Sebastian Vettel77777779181714111077666666655555466699999887765510109999999999999888887666
Michael Schumacher86666666665109
Kamui Kobayashi9999999881917131299888888887776101099887766666567666666666666666665555555
Jenson Button10888888777151211887777777666610998877887778141199888888888888888999999999
Mark Webber11121212121214222020181413111099151717171716161414131212111111111111111010108913131212121111111111111111111111111111111111111111
Paul di Resta121313131313121211112015141211101099999910151514131313121313141414131414121211111515151414141414141414141414141414141414141414
Nico Hulkenberg131414141414131312121019171514131313131416151515131312111110101010101010999101412121111111010101010101010101010101010101010101010
Jean-Eric Vergne141010101010101098716151312111110101010101012161615141414131212121212111111111315151414141313131313131312121212121212121212121212
Daniel Ricciardo1515151515151515141396191615151514141313131311101116151515141414131313121212151514141313131212121212121213131313131313131313131313
Felipe Massa16111111111111111098171614131212111111111111888767121616161616161515151310101099101515151515151515151515151515151515151515
Bruno Senna171717181818181716151278
Vitaly Petrov181819191919191817161622222020181817161615161717171818181718181818181818181817171717171716181717171717171717171717171717171717171717
Heikki Kovalainen1916161616171716151411551017171616151514141414121211161817171717171717171716161616161617161616161616161616161616161616161616161616
Charles Pic202123232323232122222121211919192020202020202020202020192020202020202020
Timo Glock2119202020202019191819181817182019191818191919191919192019191919191919191919181818181818181718181818181818181818181818181818181818
Pedro de la Rosa22222121212121202121232423212121212121212222222121212121212121212121212120201919191919191919191919191919191919191919191919191919
Narain Karthikeyan2323222222222223232324232422222222222222212121
Lewis Hamilton2420181717161614131064444141412121212121299987555555581413139888777777777777777777778888

Mark Webber spent the opening laps of the race stuck behind Felipe Massa, being badly held up. It seems the team’s decision to pit him early was, as in China, not a consequence of his lap times slowing but a strategic decision to get him into ‘clean air’.

He didn’t quite make it out in front of Narain Karthikeyan and lost some time passing the HRT. But once he had done the other front runners were obliged to pit to cover his stop and avoid losing track position to him.

It was a tough race for the Red Bulls, both of which had to pit due to front wing damage which led to both having pit stops to have them replaced.

Vettel’s drive-through penalty on lap 30 cost him around 15 seconds. He recovered to sixth by the end of the race, but without the penalty it’s hard to make a case for him finishing much higher than fifth – his pace in clean air wasn’t quick enough.

Massa had taken a penalty for the same infraction two laps earlier. It ultimately left him behind Paul di Resta in the final stint, who he could pass, and the further loss of time led to him being lapped by his team mate.

Massa did not agree with his penalty: “Honestly, I don’t think I did anything wrong and I believe it is better to look into the detail of what happened, because I was in the middle of a group of cars and I definitely did not try to overtake anyone.”

Spanish 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

123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566
Pastor Maldonado1.3080.9841.1641.1871.3271.5651.6071.5911.17003.4523.1093.0562.8472.662.3662.2071.7781.7991.5891.5371.4954.1117.56312.08700000000000000016.35915.38312.7480.710.36500000000000000000000
Fernando Alonso0000000001.1213.6120000000000000006.256.8537.0377.2577.4567.0326.7486.576.1396.1345.6325.2534.8044.2510.9370003.8311.7362.9251.470.910.850.8520.9831.3331.3180.9680.8890.6761.0991.4891.7212.0272.3392.443.0423.3323.195
Romain Grosjean4.6666.1677.4788.5419.82610.83711.6312.42112.6513.86728.58117.1318.60919.2820.25119.82420.34220.75220.81720.40121.96123.18923.7423.92224.12823.74230.27630.87431.80333.12734.24334.63535.21935.45936.46436.65736.35936.92237.13336.43233.45631.65731.75628.96617.61617.00717.64317.67818.06418.92222.32138.80336.78335.49433.81332.1730.53228.83327.44525.35423.67121.83920.05718.16416.68214.799
Kimi Raikkonen2.3932.4523.2443.6834.054.194.3044.5484.1672.9413.4197.1217.287.1387.1787.3317.6887.8788.1267.7168.1148.7679.0349.3749.176.5450.00317.99119.34319.62319.99220.52620.62821.16120.82320.36619.6419.59319.60418.6815.49613.77613.72611.552002.6837.25422.80921.57420.85620.00719.48118.57117.10716.03514.813.79312.75311.52511.03210.2379.0897.4655.6763.884
Sergio Perez30.95648.48747.81847.63547.71347.57747.649.09249.49148.63847.61236.12438.64741.83444.54548.95656.29373.70673.59771.74671.1470.62370.10270.09769.85366.54856.46658.16360.21762.00363.80765.94867.4269.5471.42175.67680.637
Nico Rosberg3.4494.0885.6057.0448.2039.47310.3311.22213.78329.24128.21516.69417.57318.54919.78421.90123.27324.2925.10825.35826.81530.6347.20147.46147.49245.52635.47538.95440.9542.96944.91246.03247.54148.76750.36351.14851.36952.42153.2156.24168.61566.71266.45463.651.18650.07950.47550.17550.75851.51752.22152.25853.01553.68154.37855.33356.10557.46759.06262.24664.07566.34168.60772.38574.91477.919
Sebastian Vettel5.6527.038.7610.03611.22312.30116.0432.50432.31132.62330.33719.0820.85921.2522.0623.00824.10825.25626.04326.06427.41129.20729.4529.49229.4326.90119.63737.92338.78442.72753.33353.41353.61754.09554.28854.85155.35855.62455.66655.45653.36256.33578.35175.96864.5163.91564.36164.72765.265.96466.49866.82667.40167.65767.77767.80268.12769.33269.53269.16369.57870.68269.94170.23668.84367.576
Michael Schumacher5.0386.6048.2299.3310.47511.7212.93713.74413.95915.18929.13818.671
Kamui Kobayashi6.8168.62210.26311.54512.76714.01915.10618.73538.09236.03333.42921.11322.25523.34524.18724.98425.92127.08527.67928.11829.32130.74732.21834.22936.24637.03842.81143.32243.84844.71645.97647.40948.33249.18850.84151.97952.02253.01253.93754.51953.4669.48568.75965.53453.23652.31952.35152.27952.66553.23153.4153.46554.33955.61955.54456.1756.7258.01359.93361.46661.98462.46662.79863.78764.2564.641
Jenson Button6.3787.8289.710.95612.25113.43414.54615.2317.81833.07831.19419.80521.40222.42223.17824.06525.20426.27527.04727.26128.64830.11431.04932.61936.02349.38937.86939.60541.39543.6445.47246.92149.06250.44552.0554.00855.0160.34677.15878.97174.89673.21273.44270.88659.66859.07359.86160.07860.84961.47262.12363.00564.04565.27166.06166.97367.83270.33572.03173.775.05177.18879.24281.43582.92985.246
Mark Webber8.16310.55412.22413.7915.8220.58138.73139.10439.05738.13235.8823.95225.02526.99829.88232.82441.7963.1362.4461.61562.0661.77861.23360.75259.75356.75847.23949.20752.69554.23856.12557.92659.72261.87363.69365.62967.3769.64272.56976.67191.42789.78490.0486.33774.78873.99874.45174.14574.45275.5476.44377.66878.1878.93679.58279.64379.9981.34582.36983.98484.59185.20486.73588.35790.518
Paul di Resta8.62211.6913.49115.36617.05119.15720.3221.97225.1240.1137.55225.5427.23728.77330.62633.34234.60335.94537.20437.69839.44340.944.61663.35863.18560.21150.39952.1154.16656.51559.95962.11864.48966.38568.02870.18271.96373.65276.62179.77978.20180.75697.56994.32282.42581.95782.77483.17784.45285.71286.85290.39891.40692.83693.74194.29694.77395.62996.95698.224100.678101.732102.933104.12106.25
Nico Hulkenberg8.94712.01214.13815.94917.86619.74421.24622.7625.12627.35742.09429.32530.68932.29433.42134.82737.81939.11142.49258.78858.50758.70958.56258.39358.28756.28746.41448.30852.09753.44355.50557.33759.18761.263.11365.02766.46469.02274.13291.64587.99386.09185.87183.57772.30272.16872.98873.01673.8975.01375.88676.61977.48278.07378.4778.93179.4780.79282.01683.47784.09884.72586.23187.85490.299
Jean-Eric Vergne7.1679.2711.12112.66214.98816.67818.36519.92920.95223.66338.42726.28428.01529.49831.07433.68535.59236.93338.12938.48740.18641.66245.72664.26863.72561.17650.97552.74754.84757.0258.58359.49461.07563.00964.90366.80368.46771.13675.80781.18393.97591.58391.40888.61577.20276.78377.67378.2678.83479.24880.24981.89582.07782.05882.17982.48482.2582.90984.02685.33186.26387.43489.94393.73896.691
Daniel Ricciardo9.42212.32515.13817.08919.08521.04423.57825.12725.96426.17427.65933.39434.95736.39137.38838.5939.68340.70541.78841.8543.03544.27445.23446.44749.38162.50151.75253.44355.43357.49260.46662.42663.24164.40965.55267.40868.92171.72578.50994.55792.40290.76890.76787.79476.37576.03776.69576.86577.31478.11479.76781.30483.5684.19484.74985.31285.33386.18687.25294.53695.04996.07499.054100.546101.557
Felipe Massa7.59910.20811.75513.19515.45717.22818.920.55821.54923.9539.35727.27628.73130.28731.78234.23236.45937.67338.96239.340.9342.51343.90944.39144.46241.66732.55838.43753.59570.23270.33470.24770.80571.45471.92872.61272.78874.42976.9278.8176.34675.19675.51973.37964.54383.40383.54383.73685.07886.41887.74891.00192.07793.4894.60395.34495.90296.83398.04100.929101.641102.643104.115105.565107.637
Bruno Senna10.42613.50316.87419.26321.49323.42725.34527.39128.54628.3328.01418.132
Vitaly Petrov10.83814.4917.56820.45122.74524.98227.06829.29630.93434.97855.25943.30245.41147.44450.33252.15954.28655.65257.37558.4961.79265.10567.35369.61471.77971.25763.72871.16293.12295.08598.753100.305101.778103.181104.189105.666106.642110.739112.491113.446111.986112.435114.87117.561126.033125.9127.295127.184127.894128.844130.214130.923131.426131.917132.471132.937133.258134.238135.656136.895137.877139.779141.948144.338146.795
Heikki Kovalainen9.86612.79615.71317.99420.84422.87624.83126.7727.81727.90227.50716.34723.1643.16645.02646.50747.68648.91950.18150.72652.1453.53355.2256.28557.39555.98152.2774.84176.89879.37881.73284.18286.31390.34392.36796.20897.30998.983100.843101.934100.407100.569108.023124.158112.371111.942112.901114.247115.024115.566116.325116.97117.776118.461118.929120.73121.256122.355123.731124.586125.275126.422127.828129.453131.644
Charles Pic12.45319.85123.72327.66131.33735.24138.11642.74245.4847.68548.67239.0543.02946.6652.72373.97876.24378.73981.03682.66284.74986.66588.49690.16593.45292.1486.39109.092111.725114.439117.248119.892122.535125.289151.778
Timo Glock11.49815.97620.06723.37726.35229.29132.17835.63537.87940.02641.84232.7237.20743.60664.78767.08369.01971.15573.33375.38177.75180.38882.41583.94485.58886.89497.589100.531103.226105.746108.625111.994114.266116.896119.076121.528123.539126.149129.112130.763129.826130.593133.489134.042125.911129.463136.865157.031158.342159.97161.864163.31164.808169.657175.74179.889181.539183.183185.023186.204188.848190.066191.091193.292
Pedro de la Rosa12.89117.81121.94225.53829.03132.53836.35241.05144.50950.31670.02859.9164.52967.93271.29875.99379.9484.02590.97113.224115.978118.763124.037128.59130.946130.517123.41131.753137.698146.462154.136161.493166.88172.656180.95202.894204.852207.703210.455212.543213.303214.565219.532220.061212.02214.971220.357223.942228.26234.728244.928272.428275.542277.937282.029284.406286.467290.522293.581296.024298.669301.753304.8
Narain Karthikeyan13.35318.96222.95226.92930.76234.88541.24145.64849.33752.39457.30966.35969.81973.42476.68180.25883.67587.27793.4896.305107.873115.066
Lewis Hamilton11.74513.8716.09818.47519.67221.46222.30123.48423.97823.16721.019.1810.87815.08834.08335.20436.92638.16339.37439.92141.28842.90844.23545.25545.21742.28632.95836.44238.06339.76541.56643.18645.3647.60452.20670.50970.67472.16373.89974.62471.53770.60171.06469.02757.89857.75458.53158.82259.64560.3961.13461.80962.94663.89864.69465.31765.79666.59667.48868.31469.14670.36672.35973.5175.43778.14

Prior to his second pit stop on lap 22 Rosberg’s engineer warned him he had pieces of rubber stuck in his front wing which were disrupting the car’s aero balance, which they intended to remove. However it didn’t seem to help his performance at the end of the race.

Rosberg’s final stint was 26 laps – one lap longer than Maldonado’s – but around ten laps from the end his pace was already starting to suffer, and he fell prey first to Kobayashi, then Vettel.

He ended the race with Hamilton climbing over the back of the car – despite the McLaren driver’s tyres being five laps older.

2012 Spanish Grand Prix

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Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei

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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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17 comments on “2012 Spanish Grand Prix lap chart”

  1. Looking at these charts, it does seem that Kimi had the best chance to win the race but the pit stops screwed him up. He was about 4-5 seconds behind the leader before the first pit stops, then he was 7-8 seconds behind before the second pit-stops and then he was about 18-19 seconds behind the leader before the third pit stops.

    And after the third pit stop, he clawed back almost all of this 19 second deficit.

    Lotus should have tried undercutting the leaders.

    1. couldnt have said any better, the lotus pit stops were slower than the ferrari and williams pits
      lotus need to improve their pits

    2. Maybe they were even a little too conservative throughout the race and could have pushed the tyres harder. The final stint pace from both cars was absolutely stonking

  2. This visualisation show well how much pace the Lotus have at the end of the race, by far the quickest, Vettel having some nice laps on the 2-3 last … If only Lotus could find some pace while full fueledn they would defintly be a team to beat for the constructor champ, still expect them to continue to challenge and why not climb the order.

    Had Kimi pit one lap earlier, I think we would have had another story, but so easy to say afterward and it is so tied that very difficult to know how much they would gain or not, 3 laps earlier and he couldn’t push that hard and would have brought the same result, can’t blame Lotus to try …

    Very impressive lap times by Lewis during his 30 laps stint

  3. Its really interesting to look at the lapchart for Hamilton, Webber and Vettel and compare how their race went.

  4. Mark Webber spent the opening laps of the race stuck behind Felipe Massa, being badly held up. It seems the team’s decision to pit him early was, as in China, not a consequence of his lap times slowing but a strategic decision to get him into ‘clean air’.

    I don’t particularly like this strategy, especially in a race where freshness of tyres are a significant factors (ok, that’s most races). Webber, starting on brand new tyres, should have emulated Hamilton’s strategy in the first stint: just stay put behind Massa and save the tyres, then put in some good laps when the traffic in front peels into the pit lane. Hamilton, on used softs, was still setting green sector times by lap 12, when others had been into the pits two laps earlier.

    Back to Webber, he could have done the same thing, and then renew his attacks in subsequent stints on much better tyres. This brings me to another point, though. As much as I support Webber, he does have a tendency to get stuck in traffic. I’m not sure why, he’s a good wheel-to-wheel racer, but he just seems to lack the confidence to get a move done outside the DRS zones; within the zones, his Red Bull often lacks the straight-line speed.

    It’s not just Webber that’s a bit tentative with overtaking, though. If you look at the GP3 and GP2 races, you see drivers being much more adventurous with where they overtake. I’m not advocating that F1 driver madly lunge up the inside all the time, but sometimes you just ‘gotta make a move’ (he said from his armchair). Only Vettel and Kobayashi are the names that spring to mind that can really muscle their way past other cars, at the moment. Hamilton’s name used to be in that list too, but he is being understandably cautious this year. Schumacher is also a driver that tries moves, however he usually just runs into the back of people…

    1. It’s all very well saying that but staying behind someone loses you a lot of time and destroys your tyres, I think they made the right move. Obviously though the easiest way to solve the problem would just be to overtake.

      1. @vettel1, it’s been mentioned quite a lot in the recent Pirelli debate that driving in dirty air ruins your tyres, but is there really that much evidence to support that claim? If you’re trying very hard to stay within half a second in order to pass, then yes, that might ask a lot of your tyres. Just staying behind and maintaining a 1-1.5 second gap to a car that is slower won’t damage the tyres too much, I would expect. Like I said, Hamilton managed to make his used softs last until lap 14, even though he was continually in dirty air.

        In Webber’s case, staying behind Massa was not ideal, but neither is getting rid of a perfectly good set of softs. With the knowledge that Massa stopped on lap 10, which obviously they couldn’t be certain of, I think Webber would certainly have been better off waiting out the first stint.

        1. @adrianmorse – yes, of course it doesn’t make much difference if you’re not pressing for an overtake, but in dirty air the cars loose downforce and therefore loose grip and start to slide, which with these Pirelli’s absolutely destroys them. There is no problem though if the gap is maintained. Was it just a strategic call or were his tyres genuinely going off that quickly?

          1. @vettel1, if I remember the post-race comments correctly, it was just a strategic call, his tyres were still ok.

    2. @adrianmorse – was he actually making a genuine challenge on Massa though? I think he got close a couple of times but he couldn’t make the pass. Never thought I’d be saying this but Vettel looks like one of the best overtakers this year!

  5. Would be nice to see a live “Race Chart” during the race, it tells you soooo much about what’s actually going on.
    This time I barely watched the race on TV, but followed the action on the live timing site and typed the gap times into Excel. In the low 50s laps it was already obvious that Vettel would pass Hamilton and Button.

    1. Or you could just use a driver tracker, then you could clearly see that Seb was catching the two Maccas.

  6. I wonder if the problem Red Bull had with their wings slowed them up a lot in clean air..

    1. I still don’t understand the problem they had with the front wings. It was never clarified post-race.

      1. @alehud42 – neither do I, all I heard was what Kravitz pointed out which was that one of the smaller parts on the wing was flapping around; it must have been affecting the airflow quite significantly otherwise they wouldn’t have bothered changing them, that’s why I was wondering if it had slowed down their clean air performance.

  7. Crikey, HRT were bad here. I know they’re not exactly record setters but this was a pretty bad weekend for them.

    Perez’s single solitary line makes for sad viewing :(

Comments are closed.