The 2012 Formula One seasons considered by many to be the greatest Formula One season in the history of the illustrious sport
The season included seven different race winners in the first seven races
Niko's first victory Michaels phantom pole Webber's final victory the miracle of Maldonado at Spain
Alonzo's final title fight his real final shot
MacLaren's last win the 2012 season also saw the return of a former world champion in
2007 Kimi räikkönen today's battle-hardened veterans were forged as the likes of Perez Ricardo Grosjean and hülkenberg all came through
Especially in 2012 on top of all that there were six world champions on the grid at the exact same time
the drama began even in pre-season where Ferrari did not look like themselves and
McLaren looked like the car to beat that year. We start this story by looking at Australia round one
Ferraris pre-season was carried into Australia round one where they qualified 12th and 16th on the grid
Also consistent with pre-season testing McLaren locked out the front row with Lewis Hamilton taking pole position and Jenson Button
Right behind him
Buttons weekend only got that much better when he overtook Lewis Hamilton going into the first corner the 2009 driver world champion
Never looked back and he took victory in that first race
Not the best of starts after earning pole for Hamilton as he dropped back to p3
After a Vettel overtook him after a VSC the top five were rounded out by Mark Webber getting p4 and Alonso earning at p5
round two Malaysia
The drivers were met with heavy rain at the Malaysian Grand Prix
Similar to Hamilton's dominance in 2019 McLaren yet again locked out the front row as Lewis Hamilton took his second consecutive pole
This is also the round where we start to notice
Lewis is having trouble in the pits and it's going to be a consistent theme a delayed pitstop
Took Lewis out of contention of winning. This race after rain had actually stopped the Grand Prix and restarted it
Fernando Alonso inherited that lead and an unlikely candidate emerge in Malaysia
We see Sergio Perez actually step into second place chasing down
Fernando Alonso and not only was he trailing Alonso and chasing him. He was gaining on him
The track was clearly drying up and Daniel Ricciardo actually triggered a massive wave of pit stops
Sergio found himself on the tail end of that wave of pit stops and it hurt him he was about five seconds behind Alonso now
But it didn't matter Sergio in the rain began to catch Alonso yet again
And it looked like he was probably going to catch him and then a simple error ruined his potential to have his first race win
Which is seven laps to go
He actually ran wide at turned 14 and lost a ton of time that he was actually never able to make up
Alonso went on to take his first victory of the season and while not p1
Sergio was still on the podium in p2 taking home a bunch of points that are certainly gonna help him out throughout the season
Hamilton rounded out the podium at the Malaysian Grand Prix as Mark Weber ended up p4 with Kimi räikkönen taken p5
So after two rounds of formula 1 racing we have two different Formula One race winners the next race in the Formula One calendar saw
The emergence of another young talent a future world champion we're talking about of course
Nico Rosberg where he gets his first pole and first victory round three China
Even before the Chinese Grand Prix actually began
Lotus and Formula One had officially filed a complaint with the FIA back in pre-season testing about the Mercedes rear wing
Essentially what this claim amounted to was Mercedes had created the f-duct effect
This would exponentially improve the DRS mechanisms as it would channel air back through the front of the car the FIA
Ultimately throughout the objection and it was decided right before the Chinese Grand Prix that Mercedes
Had had a legal car the whole time
So what the claims dismiss Mercedes were allowed to race normally without altering the car with mini thought?
Was a car with double DRS and it became very apparent immediately
that Schumacher and Rosberg were gonna be quick at this track Rosberg ended up taking his first ever pull and
Translated that into his first ever victory Rosberg was helped by the fact that Hamilton had just received a gearbox infraction and was dropped down
promoting Michael Schumacher up to p2
Michael was not ultimately able to convert on this as he ended up retiring from the race having issues that looked a lot like Haas
2018 where he couldn't get his high round straight, but Rosberg was not out of the clear yet
He was being hunted down and quick by Jenson Button. And just when it looked like Jenson Button was gonna catch Nico Rosberg
Consistent with McLaren s-- issues all year long in pit lane
Jenson Button was a victim of his garage who actually ended up making a mistake and costing him quite a lot of time
Kimi räikkönen was running. Well, he was on par and right on pace with the second-place finish
He wore his tires out and lost 11 places in a single lap and this really woke up Rosberg's garage
Rosberg began to conserve his tires, but now he was under attack from Button who was recovering from that horrible pit mistake an
Interval fiefdom between the two McLaren cars allowed Rosberg to conserve his tires make it to the end of the race and take
P1 button came back to take P 2 and we see Hamilton actually take his third consecutive podium and his third consecutive
third-place finish and this
Consistency of being on the podium actually after the Chinese Grand Prix round three put him in first place in the Formula One Championship
Buttons performance and comeback was good enough to put him p2 in the Formula One Championship
With Fernando Alonso actually chasing in p3 after he had finished ninth place in the Grand Prix and not to be overshadowed
Roman Grosjean actually saw himself score his first points in for the one
getting p6 in the Chinese Grand Prix three rounds of Formula One racing down three different race winners as
If the stakes couldn't get any higher as if the drama couldn't be any greater
round for Bahrain
Protests have been occurring daily in the Shiite villages around Bahrain's capital and the clashes have been
Intensifying in the run-up to the Formula One Grand Prix this weekend an event which these protesters see as a publicity stunt
For the country's rulers to make it seem like the nation is more unified than it actually is
Despite the geopolitical tensions and all of the criticism that FIA and Fort were the one in general
receiving for racing at Bahrain many people thought that Bahrain
internally were using the race as a way to say that the country is safe and everything is fine and
It sparked a lot of protest very very dangerous protests for everyone involved for the drivers for all of the team
out of sheer damage control and safety
It was thought that the FAA would forgo the round for in Bahrain, but they ended up racing anyway
And this time it was Red Bulls turn to answer as the reigning world champion had yet to win a Grand Prix and respond
They did Sebastian Vettel took pole in Bahrain and ended up taking the victory in Bahrain
he faced relentless and continued pressured from Kimi räikkönen the
2007 world champion Kimi had one opening and even to this day people talk about was that a double move to defend it by
vessel
But it turns out all illegal all safe Sebastian Vettel took the victory Kimi räikkönen took p2 and Roman Grosjean took
P3 Hamilton was a distant
eighth yet again plagued by his pit crews inability to get him out of the garage quickly and
Webber not necessarily doing an incredible job all season long in terms of winning races
He did get yet
Another fourth place finish that combined with Sebastian Vettel's win puts Red Bull in the lead of the Constructors Championship
in front of McLaren
Which was a massive deal Lotus his performance at the Bahrain Grand Prix put them in a third place in the Constructors Championship
and while many people in certain circles in certain corners of the internet may argue about vettel's decision to move and defend his position with
Rykon and trying to overtake their what people talk about more is Formula One's decision to even race in Bahrain knowing what was going on
Geopolitically knowing what it signaled to the people of Bahrain if they ended up racing there
It was just a move that still is talked about and criticized heavily, but the show must go on
So that's four different races for different winners and we go into the fifth round round five Spain
As we continue the controversy Lewis Hamilton took pole position
But just after finishing his lap his car stopped it was clear
Hamilton was not running on sufficient fuel Pastor Maldonado was waiting in the wings as he qualified p2
But inherited pole position after the penalty was given to Hamilton and he was sent to the back of the grid
joining Maldonado on the front row was Fernando Alonso who that's not the best person to see next to you as a been racing and
Starting well the entire season and Williams had yet to see a Grand Prix victory in over 100 Grand Prix starts
Not unsurprisingly Fernando Alonso double world champion actually used his Ferrari to take control of the race going into the first turn
Maldonado was a forced to chase Alonso until the round of pit stops actually kicked off
After the exit of the pit stops, it was clear. Maldonado was gonna take the lead
He actually ended up holding on to this lead becoming the first Venezuelan driver to ever win a Grand Prix after
130 Grand Prix starts Williams returned to the top of the podium something. They haven't done since one Pablo Montoya won in Brazil in
2004 a total of three world titles actually joined Maldonado on top of the podium
Kimi räikkönen was p3 with Fernando Alonso in p2 and as we keep track of the
Championship the other drivers had good recoveries Lewis Hamilton after his penalty from the qualifying session starting 24th in the grid
Worked his way all the way back to p8 Sebastian Vettel actually had a drive-through penalty and some issues with his car
But ultimately he overtook Rosberg in the late stage of the race to give him p6 with Rosberg splitting the two
That p6 by vets will actually kept his championship lead for the Formula One season
after a bit of shuffling throughout the Formula One ratings
We see a fifth winner and a fifth Grand Prix before we can even start racing
we see even more controversy as there is a massive fire in the recent winners pit box as
Williams have to put out this giant fire that is engulfing everything in their garage everything in the myths of an extremely
contentious and hotly contested
Formula One Grand Prix season we see the entire community come together
Everyone on the grid pulling their weight getting what they can grabbing extinguishers and helping Williams not as a competitor
But more so as a loving community
It was their actions the quick actions of everyone on the grid that helped put this fire out that ended up saving lives
Likely and even the season of Williams as they were able to put that out round six Monaco
Consistent with the entire season thus far
Monaco began with controversy as members of the grid were protesting the rb8 in parts of their floor
Red Bull took a gamble here. They knew the protests were gonna come to fruition after the race at least
That was a gamble that they had to take if they did Webber and Vettel would be disqualified from the race
But if they started from the back of the grid, they would be fine and no matter what the decision was
Red Bull decided to race anyway not
respect the protest and stay were they qualified now all that was left to do was for the Red Bull drivers to deliver and
That's exactly what they did
Despite Schumacher actually ending the qualifying session as fastest man on the time sheet his five-place grid penalty
Put him in at P six for the start of the Grand Prix
Which was great news for the RB 8 as Mark Weber was promoted to p1 and on pole
similar to Ricardo's efforts to hold on to his victory
2018 in Monaco the RB 8 of a mark of Weber while not engine related was really struggling with the tires
Had it been any other circuit there is no way he would've held that place
But he did and it was a very close race as they went bumper to bumper to bumper
p1 p2 p3 with Webber holding on to his position followed closely by Nico Rosberg
And right behind him for an under Alonso Alonzo's podium in Monaco actually kept him in p3 and the championship and on the Constructors side
After the protest that was initially raised at the start of the Grand Prix was not actually followed through on
It turned out that Red Bull actually held on to first place in the championship round
7 Canada
In almost comedic relief fashion the FIA before the Canadian Grand Prix even start
Declare that the rv-8
In fact in Monaco was using an illegal floor
But it didn't matter because they were still able to retain the points they had earned which doesn't make a lot of sense nonetheless
Redbull went on with the ground free they ended up changing exactly what Charlie whiting had expressed
They needed to change then Vettel still took pole by a comfortable margin
Despite the fact that redbull had gotten out to an early lead
it was clear that the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton and
Fernando Alonso's Ferrari were looking pretty racy
all three of the top drivers went into the pit stops around the same time and it looked like they were all going to be
on the same exact strategy
But as it turns out the Red Bull and the Ferrari decided to convert to a one-stop strategy
Considering the situation with the tire life Lewis Hamilton continued with his original strategy
Ultimately, the two stop strategy was the correct one, of course because he ended up chasing down pretty easily
Sebastian Vettel's car and Fernando Alonso who Fernando Alonso was passed by not only the Lotus of groma and Rajan
But also of Sergio Perez despite Hamilton's victory in Canada, he was still experiencing some pit lane problems
So that was worth noting as this would
continue on
throughout the season and the plot thickens further as grow John's p2 effort actually put the Lotus in p2 ahead of the Ferrari now in
the Constructors Championship
With seven races down we have seven different race winners. And here's how the drivers championship
Looks after those seven races if Hamilton and p1 with 88 points Alonso right behind him with 86 points
Vettel hot on his tail with 85 points and Webber who's had a tough season thus far still in the hunt at 79 points
Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes at 67 points
round 8 Valencia
Sebastian Vettel looked to be up to the task to take over the championship in this race
Throughout qualifying throughout the weekend throughout the start of the race
He looked like he could run away and just disappear something
He was doing a lot in 2011 Vettel was fortunate and that he avoided early incidents in a first lap incident
He was then not helped by the fact that there was a virtual safety cart employee
But even after that he still pulled clear by 20 seconds as soon as we thought that the 2011 championship car was back
disaster struck just as he was pulling off his alternator broke and on lap 33
He was out of the Grand Prix this left Alonso in sole leadership and out in front by pretty large
margin
Roman Grosjean who had been coming on as of late started to chase down the double world champion and
On lap 40 his alternator broke that left. Lewis hamilton Kimi räikkönen in Maldonado in that order chasing Alonso down
When it was clear that Kimi räikkönen was gonna get through
It was only a matter of time before Maldonado was able to pass Lewis Hamilton. His tires were dying and Maldonado was quicker
It became evident that he was frustrated with the fact that he was not getting beyond
Hamilton and precious time was slipping away and he was fighting for that podium spot
That reared its ugly head and they made contact with each other
Maldonado was given
post-race a drive-through penalty and Lewis was knocked out of the race with
Maldonado's nose actually being broken in that incident all while this is happening
The carnage up front is occurring Schumacher and Webber are both fighting their way through
The entire pack had they not been so relentless about this
They would not have been able to place where they did as Michael Schumacher
Took his first podium since 2006 and Mark Webber ended up p4, which are very precious points in this kind of battle
It was a very emotional victory for Fernando Alonso. You gotta remember this is in
One of the fiercest battles we've seen in Formula One history
He's the first multi Grand Prix winner of the entire year of 2012. This is his home race in Valencia
He accomplished his starting p11 on the grid fighting his way to this victory and earning it and on top of all that vettel's
Retirement put him in fourth place. So now Fernando Alonso was 26 points in front of Sebastian Vettel round nine
Silverstone
It was time for Mark Weber to step back into the spotlight
Alonzo's early lead though proved to be tough for him
Alonso chose to drive on the harder tires and switch to the soft compounds later
Which was the detriment of Alonso at the British grunt Prix Mark Weber chose to end on the hard tires
That gave him a major lap advantage with just five laps to go Mark Weber pulls off a beautiful
Overtake around the outside long way down the Wellington straight and held on to this position ultimately until the very end
His Silverstone win put him within a baker's dozen of Alonso's championship lead
He had over the field those two started to pull away from Sebastian Vettel who was chasing in third place at the time
round 10
Germany
Hockenheim gave the entire grid another good show as we saw Fernando Alonso control most of the race as he qualified on pole position
More bad news for Hamilton though on lap 3 he received a puncture and had to pit early that left Jenson Button with the hopes
Of McLaren on his back as he chased down the current leader Fernando Alonso with Sebastian Vettel very much in this race
He was chasing down Jenson Button trying to make a pass and he did that
He was successful overtaking him in the hairpin
the issue was this was considered an illegal overtake by the FAA as he had all four tires off the circuit as such he was
Handed a 20 second time penalty
this ended up classifying him in fifth place is
Promoted button to second place and put Kimi on yet another podium in p3 to make matters even worse the RB eights were yet again?
Accused by the FIA of having some form of illegal alteration to the vehicle at the time
It was thought that the RB 8 had some form of legal engine mapping after the race later
It was determined that this was not the case, but it's worth noting and calling out the fact that that's yet another
Allegation - the Red Bull car. So now that we're halfway through the season
Let's stop and take a look at where we on the standings
We see Fernando Alonso has a commanding lead of 34 points
The next nearest driver is the Red Bull of Mark Webber after that
We have Sebastian Vettel who's 10 points behind his teammate
The driver that was falling behind at this point going into the 11th round was Louis Hamilton if he was going to stay in contention
He needed to do something and he need to do it right now
round 11 hungry
Just when you started to count Lewis Hamilton out for the 2012 title hunt
He stepped up and hungry and delivered a first place finish after taking pole at the Hungarian Grand Prix
He ended up holding that position dealt the entire race
The only time that the leadership actually changed was when Kimi räikkönen took over during his pit stop strategy
Which he executed perfectly this produced yet
Another double podium finish by Lotus with Roman grudge on actually finishing p3. Despite Alonso failing to a win Hungary
He still saw himself distance from the next nearest driver while he was 40 points clear of Mark Webber
round 12 Belgium
After a relatively quiet last couple of Grand Prix in terms of on track action
We see one of the most famous in terms of the carnage and chaos and just absolute pure pandemonium
Kickoff at Spa which is initiated by Roman Grosjean making contact with Lewis Hamilton thinking he's clear
He most certainly was not this immediately retired himself Lewis, Hamilton Fernando
Alonso and Sergio Perez this had major impact and implications on the championship race
Button ended up controlling that race Sebastian Vettel despite being p10 fought his way all the way back to p2
Kimi räikkönen's Lotus saw some questionable decisions as his pit
stop strategy left him where he started p3 the chaos that grow John had
Incidentally kicked off actually left the door open for some pretty remarkable results as we saw Nico Hulkenberg finished p4 in that race
Jenson buttons victory that day did a lot for him in the championship race short
But it also did a lot for Sebastian Vettel who quietly had been picking up points throughout all these races and yet another P
Too especially when Lanza was retiring on the first lap after that incident that left
Sebastian Vettel within 24 points of Fernando Alonso
For causing one of the most hectic grunt Prix starts we've ever seen in Formula One Roman Grazia and received a race ban
Which at the time was pretty rare to get and he took it pretty hard
But for obvious reasons also considering he was running pretty well in the championship race himself
He was quoted as saying I was sure I was in front of him. So a small mistake made a big incident
I didn't change my line. I went from left to right. I was not really wanting to put anyone into the wall
I'm not here to stop the race in the first corner
I'm very very sorry and I'm glad that nobody's hurt but I have to say it is a very very hard decision to hear
round 13
Italy
We end the European tour in Monza
Of course Felipe Massa who's been relatively quiet throughout the season had a major role to play in this qualifying session in particular
He owed Fernando Alonso the slipstream, of course
This didn't really go as planned and Fernando Alonso actually suffered an anti-roll bar failure at the qualifying session
This forced him to qualify and start all Nagar at p10 but the problems didn't stop here for Ferrari
They actually lost the ability to communicate with the pit wall as it related to their telemetry data as well
Alonso actually went on to get another podium and finish the race in p3
Really there was only one driver giving Hamilton any trouble after he won the pole and Monza and it was of course
Sergio Perez who was destined who was driven to get on the podium yet again for a third time in that season
Perez actually started outside of the points behind a Fernando Alonso
but he put on the hard tyres and went to work and his
Persistence putting in those fast quick times cut into the lead and pushed him to the front of the grid
And just when McLaren thought they were gonna see a double podium Jenson Button actually experienced a fuel pressure problem
He was knocked out of the race right then and there
Sebastian Vettel's run-ins with the FAA were not over as he received a drive-through penalty for pushing Fernando Alonso wide off the track
He didn't really matter too much though
Because Sebastian Vettel actually experienced another alternator failure like he did a couple of run free ago
Seb wasn't the only Red Bull car to actually retire from Monza that day Mark Webber was forced to retire
The double retirement from the Red Bull team severely heard both of their chances
Especially Seb ability to come back and fight in his drivers championship
This looked like the beginning of the end for him as Lewis Hamilton jumped over not only Kimi räikkönen
But Sebastian Vettel and he took over second place in the driver's championship as it related to the Constructors
Hamilton's finish actually pushed McLaren up closer to Red Bull in the Constructors Championship
The real controversy was about the fact that Lewis Hamilton had just earned another victory with the McLaren
But he was still recovering from his decision to tweet telemetry data from the last race. It's
when he was upset that button had a different qualifying setup and
Significantly better pace throughout qualifying. Well, the technical problems combined with the fact that the pit crew could not get it together
This was all mounting for Hamilton
The speculation was already there about him talking with Mercedes about leaving McLaren and replacing Schumacher
But if you weren't really sure despite even winning Monza after that tweet
He still never really recovered revealing your telemetry data to your entire public audience
That's just out of the question and it would never happen today
but that was really the straw that broke the back for the entire relationship that was already on thin ice as
We close the books on the European stretcher races ending in Monza
We open a new chapter in the Formula 1 2012 schedule is at this time when the championship swings
Wildly in favour of Sebastian Vettel his stretch of four races where he gets 100
Championship points. This is not only helpful to his position in the driver's championship
But this is crushing to the entire field to all of his competition in the 2012 season
Kickoff the age to stretch two races at the Singapore Grand Prix around 14
Sebastian's hopes for a title in 2012 were really helped by the fact that even in Singapore Hamilton took pole
He was off to a good start but suffered a gearbox problem while leading the race
This was yet
another McLaren issue that just really nailed at home that Luis was
Making the right decision by leaving McLaren and interestingly enough
This Grand Prix was actually cut short due to the time line something
We don't see too often
but it's because of so many restarts and safety cars Sebastian Vettel was certainly helped by that after inheriting the lead from
Hamilton and owning all of the restarts Sebastian Vettel took his first victory since the Bahrain Grand Prix
But he couldn't shake off Alonso just yet
Alonso stood on the podium with him after the Singapore Grand Prix in third place with Jenson Button splitting the two
Paul de Resta had an incredible result in p4 with Rosberg following just behind him with the lotuses going six and
seven back to back Kimi leading Roman and Vettel begins to chip away at this lead that Fernando Alonso has been comfortably sitting on with
194 points after the Grand Prix Vettel sitting on
165 with Kimi räikkönen now bypassing Hamilton with 149 compared luis is 142
Mark Weber brings up to top 5 to
132 points Hamilton's gearbox failure is responsible for the two position change
to up by Sebastian Vettel and to down seen by Lewis Hamilton
If Vettel was gonna use any moment
He was going to use the Singapore Grand Prix as a rosetta stone in the launching ground for his championship
Title fight to start right now and that it does
Riding too high that he had from Singapore the Japanese Grand Prix proved to be no different for vets
'el especially in the fact that Alonso had finally started to see some poor luck of his own his twenty
Nine point lead was no longer that comfortable and it was in
dangerous position as he had a first laugh DNF due to an incident as if Mark Webber's title fight couldn't get any more unlucky or
Unlikely, he was victim of what roman Grosjean was building up a reputation of doing knocking people out of the race
despite a rather rambunctious
Grand Prix Sebastian Vettel remained focused and took another grand slam and added that to his tally as he took pole position
Led every lap
Won the race and set the fastest lap time of the race joining Vettel on the podium at the Japanese Grand Prix where to first
Philippe mass's first podium of the 2012 season also
Kobayashi's first podium of his career
Zeb's 25 points in Japan or back breaking to the
Championship as now it was closer than we've ever seen it all season long after Fernando came up empty-handed
his lead is now down to four points over Sebastian Vettel 194 to 190 Kimi räikkönen remaining steady at
157 Lewis Hamilton's ten points were good to get him to 152 still behind Kimi and Mark Webber falling even further behind to 130 for
The RB eights continued to show their pace both of them as we went into round 16, Korea
And while vets all had all of the momentum it was Mark Webber who took pole in Korea
Sebastian Vettel at this point just looked unbeatable as he overtook his teammates and never looked back
Taking another victory another 25 championship points in Korea
McLaren has yet
another horrific weekend as Lewis Hamilton experiences an
Anti-roll bar failure and Jenson Button retired early from the race having another incident on the first lap
It was that incident that actually led to a prolonged safety car
That it just became about tire management after a front row lockout by the Red Bulls
They finished on the podium
One to seeing the pairing of the Ferrari drivers in three four with Alonso taking the third spot on the podium
the championship was now in
Sebastian Vettel's hands as he enjoyed a six-point lead over Fernando Alonso with 215 verses to 209
respectively Kimi's conservative race kept him in a third place with
167 points while Hamilton was only able to muster the Lona points up to
153 points, but one point I had a Mark Webber at 152
Another weekend presented another opportunity for Sebastian Vettel to show his dominance over the field and continue his run as we go to round 17
India
Despite Ferraris newly announced plan that they would be introducing upgrades to the Ferrari package every single race the rest of the year
It didn't matter because in India
Vettel continued to win and it would have been his third
Grand Slam in a second in just two races but Jenson Button denied him as he took the fastest lap and while
Alonzo's drive was still impressive at p2. It's still seven more points
he lost to Vettel that leaves him 13 points adrift of Sebastian Vettel now with Kimi räikkönen in third place with
173 points Mark Webber with 167 and Lewis Hamilton, though
He did get the final spot on that podium that day
He is down to 165 two points behind his teammate Alonso's performance
That day was important for the Constructors Championship as he was able to continue to pad further
Ferraris second place as they go into the next round with 316 points to McClaren's
306 whereas Red Bull were running away with it with 407 points the last few Grand Prix's were very impressive for a Sebastian Vettel
Yes, but he didn't really have to overcome much in terms of bad luck. But that was all gonna change in Abu Dhabi
He liked Hamilton a few races ago actually won the qualifying session, but it turns out he did not have enough fuel
so he was relegated to the back of the grid Red Bull decided to seize this opportunity to
Just go ahead and add parts and start him from pit lane
They figured Abu Dhabi, it's not really known for being able to overtake
So if we're gonna try to get these points
We really need to add to this car and improve the aero package you might as well take the full-on penalty starting from pit lane
Not only was subs Drive not for points. It was good enough for podium as he drove all the way back to p3
This was even after a nun plane stopped due to some tire problems some damage that he had occurred to his front wing Sebastian
Really did prove that it wasn't just about luck
He was taking luck into his own hands, and he was grabbing those points in another race another
Mechanical failure that Luis had from the leading position. I mean the luck Hamilton had and the McLaren's had throughout the year
They really were a championship winning car just another gutting blow to Hamilton as he had to drop out and retire
Despite Alonso only being good enough for p5 on Saturday. He actually finished on the podium in p2 in the race
The championship was now cut to just two contenders Sebastian Vettel sitting on 255 points
Well Fernando Alonso chasing him with the gap down just 210 at 2:45
And while the title fight was incredibly entertaining to watch it did
Overshadow the fact that Kimi räikkönen had an unbelievable race to actually win that Grand Prix and despite him winning
He was mathematically out of contention for the championship in p3 with 198 points
We head to the brand new circuit of Americas at the United States Grand Prix for round nineteen
What was most impressive about Alonso was the fact that Sebastian Vettel actually qualified on pole?
This race could have been over in his mind
But he continued to stay and be persistent and fight and Ferrari was very wise and showed how shrewd they were the fact that Felipe
Massa actually qualified p2
But they purposefully intentionally broke his gearbox seal that gave him a penalty pushed him back five spots and promoted
Alonso up from p8 to p7 because circuit Americas was new the even grid starts
Ferrari were expecting to actually have a really bad start because they were off the
Racing on Alonso benefited from that and they were correct as his now. Seventh place grid star actually gave him a
Significantly better start which he actually translated into a third place finish
Only to be outdone by Sebastian Vettel who lost a place after his pole to Lewis Hamilton who finished at first two men left
Two World Championships for both of them in just one Grand Prix to prove who's better in 2012
We go into round 20 Brazil
The 2012 season ended just like it started with Lewis, Hamilton
Easily taking pole position followed by Jenson Button on a front row lockout just behind them where the Red Bull pair and three and four
On the qualifying session and while there was a Ferrari just behind Vettel and p5. It wasn't Fernando Alonso
He actually qualified good enough for p8
Neither of the title fighters looked good, but it looked over for Fernando Alonso
He was gonna have to make up a lot of ground
This is going to be particularly tough at Interlagos in wet conditions and as we've learned throughout this entire video
The 2012 season was anything but squeaky clean and simple Sebastian Vettel's for place advantage
Evaporated in an instant and what could only be described as nightmarish by a Red Bull fan Sebastian Vettel did the unthinkable?
the worse that happened
He had a first lap spin due to contact while it appeared
His car was in one piece and was able to drive just fine
He was in dead last and to make matters even worse Fernando Alonso had actually promoted himself
There's driving even through lap 2 to p5
And while Alonso was shoring up his positions making sure to get as high as he possibly could to get the padding
He needed Sebastian Vettel was busy at work making as many passes as humanly possible as cars were dropping out left and right
Sebastian Vettel was overtaking people left and right Vettel had actually made his way all the way up to p4 behind Fernando Alonso
After some debris on the track and a restart that'll actually dropped back a little bit more as the dry
Conditions start to expose his lack of pace from the damage and his tire selection
And when it rained it really did pour for Lewis Hamilton and on his 2012 season as he was knocked out of the race by
contact from Nico hülkenberg giving his own teammate the lead in the Brazilian Grand Prix as if you couldn't be on the edge of your
Seat more Sebastian Vettel actually didn't have radio communications with his pit wall at the time
So when it started to rain
He made a decision to come in immediately and his team was absolutely not ready for him. This caused a delay
He did not need at the time
Sebastian emerged in seventh place who not having radio at the time was good enough fourth championship
Meanwhile, Ferrari did a wonderful job maximizing Alonso his track position getting him in second place after that stopped
But he was gonna have to catch Jenson Button if he wanted championship
He would never end up getting that opportunity as Paul to Resta crashed at the control line
Finishing the race under safety car the conclusion of the Brazilian Grand Prix was rather muted for such an eventful and exciting
championship season but regardless of how it ended what no one can take away from
Sebastian from alonso from anyone on the field that year. No one was handed a point
No inch was given everyone fought tooth and nail for everything despite
The odds in circumstances Vettel was quoted after as saying where do you start? Really?
I think you guys had your show and we had to really fight until the end subs candor an interview after that Grand Prix was
Something I'll personally never forget and was the inspiration for this video
Because it really was the last time I felt like Formula One was a show was entertaining
You never really knew what was gonna happen
And in honor of that in honor of the drivers that year in honor of the performances the comebacks
2012 for me really was the greatest season of living legends we've ever had for me the one my only goal my true objective with
This video is to reciprocate that hopefully you were entertained
hopefully you see the 2012 season for what it was and
Hopefully we won't have to wait that long until we get something like that again
this single piece of content took north of 50 hours to make for you between the research between the writing of the script itself between
The recording between the video editing and production and final output
This is a lot of work
But I do it because I'm a fan and I want to entertain you guys
So if you liked this video make sure to subscribe
Share it if I earned it like and leave a comment
all of that is really powerful and helping the channel grow and the more our channel grows the more production value I can add to
Each video the more content I can create and I can make it much much quicker
So with that said, thank you all for your time
Cheers to 2012 hopeful more like it and I'll see you all very very soon. Well done Seb
