Race · Round 18 of 20 · 4 November 2012

2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Kimi Raikkonen won for Lotus F1 Team from 4th on the grid at Yas Marina Circuit. 7 of the starters were not classified. It was the first championship race win for Lotus F1 Team.

Dry · High of 33 °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: Yas Marina CircuitAbu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Winner: Kimi RaikkonenLotus F1 Team
Pole: Sir Lewis Hamilton
Fastest lap: Sebastian Vettel
Entries: 2417 classified

Classification

Classification
Pos	Driver	Constructor	Chassis	Grid	Laps	Out	Points	FL
1	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus F1 Team	E20	4	55	Finished	25
2	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	F2012	6	55	Finished	18
3	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing	RB8	PL	55	Finished	15	fastest lap
4	Jenson Button	McLaren	MP4-27	5	55	Finished	12
5	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	FW34	3	55	Finished	10
6	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	C31	15	55	Finished	8
7	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	F2012	8	55	Finished	6
8	Bruno Senna	Williams	FW34	14	55	Finished	4
9	Paul di Resta	Force India	VJM05	12	55	Finished	2
10	Daniel Ricciardo	Scuderia Toro Rosso	STR7	16	55	Finished	1
11	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	F1 W03	13	55	Finished	0
12	Jean-Éric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso	STR7	17	55	Finished	0
13	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham / Team Lotus (2010-14)	CT01	18	55	Finished	0
14	Timo Glock	Virgin Racing / Marussia / Manor	MR01	21	55	Finished	0
15	Sergio Perez	Sauber	C31	11	55	Finished	0
16	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham / Team Lotus (2010-14)	CT01	20	55	Finished	0
17	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT	F112	PL	55	Finished	0
DNF	Charles Pic	Virgin Racing / Marussia / Manor	MR01	19	41	Engine	0
DNF	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Team	E20	9	37	Collision	0
DNF	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing	RB8	2	37	Collision	0
DNF	Sir Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	MP4-27	1	19	Fuel pressure	0
DNF	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT	F112	23	7	Hydraulics	0
DNF	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	F1 W03	7	7	Collision	0
DNF	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	VJM05	10	0	Collision	0

F1DB layout yas-marina-1 · 5.554 km · 21 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
Kimi Raikkonen	4	1	55
Fernando Alonso	6	2	55
Sebastian Vettel	PL	3	55
Jenson Button	5	4	55
Pastor Maldonado	3	5	55
Kamui Kobayashi	15	6	55
Felipe Massa	8	7	55
Bruno Senna	14	8	55
Paul di Resta	12	9	55
Daniel Ricciardo	16	10	55
Michael Schumacher	13	11	55
Jean-Éric Vergne	17	12	55
Heikki Kovalainen	18	13	55
Timo Glock	21	14	55
Sergio Perez	11	15	55
Vitaly Petrov	20	16	55
Pedro de la Rosa	PL	17	55
Charles Pic	19	DNF	41
Romain Grosjean	9	DNF	37
Mark Webber	2	DNF	37
Sir Lewis Hamilton	1	DNF	19
Narain Karthikeyan	23	DNF	7
Nico Rosberg	7	DNF	7
Nico Hulkenberg	10	DNF	0

Qualifying

Qualifying
Pos	Driver	Constructor	No.	Q1	Q2	Q3	Gap	≈ Distance	Interval
1	Sir Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	4	1:41.497	1:40.901	1:40.630	—	0 m	—
2	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing	2	1:41.933	1:41.277	1:40.978	+0.348	19 m	+0.348
3	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	18	1:41.981	1:41.907	1:41.226	+0.596	33 m	+0.248
4	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus F1 Team	9	1:42.222	1:41.532	1:41.260	+0.630	35 m	+0.034
5	Jenson Button	McLaren	3	1:42.342	1:41.873	1:41.290	+0.660	36 m	+0.030
6	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	5	1:41.939	1:41.514	1:41.582	+0.952	53 m	+0.292
7	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	8	1:41.926	1:41.698	1:41.603	+0.973	54 m	+0.021
8	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	6	1:41.974	1:41.846	1:41.723	+1.093	60 m	+0.120
9	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Team	10	1:42.046	1:41.620	1:41.778	+1.148	63 m	+0.055
10	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	12	1:42.579	1:42.019	—	—	62 m	—
11	Sergio Perez	Sauber	15	1:42.624	1:42.084	—	—	65 m	—
12	Paul di Resta	Force India	11	1:42.572	1:42.218	—	—	72 m	—
13	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	7	1:42.735	1:42.289	—	—	76 m	—
14	Bruno Senna	Williams	19	1:43.298	1:42.330	—	—	79 m	—
15	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	14	1:43.582	1:42.606	—	—	94 m	—
16	Daniel Ricciardo	Scuderia Toro Rosso	16	1:43.280	1:42.765	—	—	103 m	—
17	Jean-Éric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso	17	1:44.058	—	—	—	140 m	—
18	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham / Team Lotus (2010-14)	20	1:44.956	—	—	—	189 m	—
19	Charles Pic	Virgin Racing / Marussia / Manor	25	1:45.089	—	—	—	197 m	—
20	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham / Team Lotus (2010-14)	21	1:45.151	—	—	—	200 m	—
21	Timo Glock	Virgin Racing / Marussia / Manor	24	1:45.426	—	—	—	215 m	—
22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT	22	1:45.766	—	—	—	234 m	—
23	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT	23	1:46.382	—	—	—	267 m	—
EX	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing	1	1:42.160	1:41.511	1:41.073	—	24 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)
Kimi Raikkonen	1	55	1	31	20.3
Fernando Alonso	2	55	1	28	19.4
Sebastian Vettel	3	55	2	13, 37	25.0, 19.9
Jenson Button	4	55	1	29	19.5
Pastor Maldonado	5	55	1	29	20.7
Kamui Kobayashi	6	55	1	25	19.5
Felipe Massa	7	55	1	26	19.6
Bruno Senna	8	55	1	32	22.6
Paul di Resta	9	55	3	1, 9, 39	26.7, 19.8, 20.3
Daniel Ricciardo	10	55	2	26, 38	20.1, 21.2
Michael Schumacher	11	55	2	27, 41	19.7, 21.3
Jean-Éric Vergne	12	55	2	9, 33	20.3, 19.9
Heikki Kovalainen	13	55	1	28	23.0
Timo Glock	14	55	1	27	19.9
Sergio Perez	15	55	3	30, 38, 44	19.5, 33.4, 26.9
Vitaly Petrov	16	55	1	27	20.8
Pedro de la Rosa	17	55	1	28	22.3
Charles Pic	DNF	41	1	26	21.9
Romain Grosjean	DNF	37	2	1, 9	26.1, 21.0
Mark Webber	DNF	37	1	30	19.1
Sir Lewis Hamilton	DNF	19	0	None recorded	—
Narain Karthikeyan	DNF	7	0	None recorded	—
Nico Rosberg	DNF	7	1	1	29.3
Nico Hulkenberg	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
Pastor Maldonado · Kimi Raikkonen	3 · 4	5 · 1	29 · 31	Pastor Maldonado	Swapped places
Kimi Raikkonen · Fernando Alonso	4 · 6	1 · 2	31 · 28	Fernando Alonso	Kept their order
Kimi Raikkonen · Jenson Button	4 · 5	1 · 4	31 · 29	Jenson Button	Kept their order
Jenson Button · Fernando Alonso	5 · 6	4 · 2	29 · 28	Fernando Alonso	Swapped places
Pastor Maldonado · Jenson Button	3 · 5	5 · 4	29 · 29	Same lap	Swapped places
Pastor Maldonado · Kamui Kobayashi	3 · 15	5 · 6	29 · 25	Kamui Kobayashi	Kept their order
Felipe Massa · Kamui Kobayashi	8 · 15	7 · 6	26 · 25	Kamui Kobayashi	Swapped places
Bruno Senna · Kamui Kobayashi	14 · 15	8 · 6	32 · 25	Kamui Kobayashi	Swapped places
Kamui Kobayashi · Daniel Ricciardo	15 · 16	6 · 10	25 · 26	Kamui Kobayashi	Kept their order
Felipe Massa · Bruno Senna	8 · 14	7 · 8	26 · 32	Felipe Massa	Kept their order
Paul di Resta · Bruno Senna	12 · 14	9 · 8	1 · 32	Paul di Resta	Swapped places
Michael Schumacher · Bruno Senna	13 · 14	11 · 8	27 · 32	Michael Schumacher	Swapped places
Sergio Perez · Paul di Resta	11 · 12	15 · 9	30 · 1	Paul di Resta	Swapped places
Paul di Resta · Daniel Ricciardo	12 · 16	9 · 10	1 · 26	Paul di Resta	Kept their order
Paul di Resta · Michael Schumacher	12 · 13	9 · 11	1 · 27	Paul di Resta	Kept their order
Michael Schumacher · Daniel Ricciardo	13 · 16	11 · 10	27 · 26	Daniel Ricciardo	Swapped places
Daniel Ricciardo · Jean-Éric Vergne	16 · 17	10 · 12	26 · 9	Jean-Éric Vergne	Kept their order
Michael Schumacher · Jean-Éric Vergne	13 · 17	11 · 12	27 · 9	Jean-Éric Vergne	Kept their order
Jean-Éric Vergne · Heikki Kovalainen	17 · 18	12 · 13	9 · 28	Jean-Éric Vergne	Kept their order
Heikki Kovalainen · Timo Glock	18 · 21	13 · 14	28 · 27	Timo Glock	Kept their order
Sergio Perez · Timo Glock	11 · 21	15 · 14	30 · 27	Timo Glock	Swapped places
Vitaly Petrov · Timo Glock	20 · 21	16 · 14	27 · 27	Same lap	Swapped places
Sergio Perez · Vitaly Petrov	11 · 20	15 · 16	30 · 27	Vitaly Petrov	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	Sir Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	4	1:43.285	—	0 m	—	21
2	Jenson Button	McLaren	3	1:43.618	+0.333	18 m	+0.333	19
3	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing	1	1:44.050	+0.765	41 m	+0.432	23
4	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	5	1:44.366	+1.081	58 m	+0.316	21
5	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing	2	1:44.542	+1.257	68 m	+0.176	22
6	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	7	1:44.694	+1.409	76 m	+0.152	23
7	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	18	1:45.115	+1.830	98 m	+0.421	26
8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	8	1:45.194	+1.909	103 m	+0.079	19
9	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	19	1:45.347	+2.062	111 m	+0.153	25
10	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus F1 Team	9	1:45.422	+2.137	115 m	+0.075	15
11	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	6	1:45.567	+2.282	123 m	+0.145	24
12	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	12	1:45.587	+2.302	124 m	+0.020	20
13	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	14	1:45.722	+2.437	131 m	+0.135	20
14	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Team	10	1:45.743	+2.458	132 m	+0.021	20
15	Jules Bianchi	Force India	11	1:45.769	+2.484	134 m	+0.026	22
16	Sergio Perez	Sauber	15	1:45.811	+2.526	136 m	+0.042	22
17	Daniel Ricciardo	Scuderia Toro Rosso	16	1:46.649	+3.364	181 m	+0.838	24
18	Jean-Éric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso	17	1:46.708	+3.423	184 m	+0.059	26
19	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham / Team Lotus (2010-14)	20	1:47.418	+4.133	222 m	+0.710	23
20	Timo Glock	Virgin Racing / Marussia / Manor	24	1:47.891	+4.606	248 m	+0.473	21
21	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT	22	1:48.354	+5.069	273 m	+0.463	22
22	Max Chilton	Virgin Racing / Marussia / Manor	25	1:48.887	+5.602	301 m	+0.533	22
23	Qing Hua Ma (never started a Grand Prix)	HRT	23	1:50.487	+7.202	387 m	+1.600	20
24	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham / Team Lotus (2010-14)	21	—	—	—	—	3

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	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing	1	1:41.751	—	0 m	—	34
2	Sir Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	4	1:41.919	+0.168	9 m	+0.168	34
3	Jenson Button	McLaren	3	1:42.412	+0.661	36 m	+0.493	36
4	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing	2	1:42.466	+0.715	39 m	+0.054	21
5	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Team	10	1:42.500	+0.749	41 m	+0.034	34
6	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus F1 Team	9	1:42.532	+0.781	43 m	+0.032	28
7	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	5	1:42.587	+0.836	46 m	+0.055	31
8	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	6	1:42.823	+1.072	59 m	+0.236	33
9	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	18	1:42.998	+1.247	68 m	+0.175	37
10	Sergio Perez	Sauber	15	1:43.106	+1.355	74 m	+0.108	36
11	Bruno Senna	Williams	19	1:43.191	+1.440	79 m	+0.085	34
12	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	8	1:43.200	+1.449	79 m	+0.009	36
13	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	12	1:43.255	+1.504	82 m	+0.055	34
14	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	7	1:43.267	+1.516	83 m	+0.012	32
15	Paul di Resta	Force India	11	1:43.578	+1.827	100 m	+0.311	34
16	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	14	1:43.689	+1.938	106 m	+0.111	32
17	Daniel Ricciardo	Scuderia Toro Rosso	16	1:44.260	+2.509	137 m	+0.571	27
18	Jean-Éric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso	17	1:45.005	+3.254	178 m	+0.745	19
19	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham / Team Lotus (2010-14)	21	1:45.245	+3.494	191 m	+0.240	36
20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham / Team Lotus (2010-14)	20	1:45.782	+4.031	220 m	+0.537	33
21	Timo Glock	Virgin Racing / Marussia / Manor	24	1:46.589	+4.838	264 m	+0.807	36
22	Charles Pic	Virgin Racing / Marussia / Manor	25	1:46.671	+4.920	269 m	+0.082	32
23	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT	22	1:46.707	+4.956	271 m	+0.036	26
24	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT	23	1:47.406	+5.655	309 m	+0.699	35

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	Sir Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	4	1:42.130	—	0 m	—	18
2	Jenson Button	McLaren	3	1:42.420	+0.290	16 m	+0.290	17
3	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing	1	1:42.614	+0.484	26 m	+0.194	7
4	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing	2	1:42.743	+0.613	33 m	+0.129	18
5	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	12	1:42.750	+0.620	34 m	+0.007	19
6	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Team	10	1:43.015	+0.885	48 m	+0.265	18
7	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	18	1:43.064	+0.934	51 m	+0.049	19
8	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	5	1:43.133	+1.003	55 m	+0.069	15
9	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus F1 Team	9	1:43.184	+1.054	57 m	+0.051	22
10	Paul di Resta	Force India	11	1:43.338	+1.208	66 m	+0.154	19
11	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	6	1:43.480	+1.350	73 m	+0.142	17
12	Sergio Perez	Sauber	15	1:43.571	+1.441	78 m	+0.091	20
13	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	8	1:43.593	+1.463	80 m	+0.022	20
14	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	7	1:43.635	+1.505	82 m	+0.042	19
15	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber	14	1:44.010	+1.880	102 m	+0.375	22
16	Jean-Éric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso	17	1:44.025	+1.895	103 m	+0.015	18
17	Bruno Senna	Williams	19	1:44.071	+1.941	106 m	+0.046	19
18	Daniel Ricciardo	Scuderia Toro Rosso	16	1:44.149	+2.019	110 m	+0.078	19
19	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham / Team Lotus (2010-14)	20	1:45.301	+3.171	172 m	+1.152	22
20	Timo Glock	Virgin Racing / Marussia / Manor	24	1:45.879	+3.749	204 m	+0.578	19
21	Charles Pic	Virgin Racing / Marussia / Manor	25	1:46.036	+3.906	212 m	+0.157	19
22	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham / Team Lotus (2010-14)	21	1:46.261	+4.131	225 m	+0.225	22
23	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT	22	1:46.554	+4.424	241 m	+0.293	20
24	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT	23	1:47.032	+4.902	267 m	+0.478	22

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 Abu Dhabi 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: 18 of 2012
Grand Prix: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Dates: 4 Nov 2012
Layout raced: Original layout · 5.554 km · 21 turns
Format: Standard weekend
Constructor: Lotus F1 Team
Entrant: Lotus-Renault
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.