2012 F1 Season
20 races · Red Bull RB8
The 2012 season is remembered as one of the most unpredictable and exciting of the modern era. Seven different drivers won the first seven races, something never seen before, in a year of huge parity at the front.
Fernando Alonso produced one of the finest campaigns of his life: with a clearly inferior Ferrari, he led the championship for much of the year through podiums, wet-weather wins and extraordinary consistency. Sebastian Vettel, by contrast, found his rhythm in the closing stretch and strung together wins to climb the standings.
It all came down to a chaotic, rain-soaked Brazilian Grand Prix: Alonso recovered after a first-corner clash, but Vettel, also hit on the opening lap, regrouped just enough to seal his third consecutive title by only three points.
Drivers' Champion
Sebastian Vettel
Red Bull RB8
Constructors' Champion
Red Bull Racing
20 races
Key moment
"Brazil 2012: Alonso is hit on the first corner and recovers to 8th — not enough for the title."
What if 2012 had been raced 100 times?
We took the real 2012 grid — every car with its performance and reliability, every driver with his rating — and re-ran the full 19-race championship 100 times.
| Driver | Avg. finish | Titles |
|---|---|---|
| Sebastian Vettelreal championRed Bull | P1.3 | 77% |
| Lewis HamiltonMcLaren | P2.1 | 19% |
| Fernando AlonsoFerrari | P2.8 | 4% |
| Mark WebberRed Bull | P3.9 | 0% |
| Jenson ButtonMcLaren | P4.9 | 0% |
| Kimi RäikkönenLotus | P6.1 | 0% |
Sebastian Vettel takes the title 77% of the time: one in every 4 simulated championships goes to somebody else, almost always Lewis Hamilton. It was not a dominated year, it was a won one.
Tags
What if Senna, Hamilton or Alonso had driven the 2012 championship-winning car?