2012 Chinese Grand Prix

2012 Chinese Grand Prix
Race 3 of 20 in the 2012 Formula One World Championship
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Race details
Date 15 April 2012
Official name 2012 Formula 1 UBS Chinese Grand Prix
Location Shanghai International Circuit
Shanghai, People's Republic of China
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.451 km (3.387 miles)
Distance 56 laps, 305.066 km (189.559 miles)
Weather

Overcast but Dry[1] Air Temp 22 °C (72 °F)[1]


Track Temp 23 °C (73 °F)[1]
Pole position
Driver
Mercedes
Time 1:35.121
Fastest lap
Driver Japan Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari
Time 1:39.960 on lap 40
Podium
First
Mercedes
Second
McLaren-Mercedes
Third
McLaren-Mercedes
Lap leaders
Shanghai International Circuit

The 2012 Chinese Grand Prix (formally the 2012 Formula 1 UBS Chinese Grand Prix)[2] was a Formula One motor race held on 15 April 2012 at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai, China.[3] It was the ninth running of the Chinese Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship. The 56-lap race was the third round of the 2012 Formula One season.

The race was won by German driver Nico Rosberg driving a Mercedes,[4] after he dominated the race to claim his debut Formula One victory and his first race win since leaving GP2 Series six years previously. Rosberg became the first German driver to win a Grand Prix driving a German car in Formula 1 history.[5] The win was also the first win for an official Mercedes-Benz team since the 1955 Italian Grand Prix, after which Mercedes departed from Formula One for 55 seasons.[6] Rosberg led home the McLaren pair of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton by over twenty seconds.[citation needed] The race itself was characterised by intense battling throughout the field and by high reliability with 23 of 24 starters finishing the race. This race was also HRT's thirty-ninth race start, setting the record for most Grand Prix starts without scoring a single point.

This was the first race since the 2009 Italian Grand Prix that was not won by Red Bull, McLaren or Ferrari.

  1. ^ a b c "2012 FORMULA 1 UBS CHINESE GRAND PRIX (Race)". f1standings.net. F1Standings. 15 April 2012. Archived from the original on 28 September 2021. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
  2. ^ "2012 Formula 1 UBS Chinese Grand Prix". Formula One. Archived from the original on 16 March 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  3. ^ Collantine, Keith (7 December 2011). "United States Grand Prix remains on unchanged 2012 F1 calendar". F1 Fanatic. Keith Collantine. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  4. ^ Benson, Andrew (15 April 2012). "Dominant Nico Rosberg wins Chinese Grand Prix". BBC Sport. BBC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  5. ^ The last time a German driver won a Grand Prix race driving a German car was Hermann Lang's victory at the 1939 Swiss Grand Prix.
  6. ^ "Nico Rosberg breezes to China win". ESPN. Associated Press. 15 April 2012. Archived from the original on 17 April 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2012.