2012 Australian Grand Prix fastest laps

2012 Australian Grand Prix

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Jenson Button set the fastest lap of the Australian Grand Prix.

He set his fastest time two laps before the end of the race – while the three cars behind him did son on the following lap.

Newcomer Jean-Eric Vergne set the sixth-quickest lap of the race. The Ferrari-engined Toro Rosso lapped faster than Fernando Alonso in the F2012.

Having shone in qualifying, Mercedes’ race pace was not as good. Nico Rosberg was only 14th-fastest.

Kimi Raikkonen spent much of the race in traffic and only had the 11th-quickest lap in what was the second-fastest car in qualifying.

Rank Driver Car Fastest lap Gap On lap
1 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1’29.187 56
2 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1’29.417 0.230 57
3 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1’29.438 0.251 57
4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1’29.538 0.351 57
5 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1’30.254 1.067 53
6 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1’30.274 1.087 52
7 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1’30.277 1.090 52
8 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1’30.592 1.405 53
9 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1’30.605 1.418 57
10 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1’30.620 1.433 55
11 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1’30.759 1.572 50
12 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1’30.843 1.656 46
13 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 1’30.855 1.668 49
14 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1’30.931 1.744 53
15 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1’31.940 2.753 46
16 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 1’33.214 4.027 27
17 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1’33.693 4.506 26
18 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1’34.021 4.834 4
19 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 1’34.253 5.066 43
20 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 1’35.011 5.824 45
21 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1’43.730 14.543 1

2012 Australian Grand Prix lap times

This chart shows each driver’s lap times (in seconds) throughout the race. Show/hide different drivers using the controls below.

https://www.racefans.net/charts/2012drivercolours.csv

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58
Lewis Hamilton 100.622 94.297 93.566 93.347 93.446 93.38 93.315 93.461 93.561 93.471 93.617 93.732 93.881 94.255 94.73 96.403 115.417 100.734 93.813 94.233 93.156 93.111 93.285 91.74 92.068 91.593 91.814 91.834 91.743 91.731 91.82 92.362 92 92.082 92.209 111.396 114.656 152.354 143.484 160.66 140.014 93.63 91.502 90.535 90.378 89.865 90.108 90.081 90.179 90.019 90.052 89.927 90.188 90.041 89.696 89.641 89.538 89.867
Jenson Button 99.264 93.414 93.35 93.131 92.984 93.117 93.244 93.124 93.394 93.767 93.985 93.628 93.97 94.164 94.645 114.021 99.358 93.348 93.3 92.88 92.903 93.141 92.84 92.701 92.76 92.152 91.943 91.788 91.813 91.812 91.565 91.597 91.632 91.989 92.215 111.349 111.615 164.349 143.729 159.748 141.646 91.355 90.567 90.232 90.22 90.014 89.828 90.702 90.081 89.858 90.049 90.047 90.124 89.697 89.645 89.187 89.738 90.846
Romain Grosjean 103.73
Michael Schumacher 102.002 95.127 94.402 94.021 94.359 94.347 94.246 94.43 94.215 95.021
Mark Webber 105.336 95.939 94.896 94.585 93.879 94.765 94.451 94.391 94.224 93.875 95.053 94.602 94.539 113.152 100.168 92.355 92.262 92.644 95.138 92.943 93.16 94.173 94.423 92.546 92.978 92.935 93.219 93.219 93.827 93.981 94.912 91.098 91.341 91.288 91.156 91.685 125.4 145.212 143.01 160.269 139.821 93.812 91.557 90.724 90.253 90.175 89.999 90.167 90.446 89.81 89.905 89.714 89.921 90.26 89.68 89.779 89.438 89.622
Sebastian Vettel 103.029 95.16 93.848 94.148 94.174 96.499 93.69 93.632 93.5 94.853 93.605 93.308 93.582 93.685 93.75 114.857 99.517 93.273 92.764 92.945 94.467 92.588 93.174 92.182 92.028 92.056 92.162 91.741 92.107 91.621 91.794 92.059 91.947 91.843 91.865 91.874 120.851 163.068 143.569 160.235 141.015 93.226 91.477 90.585 90.221 90.033 89.899 90.16 90.287 90.033 89.888 89.69 89.869 89.587 89.995 89.59 89.417 89.682
Nico Rosberg 102.666 96.234 94.825 94.497 94.33 95.829 94.218 93.98 94.014 93.981 95.604 113.413 100.088 93.33 93.454 92.931 93.139 93.873 95.22 92.954 93.064 93.941 94.361 93.151 92.811 92.85 93.462 93.237 93.858 94.067 113.519 100.686 91.466 91.734 91.924 91.19 114.355 133.473 140.768 160.873 137.246 94.799 92.26 91.734 91.095 91.241 90.937 91.722 91.726 91.336 91.47 93.199 90.931 91.43 91.007 91.38 92.508 117.816
Pastor Maldonado 104.212 96.857 94.569 94.068 100.441 94.096 94.874 94.983 94.51 93.682 93.552 93.816 94.11 93.944 94.286 113.932 99.383 92.358 92.72 92.617 92.63 93.049 93.843 95.904 92.359 92.14 92.31 92.547 92.517 93.69 95.032 92.07 91.905 92.112 91.909 92.213 126.98 143.593 141.435 159.962 138.699 94.111 92.246 91.065 91.594 90.444 90.375 90.619 91.46 91.243 90.641 90.316 90.254 90.873 90.921 90.713 91.075
Nico Hulkenberg
Daniel Ricciardo 157.333 104.1 95.145 94.2 94.304 94.056 94.042 94.747 94.054 94.037 93.823 93.967 94.02 94.115 95.19 97.221 96.653 94.59 94.772 94.966 95.367 115.031 102.451 92.939 92.958 92.776 92.449 92.197 91.797 91.598 98.002 92.929 92.312 92.165 91.789 102.248 117.281 117.707 107.177 155.887 131.166 96.826 92.579 91.84 92.274 91.899 93.183 91.029 90.669 91.389 90.636 90.63 90.592 91.483 91.547 90.824 91.584 96.576
Jean-Eric Vergne 112.099 97.919 95.159 94.567 95.085 94.667 95.057 95.05 94.66 95.247 95.927 95.765 95.048 94.451 94.54 93.985 94.294 96.191 117.339 98.992 92.475 92.353 91.978 91.947 91.76 92.007 93.968 95.632 93.314 92.672 104.134 91.882 91.924 91.697 91.775 92.369 135.848 120.898 132.696 160.916 133.946 95.809 92.925 92.245 91.986 91.873 92.324 92.216 91.453 91.519 90.341 90.274 90.751 92.025 91.541 90.94 91.909 97.049
Fernando Alonso 104.733 95.866 94.081 94.186 94.22 95.651 94.207 94.465 93.893 93.897 95.44 94.535 110.958 99.472 93.093 92.867 93.978 94.326 93.586 93.147 93.535 94.916 93.169 92.67 92.662 92.895 93.152 92.68 92.535 92.506 93.13 92.817 92.683 111.326 98.399 91.855 112.525 138.746 141.499 160.468 138.652 94.114 92.071 90.978 91.438 90.332 90.632 90.86 91.317 91.14 90.506 90.277 90.593 90.675 90.894 91.025 91.019 93.838
Kamui Kobayashi 106.88 97.177 95.312 97.945 94.491 94.858 94.529 94.347 95.434 96.097 95.735 94.854 117.167 99.289 92.895 92.776 94.564 93.125 93.211 93.105 93.221 93.307 93.378 93.318 95.876 93.546 93.958 93.345 92.819 92.659 92.688 92.61 92.535 92.871 92.989 113.618 120.78 121.021 136.87 160.728 135.323 94.707 92.37 91.982 91.321 91.196 91.283 91.668 91.767 91.235 91.086 92.677 92.316 91.699 90.62 91.19 92.628 95.335
Bruno Senna 136.893 102.348 96.241 96.368 95.74 95.524 95.434 95.925 95.029 95.465 95.358 94.879 95.783 95.339 94.096 94.194 95.148 94.847 95.269 94.588 94.601 94.642 94.304 94.513 95.132 94.193 94.288 94.234 93.883 114.934 101.386 94.457 92.1 91.872 91.807 101.63 117.34 97.438 125.271 157.642 133.187 97.401 93.142 91.841 91.866 92.021 171.417 100.476 90.855 91.999 93.469 91.119
Paul di Resta 110.849 96.182 95.767 95.422 95.6 94.958 94.821 94.755 94.613 95.315 96.687 95.318 115.738 99.845 93.566 93.436 93.763 93.751 93.503 94.104 93.355 93.358 93.007 93.01 93.604 93.536 94.078 95.794 93.123 92.81 92.978 92.674 113.392 98.771 91.916 92.298 117.698 116.308 136.243 161.174 134.698 95.773 92.963 92.4 91.834 92.042 91.986 92.197 91.855 94.145 91.391 91.378 91.233 91.491 90.891 90.747 90.605 94.553
Felipe Massa 106.714 96.908 95.111 95.243 95.208 94.631 94.628 95.261 96.496 96.091 113.934 99.595 93.308 93.71 94.633 93.884 94.39 94.184 93.969 93.92 93.742 93.999 93.571 93.669 94.958 93.98 95.902 115.749 99.404 92.696 92.543 92.81 92.84 94.975 93.147 94.82 136.302 107.405 126.547 158.242 133.723 96.965 92.591 92.059 92.394 91.94
Kimi Raikkonen 108.46 96.631 95.743 96.903 94.882 94.578 94.726 94.196 95.173 96.32 95.766 94.626 95.793 93.066 93.453 93.816 94.075 94.171 115.052 99.146 92.562 92.589 92.757 93.137 94.496 93.78 92.2 92.399 92.1 92.12 92.352 92.348 91.853 91.721 91.929 91.553 129.819 137.935 139.939 160.62 136.285 95.599 93.107 91.67 91.299 90.966 91.961 91.75 92.046 90.759 90.9 91.784 92.605 91.749 91.065 90.823 92.403 96.023
Heikki Kovalainen 113.018 97.69 98.084 97.656 97.54 97.799 95.634 95.239 95.14 95.702 95.27 95.882 95.464 115.735 102.491 95.637 94.884 94.357 95.198 94.697 94.669 94.899 94.157 93.768 93.949 93.693 93.842 94.201 94.022 94.002 94.923 94.161 94.972 116.776 101.693 109.691 173.81 138.332
Vitaly Petrov 115.829 97.612 96.479 97.006 97.796 97.483 96.031 95.532 95.263 95.67 95.152 95.051 95.99 95.194 94.19 94.317 94.951 117.001 100.653 95.131 93.74 95.282 93.844 93.947 93.771 93.4 93.214 93.709 94.774 93.778 93.254 93.78 96.15 93.939
Timo Glock 110.819 98.975 98.691 97.576 97.679 97.845 99.003 97.121 96.844 96.951 97.036 96.903 96.973 96.933 96.683 96.914 96.654 97.755 97.596 119.967 105.105 95.673 95.601 97.93 95.446 99.366 96.681 94.642 95.398 95.566 97.256 97.121 97.734 96.016 96.853 139.057 123.479 126.206 127.162 97.755 96.251 95.053 94.253 94.516 94.456 94.259 97.537 94.943 94.497 94.407 94.723 94.784 94.451 99.855 97.174 99.441 109.259
Charles Pic 115.732 100.285 98.405 98.239 98.622 98.092 97.852 97.509 97.196 97.308 97.446 97.124 97.156 97.912 96.986 97.499 99.433 97.889 97.468 97.234 118.777 107.798 98.511 96.344 96.664 96.874 99.425 96.862 99.128 103.359 99.385 98.171 97.168 98.54 151.24 143.794 142.29 116.159 99.311 97.345 96.196 96.597 96.252 95.295 95.011 99.001 96.733 95.756 95.829 99.32 114.81 113.956 103.299
Sergio Perez 107.256 97.3 95.783 95.517 94.76 95.046 94.293 95.159 95.288 96.119 97.623 94.673 95.26 94.109 93.973 93.678 93.621 95.028 94.214 94.423 96.559 95.293 97.174 116.511 100.236 92.176 91.829 92.513 91.788 91.743 91.526 91.763 91.584 91.38 91.335 91.671 113.182 139.152 141.342 159.99 138.39 94.546 92.208 91.386 91.121 90.843 91.155 91.985 91.798 91.583 91.696 91.459 91.475 91.621 91.559 91.812 92.353 100.163

Lap time notes:

  • Button reeled off a series of quick laps at the beginning of the race to pull away from Hamilton. Lap 10 was the first lap Hamilton began to catch his team mate.
  • Hamilton and Vettel’s lap times were very closely-matched either side of their final pit stops.
  • Lap 37 reveals how Vettel leap-frogged Hamilton through the safety car period: while Vettel peeled into the pits at the end of the sector after the safety car came out, Hamilton lost a chunk of time slowing down for the safety car.
  • Massa was significantly slower than Alonso and wore his tyres out more quickly as well.
  • On lap 30, Webber was stuck behind Rosberg despite being capable of lapping 3s quicker than him.

2012 Australian Grand Prix


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    Keith Collantine
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    23 comments on “2012 Australian Grand Prix fastest laps”

    1. I knew Massa was going to be slower than Alonso, but 1.7 seconds is just dismal.

      1. Massa looked absolutely AWFUL today. It looked like he was driving an HRT from 2010 instead of a Ferrari from 2012. I was one of the few hopefuls who would have thought that Massa might pull something special this year and give Alonso a stiff fight. Seeing this performance I want to go back in time and change that. Just goes to show the difference in class between the two Ferrari drivers. First he could not out qualify his team mate who crashed out early in Q2 and then drove so poorly. Such a shame.

        1. +1 to be honest to an extent, Felipe underperfomed well below the car’s ill capabilities it must it said.

        2. An then there is how he drove Senna off the track. Pathetic performance.

    2. I was expecting Raikkonen to put in a quicker lap considering he had a couple of brand new set of tyres but then again he didn’t have much clear air once the safety car period came.

    3. Michael Schumacher seems to be the one able to unlock the car potential, good run in testing, he matched Rosberg in qualifying and still seem to has a better race pace than Rosberg like he managed to do in most of the race like last season, i think if not the retirement he can get a good result. But still it is first race

      1. rosberg made mistakes this weekend. but in the 35 plus races they have done together, rosberg has been consistenly the faster driver. sure shumacher has made up more places in races, but that is because of his inferior qualifying, where he qualified behind inferior cars, which are then easy to overtake in the race. its unfortunate schumacher had the retirement, it would have been interesting to see the result, but i think his tyres would have worn out too early just like for rosberg and just like all throughout preseason for mercedes. the f-duct activated by drs will help mercedes qualify high, but since drs cant be used all around the track during the race like it can be in qualifying, they will fall back during the races. dont get your hopes up, the system may still be banned, and then mercedes will qualify 8th-10th like last year, and their race pace is still only 4th-5th best. mclaren, redbull, ferrari and renault were faster during the race.

        1. Agreed!

        2. But throughout the testing both their times were matched, 35 races? not really Michael could perform consistently on the race last season, matched Rosberg time and up to the middle of the season has been consistently better race pace. 2010 just far from the old Schumacher, 2011 improved maybe 2012 he finally closed to the prime Schumacher. About the degradation showing in last year Michael has better tyre management than Rosberg. Agree with you about the team position, the tyrres degradation still the main issue Merc have to solved and it’s going to be interesting to see the teams argue about the duct legality

        3. “where he qualified behind inferior cars, which are then easy to overtake in the race.”
          He passed the superior cars as well at start, Mark Webber Red Bull and Ferraris, Hamilton and his own teammate you might missed that

    4. Seeing the data now, it turns out Hamilton wasn’t losing as much at the end of the first stint as I remembered. It was only the lap Button pitted and Hamilton’s inlap where he really lost time, although in the three laps before he also lost about 2 seconds to Vettel.

      Webber’s speed advantage over Rosberg reinforces something I commented on in the Grand Prix report article. For some reason, Webber, doesn’t seem very good at positioning himself for overtaking manoeuvres. I am reminded of something John Watson said recently on The Flying Lap, namely that a following car should not move around too much and make half-hearted moves, because this only gives the defender confidence that he can keep you behind. A shame for Webber that when he finally did pull up alongside Rosberg, Nico got away with cutting the corner. The situation is not that different, in my opinion, from Button’s overtaking attempt on Massa last year. Although Button came from behind Massa, wasn’t he ahead when they started braking (sorry, off topic).

      1. I think it speaks more to the perceived strengths and weaknesses of their cars. The Red Bull has been consistently quick through high-speed corners, while traction out of slower corners and straight line speed aren’t such strong points. The Mercedes on the other hand has quite good top speed.

        Track characterstics play a part here, too, obviously. At a circuit like Spa, the Red Bulls were carrying more speed than anyone coming out of Eau Rouge. On the Kemmel straight, they’d have a much higher hope than say, coming out of La Source. Albert Park, on the other hand, is a very different beast.

    5. it seems like caterham pace is in the lower midfield range. also, both cars running mostly on prime. petrov race pace is better than heikki. maybe that was because heikki didn’t have kers, but its quite good. he will keep heikki honest for this season. guess it’s worth it to replace trulli with petrov. you got money and pace I guess.

    6. Massa shouldn’t playing along with the new boys, he should be quicker in the field.

      1. Just heard it on the grapevine. Ferrari Red Bull and McLaren team bosses got together over a cup of tea to discuss ways they could sabotage their number 2 drivers discreetly. Following a cream bun and a chocolate slice each they hatched a plan to put Dunlop remoulds on their cars disguised as Pirellis.

        Seems to have worked wonders… :)

    7. Great job Pastor

    8. John Cousins
      19th March 2012, 3:59

      Webber and Vettels pace almost identical apart from when webber was being held up by rosberg!

      1. This was usually the case last year as well. Webber even set several fastest laps (7 I think). Vettel was also usually in clear air while Webber was not. I’m not sure what it really means.

        1. @spartle Webber did get the record for the highest amount of fastest laps last year. I think Webber and Vettel were probably in a similar position when it comes to clean air, the field would have been spread enough and even if it wasn’t Vettel would have had to deal with traffic.

    9. Felipe’s form has been atrocious. I cant imagine the Ferrari to be that bad. Although its not what you expect from a Ferrari, Im certain it could have qualified further up the grid. Alonso is a class above, and its obvious he makes the car look better than it is.

      If I were SD or LDM, I would give Massa up till Bahrain, if he continues on this downward spiral and keeps indulging in his penchant for running into people, he has to be dropped. This would then be the best time to bring in Sergio Perez, as the in season test at Mugello will give him an opportunity to get a shake down in the F2012.

      To add to this, if Ferrari dont manage at least a 3rd in the Constructors, LDM should think about giving SD the boot. Ok, he won the Constructors in 08, but Ferrari should have wrapped up the drivers that season as well. The team has been very poor since then, their performances in 2010 was purely down to luck and some brilliant drives from Alonso.

    10. Not surprised that Button got the fastest lap really.

      Probably pretty easy when you’re only running on fumes!

    11. This lap time chart is good but it would be better if you provided it as a table format also. I would prefer table because you can see individual lap times more clearly, thanks!

    12. Well done Vergne, showing great attitude and surprising maturity for a rookie.

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