2012
SEASON

Teams and drivers

The following twelve teams and twenty-five race drivers competed in the 2012 Formula One World Championship . The FIA published a provisional entry list on 30 November 2011, and the grid was finalised on 17 February. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Pirelli .

Free practice drivers

Eight drivers were entered by teams as third or test drivers during Friday practice sessions:

Team changes

At the November 2011 meeting of the Formula One Commission in Geneva, several teams were given permission to change their constructor names – the name recognised by the FIA as the entity that effectively owns the team, and to which all results for that team are credited – with final approval from the World Motor Sport Council granted in December of that year:

Changes

Williams announced that they would be using Renault engines for the 2012 and 2013 seasons, with an option to use Renault engines again in 2014 under the next generation of engine regulations. Renault had previously supplied engines to Williams from 1989 to 1997 , when the team won four World Drivers' Championships and five World Constructors' Championships . Following their worst season in their thirty-year history – in which they finished ninth in the World Constructors' Champions... In the week before the 2011 Indian Grand Prix , Force India announced that the Sahara Group had purchased a 42.5% stake in the team, valued at US$100 million. The investment gave the Sahara Group and team principal Vijay Mallya an equal stake in the team, with team director Michiel Mol controlling the remaining 15% of the team. Under the terms of the sale, the Sahara Group became Force India's naming-rights sponsor. Mercedes GP also changed the name of their team, announcing that they wer... HRT team principal Colin Kolles formally left his position, with the team citing the relocation of their headquarters to Spain as the reason for the separation. Former Minardi driver Luis Pérez-Sala took Kolles's place as team principal. In January 2012, the team relocated to a new facility in Valencia before settling at a permanent facility in Caja Mágica , Madrid . Peter Sauber formally stepped down from his position as team principal of Sauber F1 in the week before the Korean Grand Prix , appointing the team's CEO, Monisha Kaltenborn as his successor. Kaltenborn's appointment made her the first female team principal in the sport's sixty-three-year history.

Driver changes

Like Räikkönen and Grosjean, Nico Hülkenberg also returned to Formula One, joining Force India alongside Paul di Resta . Adrian Sutil left the team, having spent six years with both Force India and its previous incarnations, Spyker and Midland . He initially sought a drive with Williams , before negotiations collapsed in December 2011. Sutil was later the subject of criminal action, charged with grievous bodily harm after allegedly assaulting a senior Renault team member wit... Scuderia Toro Rosso did not retain Jaime Alguersuari or Sébastien Buemi , instead choosing to replace them with Daniel Ricciardo and 2011 Formula Renault 3.5 Series runner-up Jean-Éric Vergne . Ricciardo had previously served as the team's test and reserve driver before being placed at HRT for the 2011 British Grand Prix , while Vergne had completed a limited testing schedule for the team in the second half of the 2011 season. Sébastien Buemi became Red Bull Racing 's testing and reserve ... Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan returned to Formula One with HRT . De la Rosa had been without a full-time drive since the 2010 Italian Grand Prix , having spent the majority of the 2011 season as a test driver for McLaren and making one appearance racing for Sauber ; Karthikeyan was dropped by the team before the 2011 British Grand Prix in favour of Ricciardo. He, too, made a one-race appearance at the Indian Grand Prix , before leaving the team until the 2012 season began... Jérôme d'Ambrosio left Marussia (then known as Virgin Racing ) after the 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix . He later joined Lotus F1 as their third driver. Charles Pic – who placed fourth in the 2011 GP2 Series driving for Addax – joined Marussia , replacing d'Ambrosio.

Mid-season changes

The season only saw one driver change, which was brought about when Lotus driver Romain Grosjean was found by race stewards to be responsible for causing a multi-car pile-up at the start of the Belgian Grand Prix . He was given a one-race ban and a €50,000 fine for his role in the collision, forcing him to miss the Italian Grand Prix . He was replaced by the team's testing and reserve driver, Jérôme d'Ambrosio . Grosjean returned to the team for the next round in Singapore .

Pre-season testing – Jerez de la Frontera and Barcelona

The 2012 season was preceded by three test sessions; one at Jerez de la Frontera and two in Barcelona. These sessions gave the teams and drivers the opportunity to familiarise themselves with their cars, though the teams downplayed the accuracy of testing times as being representative of the running order for the season. At the second test in Barcelona, Lotus F1 discovered a critical fault in the build of their chassis that forced them to miss four days of running, while both HRT... "We are all terrified that somebody will unlock the secret and win everything. Unless, of course, that's us!"

Round 1 – Australia

The season began in Australia. Jenson Button took an early lead from pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton and the Red Bull cars while the rest of the field was bottle-necked by contact in the first corner. Button remained unchallenged throughout, even after a mid-race safety car to retrieve the stricken Caterham of Vitaly Petrov . Button went on to take his third victory at the Melbourne circuit , ahead of Sebastian Vettel , who profited from the safety car to pass Hamilton. McLaren team principal...