F1 2012 - A Retrospective Part 18: India
Qualifying
Red Bull’s impressive late season form continued in India. It was a third front row lockout in a row and a fourth pole position in a row. Sebastian Vettel led Mark Webber by .044s in Q3.
It was a two by two formation from the Big Three teams. McLaren bested Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton bested Jenson Button to take third place.
Fernando Alonso was fifth ahead of Felipe Massa. The pecking order looked set. Red Bull were quicker than McLaren, who were quicker than Ferrari. After that, it was less certain.
Four different cars took the final four places inside the top 10. Kimi Raikkonen was in seventh, the pace of the car wasn’t quite what it was in the first half of the season. Romain Grosjean only managed 11th in the other Lotus.
They seemingly were no longer fighting for victories, or even podiums, and it signalled the potential end to the Finn’s title bid.
Sergio Perez was eighth. This was only the third time in 12 races that the Mexican started inside the top 10.
Pastor Maldonado and Nico Rosberg rounded out the fifth row. Rosberg was 10th having not set a lap time, this gave him the option to start on a brand new set of tyres in the race.
Michael Schumacher qualified in 14th. The German manufacturers’ fall down the grid over the second half of the season was even more stark than that of Lotus, who at least maintained their spot inside the top four or five teams on a consistent basis.
Force India also had a poor qualifying session. Nico Hulkenberg was 12th and Paul di Resta was 16th. That was not a good omen for the team’s home Grand Prix.
Pre-Race
Martin Brundle’s grid walk featured the likes of Niki Lauda and Alan Jones, both Formula One World Champions. Jones was a steward at the event, he was hoping for an incident free race to make life easy for himself.
Lauda was working as part of German TV. He predicted an easy win for Vettel, such was the dominance Red Bull looked to have by this stage of the season.
“The Red Bulls are unbeatable,” he said.
But Webber and Hamilton’s grid walk interviews indicated it might not be so straightforward.
“We’re not really sure how it’s going to go,” said Webber about the race strategy. Most teams were looking at the two-stop but a one-stop was definitely on the cards.
The tyres to choose between were the Softs and the Hards and this track wasn’t expected to be that tough on these compounds. Sky highlighted Raikkonen and Perez as most likely to go for the one-stop. They both had reputations for managing their tyres better than anyone else.
“I’ve got KERS, DRS. I’m going to give everything. I promise, I’ll give you everything,” Hamilton told Brundle.
The Briton was pretty relaxed in the interview. He had the air of a man racing his last few Grands Prix with a team with no title charge on the line. But he was most definitely hungry for the win. He was still Hamilton, of course.
The main DRS zone was extended by 80m from the 2011 edition. There was a sense around Brundle’s grid walk that everyone was very happy with India’s improvement on their hosting duty from the inaugural race last season.
In that race, Button made up four positions in the early stages. Doing that this time around was unlikely, but it showed forward mobility was possible on this track.
Ted Kravtiz reported that they will find out more about drivers’ strategies come around lap 14 as that was when the pit window opened for two-stoppers.
For those planning to one-stop, they needed to stretch their stint into the mid-20’s. Grosjean, Schumacher, Daniel Ricciardo and Kamui Kobayashi all opted to start on the Hard tyres. Everyone else was on the Softs.
This was Vettel’s 35th pole position in F1, but he had never won four races in a row in a single season up to this point. This was his chance to do that and to extend his lead in the championship over Alonso.
“Ferrari need to go for broke here. Alonso needs to stem the tide. The advantage going Red Bull’s way in the championship,” said David Croft.
Race
The battle for third place saw “immense competition,” on the opening lap, according to Brundle. While the Red Bull pair got off the line all well and good, maintaining their one-two formation, the fight for third saw Alonso take it to the two McLarens.
Hamilton and Button were side by side on the exit of Turn Three. On the long run up to Turn Four they were joined by Alonso. The Spaniard showed great straight line speed to pass by both of them before the braking zone.
However, both McLarens broke later to go ahead of the Ferrari driver into the corner. But both locked up! Button was able to hold on in the run up to Turn Five, but Alonso got ahead of Hamilton, moving him down to fifth place from third on this opening lap.
Button took third and Alonso slotted in behind for fourth. Massa maintained sixth, with Raikkonen still in seventh.
Schumacher was seen lagging far behind the pack as pictures showed the battle for third. He suffered a right rear puncture after coming into contact with the Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne. Both pitted at the end of that lap, Schumacher for a set of Softs and Vergne for a new front wing.
By lap two, Vettel led by 1.2s over Webber and the pair were starting to pull away from Button.
Alonso maintained the gap to the McLaren driver to within DRS range and come lap four he was close enough to make the move using the rear wing system on the straight leading up to Turn Four.
“Ferrari have played a blinder! They’ve got their DRS and they’re top gear sorted out,” said Brundle. Set-up for seventh gear was crucial on this long straight, it turned out, and Ferrari had set theirs up just right for these opening laps.
Alonso came from very far back on Button but gained at a rapid rate. The slipstream and DRS together were immense and the speed carried him passed the 2009 World Champion and up to third.
By lap six, Hamilton made the same move on his teammate to move up to fourth. Massa tucked in behind their tussle, lying in wait. Raikkonen was hanging on in there as well.
Meanwhile, Alonso was making good use of the clean air and opened up a gap to the McLarens. But he was also 4s behind Webber and a further 2s behind Vettel. He had a lot of ground to make up if he was to reduce Vettel’s lead in the championship.
The four cars from fourth to seventh were separated by roughly 2s, but no one was able to close up enough to make an attempt at a move.
The gaps behind Hamilton were .9s, .7s and .7s to Raikkonen. Alonso was matching the pace of the Red Bulls ahead.
By lap nine, Hamilton opened up a 1.6s gap to Button. By lap 11, Alonso was 4s clear of the cars either side of him.
Further back, Hulkenberg was pressuring Perez in the battle for eighth. During this battle, Croft revealed that sources inside F1 believed that the German was set to stay with Force India for 2013, having been previously linked with Perez’s old seat at Sauber.
“See, I love to see this sort of thing. Albeit, they’re fighting over eighth and ninth. It tells me that Formula One has got a great future because that’s the talent that will end up in the front running cars in the next two or three seasons, or whenever it happens,” said Brundle.
“There’s always somebody coming through to sparkle and shine, to thrill us.”
Brundle was enjoying the battle for eighth, and his words were funny to hear in the context of several years later.
Considering Hulkenberg never got out of the midfield and Perez only got into a top car nine years later, it is safe to say now that Brundle was expecting a lot more from these two than they were able to achieve.
However, at one point in this broadcast, he also predicted Vettel to move to Ferrari to replace Alonso in 2015 which was exactly what happened.
The on-track battle between Perez and Hulkenberg continued to lap 14. Perez was struggling on his tyres, locking up at corners. Crucially, he locked up at Turn Three, which allowed the Force India driver to get much closer to the back of Perez’s car.
Hulkenberg easily got by under DRS, picking up a slipstream along the way, to move up to eighth. Perez pitted at the end of that lap.
“Sauber pitting first — have we ever said that?” Brundle asked facetiously. This was certainly not what was expected before the race.
Vettel reached the landmark of 160 laps led in a row. His advantage over Webber was up to 3.6s. Hamilton was 1s a lap slower than the leader and was 15s behind. This was a disappointing start to the race from McLaren.
In the battle for 10th, Grosjean and Senna both passed Maldonado to resign the Venezuelan to 12th. Grosjean dove down the inside at Turn Four, and Senna made use of the gap opened up by the Frenchman to get ahead of his teammate.
By lap 18, Button’s front left was looking quite worn. If he was going to one-stop he was going to need to last another five or so laps.
On lap 20, Perez suffered a right rear puncture! He had locked up massively on the previous lap in an attempt to pass Ricciardo.
But they made minor contact this time around, with the Australian’s front wing just barely hitting Perez’s tyre. The minor touch was enough for the tyre to fall apart.
Not only was Perez looking likely to be the only driver committing to a two-stop, but he now had to hobble back to the pits for that second stop much earlier than planned. He ultimately retired from the race on lap 21, the damage was done.
“Lots of understeer and shuddering,” said Button over the radio. His left front had blistered quite a lot at this stage.
Right behind the struggling Button, there was a now under pressure Massa. Raikkonen had gotten into DRS range and was following the Ferrari closely behind.
Meanwhile, Vettel now led by 7.1s. Webber was only 2.3s ahead of Alonso, who was pushing. The Australian lost time scrapping through the backmarkers, which allowed the Ferrari driver to catch up.
“Mark [Webber] currently struggling for pace,” Vettel was told. He was .8s quicker than his teammate on the previous lap.
Grosjean overtook Rosberg for ninth under DRS. He was on the Hard tyres, so was expected to stay out longer than the rest who were all now getting ready for their one and only scheduled stop.
Senna was next up for Rosberg to defend against. The Williams driver was pressuring him for the final points position.
Alonso, too, was pressuring Webber. Over the previous four laps, the Spaniard went quicker by .4s, .7s, .9s and .5s. Webber was simply unable to pull away like his teammate had done.
In the other Ferrari, Massa was told he needed to stay out for another three or four laps.
Brundle believed there was no doubt that the Hard tyres could do the remaining 35 laps if they were to pit now, but the cars behind were not far enough behind to leave a gap in that the Brazilian could slot into for some free clean air.
On lap 25, Senna finally looked to have overtaken Rosberg for 10th. But Rosberg cut back on the Brazilian in the run up to Turn Five and re-took the position.
Button was the first of the front runners to come in, doing so at the end of that lap. This was no surprise, he was clearly struggling more than the other top six cars.
The Briton came out just behind Grosjean. This acted as a trigger, which brought in the rest of the front running cars as they all started to react to each other.
Senna was next into the pits on lap 26. He was unable to get ahead of Rosberg before coming in and even ran wide on the entry into the pit lane, which cost him time.
Raikkonen was the next of the top cars to pit, on lap 27. He was hoping to undercut Massa, who stayed out. Rosberg and Maldonado also came in.
Rosberg rejoined the track ahead of Senna, as did his teammate Maldonado. The time lost running wide allowed the Venezuelan to get in front.
Massa arrived in for his stop on lap 28. He maintained his lead over Raikkonen, much to the Finn’s frustration. However, Raikkonen was able to pass his old Ferrari teammate into Turn Three after the Brazilian locked up.
But, that allowed Massa to activate DRS which, along with the speed advantage held by the Ferrari anyway, allowed him to retake the position with ease.
Alonso pitted in the other Ferrari on lap 29. Webber followed suit on lap 30 and they stayed in position.
On-track, Maldonado passed Kobayashi at Turn Four, but the Sauber driver came back at him in the run up to Turn Five and they touched! Maldonado was sent into the gravel with a puncture. This was the third one from similar contact in this race. The Williams was able to keep going, but he was limping back to the pits.
In doing so, he held up Vettel. It cost the race leader roughly 2s to get ahead as he had to slow down almost to a complete stop to avoid crashing into the back of the injured car.
Brundle and Croft debated who was at fault for the incident, with Croft blaming Kobayashi for not slotting in behind Maldonado. But Brundle firmly said that the Williams driver was the cause for the contact. He said that he cut across the Japanese driver when there was no room to do so.
On lap 32, the gap between Alonso and Webber was down to only eight tenths. He was unable to get close enough to use DRS to overtake, but crucially he was maintaining the gap so that he could use it on the next lap.
While the two battled for position, Vettel pitted on lap 34. Webber was able to alleviate the pressure by using DRS himself thanks to a backmarker being in the right place at the right time.
“Situation with the fuel is critical,” said Rob Smedley to Massa. Brundle believed that if Massa had to conserve fuel during the race then that was likely to be the case for Alonso as well.
Button was still stuck behind Grosjean. The Frenchman was yet to stop, but he was in no mood to help out Button’s race. The Briton locked up trying to get ahead, but still couldn’t pass the Lotus driver. Grosjean finally pitted on lap 36.
Alonso was beginning to fall back, perhaps a sign that Brundle’s theory was right. Although, Webber also set the fastest lap of the race meaning it may be that the Australian was picking up the pace.
On lap 38, Alonso came back at Webber and gained .47s on the Red Bull driver. Hamilton now, too, was catching up on the battle for second place.
“I don’t know if the tyres are going to last,” said Hamilton. This was his reply when told he was the fastest car on track.
Meanwhile, Raikkonen was told to push Massa. Lotus relayed the message that the Brazilian was being told to save fuel so wasn’t at his full pace. But the Finn wasn’t able to get close enough under DRS to make an attempt at a move.
The back and forth between Alonso and Webber continued. Webber opened up the gap to 2s. Alonso may also have dropped back because the dirty air behind the Red Bull could cause his tyres to overheat which had the potential to ruin his race. Webber was encouraged that his pace was good.
On lap 45, Webber reported to his team that he had no KERS! He was assured by his race engineer that it would come back, but this was an opening for Alonso. A lack of KERS left the Australian vulnerable on the straight between Turn Three and Four.
However, DRS was briefly disabled after Pedro de la Rosa went off at Turn Four. Brundle suspected a brake failure on the HRT, which the Spaniard confirmed over a radio message to the team.
DRS was enabled again on lap 47, but Webber was still suffering with a lack of KERS.
On lap 48, Webber was nothing but a sitting duck as Alonso took second place, you guessed it, using DRS to get ahead. The speed of the Ferrari in a straight line was simply immense. He came from so far back, but the boost of KERS, the slipstream and DRS brought him by the Red Bull at the pace of a freight train.
“Fernando Alonso, I just think he’s extraordinary,” remarked Brundle. He very clearly had a lot of respect for the Ferrari driver and his refusal to lay down from the fight Red Bull were starting to dominate.
Hamilton was now encouraged to push. He was told Webber was struggling without KERS. The Briton responded by setting the fastest lap of the race so far.
Further behind, Senna finally passed Rosberg for 10th place. The German locked up at Turn Three, which allowed Senna to get close enough for DRS to become effective. It was understood that a driver needed to be within four tenths of the car ahead for the rear wing system to really be useful.
Hamilton continued to push as the race drew to a close. The gap was down to 2.1s with only 10 laps remaining.
Alonso, too, was pushing. He was over 10s behind Vettel, but gained .8s on the German on lap 52. By lap 54, Vettel had an issue with his car. Sparks were flying off the bottom of his Red Bull on the main DRS straight.
Something had come loose on the floor of the car when Vettel ran over something going wide at a corner on the previous lap.
The Red Bull was vibrating quite a lot on the straight, but he lost no pace from the problem and was able to maintain the gap to Alonso.
Alonso was informed of the issue with Vettel’s car and was encouraged that he could catch him. “Push him like hell,” said Andrea Stella, Alonso’s race engineer.
By lap 56, the gap was only down to 9.4s with only a handful left to go. Vettel looked to have the race win secured. However, he was once again being told by his race engineer that he needed to slow down. The Red Bull pit wall was not confident about the damage done to the German’s car.
Hamilton was still being encouraged with his battle against the other Red Bull driver. He was unable to get close enough to Webber, but there was still time left for the overtake.
On lap 57, Schumacher retired from the race. This was his eighth DNF of the season. The first lap puncture effectively ended his race, with no Safety Car arriving to help close the gap to the rest of the field.
By lap 58, Hamilton got the gap to Webber down to 1.2s and on lap 59 he was within DRS. However, in the run up to Turn Three, he locked up due to braking later to get within the detection zone. This cost him more time than he gained.
On the final lap, he was still within DRS but he was unable to get close enough to make the pass. That DRS straight was the only viable overtaking position on the track, Webber survived the pressure to stay in third place.
Vettel rounded the final corner and took a fourth race win in a row! Alonso finished 9.4s behind in second and Webber earned the final podium position.
The final standings were as follows
Championship Standings Round 17 (Top Five)
Vettel’s lead was now up to 13 points. However, the bigger story was now about the drivers left behind. Going into this race, the top six all still mathematically could win the championship, but now there were only 75 points available for the remaining three races.
The gap to Vettel from Hamilton was exactly 75 points. Webber was two ahead of the McLaren driver, but still 73 behind. Raikkonen was 67 points back. Despite winning the 2007 championship from impossibly far behind with only two races remaining, the Finn was now almost certainly out of contention.
All three needed the biggest of F1 miracles to claim the top prize now.
This meant it all came down to Vettel and Alonso. The two competed before for the 2010 Driver’s Championship. However, that title fight was between five drivers that could realistically win it. By the final race, that was down to four.
Alonso held the advantage then, going into the final race in Abu Dhabi with a 15 point lead over the German. However, Ferrari focused too much on Webber, who was eight points behind the Spaniard. The blunder cost the team the championship.
This time around it was their turn to play catch up. Red Bull were looking ominous though and Alonso was losing ground in every race.
The last time he finished ahead of his rival in a Grand Prix was back in Italy. He once led Vettel by over 40 points, but four wins in a row will chop that gap down no matter what the opponent does.
But, as Brundle alluded to many times during the Indian Grand Prix, Alonso was not one to give up without a fight. He was determined to keep going until the final race in Brazil.
“Obviously, it’s not easy at the moment to fight with Red Bull but we will never give up and I think we are happy. Today we have to congratulate them, they were fantastic this weekend, so well done Red Bull, well done Sebastian [Vettel],” said Alonso.
This was not over yet.
Post-Race
Massa had to pull over before Turn One, such was the fuel situation with his Ferrari. He coasted home in sixth, having started the race there. He held off the threat of Raikkonen without having to defend too much from the 2007 World Champion.
Vettel received a friendly push from teammate Webber to bring him up to Parc fermé. The German also received a huge cheer from the Indian crowd. The atmosphere was electric, impressive for only the country’s second F1 race.
Vettel was, understandably, very jubilant once out of his cockpit.
However, his championship rival managed “damage limitation,” as described by Croft. It was enough for Vettel to move 13 points clear of the Spaniard, with every point mattering more and more in the closing stages of this epic season.
It was very quiet inside the cooldown room. Webber and Alonso conversed in the corner chairs, but the cameras failed to pick up the discussion.
Sky Sports’ Brundle was on the interviewing duties. He informed Vettel that the last person to lead as many laps as he had in a row was Aryton Senna in 1989. Vettel was honoured to match the record of one of the all time greats the sport has seen.
Alonso remained optimistic, saying “better races will come,” and there was no doubt that he completely believed that.
Vettel, too, refused to believe the title battle was over and done with. A lot can happen to swing 13 points in three races.
“We have seen this year how quickly things can change. There’s a lot more to come,” said Vettel.
Driver in Focus
Up to now, this section has avoided repeating the same team or driver because the 2012 season had so many worthy storylines that almost every team deserved some attention.
However, the championship was kicking into gear and it was firmly the focus of the final three races of the season. So, in that case, Sebastian Vettel deserved the spotlight once again.
He was the defending champion. He won back to back titles in 2010 and 2011, becoming the youngest F1 champion ever — a record he still holds as of February 2021. His season got off to a rocky start. His second in Australia and win in Bahrain were the exotic bread to the bland meat of Malaysia and China.
As Ferrari caught up in the development race, Vettel’s form was inconsistent. He didn’t earn his second win of the season until Singapore, which he inherited from a Hamilton DNF. Of course, he led comfortably in Valencia but he too failed to finish. What goes around comes around.
But now Red Bull were back on top. They had won the development battle and had built the quickest car for the Asian leg of the calendar. With that, Vettel took full advantage.
Up to now, his wins had all come from the front. Alonso earned his victories from eighth, 11th and pole, whereas Vettel’s wins came from starting on pole, third, pole, second and pole respectively.
This is not to diminish the effort of Vettel’s wins. In fact it is in praise of the German. His qualifying pace was impeccable. Only Hamilton’s early season form could match it in 2012. But converting from pole position was what Hamilton struggled with.
The Briton started six of the opening eight races from inside the top three. But he only converted that into one race victory. What Vettel was doing was no easy feat.
In 2011, he earned a reputation for not being a good racer, but in the first half of the season he put that myth to bed — which was the basis behind his first inclusion in this section back in Part Two: Australia — and now he was reminding us of why he was so dominant in 2011.
Put him at the front and he will control the pace to perfection.
Race Verdict
India only held three F1 events, from 2011 to 2013. Vettel led almost every lap of those three races. As a venue in F1, this track didn’t live up to expectation. The 2012 edition of this Grand Prix had very little to remember it by.
Alonso managed to jump from fifth to second with some smart set-up choices and taking advantage of Webber’s mechanical issues, but the rest of the field struggled to make any impact on the original grid order.
Three times, drivers collided with minimal contact that had maximum effect. Schumacher, Vergne, Perez and Maldonado all suffered for it and this took away from the midfield action.
Raikkonen’s Sunday summed up this race best. During the broadcast, Croft joked that the Finn could probably draw the back of the Ferrari from memory because he was stuck staring at it so long.
The Lotus was clearly quicker than Massa, particularly at the phase of the race where the Brazilian had to coast in order to save fuel, but the straight line speed of the Ferrari was enough to keep Raikkonen behind. The rest of the circuit simply had no other overtaking potential.
This led to a fairly dull race with very little action. The teams being able to comfortably pull off a one-stop also meant there was no impact from the strategy departments to shake up the order in the final stages, as had been seen in the likes of China and Canada earlier in the season.
There were only three races left to go. They had to be better than this.
Result: 1/5
Next up: ABU DHABI
Previous entries in the series can be found here
Part 17: South Korea