2012 Malaysian Grand Prix

Heavy rain clearing to cloudy and dry [ 2 ] Air Temp 26 °C (79 °F) [ 2 ]

The 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix (officially the 2012 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix ) was a Formula One motor race held on 25 March 2012 at the Sepang International Circuit in Selangor , Malaysia . It was the fourteenth running of the Malaysian Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship, and the thirty-second time the event has been held. The 56-lap race was the second round of the 2012 Formula One season and was won by Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso . [ 5 ] Sergio Pérez o...

Sergio Pérez achieved his first podium finish. The Sauber team recorded their best ever result (excluding their time as BMW Sauber ) and also the first podium for a Ferrari customer engine since Sebastian Vettel 's victory at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix in a Ferrari-engined Toro Rosso . Jean-Éric Vergne scored his first ever points in Formula One in his second race by finishing in eighth position.

Following extended debate over the legality of the Mercedes rear wing and front-wing F-duct on the F1 W03 during the Australian Grand Prix , [ 7 ] and the threat of a protest against the system, [ 8 ] Red Bull Racing and Lotus F1 requested a final ruling on the system ahead of the race at Sepang. [ 9 ] On the Thursday before the race the FIA rejected all claims that the system was illegal, allowing Mercedes to compete with an unaltered car. [ 10 ]

After struggling in the Australian Grand Prix, Ferrari prepared a brand-new F2012 chassis for Felipe Massa , with the team citing "unusual performance" of the chassis he used in Melbourne as the reason for the change. [ 14 ] The team denied reports that they were planning to replace Massa with Sauber driver Sergio Pérez – who is a part of the Ferrari Driver Academy – while both Sauber and Pérez claimed that they had not been contacted by Ferrari. [ 15 ]

Williams test driver Valtteri Bottas replaced Bruno Senna for the first practice session on Friday morning. [ 18 ]

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought its silver-banded hard compound tyre as the harder "prime" tyre and the white-banded medium compound as the softer "option" compound, whereas last year the "soft" compound was the yellow-banded soft compound tyre. [ 20 ]

Lewis Hamilton was the fastest driver in the first practice session, ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg . [ 18 ] Romain Grosjean finished the session fifth-fastest despite his car becoming stuck in seventh gear. Jenson Button was ninth overall, but was forced to end his session early after the team discovered an oil leak. Ferrari 's difficult start to the season continued with Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso finishing thirteenth and fifteenth respectively, while HRT encountered further ...

Hamilton repeated his performance in the second session, setting a lap time one-tenth of a second slower than the time he posted in the first session. [ 21 ] Michael Schumacher was second-fastest, with Jenson Button third. Bruno Senna returned to the cockpit after Williams test driver Valtteri Bottas completed the morning session in Senna's car; Senna placed nineteenth overall. After placing fifteenth in the first session, Fernando Alonso ended the day sixth-fastest, though his lap time was only...

A fire broke out in the premises of Lotus early on Saturday morning. The fire started with an electrical fault in the refrigerator. Lotus's reception unit and the stable's kitchen were destroyed in the fire. No one was injured in the fire. [ 22 ]

The circuit was declared damp for the third and final practice session on Saturday afternoon after light rain fell during the GP2 support race . The damp conditions saw several drivers – most notably Lewis Hamilton – running wide early on, before a dry line was established. Despite the off-track excursions, the session was not interrupted by red flags. Rosberg topped the sixty-minute session, the only driver to go below one minute thirty-seven for all practice sessions, ahead of Vettel and Mark ...

The second session began with Sergio Pérez the first to set a timed lap. All drivers opted for the softer compound medium tyre. Kimi Räikkönen set the fastest time in a session which saw all the cars set closely matched times. Pastor Maldonado had a minor off before turn 11 and was the quickest driver not to make the final session; his Williams teammate Bruno Senna was 13th. Ferrari driver Felipe Massa (who had a new chassis for the weekend) was 12th, closing the gap between himself and Fernando...

Despite a front left wheel lock-up at the final corner, Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time by four tenths of a second upon his first attempt. He subsequently returned to the pits during his second, knowing that he already had pole position. The second McLaren of Jenson Button set the second fastest time, one tenth behind Hamilton's time, to complete the second McLaren front row lock-out in the season's two races. Michael Schumacher demonstrated the improved pace of the Mercedes car since 2011 b...

By lap 31 heavier rain was again forecast but never eventuated. After being 7.795 seconds behind Alonso in 2nd, Pérez began to set consecutive fastest laps and was closing the gap to the leader. The forecast rain prevented most cars from changing to slicks when the track was dry. An image of Hamilton's front tyre revealed that drivers were essentially racing on slicks anyway as the intermediate tread had worn off. Daniel Ricciardo was the first to take the gamble and change to dry tyres on lap 3...

Vettel and Red Bull boss Christian Horner criticised Karthikeyan's driving, with Vettel calling Karthikeyan an "idiot". [ 24 ] Karthikeyan hit back at Vettel, calling him a "cry-baby". [ 25 ] Later, Karthikeyan decided to call a truce with Vettel, stating his respect for Vettel's abilities and saying "I think we have to deal with it in a mature way and forget about it." [ 25 ]

The event took place between the 22–25 March where throughout the weekend there was a range of support events. Taking part in the Malaysian Grand Prix program was the opening round of the 2012 GP2 Series (1 feature race, 1 sprint race); the Malaysian Super Series A (2 races); and the Malaysian Super Series B (2 races). [ 26 ]