Japanese Grand Prix 2012

Suzuka
7 October 2012
53 laps
307.5 km
5.807 km a lap

Pole positionSebastian VettelRed Bull · 1:30.839
Fastest lapSebastian Vettel1:35.774 · lap 52
Winner started fromP1on the grid

Result

Pos	Driver	No.	Team · engine	Grid	Laps	Time / reason	Points
1	Sebastian Vettelfastest lap	1	Red Bull · Renault	1	53	1:28:56.242	25
2	Felipe Massa	6	Ferrari	10	53	+20.639	18
3	Kamui Kobayashi	14	Sauber · Ferrari	3	53	+24.538	15
4	Jenson Button	3	McLaren · Mercedes	8	53	+25.098	12
5	Lewis Hamilton	4	McLaren · Mercedes	9	53	+46.490	10
6	Kimi Räikkönen	9	Lotus · Renault	7	53	+50.424	8
7	Nico Hülkenberg	12	Force India · Mercedes	15	53	+51.159	6
8	Pastor Maldonado	18	Williams · Renault	12	53	+52.364	4
9	Mark Webber	2	Red Bull · Renault	2	53	+54.675	2
10	Daniel Ricciardo	16	Toro Rosso · Ferrari	14	53	+1:06.919	1
11	Michael Schumacher	7	Mercedes	23	53	+1:07.769
12	Paul di Resta	11	Force India · Mercedes	11	53	+1:23.460
13	Jean-Éric Vergne	17	Toro Rosso · Ferrari	19	53	+1:28.645
14	Bruno Senna	19	Williams · Renault	16	53	+1:28.709
15	Heikki Kovalainen	20	Caterham · Renault	17	52	+1 lap
16	Timo Glock	24	Marussia · Cosworth	18	52	+1 lap
17	Vitaly Petrov	21	Caterham · Renault	22	52	+1 lap
18	Pedro de la Rosa	22	HRT · Cosworth	20	52	+1 lap
19	Romain Grosjean	10	Lotus · Renault	4	51	Gearbox
DNF	Charles Pic	25	Marussia · Cosworth	21	37	Engine
DNF	Narain Karthikeyan	23	HRT · Cosworth	24	32	Vibrations
DNF	Sergio Pérez	15	Sauber · Ferrari	5	18	Spun off
DNF	Fernando Alonso	5	Ferrari	6	0	Collision
DNF	Nico Rosberg	8	Mercedes	13	0	Collision

A number in the first column means classified. DNF, DNQ and DNS stand for retirement, did not qualify and did not start. ‘shared’ marks a car that two drivers shared between them – permitted in the 1950s, and both were classified.

Lap by lap

The running order on every lap. A line that stops is a car that stopped.

Laps led: Sebastian Vettel 53. Lap data from Jolpica-F1; it exists from 1996 on.

Show as a table

Driver	Grid	Lap 13	Lap 27	Lap 40	Finish	Laps led
Sebastian Vettel	1	1	1	1	1	53
Felipe Massa	10	3	2	2	2
Kamui Kobayashi	3	2	3	3	3
Jenson Button	8	4	4	4	4
Lewis Hamilton	9	7	6	5	5
Kimi Räikkönen	7	6	5	6	6
Nico Hülkenberg	15	8	7	7	7
Pastor Maldonado	12	9	8	8	8
Mark Webber	2	17	12	9	9
Daniel Ricciardo	14	10	9	10	10
Michael Schumacher	23	13	10	11	11
Paul di Resta	11	14	11	12	12
Jean-Éric Vergne	19	12	13	13	13
Bruno Senna	16	15	14	15	14
Heikki Kovalainen	17	11	15	16	15
Timo Glock	18	16	16	17	16
Vitaly Petrov	22	19	19	18	17
Pedro de la Rosa	20	18	20	19	18
Romain Grosjean	4	22	17	14	19
Charles Pic	21	21	18	–	out
Narain Karthikeyan	24	20	21	–	out
Sergio Pérez	5	5	–	–	out

Gap to the leader

How far behind each driver was as every lap ended – the margins the running order hides.

Seconds behind the leader as each lap ends, from the lap times. A line that flattens out together with the others is a safety car; a sudden step down is a pit stop. Gaps beyond 60 seconds run off the bottom edge. This is the gap on the road: time penalties given after the flag are not in it.

Show as a table

Driver	Lap 13	Lap 27	Lap 40	Last lap
Sebastian Vettel	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Felipe Massa	+11.5	+10.7	+18.3	+20.6
Kamui Kobayashi	+7.9	+16.7	+22.3	+24.5
Jenson Button	+12.0	+20.0	+25.9	+25.1
Lewis Hamilton	+18.8	+29.3	+32.4	+46.5
Kimi Räikkönen	+18.3	+26.7	+36.7	+50.4
Nico Hülkenberg	+21.6	+30.9	+37.8	+51.2
Pastor Maldonado	+24.1	+36.3	+39.8	+52.4
Mark Webber	+48.3	+60.3	+50.1	+54.7
Daniel Ricciardo	+25.3	+41.9	+53.5	+66.9
Michael Schumacher	+37.0	+53.9	+59.9	+67.8
Paul di Resta	+38.0	+55.9	+67.1	+83.5
Jean-Éric Vergne	+35.4	+64.1	+69.0	+88.6
Bruno Senna	+41.9	+69.8	+75.3	+88.7
Heikki Kovalainen	+34.6	+72.1	+86.3	+138.1
Timo Glock	+44.4	+79.5	+97.7	+146.7
Vitaly Petrov	+53.2	+95.4	+117.2	+187.4
Pedro de la Rosa	+52.6	+102.7	+154.1	+193.4
Romain Grosjean	+65.0	+83.4	+75.1	+111.1
Charles Pic	+59.7	+89.9	–	out
Narain Karthikeyan	+58.6	+107.5	–	out
Sergio Pérez	+16.8	–	–	out

Qualifying

Knock-out in three parts since 2006: the slowest drop out after Q1 and Q2.

Pos	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	1:32.608	1:31.501	1:30.839
2	Mark Webber	Red Bull	1:32.951	1:31.950	1:31.090
3	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:33.077	1:31.772	1:31.290
4	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	1:32.042	1:31.886	1:31.700
5	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	1:32.029	1:31.988	1:31.898
6	Sergio Pérez	Sauber	1:32.147	1:32.169	1:32.022
7	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:32.459	1:31.833	1:32.114
8	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus	1:32.221	1:31.826	1:32.208
9	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	1:33.061	1:32.121	1:32.327
10	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India	1:32.828	1:32.272
11	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:32.946	1:32.293
12	Paul di Resta	Force India	1:32.898	1:32.327
13	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1:33.349	1:32.469
14	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	1:32.834	1:32.512
15	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:33.015	1:32.625
16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	1:33.059	1:32.954
17	Jean-Éric Vergne	Toro Rosso	1:33.370	1:33.368
18	Bruno Senna	Williams	1:33.405
19	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham	1:34.657
20	Timo Glock	Marussia	1:35.213
21	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT	1:35.385
22	Charles Pic	Marussia	1:35.429
23	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham	1:35.432
24	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT	1:36.734

Grid penalties

Why the starting grid differs from the qualifying order.

Driver	Qualified	Started	Penalty
Jenson Button	P3	P8	5 places – 5
Nico Hülkenberg	P10	P15	5 places – 5
Jean-Éric Vergne	P17	P19	3 places – 3
Michael Schumacher	P13	P23	10 places – 10

Pit stops

Time from entering to leaving the pit lane, not the stationary time.

Driver	Stops	On laps	Fastest
Sergio Pérez	1	15	21.273 s
Narain Karthikeyan	1	15	23.227 s
Lewis Hamilton	2	16, 31	19.794 s
Jenson Button	2	13, 35	20.233 s
Sebastian Vettel	2	17, 37	20.346 s
Michael Schumacher	2	17, 36	20.379 s
Timo Glock	2	20, 40	20.662 s
Mark Webber	2	1, 26	20.691 s
Kamui Kobayashi	2	14, 31	20.762 s
Felipe Massa	2	17, 36	20.778 s
Kimi Räikkönen	2	13, 30	20.901 s
Nico Hülkenberg	2	13, 31	21.007 s
Paul di Resta	2	13, 32	21.063 s
Pastor Maldonado	2	16, 33	21.118 s
Charles Pic	2	14, 31	21.343 s
Jean-Éric Vergne	2	18, 35	21.431 s
Daniel Ricciardo	2	17, 34	21.516 s
Pedro de la Rosa	2	17, 36	22.487 s
Heikki Kovalainen	2	18, 41	22.678 s
Vitaly Petrov	3	19, 42, 48	14.250 s
Romain Grosjean	3	1, 7, 22	21.143 s
Bruno Senna	4	1, 16, 21, 34	14.608 s

Every stop, lap by lap (46)

Lap	Driver	Stop	Time
1	Bruno Senna	1	27.098 s
1	Romain Grosjean	1	32.329 s
1	Mark Webber	1	32.462 s
7	Romain Grosjean	2	29.793 s
13	Jenson Button	1	20.233 s
13	Kimi Räikkönen	1	20.901 s
13	Nico Hülkenberg	1	21.007 s
13	Paul di Resta	1	21.063 s
14	Kamui Kobayashi	1	20.783 s
14	Charles Pic	1	21.343 s
15	Sergio Pérez	1	21.273 s
15	Narain Karthikeyan	1	23.227 s
16	Lewis Hamilton	1	21.148 s
16	Pastor Maldonado	1	21.361 s
16	Bruno Senna	2	21.538 s
17	Sebastian Vettel	1	20.508 s
17	Michael Schumacher	1	20.643 s
17	Felipe Massa	1	20.936 s
17	Daniel Ricciardo	1	21.944 s
17	Pedro de la Rosa	1	26.287 s
18	Jean-Éric Vergne	1	22.528 s
18	Heikki Kovalainen	1	22.816 s
19	Vitaly Petrov	1	21.368 s
20	Timo Glock	1	20.662 s
21	Bruno Senna	3	14.608 s
22	Romain Grosjean	3	21.143 s
26	Mark Webber	2	20.691 s
30	Kimi Räikkönen	2	21.222 s
31	Lewis Hamilton	2	19.794 s
31	Kamui Kobayashi	2	20.762 s
31	Nico Hülkenberg	2	21.688 s
31	Charles Pic	2	42.505 s
32	Paul di Resta	2	21.344 s
33	Pastor Maldonado	2	21.118 s
34	Daniel Ricciardo	2	21.516 s
34	Bruno Senna	4	21.520 s
35	Jenson Button	2	21.099 s
35	Jean-Éric Vergne	2	21.431 s
36	Michael Schumacher	2	20.379 s
36	Felipe Massa	2	20.778 s
36	Pedro de la Rosa	2	22.487 s
37	Sebastian Vettel	2	20.346 s
40	Timo Glock	2	21.520 s
41	Heikki Kovalainen	2	22.678 s
42	Vitaly Petrov	2	21.367 s
48	Vitaly Petrov	3	14.250 s

Fastest laps

Each driver's quickest lap of the race.

Pos	Driver	Lap	Time	Gap
1	Sebastian Vettel	52	1:35.774
2	Jenson Button	51	1:36.606	+0.832
3	Kamui Kobayashi	52	1:36.679	+0.905
4	Bruno Senna	44	1:36.819	+1.045
5	Felipe Massa	50	1:36.894	+1.120
6	Michael Schumacher	43	1:36.942	+1.168
7	Mark Webber	49	1:37.128	+1.354
8	Daniel Ricciardo	50	1:37.455	+1.681
9	Jean-Éric Vergne	39	1:37.533	+1.759
10	Paul di Resta	48	1:37.535	+1.761

Championship after this race

The official standings after round 15. Arrows show the change against the round before.

The whole season

Drivers' championship after round 15
Pos	Driver	Points	Change
1	Fernando Alonso	194
2	Sebastian Vettel	190
3	Kimi Räikkönen	157
4	Lewis Hamilton	152
5	Mark Webber	134
6	Jenson Button	131
7	Nico Rosberg	93
8	Romain Grosjean	82
9	Felipe Massa	69	▲1
10	Sergio Pérez	66	▼1

Constructors' championship after round 15
Pos	Team	Points
1	Red Bull	324
2	McLaren	283
3	Ferrari	263
4	Lotus	239
5	Mercedes	136
6	Sauber	116
7	Force India	81
8	Williams	58
9	Toro Rosso	15
10	Marussia	0