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The 2012 Italian Grand Prix (officially the Formula 1 Gran Premio Santander d'Italia 2012) was the thirteenth race of the 2012 Formula One Season. It took place at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza on 9 September 2012. It was the 63rd consecutive running of the Italian Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship and the 62nd on the Monza circuit.

After his accident the previous race, Lotus driver Romain Grosjean was given a one-race ban and was replaced by third driver Jérôme d'Ambrosio

Pole position was taken by McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton, ahead of teammate Jenson Button. Third-placed Felipe Massa had his best qualifying result since the same race two years previously. His Ferrari teammate, Fernando Alonso, topped the first two sessions of qualifying before a problem meant the Spaniard only qualified in tenth place. Red Bull experienced a difficult qualifying, with Sebastian Vettel obtaining fifth on the grid with Mark Webber exiting in Q2.

Hamilton won the race with relative ease, only troubled by a strong-performing Sergio Pérez once Button had retired with fuel pressure issues. Pérez, having started twelfth on the grid, used the opposite tyre strategy to the rest of the drivers, was able to easily carve his way through the field in the second half of the race, finishing within five seconds of Hamilton. Alonso finished third, helped up a place by his teammate, who finished in fourth. Red Bull's race was even worse than qualifying; Vettel received a drive-through penalty before retiring towards the end of the race with alternator failure and Webber retired after flat-spotting all of his tyres and crashing.

Alonso's championship lead was extended to 37 points as a result of the race, with Hamilton taking second in the championship, one point ahead of Kimi Räikkönen and two ahead of Vettel. In the Constructors' Championship, McLaren closed the gap to Red Bull to 29 points.

Background[]

Tyres Available
Option Prime Inter Wet
MediumTyre HardTyre IntermediateTyre WetTyre

Going into the Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso lead the Drivers' Championship by 24 points over Sebastian Vettel, and Red Bull-Renault lead the Constructors' competition by 54 points ahead of McLaren-Mercedes.

The Monza circuit is unchanged from the layout used in 2011, and there are still two DRS zones.

The event was set to be a 50th career start for Vitaly Petrov, and 100th race for Pedro de la Rosa.

Lotus-Renault driver Romain Grosjean was suspended for this race, as a result of causing a first corner incident at the previous race. He was be replaced by Jérôme d'Ambrosio. Kevin Korjus became Lotus's backup driver for the weekend.

Pastor Maldonado was set to receive two five place grid penalties, one for being unable to serve his penalty in the previous race for jumping the start due to damage on his car that caused him to retire; the second for causing a collision with Timo Glock.

Emanuele Pirro served as the racing driver on board the stewards panel for the weekend. Pirro had competed in Formula One from 1989 through to 1991 racing for the Benetton and Scuderia Italia teams. Pirro however saw more success as a sports car racer winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans five times and being a double world champion of the American Le Mans series.

Entry list[]

The full entry list for the 2012 Italian Grand Prix is shown below:

No. Driver Entrant Constructor Chassis Engine Model Tyre
1 Germany Sebastian Vettel Austria Red Bull Racing Red Bull RB8 Renault RS27-2012 P
2 Australia Mark Webber Austria Red Bull Racing Red Bull RB8 Renault RS27-2012 P
3 United Kingdom Jenson Button United Kingdom Vodafone McLaren Mercedes McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes FO 108Z P
4 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton United Kingdom Vodafone McLaren Mercedes McLaren MP4-27 Mercedes FO 108Z P
5 Spain Fernando Alonso Italy Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari F2012 Ferrari 056 P
6 Brazil Felipe Massa Italy Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari F2012 Ferrari 056 P
7 Germany Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team Mercedes W03 Mercedes FO 108Z P
8 Germany Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team Mercedes W03 Mercedes FO 108Z P
9 Finland Kimi Räikkönen United Kingdom Lotus F1 Team Lotus E20 Renault RS27-2012 P
10 Belgium Jérôme d'Ambrosio United Kingdom Lotus F1 Team Lotus E20 Renault RS27-2012 P
11 United Kingdom Paul di Resta India Sahara Force India F1 Team Force India VJM05 Mercedes FO 108Z P
12 Germany Nico Hülkenberg India Sahara Force India F1 Team Force India VJM05 Mercedes FO 108Z P
14 Japan Kamui Kobayashi Switzerland Sauber F1 Team Sauber C31 Ferrari 056 P
15 Mexico Sergio Pérez Switzerland Sauber F1 Team Sauber C31 Ferrari 056 P
16 Australia Daniel Ricciardo Italy Scuderia Toro Rosso Toro Rosso STR7 Ferrari 056 P
17 France Jean-Éric Vergne Italy Scuderia Toro Rosso Toro Rosso STR7 Ferrari 056 P
18 Venezuela Pastor Maldonado United Kingdom Williams F1 Team Williams FW34 Renault RS27-2012 P
19 Brazil Bruno Senna United Kingdom Williams F1 Team Williams FW34 Renault RS27-2012 P
20 Finland Heikki Kovalainen Malaysia Caterham F1 Team Caterham CT01 Renault RS27-2012 P
21 Russia Vitaly Petrov Malaysia Caterham F1 Team Caterham CT01 Renault RS27-2012 P
22 Spain Pedro de la Rosa Spain HRT F1 Team HRT F112 Cosworth CA2012 P
23 India Narain Karthikeyan Spain HRT F1 Team HRT F112 Cosworth CA2012 P
24 Germany Timo Glock Russia Marussia F1 Team Marussia MR01 Cosworth CA2012 P
25 France Charles Pic Russia Marussia F1 Team Marussia MR01 Cosworth CA2012 P
Free Practice 1 only
11 France Jules Bianchi India Sahara Force India F1 Team Force India VJM05 Mercedes FO 108Z P
19 Finland Valtteri Bottas United Kingdom Williams F1 Team Williams FW34 Renault RS27-2012 P
23 China Ma Qinghua Spain HRT F1 Team HRT F112 Cosworth CA2012 P

Practice[]

FP1[]

In the first practice session Ma Qing Hua stood in for Narain Karthikeyan for HRT, becoming the first Chinese driver to participate at a Grand Prix weekend. Jules Bianchi replaced Paul di Resta at Force India whilst Valtteri Bottas stood in for Bruno Senna at Williams.

It was the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher that set the fastest time of the session closely followed by the McLaren of Belgium winner Jenson Button, teammate Nico Rosberg and the Ferrari of championship leader Fernando Alonso. Alonso notably stopped out on track with mechanical sessions late in the session.

Schumacher, Button, Rosberg, Felipe Massa, Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Räikkönen had notable minor offs when they hit the speed bumps at the chicanes. Raikkonen had the biggest off of all when his car hit one of the speed bumbs which proceeded to launch his car into the air. His Lotus suffered some minor damage which forced him to the pits for a new front wing. Raikkonen's new teammate Jerome d'Ambrosio, the replacement for regular driver Romain Grosjean performed admirably pacing his car quicker than Raikkonen for much of the session until he began focussing on long-distance runs where he finished the session 14th.

The Red Bull cars did not display any particular speed with Mark Webber finishing the session 9th and Sebastian Vettel finishing 11th. However they were suspected to be doing long-distance runs for much of the session.

Chinese driver Ma, in his second opportunity to drive an F1 car after the 2012 Young Driver Test, finished last and three seconds off the pace of regular driver Pedro de la Rosa in the HRT. Other third drivers participating in the session saw Valtteri Bottas finish the session 13th, three places behind teammate Pastor Maldonado in the Williams whilst Jules Bianchi finished the session 16th, four places behind Force India teammate Nico Hülkenberg.

FP2[]

McLaren continued to look quick in the second practice session with Lewis Hamilton leading the way with teammate Jenson Button just behind him. On home turf the Ferrari team ended the session 3rd and 4th. Fernando Alonso edged out his teammate Felipe Massa, however Alonso's session was limited to 17 laps as he was suffering from brake issues and then a suspected gearbox failure.

Nico Rosberg finished the session in 5th whilst Mercedes teammate Michael Schumacher finished the session in 10th. At theLotus team Kimi Räikkönen finished the session in 6th whilst teammate Jérôme d'Ambrosio finished in 12th.

The HRT of Narain Karthikeyan finished the session slightly early with a mechanical failure, therefore finishing the session in last place behind teammate Pedro de la Rosa.

FP3[]

For the second practice session in a row, Lewis Hamilton was the fastest driver on track. However close behind him was the Tifosi's home favourite Fernando Alonso who had led the drivers for most of the session until Hamilton beat him by a tenth of a second.

Paul di Resta finished an impressive third in the session in his Force India whilst the second Ferrari of Felipe Massa was 4th followed by the McLaren of Jenson Button. At Mercedes, Nico Rosberg finished the session 6th, his teammate Michael Schumacher however did not fair as well. Schumacher suffered a KERS failure early in the session which left him handicapped to finish the session 14th. Likewise the Red Bull team appeared to struggle with Mark Webber finishing the session 11th and Sebastian Vettel finishing 12th. Vettel suffered a suspected electrics failure in the dying minutes of the session.

Practice Results[]

No. Driver Team FP1 FP2 FP3
Pos Time Pos Time Pos Time
1 Germany Sebastian Vettel Austria Red Bull-Renault 11 1:26.508 13 1:26.394 12 1:25.406
2 Australia Mark Webber 9 1:26.390 11 1:26.104 11 1:25.389
3 United Kingdom Jenson Button United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 2 1:25.723 2 1:25.328 5 1:24.994
4 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton 6 1:25.944 1 1:25.290 1 1:24.578
5 Spain Fernando Alonso Italy Ferrari 4 1:25.800 3 1:25.348 2 1:24.579
6 Brazil Felipe Massa 5 1:25.861 4 1:25.430 4 1:24.909
7 Germany Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes 1 1:25.444 10 1:26.094 14 1:25.563
8 Germany Nico Rosberg 3 1:25.762 5 1:25.446 6 1:25.036
9 Finland Kimi Räikkönen United Kingdom Lotus-Renault 7 1:26.046 6 1:25.504 8 1:25.255
10 Belgium Jérôme d'Ambrosio 15 1:27.180 12 1:26.157 17 1:25.973
11 United Kingdom Paul di Resta India Force India-Mercedes DNP 7 1:25.546 3 1:24.849
France Jules Bianchi 16 1:7.192 DNP DNP
12 Germany Nico Hülkenberg 12 1:26.518 8 1:25.547 9 1:25.289
14 Japan Kamui Kobayashi Switzerland Sauber-Ferrari 14 1:26.746 16 1:26.730 15 1:25.689
15 Mexico Sergio Pérez 8 1:26.323 9 1:26.068 7 1:25.160
16 Australia Daniel Ricciardo Italy Toro Rosso-Ferrari 17 1:27.373 15 1:26.724 16 1:25.709
17 France Jean-Éric Vergne 18 1:27.789 19 1:26.864 18 1:26.003
18 Venezuela Pastor Maldonado United Kingdom Williams-Renault 10 1:26.504 14 1:26.404 10 1:25.383
19 Brazil Bruno Senna DNP 17 1:26.783 13 1:25.461
Finland Valtteri Bottas 13 1:26.641 DNP DNP
20 Finland Heikki Kovalainen Malaysia Caterham-Renault 19 1:27.855 18 1:26.841 19 1:26.657
21 Russia Vitaly Petrov 20 1:28.578 20 1:27.222 20 1:27.267
22 Spain Pedro de la Rosa Spain HRT-Cosworth 23 1:29.331 23 1:28.575 24 1:28.384
23 India Narain Karthikeyan DNP 24 1:28.779 23 1:28.035
China Ma Qinghua 24 1:31.239 DNP DNP
24 Germany Timo Glock Russia Marussia-Cosworth 22 1:29.207 21 1:27.944 22 1:27.728
25 France Charles Pic 21 1:28.751 22 1:27.968 21 1:27.454

Qualifying[]

Q1[]

Michael Schumacher Italian GP 2012

Michael Schumacher during qualifying. He qualified fifth, and lined up fourth after Paul di Resta's gearbox penalty.

As the first qualifying session commenced, it quickly became apparent that the Ferrari's were very quick. The team employed an unusual yet original tactic in which both Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were working together to slipstream each other down the straights to gain some extra speed within their lap. By the end of the session Alonso was the fastest man on track with Massa finishing 6th.

The McLaren's, having been quick all weekend, saw Lewis Hamilton finishing second ahead of teammate Jenson Button in second and third. Force India had also carried their speed over from Belgium with Paul di Resta finishing the session a strong 5th. Teammate Nico Hülkenberg, however, did not fare so well after suffering from fuel pressure issues which forced him to stop on track on his opening lap. Without setting a time this meant that he would have to start from the back of the grid.

The Lotus cars appeared to struggle with Kimi Räikkönen finishing the session 10th with teammate Jérôme d'Ambrosio barely making it into Q2, notably dueling with the Caterham of Heikki Kovalainen.

Of those cars that were eliminated, Kovalainen led teammate Vitaly Petrov, followed by the Marussia's of Timo Glock and Charles Pic. Narain Karthikeyan who notably out qualified his HRT teammate Pedro de la Rosa for the first time. In 24th place was the lone Force India of Nico Hülkenberg.

Q2[]

Fernando Alonso continued to set the pace in the second qualifying session with teammate Felipe Massa finishing in fifth position. The Ferraris continuing to use their slipstreaming tactic to good effect. The McLarens continued to demonstrate speed with Jenson Button in second and Lewis Hamilton in fourth. Paul di Resta was able to split the McLarens by finishing a strong third in the session.

Further down the field, Red Bull was struggling. Sebastian Vettel only just made it into the final qualifying session in ninth. Teammate Mark Webber was not as lucky, and just failed to make it into the final qualifying session with another championship contender, the Lotus of Kimi Räikkönen knocking Webber down to eleventh and out of qualifying.

Raikkonen's teammate Jerome d'Ambrosio had struggled to make it out of Q1, and he continued to languish in the second qualifying session finishing in a disappointing 17th, sandwiched between the two Toro Rossos of Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Éric Vergne.

It was also a disappointing day for Sergio Pérez, who could not match his Sauber teammate Kamui Kobayashi, and was unable to make it into the final qualifying session ending the session in 13th place. The Williams team struggled as well with neither driver making into Q3 with Pastor Maldonado finishing the session 12th and Bruno Senna 14th.

Q3[]

As the final top ten shoot out in Q3 commenced, Ferrari had looked the favourites heading into the session with Fernando Alonso setting the pace in the first two qualifying sessions. The Ferraris of both Alonso and Felipe Massa exited the pits in unision once again to continue their slipstreaming tactic once again. Whilst Massa was able to get a good tow off Alonso on his flying lap to set a competitive lap time which would put him 3rd on the grid, his teammate Alonso struggled to put in a competitive lap time on the two runs he did. Alonso was the slowest car of the ten contenders in the session. The problem was later attributed to a faulty anti-roll bar which would leave him in a very disappointing tenth place on the grid.

The McLarens, however, were able to make use of Alonso's misfortune with Lewis Hamilton taking pole with Jenson Button right alongside on the front row. Paul di Resta had been demonstrating good pace throughout qualifying to finish fourth on the timing sheets.

The Mercedes cars finished fifth and seventh with Michael Schumacher leading Nico Rosberg. Splitting the two Mercedes cars was Sebastian Vettel who had done well to qualify sixth considering the poor performance of the Red Bull. It was a disappointing day for Kimi Räikkönen who was only able to put his Lotus in eighth place ahead of the Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi and Fernando Alonso.

Post-Qualifying[]

Pastor Maldonado, who would have started 12th on the grid, suffered a ten-place grid penalty pushing him down to 22nd. He had sustained two five-place grid penalties at the previous race in Belgium. The first was for not serving a drive-through penalty for jumping the start; a penalty he would have served had he not had a collision with Timo Glock that forced his retirement, the collision itself also warranting a five-place grid penalty.

Paul di Resta would have started in his highest ever grid position in 4th place, however, he received a five-place grid penalty after he was confirmed to have had an unscheduled change of his gearbox after the Friday Practice sessions.

Nico Hülkenberg was allowed to race by the stewards after not setting a time in Q1.

Qualifying Results[]

Pos. No. Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Grid
Pos Time Pos Time Pos Time
1 4 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 2 1:24.211 4 1:24.394 1 1:24.010 1
2 3 United Kingdom Jenson Button United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 3 1:24.672 2 1:24.255 2 1:24.133 2
3 6 Brazil Felipe Massa Italy Ferrari 6 1:24.882 5 1:24.505 3 1:24.247 3
4 11 United Kingdom Paul di Resta India Force India-Mercedes 5 1:24.875 3 1:24.345 4 1:24.304 9*
5 7 Germany Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes 12 1:25.302 7 1:24.675 5 1:24.540 4
6 1 Germany Sebastian Vettel Austria Red Bull-Renault 7 1:25.011 9 1:24.687 6 1:24.802 5
7 8 Germany Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes 4 1:24.689 6 1:24.515 7 1:24.833 6
8 9 Finland Kimi Räikkönen United Kingdom Lotus-Renault 10 1:25.151 10 1:24.742 8 1:24.855 7
9 14 Japan Kamui Kobayashi Switzerland Sauber-Ferrari 13 1:25.317 8 1:24.683 9 1:25.109 8
10 5 Spain Fernando Alonso Italy Ferrari 1 1:24.175 1 1:24.242 10 1:25.678 10
11 2 Australia Mark Webber Austria Red Bull-Renault 14 1:25.556 11 1:24.809 11
12 18 Venezuela Pastor Maldonado United Kingdom Williams-Renault 8 1:25.103 12 1:24.820 22
13 15 Mexico Sergio Pérez Switzerland Sauber-Ferrari 11 1:25.300 13 1:24.901 12
14 19 Brazil Bruno Senna United Kingdom Williams-Renault 9 1:25.135 14 1:25.042 13
15 16 Australia Daniel Ricciardo Italy Toro Rosso-Ferrari 16 1:25.728 15 1:25.312 14
16 10 Belgium Jerome d'Ambrosio United Kingdom Lotus-Renault 17 1:25.834 16 1:25.408 15
17 17 France Jean-Éric Vergne Italy Toro Rosso-Ferrari 15 1:25.649 17 1:25.441 16
18 20 Finland Heikki Kovalainen Malaysia Caterham-Renault 18 1:26.382 17
19 21 Russia Vitaly Petrov Malaysia Caterham-Renault 19 1:26.887 18
20 24 Germany Timo Glock Russia Marussia-Cosworth 20 1:27.039 19
21 25 France Charles Pic Russia Marussia-Cosworth 21 1:27.073 20
22 23 India Narain Karthikeyan Spain HRT-Cosworth 22 1:27.441 21
23 22 Spain Pedro de la Rosa Spain HRT-Cosworth 23 1:27.669 23
24 12 Germany Nico Hülkenberg India Force India-Mercedes 24 no time 24

Notes

  • * Paul di Resta (4th) was handed a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change, and started ninth.
  • Pastor Maldonado (12th) was penalised ten places for two five-place grid penalties, one for jumping the start, the other for causing a collision, and started 22nd.
  • Nico Hülkenberg (24th) failed to set a time in qualifying but was allowed to start the race.

Grid[]

Pos. Pos.
Driver Driver
______________
Row 1 1 ______________
Lewis Hamilton 2
______________ Jenson Button
Row 2 3 ______________
Felipe Massa 4
______________ Michael Schumacher
Row 3 5 ______________
Sebastian Vettel 6
______________ Nico Rosberg
Row 4 7 ______________
Kimi Räikkönen 8
______________ Kamui Kobayashi
Row 5 9 ______________
Paul di Resta* 10
______________ Fernando Alonso
Row 6 11 ______________
Mark Webber 12
______________ Sergio Pérez
Row 7 13 ______________
Bruno Senna 14
______________ Daniel Ricciardo
Row 8 15 ______________
Jérôme d'Ambrosio 16
______________ Jean-Éric Vergne
Row 9 17 ______________
Heikki Kovalainen 18
______________ Vitaly Petrov
Row 10 19 ______________
Timo Glock 20
______________ Charles Pic
Row 11 21 ______________
Narain Karthikeyan 22
______________ Pastor Maldonado
Row 12 23 ______________
Pedro de la Rosa 24
______________ Nico Hülkenberg

Notes:

  • * Paul di Resta was handed a five place grid penalty for a change of gearbox.
  • Pastor Maldonado was handed a ten place grid penalty for jumping the start (five places) at the Belgian GP and for causing a collision (another five places) at the same race.
  • Nico Hülkenberg failed to set a time in qualifying but was allowed to start the race.

Race[]

Report[]

Monza 2012 Drivers Parade

Some of the drivers on the Drivers' Parade before the race.

At the start of the race, both the Ferraris made strong starts with Felipe Massa storming past the McLaren of Jenson Button for second place at the first corner whilst nearly overtaking the other McLaren of Lewis Hamilton for the lead. Fernando Alonso was able to make it up three places in the first lap passing the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg, the Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi and the Force India of Paul di Resta to take seventh position.

The following lap Alonso was able to continue his charge by taking sixth place of the Lotus of Kimi Räikkönen. Teammate Massa had briefly been challenging Hamilton for the lead of the race but was gradually beginning to drop back and into the clutches of Button who had lost out to the Brazilian driver at the start of the race.

Michael Schumacher who was able to maintain position at the start of the race but his fourth place was now being severely hounded by the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel and the charging Ferrari of Alonso. Vettel was able to quicky dispose of his older compatriot on lap 4 down the pit straight with the assistance of DRS. Schumacher was able to keep Alonso behind him until lap 7 when he too was able to get past the German veteran.

Schumacher's teammate Rosberg was also struggling to hold off cars behind him while in eighth place. Rosberg was defending hard against Williams driver Bruno Senna, who had made a strong start to go from 14th on the grid to ninth place. However, while attempting to pass Rosberg around the outside on lap 5, Senna was forced off the circuit by the Mercedes driver taking to the escape road and subsequently dropping behind the Force India of Di Resta. Three laps later Senna found himself off the circuit once again whilst attempting to pass Di Resta in the same place as Rosberg. The two cars touched sending Senna into a spin, only to re-emerge in 13th place, behind the Red Bull of Mark Webber.

One lap later there was to be a third incident whilst heading down to turn 1. The Toro Rosso of Jean-Éric Vergne suffered a rear suspension failure sending him into an uncontrolled high speed spin down into turn 1, hitting the kerbs, causing his car to go airborne, before coming to a rest off the circuit. Vergne retired, luckily not taking out any other cars, but did suffer from a small bit of back pain.

Webber, who had been struggling all weekend, took until lap 11 to move his Red Bull into a points-paying position, passing the struggling Force India of Di Resta who had also recently dropped behind the charging Sauber of Sergio Pérez who had made his way up to seventh position after an early pit stop by the Mercedes of Rosberg.

Pérez, who had started in 12th position, was storming up the field, managing to fly past Räikkönen's Lotus around the outside of Variate Ascari to take sixth place, and moving into hot pursuit of Schumacher. Up at the front Hamilton had began to break away from the rest of the field as Massa appeared to be struggling to match the pace of the McLarens as Button was now all over the back of the Ferrari driver. On lap 19 Button was able to get by the ailing Ferrari making it a McLaren 1–2 at the front. Massa duly headed for the pits for new tyres, followed in a lap later by Alonso and the Red Bull of Vettel, the pair having been dueling for fourth place for many laps. Vettel, who had held fourth, entered and exited ahead of the Spaniard.

With many of the leading drivers entering the pits, Pérez, on the prime compound, was able to move into third position with the Williams of Senna and the Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo both performing well. Pérez appeared to be competitive, setting similar pace to that of the leaders despite not pitting. This was in contrast to Senna and Ricciardo, both pitting, the latter after being passed by Massa, Vettel and Alonso in one lap.

The McLarens of Hamilton and Button pitted on lap 23 and 24, leaving Sergio Pérez to take the lead of the race on the harder tyre. Further back Vettel and Alonso continued to duel for position. Alonso made his move on Vettel on lap 26 attempting to go around the outside of Vettel at the Curva Grande, but Vettel, who had not appeared to see the Ferrari, forced him off the circuit. Alonso was barely able to keep control of his car, and re-emerged from the incident without damage.

Pérez dived into the pits on lap 29 for soft tyres after being passed by Hamilton. The same lap Alonso finally managed to get past the Red Bull of Vettel, and set off in pursuit of his Ferrari teammate Massa for third place.

Jenson Button Italian GP 2012

Jenson Button on the start grid. He would eventually retire from the race.

Vettel was then handed a drive through penalty on lap 32 for forcing Alonso off the track. Vettel exited the pits after his penalty in seventh place, behind teammate Webber. Two laps later a chance for a McLaren 1–2 finish is ruined as Jenson Button pulls off the circuit with a fuel feed failure, which left the Ferraris of Massa and Alonso in second and third places.

The Sauber of Pérez had been lapping as the quickest driver on the circuit after making his way past the Lotus of Räikkönen for fifth place, putting him in pursuit of the two Ferraris once both Mercedes drivers had pitted for a second time. The same lap Vettel was able to get the better of teammate Webber for sixth place.

By lap 39, Pérez had continued his pace, lapping much quicker than both Ferraris and even the race leader Hamilton and was catching the cars ahead at a rapid pace. Massa proceeded to let through his teammate Fernando Alonso for second, allowing him to attempt to catch race leader Hamilton, and to help the Spaniard extend his Championship lead.

On lap 42, Pérez was able to easily dispose of Massa before moving on to attack the Ferrari number one of Alonso. Further down the field Vettel is found to have mechanical troubles.

On lap 46, Pérez is able to overtake Alonso, who didn't fight the Mexican too hard, and sets off in pursuit of Hamilton. The race leader however sits a further 12 seconds up the road. One lap later Vettel, whose alternator issues were causing him problems, was told to stop the car, ruining any chances for points and placing a dent in his championship ambitions. Red Bull's miserable day continued when sixth place Webber suffered a massive spin at Variate Ascari, barely keeping it out of the barriers, however this would be no consolation to him as he had dropped out of the points and into 11th place. The spin saw him suffer severe damage to his tyres which left them very badly flatspotted. Webber opted to retire the car one lap later due to the damage.

Hamilton, despite being caught by Pérez, is able to put in enough extra speed to win by four seconds, the Brit taking his third win of the season, and Pérez is third podium of the year. Alonso finished third ahead of teammate Massa who scored his best result of the season. Räikkönen finished 5th ahead of the two Mercedes of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, followed by the second Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi, and then the Williams of Senna who was able to overtake the struggling Toro Rosso of Ricciardo on the last lap. Ricciardo also was passed by the other Williams of Pastor Maldonado the same lap, and finished twelfth. Jérôme D'Ambrosio finished a quiet race on the lead lap in thirteenth. The Caterhams of Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov finished a lap down in fourteenth and fifteenth, followed by the two Marussias, Charles Pic ahead of Timo Glock. The two remaining finishers were Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan, both drivers also one lap down. Webber was classified 20th, Nico Hülkenberg was classified 21st after retiring with brake issues and Vettel was classified 22nd.

Phil Prew McLaren team joined on the podium to receive the winning manufacturer's award.

Post-race[]

Both Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso had suffered dents in their championship ambitions after being forced to retire at Belgium in the first lap accident. In Italy, Alonso was able to increase his championship lead whilst Hamilton was able to move from fifth in the Drivers standings all the way up to second. Kimi Räikkönen had not displayed much pace at Italy yet was able to gain a position in the title standings after his 5th-place finish, moving to third.

The big losers in Italy was the Red Bull team. With retirements from the race by both drivers, Sebastian Vettel had gone from second in the Drivers Championship all the way down to fourth, whilst teammate Mark Webber had droped from third to fifth in the standings.

Belgian GP winner, Jenson Button, who had also retired, suffered the biggest championship dent of all however after since he was now 77 points behind championship leader Alonso meaning his chances of overtaking the Ferrari driver in the standings had dropped severely.

In the Constructors Standings, Hamilton's win and the double retirement of Red Bull meant that McLaren was able to take a 25-point deficit out of Red Bull's lead in the championship, now only 29 points behind the championship leaders. After a strong points finish for Ferrari at Italy, they were able to overtake Lotus for third in the Constructors standings.

Results[]

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts
1 4 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 53 1 h 19 m 41.221 s 1 25
2 15 Mexico Sergio Pérez Switzerland Sauber-Ferrari 53 + 4.356 s 12 18
3 5 Spain Fernando Alonso Italy Ferrari 53 + 20.594 s 10 15
4 6 Brazil Felipe Massa Italy Ferrari 53 + 29.667 s 3 12
5 9 Finland Kimi Räikkönen United Kingdom Lotus-Renault 53 + 30.881 s 7 10
6 7 Germany Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes 53 + 31.259 s 4 8
7 8 Germany Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes 53 + 33.550 s 6 6
8 11 United Kingdom Paul di Resta India Force India-Mercedes 53 + 41.057 s 9 4
9 14 Japan Kamui Kobayashi Switzerland Sauber-Ferrari 53 + 43.898 s 8 2
10 19 Brazil Bruno Senna United Kingdom Williams-Renault 53 + 48.144 s 13 1
11 18 Venezuela Pastor Maldonado United Kingdom Williams-Renault 53 + 50.136 s 22
12 16 Australia Daniel Ricciardo Italy Toro Rosso-Ferrari 53 + 50.316 s 17
13 10 Belgium Jérôme d'Ambrosio United Kingdom Lotus-Renault 53 + 1 m 15.861 s 15
14 20 Finland Heikki Kovalainen Malaysia Caterham-Renault 52 + 1 lap 17
15 21 Russia Vitaly Petrov Malaysia Caterham-Renault 52 + 1 lap 18
16 25 France Charles Pic Russia Marussia-Cosworth 52 + 1 lap 20
17 24 Germany Timo Glock Russia Marussia-Cosworth 52 + 1 lap 19
18 22 Spain Pedro de la Rosa Spain HRT-Cosworth 52 + 1 lap 23
19 23 India Narain Karthikeyan Spain HRT-Cosworth 52 + 1 lap 21
20* 2 Australia Mark Webber Austria Red Bull-Renault 51 Tyres 11
21* 12 Germany Nico Hülkenberg India Force India-Mercedes 50 Brakes 24
22* 1 Germany Sebastian Vettel Austria Red Bull-Renault 47 Alternator 5
Ret 3 United Kingdom Jenson Button United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 32 Fuel pressure 2
Ret 17 France Jean-Éric Vergne Italy Toro Rosso-Ferrari 8 Spun off/Rear Suspension 16

Note:

Fastest Laps[]

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Lap Time Gap Avg Speed Race
1 8 Germany Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes 53 1:27.239 239.054 7
2 15 Mexico Sergio Pérez Switzerland Sauber-Ferrari 53 1:27.562 + 0.323 238.172 2
3 7 Germany Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes 51 1:27.718 + 0.479 237.742 6
4 18 Venezuela Pastor Maldonado United Kingdom Williams-Renault 51 1:28.053 + 0.814 236.844 11
5 1 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 52 1:28.427 + 1.188 235.842 1
6 12 Germany Nico Hülkenberg India Force India-Mercedes 46 1:28.578 + 1.339 235.440 21
7 16 Australia Daniel Ricciardo Italy Toro Rosso-Ferrari 46 1:28.621 + 1.382 235.326 12
8 10 Belgium Jerome d'Ambrosio United Kingdom Lotus-Renault 52 1:28.677 + 1.438 235.177 13
9 1 Germany Sebastian Vettel Austria Red Bull-Renault 46 1:28.713 + 1.474 235.082 22
10 19 Brazil Bruno Senna United Kingdom Williams-Renault 52 1:28.742 + 1.503 235.005 10
11 5 Spain Fernando Alonso Italy Ferrari 44 1:28.835 + 1.596 234.759 3
12 6 Brazil Felipe Massa Italy Ferrari 33 1:28.914 + 1.675 234.550 4
13 3 United Kingdom Jenson Button United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 31 1:28.926 + 1.687 234.519 Ret
14 14 Japan Kamui Kobayashi Switzerland Sauber-Ferrari 39 1:29.032 + 1.793 234.239 9
15 21 Russia Vitaly Petrov Malaysia Caterham-Renault 46 1:29.066 + 1.827 234.150 15
16 11 United Kingdom Paul di Resta India Force India-Mercedes 51 1:29.068 + 1.829 234.145 8
17 9 Finland Kimi Räikkönen United Kingdom Lotus-Renault 52 1:29.109 + 1.870 234.037 5
18 2 Australia Mark Webber Austria Red Bull-Renault 43 1:29.202 + 1.963 233.793 20
19 20 Finland Heikki Kovalainen Malaysia Caterham-Renault 46 1:29.399 + 2.160 233.728 14
20 25 France Charles Pic Russia Marussia-Cosworth 44 1:29.753 + 2.514 232.358 16
21 24 Germany Timo Glock Russia Marussia-Cosworth 50 1:29.888 + 2.649 232.009 17
22 22 Spain Pedro de la Rosa Spain HRT-Cosworth 51 1:30.398 + 3.159 230.700 18
23 23 India Narain Karthikeyan Spain HRT-Cosworth 44 1:31.086 + 3.847 228.957 19
24 17 France Jean-Éric Vergne Italy Toro Rosso-Ferrari 6 1:31.962 + 4.723 226.776 Ret

Lap Leaders[]

By lap[]

Stint Driver Laps Total Distance
1 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton 01 – 23 23 132.930 km
2 Mexico Sergio Pérez 24 – 28 05 28.965 km
3 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton 29 – 53 25 144.825 km

Totals[]

Pos. Driver Laps Distance
1 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton 48 277.755 km
2 Mexico Sergio Pérez 05 28.965 km

Milestones[]

Standings after the race[]

Drivers' World Championship
Pos. Driver Pts
1 Spain Fernando Alonso 179
2 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton 142
3 Finland Kimi Räikkönen 141
4 Germany Sebastian Vettel 140
5 Australia Mark Webber 132
6 United Kingdom Jenson Button 101
7 Germany Nico Rosberg 83
8 France Romain Grosjean 76
9 Mexico Sergio Pérez 65
10 Brazil Felipe Massa 47
11 Germany Michael Schumacher 43
12 Japan Kamui Kobayashi 35
13 United Kingdom Paul di Resta 32
14 Germany Nico Hülkenberg 31
15 Venezuela Pastor Maldonado 29
16 Brazil Bruno Senna 25
17 France Jean-Éric Vergne 8
18 Australia Daniel Ricciardo 4
19 Finland Heikki Kovalainen 0
20 Russia Vitaly Petrov 0
21 Germany Timo Glock 0
22 France Charles Pic 0
23 India Narain Karthikeyan 0
24 Spain Pedro de la Rosa 0
25 Belgium Jérôme d'Ambrosio 0
Constructors' World Championship
Pos. Team Pts
1 Austria Red Bull-Renault 272
2 United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 243
3 Italy Ferrari 226
4 United Kingdom Lotus-Renault 217
5 Germany Mercedes 126
6 Switzerland Sauber-Ferrari 98
7 India Force India-Mercedes 63
8 United Kingdom Williams-Renault 54
9 Italy Toro Rosso-Ferrari 12
10 Malaysia Caterham-Renault 0
11 Russia Marussia-Cosworth 0
12 Spain HRT-Cosworth 0

Notes[]

External links[]

V T E 2012 Formula One Season
Teams Red Bull | McLaren | Ferrari | Mercedes | Lotus | Force India | Sauber | Toro Rosso | Williams | Caterham | HRT | Marussia
Engines Renault | Mercedes | Ferrari | Cosworth
Race Drivers Vettel | 2 Webber | 3 Button | 4 Hamilton | 5 Alonso | 6 Massa | 7 Schumacher | 8 Rosberg | 9 Räikkönen | 10 Grosjean | 10 D'Ambrosio | 11 Di Resta | 12 Hülkenberg | 14 Kobayashi | 15 Pérez | 16 Ricciardo | 17 Vergne | 18 Maldonado | 19 Senna | 20 Kovalainen | 21 Petrov | 22 De la Rosa | 23 Karthikeyan | 24 Glock | 25 Pic
Other Drivers Buemi | Paffett | Turvey | Rigon | Bird | Bianchi | Daly | Gutiérrez | Bottas | Wolff | Van der Garde | Rossi | González | Clos | Luizzi | de Villota | Chilton
Cars RB8 | MP4-27 | F2012 | F1 W03 | E20 | VJM05 | C31 | STR7 | FW34 | CT01 | F112 | MR01
Tyres Pirelli
Races Australia | Malaysia | China | Bahrain | Spain | Monaco | Canada | Europe | Britain | Germany | Hungary | Belgium | Italy | Singapore | Japan | Korea | India | Abu Dhabi | United States | Brazil
Team Reports Red Bull | McLaren | Ferrari | Mercedes | Lotus | Force India | Sauber | Toro Rosso | Williams | Caterham | HRT | Marussia
Driver Reports Vettel | Webber | Button | Hamilton | Alonso | Massa | Schumacher | Rosberg | Räikkönen | Grosjean | di Resta | Hülkenberg | Kobayashi | Pérez | Ricciardo | Vergne | Maldonado | Senna | Kovalainen | Petrov | de la Rosa | Karthikeyan | Karthikeyan | Glock | Pic
Tests Jerez | Barcelona 1 | Barcelona 2 | Mugello | Young Driver
See also 2011 Formula One Season | 2013 Formula One Season | Bahrain GP protests | Category
V T E Italy Italian Grand Prix
Circuits Monza (1950 - 1979, 1981 - Present), Imola (1980)
Monza2000
Races 19501951195219531954195519561957195819591960196119621963196419651966196719681969197019711972197319741975197619771978197919801981198219831984198519861987198819891990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023
European Championship Races 193119321935193619371938
Non-Championship Races 1921192219231924192519261927192819331934194719481949


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