The 2012 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 66th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 63rd FIA Formula One World Championship, a motor racing series for Formula One cars, recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) – the governing body of motorsport – as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. The championship was contested over twenty rounds, which started in Australia on 18 March and ended in Brazil on 25 November. The 2012 season saw the return of the United States Grand Prix, which was held at the Circuit of the Americas, a purpose-built circuit in Austin, Texas. After being cancelled in 2011 due to civil protests, the Bahrain Grand Prix also returned to the calendar.^[1]

The early season was tumultuous, with seven different drivers winning the first seven races of the championship; a record for the series. It was not until the European Grand Prix in June that a driver, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, won his second race of the year, and with it, emerged as a championship contender. Alonso maintained his hold on the championship lead for the next seven races, taking his third win in Germany and finishing on the podium in the United Kingdom, Italy and Singapore. However, costly first-lap retirements in Belgium and Japan allowed his rivals to catch up, and defending World Champion Sebastian Vettel – like Alonso, a two-time title winner – took the lead in the sixteenth race of the season. Vettel, too, encountered difficulties throughout the season; contact with a backmarker left him to finish outside the points in Malaysia, while alternator failures at the European and Italian Grands Prix cost him valuable points and exclusion from qualifying in Abu Dhabi led him to start from the pit lane. Vettel entered the final race of the season with a thirteen-point lead over Alonso. Alonso needed a podium finish to stand any chance of becoming World Drivers' Champion, but in a race of attrition that finished under the safety car, Vettel finished in sixth place, scoring enough points to win his third consecutive championship, becoming just the third driver in the sport's sixty-three-year history to do so. In the World Constructors' Championship, Red Bull Racing secured their third consecutive title when Sebastian Vettel finished second at the United States Grand Prix.

In addition to seeing seven different drivers win the first seven races, the 2012 season broke several records. The calendar for the season included twenty races, breaking the previous record of nineteen, which was first set in 2005. Six current or former World Drivers' Champions – Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Räikkönen, and Michael Schumacher – started the season, breaking the record of five established in 1970.^[2]

This was the last season for 7-time world champion, Michael Schumacher as he announced his retirement from Formula One for the second time, after the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Teams and drivers

The following twelve teams and twenty-five race drivers competed in the 2012 Formula One World Championship.^[5] The FIA published a provisional entry list on 30 November 2011,^[6] and the grid was finalised on 17 February.^[7] All teams competed with tyres supplied by Pirelli.^[8]

Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	No.	Race Drivers	Rounds
Red Bull Racing	Red Bull-Renault	RB8	Renault RS27-2012	1	Sebastian Vettel[9]	All
				2	Mark Webber[10]	All
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	McLaren-Mercedes	MP4-27	Mercedes FO 108Z	3	Jenson Button[11]	All
				4	Lewis Hamilton[12]	All
Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	F2012	Ferrari Type 056	5	Fernando Alonso[13]	All
				6	Felipe Massa[14]	All
Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes	F1 W03	Mercedes FO 108Z	7	Michael Schumacher[15]	All
				8	Nico Rosberg[16]	All
Lotus F1 Team	Lotus-Renault	E20	Renault RS27-2012	9	Kimi Räikkönen[17]	All
				10	Romain Grosjean[18]	1–12, 14–20
					Jérôme d'Ambrosio[19]	13
Sahara Force India F1 Team	Force India-Mercedes	VJM05	Mercedes FO 108Z	11	Paul di Resta[20]	All
				12	Nico Hülkenberg[20]	All
Sauber F1 Team	Sauber-Ferrari	C31	Ferrari Type 056	14	Kamui Kobayashi[21]	All
				15	Sergio Pérez[21]	All
Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	STR7	Ferrari Type 056	16	Daniel Ricciardo[22]	All
				17	Jean-Éric Vergne[22]	All
Williams F1 Team	Williams-Renault	FW34	Renault RS27-2012	18	Pastor Maldonado[23]	All
				19	Bruno Senna[24]	All
Caterham F1 Team	Caterham-Renault	CT01	Renault RS27-2012	20	Heikki Kovalainen[25]	All
				21	Vitaly Petrov[7]	All
HRT Formula 1 Team	HRT-Cosworth	F112	Cosworth CA2012	22	Pedro de la Rosa[26]	All
				23	Narain Karthikeyan[27]	All
Marussia F1 Team	Marussia-Cosworth	MR01	Cosworth CA2012	24	Timo Glock[28]	All
				25	Charles Pic[29]	All

Free practice drivers

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

Drivers that took part in free practice sessions during the 2012 FIA Formula One World Championship

Constructor	Practice drivers
	Driver name	Rounds
Caterham-Renault	Giedo van der Garde Alexander Rossi	3, 15–18, 20 5
Force India-Mercedes	Jules Bianchi	3, 5, 8–11, 13, 16, 18
Hispania-Cosworth	Dani Clos Ma Qinghua	5, 9–12, 16 13–14, 18–19
Marussia-Cosworth	Max Chilton	18
Sauber-Ferrari	Esteban Gutiérrez	17
Williams-Renault	Valtteri Bottas	2–5, 8–13, 15–18, 20
Sources:[30][21][23][31][32][33][34]

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^[36] – with final approval from the World Motor Sport Council granted in December of that year:^[35][37]

• Lotus became known as Caterham, reflecting team principal Tony Fernandes's purchase of Caterham Cars.^[38][39]
• Renault changed its constructor name to Lotus after Lotus Cars expanded its title sponsorship program to include teams in Formula One and support series GP2 and GP3.^[40]
• Virgin became Marussia, following increased ownership of the team by Russian sports car manufacturer Marussia Motors.^[41][42]

As a result of the name changes, Team Lotus and Lotus Renault GP declared that their ongoing dispute over the use of the Lotus name was over after they had reached an "amicable conclusion".^[43] Although the exact terms of the settlement were kept confidential, the joint statement detailed the transfer of the rights to the Lotus and Team Lotus names to Group Lotus's ownership.^[44]

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.^[45] 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^[46] – in which they finished ninth in the World Constructors' Championship with just five points – the team underwent a technical review, employing former McLaren designer Mike Coughlan (having served his suspension for his role in the 2007 Formula One espionage controversy) as Chief Designer, and promoting Jason Somerville to Head of Aerodynamics.^[47] Likewise, Marussia (then known as Virgin Racing) underwent a restructuring, splitting with Wirth Research mid-season after a technical review by Marussia Motors and the board of directors.^[48] The team also announced a technical partnership with McLaren that granted them access to McLaren's testing facilities as well as the purchase of Wirth Research facilities.^[49]

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.^[50] 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 were to become known as Mercedes AMG. The new name originates from AMG, Mercedes-Benz's performance and luxury road car brand.^[51]

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.^[52] Former Minardi driver Luis Pérez-Sala took Kolles's place as team principal.^[53] In January 2012, the team relocated to a new facility in Valencia^[54] before settling at a permanent facility in Caja Mágica, Madrid.^[55]

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.^[56] Kaltenborn's appointment made her the first female team principal in the sport's sixty-three-year history.^[57]

Driver changes

The 2012 season saw several driver changes. Lotus chose not to take up an option on Vitaly Petrov's contract,^[18][58] and did not offer Bruno Senna a new contract.^[18] Petrov and Senna were replaced by 2007 World Drivers' Champion Kimi Räikkönen – returning to the sport after two seasons competing in the World Rally Championship – and reigning GP2 Series champion Romain Grosjean, who also returned to the sport after a two-year absence.^[18] Petrov later replaced Jarno Trulli at Caterham;^[7] Trulli's replacement meant that the opening race of the season would be the first race since the 1973 German Grand Prix to take place without an Italian driver on the grid. Senna joined Williams,^[24] the team having previously attempted to secure Räikkönen for the season.^[59][60] Senna replaced Rubens Barrichello, who left Formula One after a record-breaking nineteen seasons. He later moved to IndyCar for the 2012 season, joining KV Racing Technology.^[61]

Like Räikkönen and Grosjean, Nico Hülkenberg also returned to Formula One, joining Force India alongside Paul di Resta.^[20] Adrian Sutil left the team, having spent six years with both Force India and its previous incarnations, Spyker and Midland.^[20] He initially sought a drive with Williams, before negotiations collapsed in December 2011.^[62] Sutil was later the subject of criminal action, charged with grievous bodily harm after allegedly assaulting a senior Renault team member with a glass in a Shanghai nightclub following the 2011 Chinese Grand Prix.^[63] Sutil was found guilty, and was sentenced to an eighteen-month suspended jail sentence and ordered to pay a €200,000 fine.^[64] Despite this, Sutil rejoined Force India for the 2013 season.^[65]

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.^[22] 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 driver contested the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Toyota, driving a TS030 Hybrid.^[66][67] Alguersuari was offered a seat at HRT, but turned it down^[68] and instead joined tyre supplier Pirelli as their test driver, developing tyre compounds for use in racing alongside former Virgin Racing driver Lucas di Grassi.^[69]

Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan returned to Formula One with HRT.^[26][27] 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. Vitantonio Liuzzi, who drove for HRT in 2011, joined the Indian i1 Super Series.^[70] The series was later postponed until 2013,^[71] but Liuzzi was unable to retain his seat with the team. At the launch of the HRT F112 in March, Liuzzi was confirmed as one of the team's testing and reserve drivers alongside both former GP2 Series driver Dani Clos and Ma Qinghua, the first ever Chinese driver to step into a Formula 1 car.^[33][72]

Jérôme d'Ambrosio left Marussia (then known as Virgin Racing) after the 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix.^[29] He later joined Lotus F1 as their third driver.^[73] Charles Pic – who placed fourth in the 2011 GP2 Series driving for Addax – joined Marussia, replacing d'Ambrosio.^[29]

Mid-season changes

Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=2012_Formula_One_World_Championship
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