2012

The 2012 season had 20 rounds, from the Australian Grand Prix on 18 March 2012 to the Brazilian Grand Prix on 25 November 2012. The Bahrain Grand Prix returned to the calendar, and the United States Grand Prix was held for the first time at the new circuit in Austin — Lewis Hamilton won it. The European Grand Prix in Valencia, on the other hand, was held for the last time.

No fewer than six world champions lined up on the grid: Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Räikkönen, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel. The first seven races had seven different winners, and over the season eight drivers from six teams won: McLaren and Red Bull won seven races each, Ferrari three, and Mercedes, Williams and Lotus one apiece.

Alonso won in Malaysia from eighth on the grid, at the European Grand Prix from 11th and in Germany from pole. After the Italian Grand Prix on 9 September 2012 he had 179 points — 39 more than Vettel, who was fourth, behind Hamilton and Räikkönen.

Then Vettel won four races in a row — in Singapore, Japan, Korea and India. In Japan Alonso retired after a collision just after the start, and after the Korean Grand Prix on 14 October 2012 Vettel took the lead. Before the final race he had 273 points to Alonso’s 260, and only the two of them could still win the title.

At the Brazilian Grand Prix on 25 November 2012 Vettel started fourth, but a first-lap collision dropped him to last. He fought his way back to sixth, while Alonso finished second behind the winner, Button. It was not enough for Alonso: Vettel ended on 281 points to 278 and won a third title in a row by three points.

At 25, Vettel became a three-time world champion. Red Bull had also won the Constructors’ Championship for the third year running a week earlier, at the United States Grand Prix on 18 November 2012. Ferrari were second with 400 points and McLaren third with 378.

Three teams changed their names: Lotus Renault GP became Lotus, Team Lotus — which had made their debut in 2010 as Lotus Racing — became Caterham, and Marussia Virgin became Marussia. Kimi Räikkönen returned with Lotus after two years out of Formula 1: he won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and finished third in the Drivers’ Championship with 207 points, while his team-mate Romain Grosjean was eighth. The team finished fourth in the Constructors’ Championship.

On 15 April 2012 Nico Rosberg won the Chinese Grand Prix from pole — the first win of his career and Mercedes’ first since their return to the championship. On 13 May 2012 Pastor Maldonado, also starting first, won the Spanish Grand Prix and gave Williams their first win since 2004. The rules banned blowing exhaust gases onto the diffuser — a trick the teams had used to gain extra downforce.

Michael Schumacher retired for the second time. In three seasons after his comeback he started 58 races and made the podium once — third at the 2012 European Grand Prix, having started 12th. At Monaco he set the fastest time in qualifying but started sixth because of a penalty. He finished his last race, in Brazil, in seventh.

Hamilton, who won four races for McLaren and started from pole seven times, moved to Mercedes for 2013 to take Schumacher’s seat, and Sergio Pérez joined McLaren. Kamui Kobayashi finished third at his home Japanese Grand Prix. It was HRT’s last season: like Caterham and Marussia, they scored no points, and by 2013 they were gone from the championship. The 2012 season was also Vitaly Petrov’s last in Formula 1; he drove for Caterham.

Jean-Éric Vergne made his debut with Toro Rosso and Charles Pic with Marussia, while Nico Hülkenberg returned to racing with Force India after a year on the sidelines.