2012 MONACO GRAND PRIX

Background

Like the 2011 Monaco Grand Prix , tyre supplier Pirelli brought its yellow-banded soft compound tyre as the harder "prime" tyre and the red-banded super-soft compound tyre as the softer "option" tyre. It was the first time for the season that the super-soft compound made an appearance at a race weekend.

Circuit changes

The circuit underwent some extensive changes in the aftermath of Sergio Pérez 's accident during qualifying for the 2011 Monaco Grand Prix . Pérez crashed heavily at the Nouvelle Chicane, suffering a concussion and a sprained thigh. He was unable to take part in the race. In response to this, the event organisers had the approach to the chicane smoothened by lowering the tarmac 20 centimetres (7.9 in), and the barrier that Pérez hit was moved back a further 15 metres (49 ft)...

Driver penalties

Michael Schumacher was given a five-place grid penalty for causing an avoidable collision with Bruno Senna during the Spanish Grand Prix . Pastor Maldonado was given a ten-place grid penalty for causing an avoidable collision with Sergio Pérez during the final free practice session. He then received another five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.

Q1

Charles Pic and Jean-Éric Vergne were the first cars to emerge from pit lane once the twenty-minute session was given the green light to begin. Pic's first flying lap was ruined when he was blocked by the slow-moving HRT of Pedro de la Rosa at Rascasse, forcing the Frenchman to pit. Sauber's Sergio Pérez crashed heavily at the Swimming Pool, striking the outer barrier with enough force to remove a wheel. The session was red-flagged due to his crash (for the second year in succession) for six minutes while the car was removed. During replays of the incident, commentators observed Pérez shouting "power steering!" over his radio moments before the crash. [ citation needed ] Pérez's left-front steering was damaged, leading to speculation that the crash had been a by-product of ... With eight minutes remaining Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher led teammate Nico Rosberg with several drivers close behind. Defending World Champion Sebastian Vettel opted for a set of super-soft tyres late in the session, as his time from his stint on the slower soft tyres had left him in 16th place. Both Lotus drivers waited late to set their first timed lap, both opting for soft tyres. However, while Romain Grosjean set a competitive lap time, Kimi Räikkönen was not so quick and was only hal... Nico Hülkenberg set the fastest time of the session while on super-softs, while at the back of the field, Kovalainen out-qualified teammate Vitaly Petrov by eight-tenths of a second, with Marussia's Timo Glock a further half-second behind. Pedro de la Rosa was also eliminated ahead of Pic and teammate Narain Karthikeyan . As he did not set a lap time, Sergio Pérez was twenty-fourth and last, though this became twenty-third when Maldonado's grid penalties were applied. Prior to the session, Pérez...

Q2

Force India driver Paul di Resta was first out followed by Williams's Bruno Senna for the fifteen-minute session. All cars were out on track early, however Jean-Éric Vergne damaged his front wing and suspension after he hit the wall under braking on the exit of the tunnel. Vergne limped back to the pits where he was subsequently eliminated. As time ran out, McLaren driver Jenson Button , was 11th and in the elimination zone, along with the Lotuses, Toro Rossos, Di Resta and Senna. Grosjean and Räikkönen were able to set laps good enough to push German Nico Hülkenberg and the sole remaining Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi out of qualifying and into 11th and 12th places, respectively. Button was unable to improve on his previous lap and missed entry to the Q3 session by two-tenths of a second. It was the first time since the 2008 Brazilian... At the end of the period, just 0.967 of a second separated the top sixteen drivers.

Q3

The Mercedes of Nico Rosberg was the first car on track followed by Pastor Maldonado . The ten-minute session was split into two informal phases: initial competitive timed laps followed by short rest at the pits, then a frantic run at the end of the session. In the first five minutes, Vettel and the two Ferrari drivers were the only drivers not to set timed laps. Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton both went out on a brand new set of super-soft tyres, while others fitted used tyres of the same compound. After the initial runs, Rosberg (who completed two timed laps) led the Lotus of Grosjean, followed by Mark Webber . The gap between the top three was just over one tenth of a second, meaning that no driver had the comfort of knowing his lap time would be sufficient to hold his current position. [ citation needed ] With three minutes left of the session, the top five cars at the time pitted and awaited for their final attack on qualifying. At this stage, both Ferraris went out onto the track for the first time in the session, along with Vettel. However, Vettel left the pit with the slower soft tyres fitted. It became clear by his slow pace that he would – as in Spain – not complete a timed lap so as to have the option of starting the race on either type of dry compound tyres. [ citation needed ] Webber, Grosjean and Rosberg all went out again on an unused set of the red-banded super-soft compound, but their initial times remained unchallenged. All cars were by then on the track, with the exception of Vettel. As the chequered flag fell upon the session, it was Webber who was ahead of Rosberg, after having set the fastest second and third sector times. Hamilton and Massa fell short of Webber's time, leaving Schumacher, Rosberg and Grosjean the only drivers capable of taking pole from Webb... Schumacher was the only one to eclipse Webber's time and did so by only eight hundredths of a second. It was the first time he had been fastest in qualification since his comeback after he left the sport in 2006. Unfortunately for him, he would have to start from sixth on the grid due to his penalty from the previous race. This elevated Red Bull driver Webber to pole position, the tenth of his career. The second Mercedes of Rosberg was third, with Hamilton in fourth and Grosjean in fifth, althou...

Qualifying

Adding to Maldonado's ten-place grid penalty for colliding with Mexican Sergio Pérez in free practice three (FP3), the Williams team decided to make a gearbox change and incur a further five-place grid penalty. Pérez, who failed to set a qualifying time, also decided to take a gearbox change and was penalised with a five-place grid penalty. Maldonado started in 24th with the Mexican ahead of him in 23rd.

Race

The Monaco Grand Prix was the sixth of the season and began at 12:00 UTC (14:00 local). Conditions for the race were sunny with an ambient temperature of 22 °C (72 °F) and a track temperature of 35 °C (95 °F). Rain was forecast for the day but it was unclear whether the race would be affected. [ citation needed ] The race begun with humidity at 58%. Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button, Paul di Resta, Vitaly Petrov and Pedro de la Rosa were the only drivers to start on the slower yellow... The safety car was called in during the second lap after Grosjean and Maldonado's cars had been removed, while Kobayashi and de la Rosa made it back to the pits under their own power. Damage to de la Rosa's car forced his retirement, but following checks the Sauber was able to rejoin the race in 21st place. Schumacher was told by his team that his car seemed fine after the contact with Grosjean and he was able to continue. On the restart nearly all drivers held their positions. Webber led Rosberg and Hamilton in an unchanged top three from the grid. Meanwhile, Kobayashi returned to the pits where he retired due to suspension damaged from the first corner incident with the Lotus. Webber was setting consecutive fastest laps while the stewards investigated various cars cutting the first corner to avoid Grosjean; no further action was taken. After 13 laps the threat of rain forced teams to not pit stop early so as not to change tyres again if it did eventually rain. Petrov pitted on lap 16 only to retire as he had an electrical problem. As the track temperature dropped both Ferraris, in fourth and fifth, started to pick up pace and set quick lap times. By lap 23 the sole remaining Sauber of Sergio Pérez was the only car making multiple overtaking moves, up to 15th from his 23rd place grid spot. Meanwhile, Schumacher pressured a struggling Kimi Räikkönen as the Lotus driver was told to stay out and wait for predicted rain. Thanks to Räikkönen's pace, a gap formed that allowed Rosberg to pit on lap 27, to switch to the soft compound tyre, and return to the track without any nearby traffic. Leaders Webber and Hamilton followed Rosberg's lead and pitted the next lap. Alonso, now in first place, stayed out for another lap during which he set consecutive fastest sectors by nearly a second before following the others and switching to the soft tyre. So quick was Alonso that he came out of the pits well ahead of Hamilton. Massa inherited the lead and pitted on the next lap. This left Vettel, who had not stopped, in the lead with a ten-second advantage over his teammate, Webber. As the ra... By lap 48 Pérez was 2.7 seconds per lap quicker than the leaders and set a number of fastest laps. Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley was attempting to keep Massa motivated in sixth when he claimed "keep our tyres fresh cause he doesn't look absolutely fantastic, old Lewis", referring to Hamilton ahead in fifth. Schumacher began to complain of a problem on lap 59 but still continued. However, on lap 61 he let Vergne past him and continued to slow. Spots of rain started to show in some parts of the track but nothing of real concern for the drivers. A few laps later the seven time world champion entered the pits and retired from the race with a fuel pressure problem. In consecutive laps Pic and Ricciardo both retired from the race owing to an electrical fault and a steering problem, respectively. With 10 laps remaining, the first six drivers were split by fewer than four seconds. On lap 69 and Vergne pitted to switch to intermediate tyres; the only driver to do so in the race. Still behind Kovalainen, Button locked up his brakes next to the swimming pool and spun. That left Pérez behind him to attack the Caterham, which Pérez succeeded in passing. Vergne's move to intermediate tyres had not worked, as he was losing over seven seconds every lap to his rivals. Two laps after Button ... The gap at the front remained close however; no driver was able to move ahead. In the final few laps rain still threatened, [ citation needed ] but each of the six leaders held their own as they lapped cars. Hamilton and Massa did drop back slightly from the four towards the end of the race. By the final lap, artificial light from cameras was becoming more prominent as daylight faded with the threat of darker rain clouds. Ultimately, Webber was able to keep Rosberg, Alonso and Vettel at bay for ... In winning the Monaco Grand Prix Webber became the only Australian to win on multiple occasions at the circuit. It was Webber's first win of the season and first since his victory at the last race of the 2011 season in Brazil. In taking the victory Webber and the five victorious drivers before him set a new record for six different winners from the first six races of a Formula One season. The margin between the first four drivers was only 1.343 seconds as Rosberg followed Webber into second plac...