Race · Round 12 of 20 · 2 September 2012

2012 Belgian Grand Prix

Jenson Button won for McLaren from pole at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. 6 of the starters were not classified.

Dry · High of 19 °C, no rain on the day (modelled, Open-Meteo)

How it is modelled

ERA5's reanalysis, through Open-Meteo, of the circuit's whole local day and not the race's hours, for the grid cell the circuit sits in and not the track, so a shower can be missing from it. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the Copernicus information or data it contains.

Circuit: Circuit de Spa-FrancorchampsStavelot, Belgium
Winner: Jenson ButtonMcLaren
Pole: Jenson Button
Fastest lap: Bruno Senna
Entries: 2418 classified

Classification

Classification
Pos	Driver	Constructor	Chassis	Grid	Laps	Out	Points	FL
1	Jenson Button	McLaren	MP4-27	1	44	Finished	25
2	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing	RB8	10	44	Finished	18
3	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus F1 Team	E20	3	44	Finished	15
4	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	VJM05	11	44	Finished	12
5	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	F2012	14	44	Finished	10
6	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing	RB8	12	44	Finished	8
7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	F1 W03	13	44	Finished	6
8	Jean-Éric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso	STR7	15	44	Finished	4
9	Daniel Ricciardo	Scuderia Toro Rosso	STR7	16	44	Finished	2
10	Paul di Resta	Force India	VJM05	9	44	Finished	1
11	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	F1 W03	23	44	Finished	0
12	Bruno Senna	Williams	FW34	17	44	Finished	0	fastest lap
13	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	C31	2	44	Finished	0
14	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham / Team Lotus (2010-14)	CT01	19	43	Finished	0
15	Timo Glock	Virgin Racing / Marussia / Manor	MR01	20	43	Finished	0
16	Charles Pic	Virgin Racing / Marussia / Manor	MR01	22	43	Finished	0
17	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham / Team Lotus (2010-14)	CT01	18	43	Finished	0
18	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT	F112	21	43	Finished	0
DNF	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT	F112	24	29	Accident	0
DNF	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	FW34	6	4	Collision damage	0
DNF	Sergio Perez	Sauber	C31	4	0	Collision damage	0
DNF	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	F2012	5	0	Collision	0
DNF	Sir Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	MP4-27	7	0	Collision	0
DNF	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Team	E20	8	0	Collision	0

F1DB layout spa-francorchamps-4 · 7.004 km · 19 turns, F1DB’s figures
F1DB, CC BY 4.0 · drawn by Jules Roy
The outline is F1DB’s, for every layout; the trace is OpenStreetMap’s, where it exists.

Grid to flag

Lines run from grid slot to result, ending at the last lap completed. A dashed line ending in a cross is a driver not classified. Nothing between is recorded, so a crossing is not an overtake at that lap.

Grid to flag
Driver	Grid	Result	Laps
Jenson Button	1	1	44
Sebastian Vettel	10	2	44
Kimi Raikkonen	3	3	44
Nico Hulkenberg	11	4	44
Felipe Massa	14	5	44
Mark Webber	12	6	44
Michael Schumacher	13	7	44
Jean-Éric Vergne	15	8	44
Daniel Ricciardo	16	9	44
Paul di Resta	9	10	44
Nico Rosberg	23	11	44
Bruno Senna	17	12	44
Kamui Kobayashi	2	13	44
Vitaly Petrov	19	14	43
Timo Glock	20	15	43
Charles Pic	22	16	43
Heikki Kovalainen	18	17	43
Pedro de la Rosa	21	18	43
Narain Karthikeyan	24	DNF	29
Pastor Maldonado	6	DNF	4
Sergio Perez	4	DNF	0
Fernando Alonso	5	DNF	0
Sir Lewis Hamilton	7	DNF	0
Romain Grosjean	8	DNF	0

Qualifying

Qualifying
Pos	Driver	Constructor	No.	Q1	Q2	Q3	Gap	≈ Distance	Interval
1	Jenson Button	McLaren	3	1:49.250	1:47.654	1:47.573	—	0 m	—
2	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	14	1:49.686	1:48.569	1:47.871	+0.298	19 m	+0.298
3	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	18	1:48.993	1:48.780	1:47.893	+0.320	21 m	+0.022
4	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus F1 Team	9	1:49.546	1:48.414	1:48.205	+0.632	41 m	+0.312
5	Sergio Perez	Sauber	15	1:49.642	1:47.980	1:48.219	+0.646	42 m	+0.014
6	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	5	1:49.401	1:48.598	1:48.313	+0.740	48 m	+0.094
7	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing	2	1:49.859	1:48.546	1:48.392	+0.819	53 m	+0.079
8	Sir Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	4	1:49.605	1:48.563	1:48.394	+0.821	53 m	+0.002
9	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Team	10	1:50.126	1:48.714	1:48.538	+0.965	63 m	+0.144
10	Paul di Resta	Force India	11	1:50.033	1:48.729	1:48.890	+1.317	86 m	+0.352
11	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing	1	1:49.722	1:48.792	—	—	74 m	—
12	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	12	1:49.362	1:48.855	—	—	78 m	—
13	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	7	1:49.742	1:49.081	—	—	93 m	—
14	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	6	1:49.588	1:49.147	—	—	97 m	—
15	Jean-Éric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso	17	1:49.763	1:49.354	—	—	111 m	—
16	Daniel Ricciardo	Scuderia Toro Rosso	16	1:49.572	1:49.543	—	—	123 m	—
17	Bruno Senna	Williams	19	1:49.958	1:50.088	—	—	158 m	—
18	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	8	1:50.181	—	—	—	76 m	—
19	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham / Team Lotus (2010-14)	20	1:51.739	—	—	—	176 m	—
20	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham / Team Lotus (2010-14)	21	1:51.967	—	—	—	191 m	—
21	Timo Glock	Virgin Racing / Marussia / Manor	24	1:52.336	—	—	—	215 m	—
22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT	22	1:53.030	—	—	—	259 m	—
23	Charles Pic	Virgin Racing / Marussia / Manor	25	1:53.493	—	—	—	289 m	—
24	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT	23	1:54.989	—	—	—	385 m	—

Before knock-out qualifying arrived in 2006 there is one time per driver; from 2006, the best lap of each of the three sessions.

How it is derived: distance

Distance at the session-best lap’s average speed, on the layout raced that year. Each driver is measured against the fastest lap of the last part they set a time in.

Pit stops

Bars run in finishing order, ticked at each stop. An unticked bar may hide a stop: F1DB’s record has gaps. A cross is a driver not classified. Ticks and strip mark the lap, not cause, tyres or gain; the table gives times.

Pit stops
Driver	Result	Laps	Stops recorded	Stopped on lap	Pit-lane time (s)
Jenson Button	1	44	1	20	19.7
Sebastian Vettel	2	44	1	21	20.8
Kimi Raikkonen	3	44	2	11, 28	20.4, 20.3
Nico Hulkenberg	4	44	2	13, 27	22.2, 20.7
Felipe Massa	5	44	2	12, 27	20.3, 21.0
Mark Webber	6	44	2	11, 27	20.9, 20.4
Michael Schumacher	7	44	2	19, 35	21.7, 20.8
Jean-Éric Vergne	8	44	2	15, 29	20.7, 21.1
Daniel Ricciardo	9	44	2	12, 28	20.3, 21.1
Paul di Resta	10	44	2	10, 26	21.4, 21.1
Nico Rosberg	11	44	2	20, 36	21.1, 20.5
Bruno Senna	12	44	2	16, 39	21.7, 22.0
Kamui Kobayashi	13	44	3	1, 7, 24	27.2, 21.7, 22.1
Vitaly Petrov	14	43	2	12, 26	26.0, 21.2
Timo Glock	15	43	2	11, 25	22.5, 20.7
Charles Pic	16	43	1	18	21.6
Heikki Kovalainen	17	43	2	14, 27	52.2, 21.9
Pedro de la Rosa	18	43	3	1, 15, 27	29.1, 25.0, 22.1
Narain Karthikeyan	DNF	29	2	14, 28	24.0, 22.5
Pastor Maldonado	DNF	4	1	1	21.8
Sergio Perez	DNF	0	0	None recorded	—
Fernando Alonso	DNF	0	0	None recorded	—
Sir Lewis Hamilton	DNF	0	0	None recorded	—
Romain Grosjean	DNF	0	0	None recorded	—

A pit-lane time is all of a stop’s time in the pit lane, any wait or repair there included.

Who stopped first, between neighbours

Who stopped first, between neighbours
Drivers, in grid order	Grid	Result	First recorded stop, lap	Stopped first	Grid to flag
Jenson Button · Sebastian Vettel	1 · 10	1 · 2	20 · 21	Jenson Button	Kept their order
Jenson Button · Kamui Kobayashi	1 · 2	1 · 13	20 · 1	Kamui Kobayashi	Kept their order
Kimi Raikkonen · Sebastian Vettel	3 · 10	3 · 2	11 · 21	Kimi Raikkonen	Swapped places
Paul di Resta · Sebastian Vettel	9 · 10	10 · 2	10 · 21	Paul di Resta	Swapped places
Sebastian Vettel · Nico Hulkenberg	10 · 11	2 · 4	21 · 13	Nico Hulkenberg	Kept their order
Kamui Kobayashi · Kimi Raikkonen	2 · 3	13 · 3	1 · 11	Kamui Kobayashi	Swapped places
Kimi Raikkonen · Nico Hulkenberg	3 · 11	3 · 4	11 · 13	Kimi Raikkonen	Kept their order
Nico Hulkenberg · Felipe Massa	11 · 14	4 · 5	13 · 12	Felipe Massa	Kept their order
Nico Hulkenberg · Mark Webber	11 · 12	4 · 6	13 · 11	Mark Webber	Kept their order
Mark Webber · Felipe Massa	12 · 14	6 · 5	11 · 12	Mark Webber	Swapped places
Michael Schumacher · Felipe Massa	13 · 14	7 · 5	19 · 12	Felipe Massa	Swapped places
Felipe Massa · Jean-Éric Vergne	14 · 15	5 · 8	12 · 15	Felipe Massa	Kept their order
Mark Webber · Michael Schumacher	12 · 13	6 · 7	11 · 19	Mark Webber	Kept their order
Michael Schumacher · Jean-Éric Vergne	13 · 15	7 · 8	19 · 15	Jean-Éric Vergne	Kept their order
Jean-Éric Vergne · Daniel Ricciardo	15 · 16	8 · 9	15 · 12	Daniel Ricciardo	Kept their order
Paul di Resta · Daniel Ricciardo	9 · 16	10 · 9	10 · 12	Paul di Resta	Swapped places
Daniel Ricciardo · Bruno Senna	16 · 17	9 · 12	12 · 16	Daniel Ricciardo	Kept their order
Paul di Resta · Nico Rosberg	9 · 23	10 · 11	10 · 20	Paul di Resta	Kept their order
Bruno Senna · Nico Rosberg	17 · 23	12 · 11	16 · 20	Bruno Senna	Swapped places
Charles Pic · Nico Rosberg	22 · 23	16 · 11	18 · 20	Charles Pic	Swapped places
Kamui Kobayashi · Bruno Senna	2 · 17	13 · 12	1 · 16	Kamui Kobayashi	Swapped places
Bruno Senna · Heikki Kovalainen	17 · 18	12 · 17	16 · 14	Heikki Kovalainen	Kept their order
Kamui Kobayashi · Vitaly Petrov	2 · 19	13 · 14	1 · 12	Kamui Kobayashi	Kept their order
Heikki Kovalainen · Vitaly Petrov	18 · 19	17 · 14	14 · 12	Vitaly Petrov	Swapped places
Vitaly Petrov · Timo Glock	19 · 20	14 · 15	12 · 11	Timo Glock	Kept their order
Timo Glock · Charles Pic	20 · 22	15 · 16	11 · 18	Timo Glock	Kept their order
Timo Glock · Pedro de la Rosa	20 · 21	15 · 18	11 · 1	Pedro de la Rosa	Kept their order
Heikki Kovalainen · Charles Pic	18 · 22	17 · 16	14 · 18	Heikki Kovalainen	Swapped places
Pedro de la Rosa · Charles Pic	21 · 22	18 · 16	1 · 18	Pedro de la Rosa	Swapped places
Heikki Kovalainen · Pedro de la Rosa	18 · 21	17 · 18	14 · 1	Pedro de la Rosa	Kept their order

Pairs of classified drivers who started or finished next to each other, each with a stop recorded; the two names in a row are in grid order. Both are read from the stops F1DB records, which has gaps. It is the order things happened in and no more: with no lap times, the record cannot say whether stopping first won or lost a place.

Practice sessions Practice 1 · Practice 2 · Practice 3

Practice 1

Practice 1
Pos	Driver	Constructor	No.	Best lap	Gap	≈ Distance	Interval	Laps
1	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	14	2:11.389	—	0 m	—	20
2	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	18	2:11.941	+0.552	29 m	+0.552	14
3	Daniel Ricciardo	Scuderia Toro Rosso	16	2:12.004	+0.615	33 m	+0.063	12
4	Jean-Éric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso	17	2:12.824	+1.435	76 m	+0.820	15
5	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing	2	2:13.191	+1.802	96 m	+0.367	13
6	Sergio Perez	Sauber	15	2:13.861	+2.472	132 m	+0.670	16
7	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	8	2:14.210	+2.821	150 m	+0.349	14
8	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	19	2:14.660	+3.271	174 m	+0.450	16
9	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing	1	2:14.860	+3.471	185 m	+0.200	12
10	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	7	2:15.402	+4.013	214 m	+0.542	13
11	Paul di Resta	Force India	11	2:15.812	+4.423	236 m	+0.410	11
12	Timo Glock	Virgin Racing / Marussia / Manor	24	2:16.409	+5.020	268 m	+0.597	16
13	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	12	2:16.786	+5.397	288 m	+0.377	10
14	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham / Team Lotus (2010-14)	21	2:16.788	+5.399	288 m	+0.002	16
15	Sir Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	4	2:16.827	+5.438	290 m	+0.039	5
16	Jenson Button	McLaren	3	2:16.861	+5.472	292 m	+0.034	8
17	Charles Pic	Virgin Racing / Marussia / Manor	25	2:17.519	+6.130	327 m	+0.658	14
18	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham / Team Lotus (2010-14)	20	2:18.199	+6.810	363 m	+0.680	10
19	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT	22	2:19.546	+8.157	435 m	+1.347	12
20	Dani Clos (never started a Grand Prix)	HRT	23	2:19.689	+8.300	442 m	+0.143	12
21	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Team	10	2:38.701	+27.312	1,456 m	+19.012	9
22	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	5	2:40.749	+29.360	1,565 m	+2.048	4
23	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus F1 Team	9	2:46.580	+35.191	1,876 m	+5.831	9
24	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	6	—	—	—	—	2

Each driver’s best lap of the session and the laps they ran: a classification, not lap timing. † Drove in practice and never started a Grand Prix.

How it is derived: distance

Distance at the session-best lap’s average speed, on the layout raced that year.

Practice 2

Practice 2
Pos	Driver	Constructor	No.	Best lap	Gap	≈ Distance	Interval	Laps
1	Charles Pic	Virgin Racing / Marussia / Manor	25	2:49.354	—	0 m	—	4
2	Daniel Ricciardo	Scuderia Toro Rosso	16	2:49.750	+0.396	16 m	+0.396	3
3	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	5	2:50.497	+1.143	47 m	+0.747	3
4	Paul di Resta	Force India	11	2:51.333	+1.979	82 m	+0.836	3
5	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	18	2:51.660	+2.306	95 m	+0.327	4
6	Timo Glock	Virgin Racing / Marussia / Manor	24	2:52.076	+2.722	113 m	+0.416	4
7	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	14	2:53.232	+3.878	160 m	+1.156	4
8	Jean-Éric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso	17	2:58.232	+8.878	367 m	+5.000	3
9	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	12	2:59.125	+9.771	404 m	+0.893	5
10	Sergio Perez	Sauber	15	3:12.901	+23.547	974 m	+13.776	4
11	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	8	—	—	—	—	3
12	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	7	—	—	—	—	4
13	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham / Team Lotus (2010-14)	20	—	—	—	—	1
14	Sir Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	4	—	—	—	—	2
15	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing	1	—	—	—	—	3
16	Jenson Button	McLaren	3	—	—	—	—	2
17	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	6	—	—	—	—	2
18	Bruno Senna	Williams	19	—	—	—	—	3

Each driver’s best lap of the session and the laps they ran: a classification, not lap timing.

How it is derived: distance

Distance at the session-best lap’s average speed, on the layout raced that year.

Practice 3

Practice 3
Pos	Driver	Constructor	No.	Best lap	Gap	≈ Distance	Interval	Laps
1	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	5	1:48.542	—	0 m	—	18
2	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus F1 Team	9	1:48.683	+0.141	9 m	+0.141	21
3	Sergio Perez	Sauber	15	1:48.850	+0.308	20 m	+0.167	23
4	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	14	1:48.863	+0.321	21 m	+0.013	20
5	Jenson Button	McLaren	3	1:49.091	+0.549	35 m	+0.228	18
6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	6	1:49.092	+0.550	35 m	+0.001	16
7	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing	2	1:49.164	+0.622	40 m	+0.072	21
8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Team	10	1:49.266	+0.724	47 m	+0.102	23
9	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing	1	1:49.292	+0.750	48 m	+0.026	23
10	Paul di Resta	Force India	11	1:49.382	+0.840	54 m	+0.090	22
11	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	18	1:49.561	+1.019	66 m	+0.179	23
12	Sir Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	4	1:49.615	+1.073	69 m	+0.054	19
13	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	7	1:49.621	+1.079	70 m	+0.006	26
14	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	12	1:49.674	+1.132	73 m	+0.053	23
15	Jean-Éric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso	17	1:49.710	+1.168	75 m	+0.036	21
16	Daniel Ricciardo	Scuderia Toro Rosso	16	1:49.776	+1.234	80 m	+0.066	22
17	Bruno Senna	Williams	19	1:50.027	+1.485	96 m	+0.251	20
18	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham / Team Lotus (2010-14)	20	1:52.339	+3.797	245 m	+2.312	21
19	Charles Pic	Virgin Racing / Marussia / Manor	25	1:52.566	+4.024	260 m	+0.227	20
20	Timo Glock	Virgin Racing / Marussia / Manor	24	1:52.630	+4.088	264 m	+0.064	18
21	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham / Team Lotus (2010-14)	21	1:52.809	+4.267	275 m	+0.179	22
22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT	22	1:53.383	+4.841	312 m	+0.574	22
23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT	23	1:53.562	+5.020	324 m	+0.179	23
24	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	8	1:58.113	+9.571	618 m	+4.551	5

Each driver’s best lap of the session and the laps they ran: a classification, not lap timing.

How it is derived: distance

Distance at the session-best lap’s average speed, on the layout raced that year.

Photographs from this race

Filed on Wikimedia Commons under this race's own category, each shown with the photographer and licence its terms require. The filing is the Commons editors' and has not been checked here.

Everything filed under 2012 Belgian Grand Prix on Wikimedia Commons

The cars in this race

The photograph each car's Wikipedia article leads with, from Wikimedia Commons: taken wherever and whenever that was, not necessarily at this race.

A photograph marked unchecked has a file name that does not name the car it is shown for. Most are still the right car, filed under the driver rather than the machine — but nobody has confirmed these one by one.

5 more photographs

Where this comes from

Round: 12 of 2012
Grand Prix: Belgian Grand Prix
Dates: 2 Sep 2012
Layout raced: Modern circuit · 7.004 km · 19 turns
Format: Standard weekend
Constructor: McLaren
Entrant: McLaren-Mercedes
Confidence: reference

The layout raced and its figures are this register’s, from its own sources; the figures under the race’s drawing are F1DB’s, and at some circuits the two disagree.