2012 Belgian Grand Prix: F1 Race, Qualifying & Winners

Jenson Button won from pole at Spa-Francorchamps after a major first-corner accident eliminated several contenders. Sebastian Vettel recovered to second, while Romain Grosjean received a one-race ban for causing the opening collision.

Result	Driver / Time	Team
Pole position	Jenson Button	McLaren
Pole time	1:47.573
Fastest lap	Bruno Senna	Williams
Fastest-lap time	1:52.822 on lap 43
First	Jenson Button	McLaren
Second	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing
Third	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus F1

Weekend Schedule

Date	Session	Local Time
31 August 2012	Practice 1	10:00 – 11:30
31 August 2012	Practice 2	14:00 – 15:30
1 September 2012	Practice 3	11:00 – 12:00
1 September 2012	Qualifying	14:00
2 September 2012	Race	14:00

All times are local. The race time is the scheduled start; weather delays and interruptions are described below.

Championship background

Fernando Alonso arrived at round 12 leading the 2012 F1 World Championship on 164 points, with Mark Webber on 124. Red Bull Racing headed the constructors’ standings with 246 points.

Race entries

The 12 teams kept the same race line-ups for the Belgian Grand Prix. Dani Clos, Valtteri Bottas also took part in practice.

Free Practice

Rain and mist restricted FP1, with Kamui Kobayashi setting his time early while others returned to work on their cars. Several teams avoided representative laps altogether. Felipe Massa stopped near the pit entry without recording a time, adding a reliability problem to Ferrari’s weather-limited preparation for the expected dry weekend.

Heavier rain made FP2 largely unproductive, with standing water preventing meaningful preparation. Only a handful of drivers recorded times, and Charles Pic’s place at the top reflected the unusual circumstances rather than a change in the competitive order. Teams were left relying on Saturday’s single practice hour for their dry-weather work.

A dry FP3 finally allowed teams to combine tyre assessment, setup work and qualifying preparation. Fernando Alonso led, while Lotus and Sauber also looked competitive. Jenson Button initially struggled with his McLaren’s balance before improving, as the field tried to compress an entire weekend’s useful preparation into one busy hour.

Free Practice 1 Classification

2012 Belgian Grand Prix FP1, 31 August 2012

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Time / Gap	Laps
1	14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	2:11.389	20
2	18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	+0.552s	14
3	16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	+0.615s	12
4	17	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	+1.435s	15
5	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing	+1.802s	13
6	15	Sergio Perez	Sauber	+2.472s	16
7	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	+2.821s	14
8	19	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	+3.271s	16
9	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing	+3.471s	12
10	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	+4.013s	13
11	11	Paul di Resta	Force India	+4.423s	11
12	24	Timo Glock	Marussia	+5.020s	16
13	12	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	+5.397s	10
14	21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham	+5.399s	16
15	4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	+5.438s	5
16	3	Jenson Button	McLaren	+5.472s	8
17	25	Charles Pic	Marussia	+6.130s	14
18	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham	+6.810s	10
19	22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT	+8.157s	12
20	23	Dani Clos	HRT	+8.300s	12
21	10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1	+27.312s	9
22	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	+29.360s	4
23	9	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus F1	+35.191s	9
24	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	No time	2

Free Practice 2 Classification

2012 Belgian Grand Prix FP2, 31 August 2012

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Time / Gap	Laps
1	25	Charles Pic	Marussia	2:49.354	4
2	16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	+0.396s	3
3	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	+1.143s	3
4	11	Paul di Resta	Force India	+1.979s	3
5	18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	+2.306s	4
6	24	Timo Glock	Marussia	+2.722s	4
7	14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	+3.878s	4
8	17	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	+8.878s	3
9	12	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	+9.771s	5
10	15	Sergio Perez	Sauber	+23.547s	4
11	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	No time	3
12	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	No time	4
13	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham	No time	1
14	4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	No time	2
15	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing	No time	3
16	3	Jenson Button	McLaren	No time	2
17	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	No time	2
18	19	Bruno Senna	Williams	No time	3

Free Practice 3 Classification

2012 Belgian Grand Prix FP3, 1 September 2012

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Time / Gap	Laps
1	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:48.542	18
2	9	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus F1	+0.141s	21
3	15	Sergio Perez	Sauber	+0.308s	23
4	14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	+0.321s	20
5	3	Jenson Button	McLaren	+0.549s	18
6	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	+0.550s	16
7	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing	+0.622s	21
8	10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1	+0.724s	23
9	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing	+0.750s	23
10	11	Paul di Resta	Force India	+0.840s	22
11	18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	+1.019s	23
12	4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	+1.073s	19
13	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	+1.079s	26
14	12	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	+1.132s	23
15	17	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	+1.168s	21
16	16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	+1.234s	22
17	19	Bruno Senna	Williams	+1.485s	20
18	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham	+3.797s	21
19	25	Charles Pic	Marussia	+4.024s	20
20	24	Timo Glock	Marussia	+4.088s	18
21	21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham	+4.267s	22
22	22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT	+4.841s	22
23	23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT	+5.020s	23
24	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	+9.571s	5

Qualifying

Jenson Button headed qualifying for McLaren, with Kamui Kobayashi second and Pastor Maldonado third.

Jenson Button took his first pole for McLaren, ahead of Kamui Kobayashi. Pastor Maldonado‘s impeding penalty altered the order behind them, while Webber and Rosberg received gearbox penalties.

Qualifying Classification

2012 Belgian Grand Prix Qualifying, 1 September 2012

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	3	Jenson Button	McLaren	1:49.250	1:47.654	1:47.573	14
2	14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	1:49.686	1:48.569	1:47.871	18
3	18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	1:48.993	1:48.780	1:47.893	20
4	9	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus F1	1:49.546	1:48.414	1:48.205	14
5	15	Sergio Pérez	Sauber	1:49.642	1:47.980	1:48.219	16
6	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:49.401	1:48.598	1:48.313	15
7	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing	1:49.859	1:48.546	1:48.392	13
8	4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	1:49.605	1:48.563	1:48.394	16
9	10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1	1:50.126	1:48.714	1:48.538	18
10	11	Paul di Resta	Force India	1:50.033	1:48.729	1:48.890	19
11	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing	1:49.722	1:48.792	—	12
12	12	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India	1:49.362	1:48.855	—	13
13	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1:49.742	1:49.081	—	14
14	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:49.588	1:49.147	—	13
15	17	Jean-Éric Vergne	Toro Rosso	1:49.763	1:49.354	—	13
16	16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	1:49.572	1:49.543	—	13
17	19	Bruno Senna	Williams	1:49.958	1:50.088	—	15
18	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:50.181	—	—	10
19	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham	1:51.739	—	—	7
20	21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham	1:51.967	—	—	6
21	24	Timo Glock	Marussia	1:52.336	—	—	8
22	22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT	1:53.030	—	—	6
23	25	Charles Pic	Marussia	1:53.493	—	—	6
24	23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT	1:54.989	—	—	8

Pastor Maldonado received a three-place grid penalty for impeding Nico Hülkenberg in Q1.

Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg both received a five-place grid penalty for changing their gearboxes before the race.

What happened in the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix?

Grosjean moved across Hamilton at the start, triggering a collision that also took out Alonso and Pérez. The Lotus passed dangerously close to Alonso’s cockpit, although the drivers escaped serious injury.

Button retained the lead through the safety-car period and pulled clear after the restart. Vettel recovered from outside the top ten, using an effective one-stop strategy to move into second.

Räikkönen fought his way to third, including a bold pass on Schumacher through Eau Rouge. Nico Hülkenberg finished fourth after a strong afternoon for Force India, while Massa took fifth.

Button’s victory revived his season after a difficult run. Vettel reduced Alonso’s championship lead to 24 points, and the stewards suspended Grosjean for the following Italian Grand Prix because of the seriousness of the start-line incident.

Further down the points places, Michael Schumacher, Jean-Éric Vergne, Daniel Ricciardo and Paul di Resta completed the scoring positions. Bruno Senna set the fastest lap, but no bonus point was awarded under the 2012 rules.

After the race, Fernando Alonso headed the drivers’ standings with 164 points, followed by Sebastian Vettel on 140. Red Bull Racing led the constructors’ table on 272, with McLaren on 218.

2012 Belgian Grand Prix race results

The 2012 Belgian Grand Prix was held on 2 September 2012, with a scheduled start of 14:00 local time.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time / Retired	Pts.
1	3	Jenson Button	McLaren	44	1:29:08.530	25
2	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing	44	+13.624	18
3	9	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus F1	44	+25.334	15
4	12	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India	44	+27.843	12
5	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	44	+29.845	10
6	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing	44	+31.244	8
7	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	44	+53.374	6
8	17	Jean-Éric Vergne	Toro Rosso	44	+58.865	4
9	16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	44	+1:02.982	2
10	11	Paul di Resta	Force India	44	+1:03.783	1
11	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	44	+1:05.111	0
12	19	Bruno Senna	Williams	44	+1:11.529	0
13	14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	44	+1:56.119	0
14	21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham	43	+1 Lap	0
15	24	Timo Glock	Marussia	43	+1 Lap	0
16	25	Charles Pic	Marussia	43	+1 Lap	0
17	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham	43	+1 Lap	0
18	22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT	43	+1 Lap	0
Ret	23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT	29	Wheel/accident	0
Ret	18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	4	Collision damage	0
Ret	15	Sergio Pérez	Sauber	0	Collision damage	0
Ret	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	0	Collision	0
Ret	4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	0	Collision	0
Ret	10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1	0	Collision	0

2012 Belgian Grand Prix Fastest Laps

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Lap	Time	Avg. Speed
1	19	Bruno Senna	Williams	43	1:52.822	223.488
2	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	39	1:53.073	222.992
3	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	30	1:53.464	222.223
4	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	37	1:53.507	222.139
5	9	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus F1	34	1:53.640	221.879
6	12	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	40	1:53.760	221.645
7	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing	42	1:53.768	221.629
8	17	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	31	1:53.995	221.188
9	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing	39	1:54.198	220.795
10	3	Jenson Button	McLaren	40	1:54.293	220.611
11	11	Paul di Resta	Force India	28	1:54.562	220.093
12	16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	42	1:54.605	220.011
13	14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	26	1:55.598	218.121
14	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham	33	1:56.475	216.479
15	21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham	28	1:56.741	215.985
16	24	Timo Glock	Marussia	30	1:56.956	215.588
17	22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT	30	1:57.315	214.929
18	25	Charles Pic	Marussia	27	1:57.939	213.791
19	23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT	16	1:59.113	211.684
20	18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	4	2:56.181	143.116

Only drivers with a recorded lap time appear. Average speeds are in km/h. No fastest-lap bonus point was awarded.

2012 Post-Race F1 Championship Standings

Championship standings after the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix.

2012 Post-Race F1 Drivers' Championship Standings

POS	Driver	Nationality	Car	PTS
1	Fernando Alonso	Spanish	Ferrari	164
2	Sebastian Vettel	German	Red Bull Racing	140
3	Mark Webber	Australian	Red Bull Racing	132
4	Kimi Räikkönen	Finnish	Lotus F1	131
5	Lewis Hamilton	British	McLaren	117
6	Jenson Button	British	McLaren	101
7	Nico Rosberg	German	Mercedes	77
8	Romain Grosjean	French	Lotus F1	76
9	Sergio Pérez	Mexican	Sauber	47
10	Michael Schumacher	German	Mercedes	35
11	Felipe Massa	Brazilian	Ferrari	35
12	Kamui Kobayashi	Japanese	Sauber	33
13	Nico Hülkenberg	German	Force India	31
14	Pastor Maldonado	Venezuelan	Williams	29
15	Paul di Resta	British	Force India	28
16	Bruno Senna	Brazilian	Williams	24
17	Jean-Éric Vergne	French	Toro Rosso	8
18	Daniel Ricciardo	Australian	Toro Rosso	4
19	Vitaly Petrov	Russian	Caterham	0
20	Heikki Kovalainen	Finnish	Caterham	0
21	Timo Glock	German	Marussia	0
22	Charles Pic	French	Marussia	0
23	Narain Karthikeyan	Indian	HRT	0
24	Pedro de la Rosa	Spanish	HRT	0

2012 Post-Race F1 Constructors' Championship Standings

POS	Car	PTS
1	Red Bull Racing	272
2	McLaren	218
3	Lotus F1	207
4	Ferrari	199
5	Mercedes	112
6	Sauber	80
7	Force India	59
8	Williams	53
9	Toro Rosso	12
10	Caterham	0
11	Marussia	0
12	HRT	0

2012 Formula 1 Race Calendar

Round	Grand Prix	Circuit	Date
1	2012 Australian Grand Prix	Albert Park Circuit, Melbourne	18 March
2	2012 Malaysian Grand Prix	Sepang International Circuit, Sepang	25 March
3	2012 Chinese Grand Prix	Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai	15 April
4	2012 Bahrain Grand Prix	Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir	22 April
5	2012 Spanish Grand Prix	Circuit de Catalunya, Montmeló	13 May
6	2012 Monaco Grand Prix	Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo	27 May
7	2012 Canadian Grand Prix	Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, Montréal	10 June
8	2012 European Grand Prix	Valencia Street Circuit, Valencia	24 June
9	2012 British Grand Prix	Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone	8 July
10	2012 German Grand Prix	Hockenheimring, Hockenheim	22 July
11	2012 Hungarian Grand Prix	Hungaroring, Mogyoród	29 July
12	2012 Belgian Grand Prix	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot	2 September
13	2012 Italian Grand Prix	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza	9 September
14	2012 Singapore Grand Prix	Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore	23 September
15	2012 Japanese Grand Prix	Suzuka International Racing Course, Suzuka	7 October
16	2012 Korean Grand Prix	Korea International Circuit, Yeongam	14 October
17	2012 Indian Grand Prix	Buddh International Circuit, Greater Noida	28 October
18	2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix	Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi	4 November
19	2012 United States Grand Prix	Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas	18 November
20	2012 Brazilian Grand Prix	Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo	25 November