2012 Singapore Grand Prix

The 2012 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix was the 14th race of the 2012 Formula One Season. The calendar's only full night-race, it was held on the streets of Singapore's Marina Bay on September 23. It was the 5th running of the Singapore Grand Prix on the Marina Bay circuit.
Due to two lengthy Safety Car periods, the race was cut 2 laps short of its scheduled 61 laps as the two-hour race time-limit was enforced after 59 laps. As the race distance exceeded 75% of the scheduled race distance, full points were awarded.
The race was won by driver and reigning World Champion, Sebastian Vettel, who took over the lead on lap 23 from Lewis Hamilton, after Hamilton's car developed a gearbox failure. Second place was taken by Jenson Button of and third was championship leader Fernando Alonso of .
The results left Alonso leading the Drivers' World Championship standings by a 29 points over Vettel. Kimi Räikkönen remains third. In the constructors' championship, extended their lead over to 37 points.
==Background==
Tyres Available	Tyres Available	Tyres Available	Tyres Available
Option 	Prime 	Inter 	Wet
 	 	 	
After a two-week break, Fernando Alonso went into the event leading the Drivers' World Championship by a slightly extended margin of 37 points from driver and Italian Grand Prix winner, Lewis Hamilton. Despite a double retirement in Italy, would continue to lead the Constructors' championship by 29 points from .
The alterations made to the Marina Bay circuit last year remained for the 2012 event, including the removal of kerbs from the inside of turn 13, which were replaced by a flat painted boundary. The DRS zone, as last year, was down the long straight from turn 4 to turn 6. This caused problems due to a fast kink in the middle of the straight which caused major slides for numerous drivers.
Allan McNish would serve as the drivers representative on the race steward's panel for the Singapore Grand Prix in 2012. McNish competed in a single season in Formula One for the team during the 2002 Formula One Season.
==Entry list==
The full entry list for the is shown below:
No. 	Driver 	Entrant 	Constructor 	Chassis 	Engine 	Model 	Tyre
1 	Sebastian Vettel 	Red Bull Racing 	 	RB8 	 	RS27-2012 	
2 	Mark Webber 	Red Bull Racing 	 	RB8 	 	RS27-2012 	
3 	Jenson Button 	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 	 	MP4-27 	 	FO 108Z 	
4 	Lewis Hamilton 	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 	 	MP4-27 	 	FO 108Z 	
5 	Fernando Alonso 	Scuderia Ferrari 	 	F2012 	 	056 	
6 	Felipe Massa 	Scuderia Ferrari 	 	F2012 	 	056 	
7 	Michael Schumacher 	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	 	W03 	 	FO 108Z 	
8 	Nico Rosberg 	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	 	W03 	 	FO 108Z 	
9 	Kimi Räikkönen 	Lotus F1 Team 	 	E20 	 	RS27-2012 	
10 	Romain Grosjean 	Lotus F1 Team 	 	E20 	 	RS27-2012 	
11 	Paul di Resta 	Sahara Force India F1 Team 	 	VJM05 	 	FO 108Z 	
12 	Nico Hülkenberg 	Sahara Force India F1 Team 	 	VJM05 	 	FO 108Z 	
14 	Kamui Kobayashi 	Sauber F1 Team 	 	C31 	 	056 	
15 	Sergio Pérez 	Sauber F1 Team 	 	C31 	 	056 	
16 	Daniel Ricciardo 	Scuderia Toro Rosso 	 	STR7 	 	056 	
17 	Jean-Éric Vergne 	Scuderia Toro Rosso 	 	STR7 	 	056 	
18 	Pastor Maldonado 	Williams F1 	 	FW34 	 	RS27-2012 	
19 	Bruno Senna 	Williams F1 	 	FW34 	 	RS27-2012 	
20 	Heikki Kovalainen 	Caterham F1 Team 	 	CT01 	 	RS27-2012 	
21 	Vitaly Petrov 	Caterham F1 Team 	 	CT01 	 	RS27-2012 	
22 	Pedro de la Rosa 	HRT F1 Team 	 	F112 	 	CA2012 	
23 	Narain Karthikeyan 	HRT F1 Team 	 	F112 	 	CA2012 	
24 	Timo Glock 	Marussia F1 Team 	 	MR01 	 	CA2012 	
25 	Charles Pic 	Marussia F1 Team 	 	MR01 	 	CA2012 	
Free Practice 1 only	Free Practice 1 only	Free Practice 1 only 	Free Practice 1 only	Free Practice 1 only	Free Practice 1 only	Free Practice 1 only	Free Practice 1 only
23 	Ma Qinghua 	HRT F1 Team 	 	F112 	 	CA2012 	
==Practice Overview==
===FP1===
The first practice session got off to a slow start, the first 10 minutes of the session saw little action on track after a major storm had blown over the Singapore Circuit in the afternoon. The session started with much debris from the storm stricken across the track, this mainly consisted of a large degree of leaves from the nearby trees around the circuit.
The session saw both and perform significantly stronger than their rivals, settting the stage for a strong rivalry throughout the weekend. McLaren held advantage over Red Bull in the first sector whilst Red Bull appeared stronger in the second sector. The final sector saw a stalemate between the two teams.
By the end of the session it was the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel that had topped the timesheets followed by the two McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button just behind him in the timesheets. Vettel's teammate Mark Webber could not match his younger teammate and finished the standings in 6th. Championship leader Fernando Alonso finished best of the rest in his behind the McLarens and Vettel. Pastor Maldonado demonstrated strong pace for to finish the session 5th.
Further down the field, and struggled throughout the session and did not display any signs of pace at the Marina Bay circuit. Kimi Raikkonen finished the session 12th in his Lotus whilst teammate Romain Grosjean, who had made his return to F1 in Singapore after his suspension from the Italian Grand Prix finished the session 15th. Mercedes faired little better with Michael Schumacher finishing 14th with Nico Rosberg finishing a distant 18th.
The Singapore Grand Prix saw the appearance of only one Third Driver in the first practice session with Chinese driver Ma Qing Hua making his second appearance in an F1 practice session where he stood in for Narain Karthikeyan at . Ma Qing Hua put in a strong performance to finish the session only a few tenths behind teammate Pedro de la Rosa in last place.
===FP2===
The second practice session continued to see the 's and 's battling for supremacy. Sebastian Vettel once again topped the timing sheets in his Red Bull whilst the McLaren of Jenson Button finished the timing sheets just behind. Their teammates Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton finished just behind in 4th and 5th place. Fernando Alonso managed to break the Red Bull and McLaren lockout by finishing 3rd in the session in his . 
Alonso's teammate Felipe Massa had struggled in the first practice session where he finished 16th yet was able to improve his game to finish 9th in the second session. had struggled in the first practice session however were able to make improvements by Practice 2 which saw Nico Rosberg finish 8th and Michael Schumacher finish 11th. , the other big name to struggle in FP1 was able to make improvements to a lesser degree for FP2 which saw Romain Grosjean finish the session 10th and Kimi Raikkonen finish 12th. 
The Practice session was brought to an ubrupt halt midway through the session when the of Bruno Senna hit the wall causing him to spin out which left his car severely damaged. Senna finished the session 17th. Four places behind teammate Pastor Maldonado.
===FP3===
Sebastian Vettel completed his domination of the practice sessions after topping the timesheets in the third and final practice session for . His main rivals being and were only just behind with Lewis Hamilton in 2nd and Fernando Alonso in 3rd. The second Red Bull of Mark Webber did not fair as well as his teammate in which he grazed the wall at the exit of turn 13. This left Webber to finish a disappointing 11th in the final standings.
Other drivers who notably fell victim of the turn 13 barrier was the of Sergio Perez who like Webber sustained minor damage to his car. In a more serious incident, the of Vitaly Petrov slammed into the barrier sustaining terminal damage to the rear end of his car. The car was forced to stop out on track and brought out the red flags for the session, ending the final practice session earlier than intended. 
Kimi Raikkonen was able to improve his to finish a strong 5th in the standings just behind the of Nico Hulkenberg and ahead of the second Ferrari of Felipe Massa. Jenson Button notably had mechanical problems which saw him finish a disappointing 12th in the standings. Another driver to suffer from mechancial problems was Timo Glock who stopped his out on track with throttle failure.
===Practice Results===
No.	Driver 	Team		FP1	FP1 		FP2	FP2 		FP3	FP3
No.	Driver 	Team		Pos	Time 		Pos	Time 		Pos	Time
1 	Sebastian Vettel 	 		1 	1:50.566		1 	1:48.340		1 	1:47.947
2 	Mark Webber 	 		6 	1:51.655		4 	1:48.964		11 	1:50.117
3 	Jenson Button 	 		3 	1:51.451		2 	1:48.651		12 	1:50.524
4 	Lewis Hamilton 	 		2 	1:50.615		5 	1:49.086		2 	1:48.272
5 	Fernando Alonso 	 		4 	1:51.525		3 	1:48.896		3 	1:48.623
6 	Felipe Massa 	 		16 	1:53.080		9 	1:50.039		6 	1:49.458
7 	Michael Schumacher	 		14 	1:52.986		11 	1:50.263		10 	1:49.981
8 	Nico Rosberg 	 		18 	1:53.277		8 	1:49.790		8 	1:49.699
9 	Kimi Räikkönen 	 		12 	1:52.716		12 	1:50.345		5 	1:48.865
10 	Romain Grosjean 	 		15 	1:53.028		10 	1:50.161		15 	1:50.840
11 	Paul di Resta 	 		8 	1:51.943		6 	1:49.300		7 	1:49.689
12 	Nico Hülkenberg 	 		7 	1:51.658		7 	1:49.339		4 	1:48.859
14 	Kamui Kobayashi 	 		13 	1:52.839		16 	1:51.450		14 	1:50.777
15 	Sergio Pérez 	 		10 	1:52.296		15 	1:51.122		18 	1:51.272
16 	Daniel Ricciardo 	 		9 	1:52.275		14 	1:50.791		13 	1:50.664
17 	Jean-Éric Vergne 	 		17 	1:53.189		18 	1:52.009		17 	1:51.059
18 	Pastor Maldonado 	 		5 	1:51.576		13 	1:50.636		16 	1:51.012
19 	Bruno Senna 	 		11 	1:52.629		17 	1:51.452		9 	1:49.715
20 	Heikki Kovalainen 	 		20 	1:55.091		20 	1:52.576		21 	1:54.326
21 	Vitaly Petrov 	 		22 	1:55.760		22 	1:52.936		20 	1:53.781
22 	Pedro de la Rosa 	 		23 	1:56.656		23 	1:54.448		24 	1:54.875
23 	Narain Karthikeyan	 		DNP	DNP 		24 	1:54.514		22 	1:54.421
23 	Ma Qinghua 	 		24 	1:58.053		DNP	DNP 		DNP	DNP
24 	Timo Glock 	 		19 	1:54.908		19 	1:52.218		23 	1:54.630
25 	Charles Pic 	 		21 	1:55.335		21 	1:52.863		19 	1:52.290
==Qualifying==
===Q1===
As the first qualifying session got underway, the underwhelming pace of the 's was evident. Both Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi struggled in the session and were fighting with the 's to continue on into Q2. Perez managed to put in a strong lap time towards the end of the session to finish the session 8th on the grid, however teammate Kobayashi did not make the cut and qualified a disappointing 18th. The usual band of 's, 's and 's followed at the rear end of the pack.
Up at the front, the 's looked strong with Romain Grosjean finished the session in first place with teammate Kimi Raikkonen finishing in third. Paul di Resta split the two Lotus's by finishing in second place in his . Sebastian Vettel finished the session fourth in his with Lewis Hamilton in fifth and the second Red Bull of Mark Webber finishing 6th. Webber got in some slight trouble where he supposedly blocked one of the flying laps made by Marussia's Timo Glock, the stewards however opted to take no further action on the incident.
Current World Championship leader Fernando Alonso finished the session in a worrying 10th place.
===Q2===
===Q3===
===Qualifying Results===
Pos.	No.	Driver 	Team		Q1 	Q1 		Q2 	Q2 		Q3 	Q3 	Grid
Pos.	No.	Driver 	Team		Pos	Time 		Pos	Time 		Pos	Time 	Grid
1 	4 	Lewis Hamilton 	 		5 	1:48.285		1 	1:46.665		1 	1:46.362	1
2 	18 	Pastor Maldonado 	 		12 	1:49.494		5 	1:47.602		2 	1:46.804	2
3 	1 	Sebastian Vettel 	 		4 	1:48.240		8 	1:46.791		3 	1:46.905	3
4 	3 	Jenson Button 	 		9 	1:49.381		6 	1:47.661		4 	1:46.939	4
5 	5 	Fernando Alonso 	 		10 	1:49.391		4 	1:47.567		5 	1:47.216	5
6 	11 	Paul di Resta 	 		2 	1:48.028		7 	1:47.667		6 	1:47.241	6
7 	2 	Mark Webber 	 		6 	1:48.717		2 	1:47.513		7 	1:47.475	7
8 	10 	Romain Grosjean 	 		1 	1:47.688		3 	1:47.529		8 	1:47.788	8
9 	7 	Michael Schumacher	 		13 	1:49.546		9 	1:47.823		9 	no time 	9
10 	8 	Nico Rosberg 	 		11 	1:49.463		10 	1:47.943		10 	no time 	10
11 	12 	Nico Hulkenberg 	 		14 	1:49.547		11 	1:47.975		 	 	11
12 	9 	Kimi Raikkonen 	 		3 	1:48.169		12 	1:48.261		 	 	12
13 	6 	Felipe Massa 	 		16 	1:49.767		13 	1:48.344		 	 	13
14 	15 	Sergio Perez 	 		8 	1:49.055		14 	1:48.505		 	 	14
15 	16 	Daniel Ricciardo 	 		7 	1:49.023		15 	1:48.774		 	 	15
16 	17 	Jean-Eric Vergne 	 		15 	1:49.564		16 	1:48.849		 	 	16
17 	19 	Bruno Senna 	 		17 	1:49.809		17 	no time 		 	 	22*
18 	14 	Kamui Kobayashi 	 		18 	1:49.933		 	 		 	 	17
19 	21 	Vitaly Petrov 	 		19 	1:50.846		 	 		 	 	18
20 	20 	Heikki Kovalainen 	 		20 	1:51.137		 	 		 	 	19
21 	24 	Timo Glock 	 		21 	1:51.370		 	 		 	 	20
22 	25 	Charles Pic 	 		22 	1:51.762		 	 		 	 	21
23 	23 	Narain Karthikeyan	 		23 	1:52.372		 	 		 	 	23
24 	22 	Pedro de la Rosa 	 		24 	1:53.355		 	 		 	 	24*
 	 	 	 		 	 		 	 		 	 	
 	 	 	 		 	 		 	 		 	 	
 	 	 	 		 	 		 	 		 	 	
 	 	 	 		 	 		 	 		 	 	
 	 	 	 		 	 		 	 		 	 	
 	 	 	 		 	 		 	 		 	 	
 	 	 	 		 	 		 	 		 	 	
 	 	 	 		 	 		 	 		 	 	
 	 	 	 		 	 		 	 		 	 	
 	 	 	 		 	 		 	 		 	 	
 	 	 	 		 	 		 	 		 	 	
 	 	 	 		 	 		 	 		 	 	
 	 	 	 		 	 		 	 		 	 	
 	 	 	 		 	 		 	 		 	 	
 	 	 	 		 	 		 	 		 	 	
 	 	 	 		 	 		 	 		 	 	
 	 	 	 		 	 		 	 		 	 	
 	 	 	 		 	 		 	 		 	 	
 	 	 	 		 	 		 	 		 	 	
 	 	 	 		 	 		 	 		 	 	
 	 	 	 		 	 		 	 		 	 	
 	 	 	 		 	 		 	 		 	 	
===Grid===
*5-place grid penalty for gearbox change. 
==Race==
===Report===
Before the race started, there was a minute silence was held for Sid Watkins, who passed away on September 12. A book of remembrance was also available for people to sign their condolences over the weekend.
Ole Schack Red Bull team joined on the podium to receive the winning manufacturer’s award.
===Post-Race===
===Results===
Pos.	No.	Driver 	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1 	1 	Sebastian Vettel 	 	59 	2:00:36.144 	3 	25
2 	3 	Jenson Button 	 	59 	+8.959 	4 	18
3 	5 	Fernando Alonso 	 	59 	+15.277 	5 	15
4 	11 	Paul di Resta 	 	59 	+19.063 	6 	12
5 	8 	Nico Rosberg 	 	59 	+34.784 	10 	10
6 	9 	Kimi Raikkonen 	-Renault 	59 	+35.759 	12 	8
7 	10 	Romain Grosjean 	-Renault 	59 	+36.698 	8 	6
8 	6 	Felipe Massa 	 	59 	+42.829 	13 	4
9 	16 	Daniel Ricciardo 	 	59 	+45.820 	15 	2
10 	15 	Sergio Perez 	 	59 	+50.619 	14 	1
11 	2 	Mark Webber 	 	59 	+1:07.175* 	7 	
12 	24 	Timo Glock 	 	59 	+1:31.918 	20 	
13 	14 	Kamui Kobayashi 	 	59 	+1:37.141 	17 	
14 	12 	Nico Hulkenberg 	 	59 	+1:49.413 	11 	
15 	20 	Heikki Kovalainen 	 	59 	+1:47.467 	19 	
16 	25 	Charles Pic 	 	59 	+2:12.925 	21 	
17 	22 	Pedro de la Rosa 	 	58 	+1 Lap 	24 	
18 	19 	Bruno Senna 	 	57 	Engine 	22 	
19 	21 	Vitaly Petrov 	 	57 	+ 2 Laps 	18 	
Ret 	17 	Jean-Eric Vergne 	 	39 	Collision 	16 	
Ret 	7 	Michael Schumacher	 	39 	Collision 	9 	
Ret 	18 	Pastor Maldonado 	 	36 	Hydraulics 	2 	
Ret 	23 	Narain Karthikeyan	 	30 	Accident 	23 	
Ret 	4 	Lewis Hamilton 	 	22 	Gearbox 	1 	
==Standings after the race==
Drivers' World Championship	Drivers' World Championship	Drivers' World Championship
Pos. 	Driver 	Pts
1 	Fernando Alonso 	194
2 	Sebastian Vettel 	165
3 	Kimi Räikkönen 	149
4 	Lewis Hamilton 	142
5 	Mark Webber 	133
6 	Jenson Button 	119
7 	Nico Rosberg 	93
8 	Romain Grosjean 	82
9 	Sergio Pérez 	66
10 	Felipe Massa 	51
11 	Paul di Resta 	44
12 	Michael Schumacher 	43
13 	Kamui Kobayashi 	35
14 	Nico Hülkenberg 	31
15 	Pastor Maldonado 	29
16 	Bruno Senna 	25
17 	Jean-Éric Vergne 	8
18 	Daniel Ricciardo 	6
19 	Heikki Kovalainen 	0
20 	Vitaly Petrov 	0
21 	Timo Glock 	0
22 	Charles Pic 	0
23 	Narain Karthikeyan 	0
24 	Pedro de la Rosa 	0
25 	Jérôme d'Ambrosio 	0
Constructors' World Championship	Constructors' World Championship	Constructors' World Championship
Pos. 	Team 	Pts
1 	 	298
2 	 	261
3 	 	245
4 	 	231
5 	 	136
6 	 	99
7 	 	75
8 	 	54
9 	 	13
10 	 	0
11 	 	0
12 	 	0
==Notes==
Category:Singapore Grand Prix
Category:2012 Grands Prix
Category:Grand Prix articles
Category:Formula One races in Singapore