F1 2012 — A Retrospective Part 22: Aftermath
The end.
Post-Race
“What a race. What an extraordinary sporting event that was,” said Martin Brundle.
Sebastian Vettel pulled his Red Bull into Parc Fermé and the first person to congratulate his third championship win was his idol Michael Schumacher.
It was a touching moment between the two. This was the seven time World Champion’s final race in Formula One — a true passing of the torch moment.
While Vettel was no rookie he was still only 25. There was plenty of time for him to catch up to, and even break, all of Schumacher’s records.
As Vettel was mobbed by the press, Fernando Alonso was left to stare into the distance and wonder where it all went wrong.
The two kept their distance from each other. While Vettel was soaking in the glory and receiving congratulations from fellow drivers at the weigh-in scales, Alonso was whisked away for the podium ceremony.
Nelson Piquet Sr. conducted the podium interviews. He commiserated Alonso on his second place both in the race and in the title fight.
Alonso collected his thoughts and remained calm on the podium ceremony. He appeared to have accepted the result and was magnanimous in his response.
“I am so proud and happy to fight until the last lap with the package we had. It was by far the best season of my career,” said the Spaniard.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was far less relaxed about the result.
“I don’t want to go through a race like that again,” he said in an exasperated tone. “I’ve aged about 15 years in that race.”
The boss embraced his champion driver at the weigh-in area. He was so clearly proud of Vettel and his achievements.
Chief designer of the car, Adrian Newey, admitted his surprise that Vettel’s car could even continue the race after the opening lap incident.
“To be perfectly honest after the first lap I thought ‘it’s probably all over.’ I was pretty surprised to see the car going,” he said.
“We photographed the car going past and saw all the bodywork damage and, more worryingly almost, a huge crease in the exhaust system.
“Normally [with] that sort of damage the exhaust is going to crack and the bodywork will catch fire and that will be the end of that.”
Reflecting on the race itself for the BBC, Vettel spoke about his feelings after the opening lap and what it meant to break Aryton Senna’s record for the youngest driver to become a triple World Champion.
“Everything that could happen, happened. Everything that could go wrong, in a way, went wrong,” he said.
“Usually in that moment, you think ‘it’s over, you’re out of the race,’ in that particular moment, probably, ‘it’s over, I’m out of the championship.’ But, in that case, I just wanted to get going again.”
“I didn’t know how much damage there was so I drove past the main straight, close to the pit wall, to give Adrian [Newey] and people a chance to have a look [at the car].
“I just kept going. Surprisingly quickly, I was behind Fernando [Alonso]. 10 laps to go I had the call that where we are is currently enough, but still I tried to push because maybe there is some odd situation and someone spins.
“Having succeeded and everything just falls off. In a way you don’t even have the power to maybe realise what happened, the power to celebrate the way you probably thought or dreamt of celebrating.
“Rather than to look up in a certain book to check the number ‘ha look, I have done this, we have done this,’ that’s not what it really is about.
“It’s looking back, thinking of the race in Brazil, looking back standing on the wall in Japan, looking back crying and feeling completely empty in Abu Dhabi.
“This is what no one can take away from you. I think this will last probably until the last day I’m on this planet and we’ll say goodbye at some stage.”
Alonso put up the stiffest of challenges. Horner summed up the threat of the Spaniard so well when he described the sinking feeling of seeing Vettel in last on the opening lap.
“At that point you think ‘that’s it — it’s over.’ It was obvious that Fernando, cause he always is on the podium, was going to finish on the podium, which was what he needed to win the championship,” said the Red Bull team principal.
But the team kept going. Newey earned plaudits after the race for changing the engine mapping to avoid heating up the area of the exhaust that was exposed by the damage. This showed just how many parts of the Red Bull team were working together to create a championship winning season.
Felipe Massa shed tears on the podium, it was his home race after all. He knew all about losing title deciders in Brazil, as did Alonso. For Button, all he knew was the feeling of joy in Brazil. He won his title in Sao Paulo in 2009 and he won the race for McLaren in 2012.
This was the final victory of his F1 career, where he displayed the skills that made him. He was known as a wet weather specialist and he adapted to the conditions better than anyone.
In the dry, Lewis Hamilton was perhaps quicker, but only he and Hulkenberg kept the Medium tyres going strong when everyone else swapped for the Intermediate tyres.
Hulkenberg missed his opportunity at a race win. He made the mistake that cost him the lead and the subsequent penalty sent him down to fifth place. He went on to never achieve even a podium in his F1 career. This was a huge chance for him and the team wasted.
Schumacher closed the curtain on his legendary F1 career. “I have tried that mission to end successful. It didn’t work this time but I’m quite happy to finish from here and go for a different life again,” he said of his stint at Mercedes.
Driver in Focus
He wasn’t champion, but Fernando Alonso had earned the plaudits on a magnificent season. Everyone knew that Ferrari shouldn’t have been competing with the Red Bulls, or even the McLarens, but the Spaniard extracted the maximum out of his car to keep himself in the title picture until the very end.
The wins in Malaysia and Valencia best showcased the level Alonso drove at in 2012. He mastered the extreme wet weather conditions of Sepang. This was a crucial moment in his season. Those 25 points were invaluable.
He took advantage of the circumstances to make up ground at a time when the car wasn’t as competitive as its rivals. That was the hallmark of a champion.
In Valencia, he showcased his raw driving ability. The overtaking moves were both opportunistic and impressive. There was certainly an element of luck to his home race victory, but he without doubt made his own luck by getting his Ferrari into second before Vettel’s retirement from the lead.
His performance in Brazil wasn’t perfect, but there was very little else he could’ve done. He simply couldn’t keep up with either McLaren driver. Button was too quick once Hamilton and Hulkenberg had collided. The race victory he needed was just out of reach.
That perhaps sums up his season, for a finish. He did everything he could to be in the right position if something happened, but he was unable to bring it any further than that — that was a task too far even for Alonso.
“Our priority was just to be on the podium, because, whatever happened to Sebastian [Vettel], if we are not on the podium we have no chance,” he said after the race.
Alonso knew better than anyone the limitations of the machinery at his disposal. A race victory was never on the cards and he had clearly accepted it. But he wasn’t ever ready to give up.
“I will remember this like some dream season. So much respect from everyone.
“This is the first time that I have got drivers, ex-drivers, teams, fans to say that we have done the best championship. We’ll be back as strong in 2013, because it would be harder to be stronger.
“The championship was not lost here. The championship was lost when [Romain] Grosjean flew over my head or when Vettel surprisingly only got a reprimand after qualifying in Japan. I have a great feeling after 2012.
“There’s been situations during the season that make you think of these three points, but that’s the sport. Even though I finished second in the points I have never had such respect and the affection from everybody in the paddock.
“I’m very satisfied. It’s a very good feeling what I have now. It was very frustrating in Abu Dhabi two years ago because we had it in our hands and we had some frustration. Here it is completely the opposite.
“We proved that, with a car that is a little bit slower than the others we can win the championship. With a car that is same as the others probably we can win the championship few races before the end. With a car this a lot slower than the others we fight until the last race.”
He finished the season three points behind Vettel. He achieved 13 podiums from 20 races and 18 race finishes. The Ferrari wasn’t as quick, but it was certainly more reliable.
Alonso’s two DNFs both came from lap one incidents. The only mechanical issue came in Italy’s qualifying session, a race where he finished third starting from 10th place.
The 2005 and 2006 World Champion was only out-qualified by his teammate three times all season, one of which was that Italian Grand Prix. Of his 18 race finishes, he never came behind Massa.
The Brazilian was only quicker in South Korea, but by then he was playing wingman to Alonso’s title challenge.
Alonso never gave in and that was the foundation of his reputation as one of F1’s greatest fighters.
At Ferrari they supposedly called Alonso the “maestro,” and the adoration with which they held the Spaniard was obvious just from the way team boss Stefano Domenicali spoke about his driver.
“We are proud of him. We are very disappointed because I think the one who deserved the championship was really him,” he said.
“It was a shame because after such a long season in which we really fight in all conditions, we race 18 races not 20 and being second by three points really hurts a lot.
“If you put yourself in his shoes, I think that he knows he would have deserved the championship.”
Race Verdict
This was simply a phenomenal end to the dramatic 2012 season. The 2007 and 2008 championship finales ended in sensational circumstances, particularly in 2008 with Hamilton winning the championship on the final lap, but, as a race, 2012 can’t be matched.
The ever changing weather conditions played a massive role, but Vettel’s tentative and dramatic start meant the title lead changed hands numerous times throughout the 71 laps.
This was the first season finale for Sky Sports’ tenure as an F1 broadcaster and they struggled to keep up with all of the action in a stirring opening 20 laps.
There were incidents and overtaking moves happening all over the track that it was simply impossible to focus on all of them at once.
There were some unfortunate changes of camera that led to moments where two things were being shown but nothing was seen. However, on a day where emotions were running high on track there was no way for everything to run as smoothly as usual.
On-track, the action was packed, with changing of positions happening constantly. Drivers seemed completely out of the race at times but ended up in the points positions for a finish, and vice versa. Schumacher ending up in seventh seemed impossible after all the pit stop shenanigans.
Raikkonen went off the circuit completely, a situation that still to this day boggles the mind, and still ended up in 10th.
The Caterham team even got their moment in the spotlight. Vitaly Petrov finished the race in 11th, their best result of the season, which secured their future for another season in the sport due to moving up to 10th in the Constructors Championship.
This race had everything. It was the perfect finale to the most perfect of seasons.
Aftermath
The 2013 season started with much of the same chaotic energy of its predecessor. There wasn’t quite the same unpredictability, but the title fight was still close. That was until at Silverstone a tyre catastrophe led to Pirelli reverting to the previous season’s compounds.
Red Bull went on to dominate the final 11 races of the season. While Vettel and Webber suffered a massive falling out over the Malaysian Grand Prix, the German took victory in 10 of the final 11 races, including the final nine in a row — which broke the record for most consecutive race victories in F1 history.
Alonso once again came second, but this time the margin was far greater than the three points that separated them in 2012. Vettel won a fourth championship by 155 points to close out the V8 engine era.
The 2014 season saw new engine regulations. It was the beginning of the V6 turbocharged hybrid engines. This rang in an era of dominance by Mercedes, with Hamilton proved vindicated in his switch from McLaren — who toiled away at the back of the grid for many of the following campaigns.
The Briton won six of the next seven championships. Nico Rosberg took home the 2016 title and retired off into the sunset. Ferrari, led by Sebastian Vettel, continued to compete for the championship but the old prancing horse never got the job done. Red Bull never quite reached the level they achieved from 2009–2014 again.
As of writing, the 2021 season is soon set to begin and with it sees the end of the current aerodynamic regulations from 2017. The unpredictability of 2012 now looks a long time ago, as Mercedes gear up to likely win a historic eighth Constructors Championship in a row.
Author’s Note:
And with that, the F1 2012 Retrospective series comes to an end. Thank you to everyone who read along the way!
Previous entries in the series can be found here.
