Fernando Alonso won from eighth on the grid as a suspended, wet-then-dry race at Sepang handed Sergio Perez his first podium for Sauber.
Fernando Alonso won the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix for Ferrari at Sepang on 25 March 2012 after starting eighth. Sergio Perez took his first podium for Sauber in second, with Lewis Hamilton third from pole. It was round two of the season.
Fernando Alonso won the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix at the Sepang International Circuit on 25 March 2012, starting eighth on the grid. Sergio Perez finished second for Sauber, and Lewis Hamilton was third from pole. It was the second round of the season and the 14th running of the race in Malaysia.
Who won the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix?
Fernando Alonso won for Ferrari after starting eighth, and the result lifted him to the top of the Drivers' Championship. Sergio Perez finished second for Sauber, which recorded its best result outside its BMW years, and Hamilton completed the podium from pole. The race covered 56 laps through heavy rain, a safety car period and a long suspension.
The result was Perez's first podium. It also gave a Ferrari customer engine its first podium since the 2008 Italian race, when Vettel won in a Ferrari-engined Toro Rosso. Jean-Eric Vergne scored his first Formula One points in only his second race, finishing eighth.
A rain-hit Sepang race, an eighth-place start for Alonso and a first podium for Perez.
What did the championship look like after Sepang?
Alonso moved to the top of the Drivers' Championship after winning from fifth in the standings. Hamilton was second on 30 points, five behind him, and Jenson Button dropped to third. McLaren still led the Constructors' Championship, 13 points ahead of Red Bull.
Mark Webber stayed fourth, one point behind Button, while Perez climbed to fifth. Ferrari moved ahead of Sauber into third in the Constructors' table.
What rules and tyre issues came before the race?
Claims that Mercedes' F-duct breached the rules were dismissed by the FIA, so the team could race an unaltered car. Heikki Kovalainen and Kimi Raikkonen each started five places back after penalties. Pirelli's prime tyre was the silver-banded hard compound, with the white-banded medium as the option.
Red Bull and Lotus had asked for a final ruling on the Mercedes system before the race. Kovalainen had been penalised for overtaking cars on a restart before crossing the first safety car control line in Australia. Article 40.8 governs restarts behind the safety car, and it bars overtaking until that line has been crossed.
Raikkonen's penalty came after his team changed the gearbox following Friday practice. Massa received a fresh F2012 chassis for the weekend after a poor showing in Melbourne, and Ferrari denied reports that Perez, a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy, would replace him.
HRT had failed to qualify in Australia, and Pedro de la Rosa expected the Drag Reduction System being added to the F112 to be worth up to a second on each lap in qualifying. Last year the soft compound had been the yellow-banded tyre, whereas this year the option was the white-banded medium. There was one DRS zone, the same as in 2011, detected on the back straight and activated after the final corner.
How did practice go?
Lewis Hamilton was fastest in the first practice session and repeated the trick in the second, while Nico Rosberg topped the third and final session. Practice was disrupted by a fire at the Lotus premises and a damp track, though nobody was injured.
In the first session Hamilton led ahead of Vettel and Rosberg. Romain Grosjean was fifth despite his car sticking in seventh gear, and Jenson Button was ninth before he had to stop early when the team found an oil leak. Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso finished 13th and 15th, while HRT's Narain Karthikeyan was crippled by transmission problems. The second session saw Hamilton repeat his performance, one tenth slower than before. Michael Schumacher was second-fastest and Button third, while Bruno Senna, back in his own car after Valtteri Bottas had driven it in the morning, finished 19th. Alonso climbed to sixth by the end of the day, and Massa dropped to 16th.
Early on Saturday a fire broke out at the Lotus premises after an electrical fault in a refrigerator. The reception unit and the team kitchen were destroyed, but nobody was hurt. Light rain during the GP2 support race left the track damp for the final session, and several drivers ran wide before a dry line formed.
Rosberg topped the sixty-minute session and was the only driver to go below 1:37 in any practice session. Alonso was 13th, 1.3 seconds behind him, and Massa was 16th, a further second adrift. Both HRT drivers remained about five seconds off the pace.
How did qualifying shape the grid?
Lewis Hamilton took pole by four tenths of a second, ahead of Jenson Button and Michael Schumacher. Alonso and Perez qualified eighth and ninth, while Jean-Eric Vergne started 18th. Kovalainen dropped to the back of the grid after a five-place penalty.
Qualifying was hot and sunny, with the air at 32 degrees Celsius (90 Fahrenheit) and the track at 46 degrees Celsius (115 Fahrenheit). Most drivers set early banker laps on the harder prime tyre, while Alonso and Massa used the option tyres to avoid elimination. Mark Webber switched late to softer tyres and set the fastest time, 1:37.172, which kept both HRT cars inside the 107 percent limit.
Vergne lost grip on his final timed lap and was eliminated 18th, ahead of the Caterham cars of Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov. Kovalainen was later sent to the back of the grid for a five-place penalty earned at the previous race, the first time that had happened to him.
In the second session Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest time, while Pastor Maldonado was quickest of those who missed the final session. Sergio Perez set the first timed lap of the session, and Massa cut his gap to Alonso from a second to four tenths. Paul di Resta narrowly beat Nico Hulkenberg for 14th, and Ricciardo took 15th, three spots in front of Vergne in the sister car. Massa, in his new chassis, reached 12th, and Alonso made it through. Schumacher was briefly eleventh until both Mercedes drivers completed hot laps before the flag.
Hamilton's pole came on his first attempt, and then he returned to the pits. Button was second, one tenth behind, and Schumacher third, his best qualifying result since returning to the sport. Webber and Raikkonen set identical times, but Webber was fourth because he set his first.
Raikkonen's five-place penalty dropped him from fifth to tenth, moving Vettel up to fifth, as he had set his lap on the harder prime compound. Romain Grosjean was sixth, Rosberg seventh, Alonso eighth and Perez ninth. The first eight cars were all within half a second of each other.
What happened in the rain-hit race?
The race began on intermediate tyres because of the rain, with the two HRT cars alone on full wets. A safety car came out on lap seven, and the race was suspended on lap nine, leaving the cars stationary for about fifty minutes before the restart.
Romain Grosjean made a strong start from seventh and was third into the first corner, but he collided with Michael Schumacher at turn four and both spun. Grosjean retired on lap four after going into the gravel. Sergio Perez changed to full wets after one lap, a move that later carried him onto the podium.
Jean-Eric Vergne was the only driver still on intermediates when the suspension came, so he was able to change to full wets without making a stop. Many teams covered their cars with gazebos to keep them and their equipment dry while the race was halted.
The restart came at around 17:15 local time, behind the safety car. As the track dried, pit crews tried to dry the team pit boxes. After four laps behind the safety car, most drivers pitted again for intermediates.
On lap 15 Jenson Button locked his rear wheels and collided with Karthikeyan, forcing a front-wing change that ended his podium hopes. He recovered some places but could not reach the top ten. Alonso took the lead on lap 16 by passing Perez, and he gave it up only briefly during a stop on lap 40.
Rosberg's tyres overheated, so he pitted early for more intermediates. Heavier rain was forecast for lap 31 but never arrived. Perez closed in on Alonso, and the forecast kept most cars on wet tyres even as the track dried.
Daniel Ricciardo was the first to gamble on dry tyres, on lap 37, and his times went purple in every sector on the timing screens. He set the fastest lap by about three seconds over Perez, and that started the switch to slicks for everyone else.
Alonso pitted on lap 40 and Perez waited a lap, which cost him ground. Perez dropped to 7.180 seconds behind after his stop, then cut the gap back on slicks to within half a second of the leader.
On lap 50 Perez was told by radio to be careful because the team needed that position, with 18 points on offer for second. Perez then ran too wide over the curb at turn 14, costing him at least five seconds and keeping him in second place.
Commentators questioned whether Sauber, which takes its engines from Ferrari, had passed a coded message to Perez. Sauber denied the suggestion firmly after the race.
Late on Vettel picked up a puncture after contact with the front wing of Karthikeyan. He had pitted from fourth and finished 11th. Karthikeyan finished 21st, but a 20-second penalty for the collision was applied after the flag.
Pastor Maldonado retired on the penultimate lap with an engine failure, which gave Michael Schumacher points for the first time this year.
Who were the top finishers?
| Finish | Driver | Team | Grid | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 8 | Win; took the Drivers' lead |
| 2 | Sergio Perez | Sauber | 9 | First podium; team's best result |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | 1 | Pole; third place |
| 8 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso | 18 | First Formula One points |
| 11 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 5 | Puncture after contact with Karthikeyan |
Why did the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix matter?
The race lifted Alonso to the top of the title table and gave Sauber and Perez their first podium. The race also showed how much the timing of tyre changes could matter in mixed conditions.
After the race Vettel and Christian Horner criticised Karthikeyan's driving, and Karthikeyan hit back with insults. He later called a truce, saying he respected Vettel's ability and that the matter should be dealt with maturely.
