2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix grid

2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

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Row 11. Lewis Hamilton 1’40.63
McLaren
2. Mark Webber 1’40.978
Red Bull
Row 23. Pastor Maldonado 1’41.226
Williams
4. Kimi Raikkonen 1’41.26
Lotus
Row 35. Jenson Button 1’41.29
McLaren
6. Fernando Alonso 1’41.582
Ferrari
Row 47. Nico Rosberg 1’41.603
Mercedes
8. Felipe Massa 1’41.723
Ferrari
Row 59. Romain Grosjean 1’41.778
Lotus
10. Nico Hulkenberg 1’42.019
Force India
Row 611. Sergio Perez 1’42.084
Sauber
12. Paul di Resta 1’42.218
Force India
Row 713. Michael Schumacher 1’42.289
Mercedes
14. Bruno Senna 1’42.33
Williams
Row 815. Kamui Kobayashi 1’42.606
Sauber
16. Daniel Ricciardo 1’42.765
Toro Rosso
Row 917. Jean-Eric Vergne 1’44.058
Toro Rosso
18. Heikki Kovalainen 1’44.956
Caterham
Row 1019. Charles Pic 1’45.089
Marussia
20. Vitaly Petrov 1’45.151
Caterham
Row 1121. Timo Glock 1’45.426
Marussia
22. Pedro de la Rosa 1’45.766
HRT
Row 1223. Narain Karthikeyan 1’46.382
HRT
24. Sebastian Vettel* 1’41.073
Red Bull

*Sent to the back of the grid for having insufficient fuel in his car after stopping on the track.

2012 Abu Dhabi 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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85 comments on “2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix grid”

  1. Awesome qualifying lap by Hamilton – what will happen to Vettel for parking on the track?!

    1. After qualifying Christian Horner said Renault advised them to stop the car. I think immediate suspicion will fall on the alternator.

      He doesn’t automatically get a penalty for stopping on the track after qualifying. Though, as we all remember from Spain, if it turns out he didn’t have enough fuel he’s in big trouble and row twelve awaits him.

      A more realistic worry will be that his car has a technical problem which requires a parts change which could lead to a penalty, for example if there’s a gearbox fault (though one would suspect if that is the case the warning would not have come from Renault).

      1. It didn’t look like the car was out of fuel. More like some sort of technical problem, so I guess he won’t start from the back.

        Alonso’s quite a witch, isn’t he? He wanted it, he got it. Sad for him it wasn’t on sunday :P.

      2. Apparently Magneti Marelli has changed the alternator design after the second failure, so it’d surprise me if the new configuration fails again. If RedBull actually run the new alternator or something else (as was suggested after Monza that they returned to an older design) I don’t know though. Lets wait and see whats wrong.

        1. @bananarama I heard new alternator wouldn’t come at least until USA so I don’t think it’s new one.

          1. I understood it differently @eggry and @bananarama. Apparently the 2010 version is perfectly fine, so all Renault teams now run those. But there’ only so many of them and earlier Renault stated that by the USA race there would definitely be issues with these having had a really big milage on them, so Red Bull would sooner or later have to start using the redesigned new ones, something they were reluctant to do.

          2. @bascb I heard that either. I don’t know why they can’t produce same components now. Surely, They don’t know what caused the problem so it might be production line related which makes them worrying though.

      3. Also worth noting there is a list of engine parts a team can change without incurring a grid penalty. See article 5.20 of the Technical Regulations for the list.

        1. So, if the problem is the alternator they can change it without penalties.

          1. Looks like it, it’s on List B. Article 34.1 of the Sporting Regulations indicates they would need the permission of the technical delegate to do it.

          2. makes parc ferme bit of a joke really doesnt it

          3. the idea is to stop over night work and save money etc. yet you can change an engine.

          4. With a penalty. What do you want? that car and driver not to race tomorrow?

            If there’s something bad with the car, they need to fix it. Otherwise it’s game over even before the race, which goes beyond the ridiculous.

  2. Vettel stopped on track, could this be a repeat of Hamilton at Catalunya?

    Hamilton absolutely dominated that one. Mighty happy.

    1. My thoughts exactly. If it was the same fuel issue, the stewards better be consistent!

      1. Stewards consistent? HAHAHAHA! That’ll be the day.

      2. Depends which rule book they’re using, the alls fair in F1 or the prancing horse exempt version, usually the latter.

  3. Well, the qualifying itself was quite exciting but result is disappointing. surely Ferrari is hit by temperature problem more seriously than others. I hope Ferrari’s race pace and Alonso’s first lap performance would make Vettel-Aloso situation sooner than later.

    1. he has Kimi and Mal to tackle which should be interesting. .
      i wonder where the updates are ? is it true that Mas had no updates on his car? If so, looking at the difference in lap times, it doesn’t look any better. .

      1. They brought new front wing, new rear wing so it can be said quite big but improvement seems not.

        1. yes i know but were they applied to Massa’s car?

          1. @mixwell I don’t think all of them at least. as far as I concern, new front wing is only for Alonso(due to lack of production) and it seems Massa’s rear wing also India spec which was only used by Alonso.

    2. The way the sector times looked throughout q2 and q3 I guess there was about 1-1,5 tenth more in the car, so that position was the best possible today. Hopefully Ferraris awesome quail improving updates haven’t hurt their race pace so we can see him trying to get to Vettel. Looking at Hamiltons and the McLarens medium tyre performance I suppose he will take this win.

    3. I think the result is quite nice too. Its Hamilton and Webber up front, so defenitely not a Seb building a gap and winning it race.
      And who knows whats with Vettels car, he might still be fine, or start behind Alonso, or even in the back.

  4. At the start of the year I said that Lewis would beat Jenson 70/30 in the season and was told that my prediction was more exciting than the race itself :). I just want to say to that random person whose name I don’t remember, “take a look at that!”

    Can’t believe so many were fooled by an anomaly last year. I watch F1 to see drivers like Lewis, Fernando and Vettel. Accumulators are boring!

  5. What’s happened to Vettel’s car? I hope it isn’t a lack of fuel. It could be another alternator failure…

    1. Back of the grid. :D

      1. That will be good, will make the WDC more interesting!

    2. he will start 24.

      1. @fanser – so all of a sudden you know exactly what happened? Please, enlighten us since you are obviously well informed!

    3. @kingshark – I doubt it, it looks like a gearbox problem judging from the on-board (as Ant said on Sky). I doubt Renault would tell Red Bull to stop the car over fuel.

      1. a gearbox problem means -5…so vettel start 8th

      2. @vettel1 – I heard vettels car got refueled with webers fuel xD

      3. @vettel1 I don’t think it’s gearbox since it was Renault man said to stop. Gearbox is made by Red Bull and monitored by them. It should be engine related. I don’t know it’s serious or not.

        1. @eggry – I thought that, maybe they advise Red Bull on the whole drivetrain but in all honesty I’m as clueless as Horner looked!

    4. instructed to stop asap by Renault, acc to twitter

      1. . … which could be an overheating issue or something more. let’s see. .i hope not.

        1. or a fuel pickup issue (i.e. not having enough fuel to pick up, meaning it ran out of fuel)

      2. @mixwell – has anything else appeared on twitter?

        1. no not yet. .just speculations about what the penalty would be if x or y fails.

          1. If there was a failure of a component I think I’m right in saying he wouldn’t incur a penalty merely for not being able to return to the pits at least, but he could incur a penalty for something else.

            If there is a genuine failure in the engine then I believe they a allowed to change it without incurring a penalty (although then the engine isn’t allowed to be used again in a race).

      3. engine issues, as mentioned by Keith on twitter. .hopefully he can escape a penalty..

    5. Most likely not. It looks like he doesn’t lose power from the onboard shots, the diodes in the steering wheel are still going which indicates that he still had electricity.

      1. @gustav – The battery can hold enough electricity for 30 seconds of running so alternator failure is still a possibility. Gearbox possibly, an engine problem possibly or a KERS problem.

        1. why did renault tell vettel to switch engine off and pocket the ecu?

          1. @me262 – that’s what is being speculated! I think it is probably an alternator issue, but that is just a guess.

  6. Congrats to Hamilton1 Fanstastic Result.
    But a few questions about Vettel. Do anyone know what the rules say. Do you have to make it back to the pits under your own steam in general or is it only for fuel, when you get set to the back of the grid.
    And if there is another failure like the alternator are the allowed to repair it in parc ferme or do they than have to start from the pits?

    1. @unitedkingdomracing – I think the rule breach that Hamilton/McLaren contravened was the fuel sample limit. They couldn’t make the minimum limit of 1kg and return to the pits so they incurred the penalty.

      1. They could give that 1 Kg @vettel1, but the FIA judged that had they driven to the pits, then they would NOT have had enough anymore, which is not allowed (that was specified after Hamilton’s 2010 Canada pole)

        1. @babsc – exactly, so that was a rule contravention completely separate from this incident (provided of course Vettel was also short on fuel).

          1. Yes,thats true. There’s no rule that if your car breaks down you cannot start the race where you qualified @vettel1.

      2. davidnotcoulthard
        3rd November 2012, 16:33

        @vettel1
        Isn’t it 1dm3 of fuel? Or it it really 1 kg?

        1. davidnotcoulthard
          3rd November 2012, 16:34

          @vettel1
          Isn’t it 1dm3 litre of fuel? Or it it really 1 kg?

          1. @Davidnotcoulthard – it is measured by the mass of fuel as the volume changes with temperature

    2. You have to make it back under your own steam because of the fuel, but if you have a genuine issue, then it’s not like you have to keep driving a death trap.
      I think changing engines/gearboxes just results in a 5-/10-grid penalty, but maybe someone else can verify that.

      1. @mnmracer – Gearbox changes are a 5 place penalty whatever the circumstances, engine changes are a 10 place penalty if a new engine is needed, but an old engine can be used (8 engines are allocated for the season and can be used for whatever races the team likes).

        If Red Bull can prove there was an engine issue they can change it in parc ferme without incurring a penalty, but then that engine can only be used for practice.

    3. “Except in cases of force majeure (accepted as such by the stewards of the meeting), if a sample of fuel is required after a practice session the car concerned must have first been driven back to the pits under its own power.”

      Going to be down to the stewards to decide whatever reason Red Bull give is valid. Probably why they are blaming Renault right off the bat, as that’s obviously out of their control

      1. exactly. a point all of the journalist on twitter(who again seem very trusting…) are all missing.

        but to lie to the stewards can be a mistake also…

  7. The only way that could have gone any worse for Alonso is if Vettel was on pole. Unless of course there are some sort of ramifications of Vettel stopping out on the track.. Even so to be out-qualified by both Mclarens, both Red Bulls and then throw in Maldonado and Raikkonen and it has been a fairly terrible day for Alonso. Great job by Hamilton, he’s been in a class of one all weekend, how people can argue Button is a better racing driver is beyond me. Also I really am starting to warm to Maldonado as well for some strange reason, the guy can be an absolute lunatic at times but what is undeniable is that he is really fast!

    1. how people can argue Button is a better racing driver is beyond me. Also I really am starting to warm to Maldonado as well for some strange reason, the guy can be an absolute lunatic at times but what is undeniable is that he is really fast!

      There’s more to a driver than speed over one-lap, hence people claiming that Button OVERALL is a better driver as well as claiming the complete contrast with Hamilton still being the better driver so in that sense it operates both ways.

      Certainly Maldonado has the enviable speed but the race craft is one that’s been questionable – & still is.

  8. Bob (@bobthevulcan)
    3rd November 2012, 14:18

    Should Hamilton get a clean exit at the start, he’ll probably able to hold on for the race win. Alonso could very well recover from his poor starting position with one of his lightning starts, and I can see him making up ground as he did in India. Vettel and Webber have a good chance of filling up the podium, while Button looked rather lost, but his long-run race pace seems strong enough.

    Not entirely sure whether this bodes well for the championship.

    1. @bobthevulcan it all depends on what the stewards do about Vettel.

  9. I wonder if Vettel’s problem was something gearbox related due to the brush with the wall at turn 19?

    1. It might be related to that… It seems like most of the speculation doesn’t consider this fact…

      But then again, how would that brush against the wall effect something Renault-related?

      1. davidnotcoulthard
        3rd November 2012, 16:37

        No, how could he still manage a decent lap with a damaged gearbox?

    2. @bwal87 – that’s actually an interesting possibility, good connection!

  10. could be interesting if Vettel does get a penalty as unlike Alonso he wont have the top speed to overtake

  11. Maldonado is going to cause some trouble tomorrow. His top speed is so much higher than all those around him, it would seem unlikely that anyone will be able to pass him using DRS. Might end up with a chain of cars behind him for half the race.

    1. @wench
      Williams had a pretty good race pace yesterday, I think Maldonado can keep up with the leaders.

  12. Vettel has engine issues acc to. .well F1Fanatic :D

    https://twitter.com/f1fanatic_co_uk

    1. oh snap. .missed the IF. sorry guys. .please ignore !

      1. @mixwell I did same thing at Twitter lol

  13. Nice work Charles Pic! Beat his team mate by 4 tenths and almost had both Caterham’s too.

  14. So, Webber will be third by the time Turn 1 comes around, at which point a flying Maldornardo will try to move down the inside, taking out both RB’s…..

  15. petebaldwin (@)
    3rd November 2012, 17:02

    I hear Horner has now said Vettel stopping was “fuel-related.”

    Any more news?

    1. This gets better and better.

      According to Formula1.com, Vettel said it was definitely not fuel-related as the team ordered him to get back to the pits as soon as possible at the end of his last flying lap. He doubted they would issue such an order if fuel would have been low.

      1. According to Formula1.com, Vettel said it was definitely not fuel-related

        Can you post a link to that story?

          1. Thanks.

            I was told over the team radio to come back to the pits as fast as I could, which doesn’t suggest the issue was low fuel.

            That’s Vettel suggesting it wasn’t fuel-related, not saying it definitely wasn’t.

        1. @keithcollantine Sorry, it was only a suggestion.

          Latest rumours are that it is fuel-related indeed. See one of the latest comments on the qualifying report.

  16. It’s good to see Pic do so well, I hope he manages to hold on to his seat.

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