The complete F1 Fanatic 2012 season review

2012 F1 season review

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As 2012 comes to an end so does F1 Fanatic’s season review. Catch up on the complete review of 2012 below including all the features, statistics, pictures, quizzes and more.

Team-by-team reviews

A look at how each of the teams performed in 2012.

Red Bull bounce back to claim title hat-trick
Alonso fights to the end in another flawed Ferrari
McLaren’s mistakes cost them championship success
Raikkonen helps Lotus to fourth with comeback win
Mercedes’ season goes downhill rapidly after win
All change at Sauber after strong season
One step forward, one step back for Force India
Williams fail to get the most out of winning car
Toro Rosso’s Red Bull rookies prove closely-matched
Midfield target remains an elusive goal for Caterham
No fairytale ending to tough season for Marussia
HRT’s failure is a small but significant loss for F1

Driver Rankings

The F1 Fanatic Driver Rankings always provoke considerable debate. I chose Fernando Alonso as my Driver of the Year this season.

2012 F1 Driver Rankings part one: 24-15
2012 F1 Driver Rankings part two: 14-6
2012 F1 Driver Rankings #5: Nico Hulkenberg
2012 F1 Driver Rankings #4: Kimi Raikkonen
2012 F1 Driver Rankings #3: Sebastian Vettel
2012 F1 Driver Rankings #2: Lewis Hamilton
2012 F1 Driver Rankings #1: Fernando Alonso

Quizzes

Two 20-question quizzes to test your recollection of the 2012 season.

Take F1 Fanatic’s 2012 Formula One season quiz
Take the new 2012 F1 season race-by-race quiz

Features

50 things that made the 2012 F1 season great

My personal favourite moments of the year.

F1 Fanatic’s 50 article highlights of 2012

A selection of the best, most popular and most hotly-debated articles from F1 Fanatic this year – make sure you’ve seen them all.

Who had the fastest car? Performance data analysed

Crunching the performance data from 2012 revealed some interesting details about how competitive the teams were.

2012 in statistics part one: The year in context
2012 in statistics part two: Stats and facts

It seems you all can’t get enough of F1 Fanatic’s Stats and Facts features so here’s two looking at the data from 2012.

The best of the 2012 Caption Competition winners

Your funniest caption suggestions of 2012.

Top ten: Schumacher comeback moments

Michael Schumacher returned to retirement after a three-year comeback. Though it didn’t go accoridng to plan, it wasn’t without some moments to cherish.

Pictures

The 2012 F1 season in pictures

Over 100 of the best pictures from every round of the 2012 F1 season, plus all of F1 Fanatic’s top ten pictures from each race.

Vettel and Red Bull’s title ‘triple double’ in pictures

Pictures of the team and driver who’ve been the dominant force over the past three seasons.

Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren career in pictures

After six years racing for McLaren Lewis Hamilton is finally moving on. Here’s a look back on their time together.

Michael Schumacher’s F1 comeback in pictures

Images from Schumacher’s three-year comeback stint at Mercedes.

Three years, zero points: HRT’s short life in pictures

HRT quietly disappeared at the end of the season after three unsuccessful years.

Race reviews

Australian Grand Prix: Button starts season with victory in Melbourne
Malaysian Grand Prix: Alonso holds off Perez for superb win
Chinese Grand Prix: Rosberg races to emphatic first win
Bahrain Grand Prix: Vettel leads home Raikkonen to take first win of 2012
Spanish Grand Prix: Maldonado ends Williams’ eight-year wait for a win
Monaco Grand Prix: Webber gives Red Bull third straight Monaco win
Canadian Grand Prix: Hamilton wins as Alonso’s gamble fails
European Grand Prix: Alonso clinches superb win in Valencia
British Grand Prix: Webber beats Alonso to British Grand Prix win
German Grand Prix: Alonso holds off Vettel and Button to win
Hungarian Grand Prix: Hamilton resists Raikkonen for win
Belgian Grand Prix: Button storms to Spa win after first-lap shunt
Italian Grand Prix: Hamilton wins as Perez charges to second
Singapore Grand Prix: Vettel wins as Hamilton drops out
Japanese Grand Prix: Vettel’s Suzuka masterclass as Alonso hits trouble
Korean Grand Prix: Vettel takes championship lead with hat-trick of wins
Indian Grand Prix: Vettel wins but Alonso limits the damage
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Raikkonen wins as Vettel races from pits to podium
United States Grand Prix: Hamilton snatches victory from Vettel in the USA
Brazilian Grand Prix: Button wins intense race as Vettel recovers to seal third championship

The readers’ verdict

Fernando Alonso voted F1 Fanatic Driver of the Year

Good to see F1 Fanatic readers picked the same top driver of 2012 as I did. Also Kimi Raikkonen was named overtaker of the year and won the vote for best pass.

Top ten passes of 2012: Vote for the best

The ten overtaking moves you picked as the best of the year.

Kobayashi’s podium leads fans’ top moments of 2012

What F1 Fanatic readers enjoyed most about 2012.

De Villota, Watkins & Bahrain: The low points of 2012

The moments to forget in 2012.

11 different Driver of the Weekend winners in 2012

Full results from all 20 Driver of the Weekend polls.

What F1 Fanatics thought of 2012: The year in polls

F1 Fanatic readers had their say about a lot more in 2012.

Who F1 Fanatic readers supported in 2012

Find out who are the most popular drivers and teams at the moment.

Your 2012 F1 season predictions revisited

How well did we predict the 2012 season? Find out here.

2012 rated the best season of the last five years

Complete Rate the Race results for 2012.

Become an F1 Fanatic supporter

The F1 Fanatic Supporter programme launched during 2012 and I’m very pleased with the response so far.

Contributions from F1 Fanatic readers help cover the cost of hosting, running and developing F1 Fanatic. And, of course, producing articles such as these.

By contributing £1 per month to F1 Fanatic you can browse the site free of advertisements. You can pay per month or per year. See below for more information and to sign up.

Image © Pirelli/LAT, Ferrari/Ercole Colombo, Red Bull/Getty images, Singapore Grand Prix/Sutton, Lotus F1 Team/LAT

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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18 comments on “The complete F1 Fanatic 2012 season review”

  1. What a season friends, what a season. Can’t say anytihng more, since I probably can’t do it justice.

  2. Incredible season and a great and complete coverage of it in this wonderful site!

  3. Much better than Radio LeMans review of the season who went all out to defend Lewis as the champion. Nick Damon gave a wankerish review of the season. An embarrassment of a podcast.

  4. That is a great body of work Keith. You are rising in the ranks, if not surpassed your peers.

    1. +1 Thank you Keith for a the great content in this blog… I have had fun in 2012, here is hopping for a better 2013.

      Happy new year everybody…

    2. This site (is it fair to call it a blog anymore?) has gone from strength to strength as the years have passed. As I have had less and less time in life, F1Fanatic has really filled in the gaps for me.

      Kudos Keith and here’s to a fantastic 2013

      1. davidnotcoulthard
        1st January 2013, 6:36

        This site (is it fair to call it a blog anymore?)

        Well, the name says “The Formula 1 Blog” so I think it’s still fair!

        1. It does indeed, I but it’s become a fully fledged news site now for me! :-)

  5. It’s a new year here! :)

    So happy new year, Keith and thank you for the best online F1 community! And happy new year to all the fanatics! :)

  6. Joey Zyla (@)
    1st January 2013, 2:45

    This was, in my opinion, the perfect season. Every race had me the edge of my seat, from the lights coming on until the checkered flag. And don’t even get me started on the Drivers’ Championship battle itself, that was incredible. This season had everything, from the early-season drama in Sepang, which saw Sergio Perez come in behind Fernando Alonso to take his first podium, to the glamour and tension of Monaco, to Fernando Alonso’s fantastic drive from 11th on the grid to the top of the podium at Valencia, to Jenson Button’s dominance at Spa, to Sebastian Vettel’s incredible four consecutive victories, to the race-long battle for the lead at Austin, to the unpredictable race at Interlagos, which was a fitting end to a truly unforgettable year of racing. The only thing that put me off of the sport a bit is the fact that Bahrain hosted a race, despite the ongoing violence and use of excessive force and torture by the ruling family. All politics aside, however, the season was as good as it gets, in my book.

    Here are my ratings for each race this season, with 1 being ‘good’, and 10 being ‘perfect’.

    AUS 5
    MYS 8
    CHN 6
    ESP 4
    MON 8
    CAN 5
    EUR 7
    GBR 7
    GER 5
    HUN 6
    BEL 6
    ITA 7
    SIN 7
    JPN 8
    KOR 4
    IND 5
    UAE 5
    USA 7
    BRA 10

    1. @joey-zyla – I had UAE as a 10 but after seeing the Brazilian GP I’d only give it an 8! That was an incredible race I thought, definitely one of (if not the) best races since the poll started!

      1. Joey Zyla (@)
        2nd January 2013, 8:42

        @vettel1 The Brazilian GP was the best race that I’ve ever seen. It’s a shame Vettel won the Championship, though.

        1. Not for me @joey-zyla ;) I enjoyed his comeback drive thoroughly

  7. Joey Zyla (@)
    1st January 2013, 2:48

    I’ve only been here for a month or so but I already appreciate the incredible work you put together each and every day, @keith-collantine.

  8. davidnotcoulthard
    1st January 2013, 6:58

    Anyway, Keith, what about a section in the article about comments and forum posts made here in the season that, when we look back now, don’t make any sense?

    I just found this 6 monhs old post in the forums – by @kingshark

    @Raymondu999 – I have no idea to why you’re regarding Hulkenberg so highly. He lost his seat to Maldonado as he couldn’t find any sponsorship money, and now di Resta is comfortably beating him (Paul’s 21 points against Hulk’s 7)

  9. Hi Keith any chance of a birthday shoutout for my 18th today please :)

  10. Happy new year!!! Keep up the good work Keith.

  11. Jonathan (@)
    6th March 2013, 11:43

    i am willing to wait for 2013 f1 race.

Comments are closed.