2012 Formula One World Championship, Teams and drivers, Driver changes
Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan returned to Formula One with HRT. De la Rosa had been without a full-time drive since the 2010 Italian Grand Prix, having spent the majority of the 2011 season as a test driver for McLaren and making one appearance racing for Sauber; Karthikeyan was dropped by the team before the 2011 British Grand Prix in favour of Ricciardo. He, too, made a one-race appearance at the Indian Grand Prix, before leaving the team until the 2012 season began. Vitantonio Liuzzi, who drove for HRT in 2011, joined the Indian i1 Super Series.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Teams and drivers, Driver changes
The series was later postponed until 2013, but Liuzzi was unable to retain his seat with the team. At the launch of the HRT F112 in March, Liuzzi was confirmed as one of the team's testing and reserve drivers alongside both former GP2 Series driver Dani Clos and Ma Qinghua, the first ever Chinese driver to step into a Formula 1 car.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Teams and drivers, Driver changes
Jérôme d'Ambrosio left Marussia (then known as Virgin Racing) after the 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix. He later joined Lotus F1 as their third driver. Charles Pic – who placed fourth in the 2011 GP2 Series driving for Addax – joined Marussia, replacing d'Ambrosio.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Teams and drivers, Driver changes, Mid-season changes
The season only saw one driver change, which was brought about when Lotus driver Romain Grosjean was found by race stewards to be responsible for causing a multi-car pile-up at the start of the Belgian Grand Prix. He was given a one-race ban and a €50,000 fine for his role in the collision, forcing him to miss the Italian Grand Prix. He was replaced by the team's testing and reserve driver, Jérôme d'Ambrosio. Grosjean returned to the team for the next round in Singapore.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Pre-season testing – Jerez de la Frontera and Barcelona
The 2012 season was preceded by three test sessions; one at Jerez de la Frontera and two in Barcelona. These sessions gave the teams and drivers the opportunity to familiarise themselves with their cars, though the teams downplayed the accuracy of testing times as being representative of the running order for the season.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Pre-season testing – Jerez de la Frontera and Barcelona
At the second test in Barcelona, Lotus F1 discovered a critical fault in the build of their chassis that forced them to miss four days of running, while both HRT and Marussia were unable to complete any mileage with their 2012 cars after both the HRT F112 and Marussia MR01 failed their crash tests, though both teams were able to complete shakedowns of their cars.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Pre-season testing – Jerez de la Frontera and Barcelona
"We are all terrified that somebody will unlock the secret and win everything. Unless, of course, that's us!"


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Pre-season testing – Jerez de la Frontera and Barcelona
2009 World Drivers' Champion Jenson Button on the competitive nature of the 2012 season.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 1 – Australia
The season began in Australia. Jenson Button took an early lead from pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton and the Red Bull cars while the rest of the field was bottle-necked by contact in the first corner. Button remained unchallenged throughout, even after a mid-race safety car to retrieve the stricken Caterham of Vitaly Petrov. Button went on to take his third victory at the Melbourne circuit, ahead of Sebastian Vettel, who profited from the safety car to pass Hamilton.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 1 – Australia
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh later admitted that Button was "more than marginal" on fuel after the team made a mistake in calculating their fuel loads for the race, forcing Button to use a "severe fuel-saving mode" from the eighth lap of the race. Hamilton came under threat from Mark Webber in the late stages of the race, but held on to secure third place. Webber finished fourth – his best result in his home Grand Prix – while Fernando Alonso finished fifth, having endured pressure from Pastor Maldonado for the last half of the race.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 1 – Australia
Maldonado's race ended when he crossed onto the astroturf on the final lap and spun into the wall. Kimi Räikkönen finished seventh after a poor qualifying session saw him start the race seventeenth, taking advantage of a chaotic final lap to make up two places, while Felipe Massa and Bruno Senna both retired after a bizarre collision that saw their cars tangled up in one another. HRT failed to qualify for the race for the second consecutive season after drivers Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan failed to set a lap time within 107% of the fastest qualifying time.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 2 – Malaysia
McLaren locked out the front row of the grid for the second race in succession, with Lewis Hamilton once again on pole. Both HRT cars qualified for the race, but filled out the final row of the grid almost two seconds behind Marussia's Charles Pic in twenty-second position. In the race, Hamilton made a better start than Jenson Button, but his lead was short-lived; heavy rain interrupted the race, forcing the suspension of the Grand Prix.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 2 – Malaysia
When the race restarted an hour later, Button was involved in contact with Narain Karthikeyan that forced him to make an unscheduled stop for a new front wing, while Hamilton had a slow pit stop and was held in the lane while other cars passed. Fernando Alonso inherited the lead, with Sauber's Sergio Pérez a surprise second, having made an early stop for extreme wet weather tyres and then taking advantage of a rush to the pit lane to position himself in third at the restart.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 2 – Malaysia
As the race wore on, Pérez began to quickly catch Alonso on a drying track. Daniel Ricciardo was the first driver to pit for dry-weather tyres on lap 38, triggering another round of stops. Sauber and Pérez initially looked as if they had left their stop too late when Pérez emerged from the pits five seconds behind Alonso, but he began catching the two-time World Champion at the same rate as he had before.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 2 – Malaysia
Pérez closed to within half a second with seven laps to go, but ran wide at turn 14 and lost five seconds, later admitting that it was his mistake. He was unable to close the gap, and Alonso went on to win the race by two seconds, the win giving him a five-point lead in the championship. Pérez was second, taking his first podium and Sauber's best ever result as an independent team. Hamilton finished third ahead of Mark Webber and Kimi Räikkönen, while Button had to settle for fourteenth. Bruno Senna finished in sixth, scoring more points in a single race than his team scored in 2011. Sebastian Vettel finished outside the points after making contact with Karthikeyan and developing a puncture.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 3 – China
The championship resumed three weeks later in China, with the lead-in period to the race marked by Lotus F1 protesting the legality of Mercedes's rear wing design. The FIA rejected the protest, and with Mercedes allowed to continue racing with their car unchanged, Nico Rosberg took his – and the team's – first pole position since their return to Formula One in 2010, while a penalty to Lewis Hamilton for a gearbox change promoted Michael Schumacher to second on the grid.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 3 – China
Schumacher would ultimately retire from the race after the first round of stops when it was discovered that one of his wheels had not been attached properly. Rosberg took an early lead in the race, and while his attempt to complete the race with only two pit stops came under threat from second-placed Jenson Button, a mistake by Button's pit crew during his final stop handed Rosberg a nineteen-second advantage over Kimi Räikkönen.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 3 – China
Räikkönen was attempting a similar two-stop strategy, but his tyres wore out seven laps from the end of the race, and he lost eleven positions in a single lap. This forced Rosberg to drive conservatively to preserve his tyres while Button recovered from his disastrous pit stop to pass Sebastian Vettel for second. Button was held up by the incumbent World Champion long enough for Rosberg to preserve his tyres, and he became the 103rd person to win a Grand Prix.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 3 – China
The result was also Mercedes's first win as a constructor since Juan Manuel Fangio won the 1955 Italian Grand Prix. Button was second, with Hamilton scoring his third consecutive third place, giving him a two-point championship lead over Button; Fernando Alonso, who had been leading the championship before the race, finished ninth. After two retirements in the opening rounds of the championship, Romain Grosjean scored his first points in Formula One by finishing sixth.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 4 – Bahrain
In the face of ongoing media speculation and public pressure to cancel the race due to ongoing political instability in Bahrain, the FIA released a statement at the Chinese Grand Prix confirming that the Bahrain Grand Prix would go ahead as planned. The week preceding the Grand Prix saw a renewed wave of protests against the government's attempts use the race to "tell the outside world that the whole thing is back to normal", while human rights organisations including Amnesty International criticised the decision to hold the race amid the violent crackdowns.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 4 – Bahrain
Three days before the race, a group of Force India mechanics travelling in an unmarked hire car were involved in a petrol bombing incident at an impromptu roadblock and were briefly exposed to tear gas fired by security forces. There were no injuries or damage, but two of the mechanics involved chose to leave the country. The team later announced their intentions to race despite the incident.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 4 – Bahrain
Sebastian Vettel qualified on pole, his first since the 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix. Heikki Kovalainen qualified sixteenth, the second time Caterham (and its predecessor, Team Lotus) advanced beyond the first qualifying period in dry conditions. Vettel went on to win the race – becoming the fourth winner in as many races – after spending much of the race defending against Kimi Räikkönen. Having started eleventh, Räikkönen used an extra set of soft tyres to move up through the field. His team-mate, Romain Grosjean, finished third.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 4 – Bahrain
Grosjean had initially shown the pace to challenge Vettel's lead, but unlike Räikkönen, he did not have an extra set of fresh tyres, and lost touch with the reigning World Champion after the first set of stops. Lewis Hamilton finished eighth, once again hampered by slow pit stops. He was later involved in an altercation with Nico Rosberg that saw Rosberg referred to the stewards for forcing Hamilton beyond the boundary of the circuit while defending his position, but he escaped without penalty.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 4 – Bahrain
Hamilton went on to finish eighth, while team-mate Jenson Button was forced to retire two laps from the end of the race after reporting an unusual vibration from the differential. Daniel Ricciardo was involved in early contact that saw the Australian driver slide down the order from sixth at the start to fifteenth by the end of the race, having spent most of the Grand Prix caught behind Vitaly Petrov. Vettel's win gave him a four-point lead in the championship over Hamilton, while Mark Webber's fourth consecutive fourth place secured third overall. Red Bull Racing took the lead from McLaren in the World Constructors' Championship, while Lotus's double podium moved them into third overall.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 4 – Bahrain
The decision to hold the race despite the ongoing protests made it one of the most controversial Grands Prix in the sport's sixty-year history.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Mid-season test – Mugello
Starting on 1 May, the teams conducted a three-day test at the Mugello Circuit in Italy ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix. The test gave teams the opportunity to assess major aerodynamic upgrades before racing them. HRT elected not to take part in the test, instead choosing to concentrate on establishing themselves at their new headquarters in Madrid.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Mid-season test – Mugello
Both Lotus's trackside operations director Alan Permane and Red Bull Racing driver Mark Webber questioned the value of testing at the Mugello circuit as the characteristics of the circuit were unlike any of the circuits the championship was due to visit after the test, while Caterham driver Vitaly Petrov was critical of the choice of Mugello as a testing venue as he felt it was not safe enough for Formula One. Petrov's comments came shortly after Fernando Alonso crashed on the final morning of the test. Red Bull Racing and Lotus team principals Christian Horner and Éric Boullier were also critical of the test as they felt that the costs of conducting in-season testing outweighed any benefits, with Horner stating his opposition to continuing mid-season testing in the future.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Mid-season test – Mugello
"We drive like on raw eggs and I don't want to stress the tires at all. Otherwise you just overdo it and you go nowhere."


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Mid-season test – Mugello
Michael Schumacher's criticism of tyre supplier Pirelli's 2012 tyre compounds.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 5 – Spain
Following criticism over the sensitivity of their tyre compounds, tyre supplier Pirelli announced changes to their tyre allocation for the Spanish Grand Prix, making pit strategy the focal point of the Grand Prix. Pirelli would later diagnose the problems with the tyre compounds as originating from developing them on a testing chassis that was two years out-of-date at the time. Lewis Hamilton took his third pole of the season, edging out Williams driver Pastor Maldonado by half a second, while Maldonado's team-mate Bruno Senna was eliminated early when he spun.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 5 – Spain
Hamilton was later excluded from the qualifying results after his car did not have enough fuel to return to the pits for scrutineering, promoting Maldonado to pole position and moving Hamilton to the back of the grid. Fernando Alonso took the lead of the race at the first corner, but Maldonado reclaimed it during the second round of pit stops, when his team forced Ferrari to pit early while Alonso was held up by the Marussia of Charles Pic.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 5 – Spain
Maldonado maintained a lead of seven seconds over Alonso, but a mistake by his crew during the third pit stop cost him time and left him vulnerable to the Ferrari driver in the final stint of the race. Meanwhile, third-placed Kimi Räikkönen moved to an ambitious strategy that would see him attempt to force Maldonado and Alonso to race beyond the life expectancy of their tyres, allowing him to swoop in at the last minute to steal first place.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 5 – Spain
Räikkönen's strategy failed as Maldonado withstood pressure from Alonso for fifteen laps, winning the race by three seconds and becoming the first Venezuelan driver to win a Formula One Grand Prix. It was Williams's first win in one hundred and thirty Grand Prix starts; their previous race win was Juan Pablo Montoya's victory at the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 5 – Spain
Lewis Hamilton recovered from twenty-fourth on the grid to finish eighth, while Sebastian Vettel overcame a drive-through penalty and an unscheduled stop for a technical fault that forced his team to replace his front wing to make a late move on Nico Rosberg for sixth place that would preserve his championship lead.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 6 – Monaco
For the second consecutive race, the fastest driver in qualifying did not start the race from pole. Michael Schumacher set the fastest time, but a five-place grid penalty left him sixth overall.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 6 – Monaco
Two hours before the race, protests against parts introduced onto the floor of the Red Bull RB8 left team principal Christian Horner with a choice: to change the offending parts and start both cars from the pit lane, guaranteeing that any result the team recorded would be preserved; or to leave the parts on the car, allowing both drivers to start the race from the positions they qualified in, but risking a post-race exclusion. Horner ultimately chose the latter option, and Mark Webber started from pole, establishing an early lead over Nico Rosberg as a first-corner accident eliminated four cars.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 6 – Monaco
The race was run under the constant threat of rain, with drivers trying to extend the life of their tyres to avoid being forced to make an additional stop and falling down the order. The rain never materialised, though Jean-Éric Vergne was observed using a set of intermediate tyres late in the race. The variety of strategies used by the front-runners resulted in the last ten laps being contested with the top six cars running nose-to-tail. Webber visibly faded in the final laps, but held on when the following cars were momentarily pinned behind the slow-moving Heikki Kovalainen.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 6 – Monaco
Webber won the race – his second on the streets of Monaco – with Rosberg second and Fernando Alonso third, the result giving Alonso a three-point lead in the championship. Red Bull Racing maintained their lead in the Constructors' Championship as rival teams chose not to follow through on the threat of their pre-race protest, while Kovalainen finished thirteenth to see Caterham overtake Marussia for tenth place. Elsewhere, Spanish Grand Prix winner Pastor Maldonado was given a ten-place grid penalty for an incident that saw him clip Sergio Pérez. Combined with a five-place penalty for changing his gearbox, Maldonado started from the back row of the grid where he was eliminated in the first-corner accident.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 6 – Monaco
"It really pisses me off, to be honest, because the car has passed every single technical regulation after the race. All of the teams that were against it did not make any protest after Monaco. The car passed the test after Bahrain, the car passed the test after Monaco, and now there has been a clarification on the rule. And the rule now is different. We had a car which was legal for the first part of the season. And now the rule has been changed and we'll start again."


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 6 – Monaco
Mark Webber's response to claims he won the Monaco Grand Prix with an "illegal car".


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 7 – Canada
One week before the Canadian Grand Prix, the FIA declared the floor used by Red Bull in Monaco to be illegal, forcing the team to change the offending parts for the Canadian Grand Prix. Despite the ruling, the team's results were kept intact. The team was also forced to change the design of their axles, after FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting felt that holes in the axles contravened the technical regulations. Nevertheless, Sebastian Vettel comfortably took pole position by three-tenths of a second.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 7 – Canada
Vettel controlled the early phase of the race, but was caught and passed by Lewis Hamilton before the first round of stops, while Fernando Alonso slipped through shortly afterwards. All three drivers were using a two-stop strategy at the time, but as Hamilton made his second stop, both Alonso and Vettel shifted to a one-stop strategy, with Alonso's team resorting to discussing strategy options in his native Spanish to prevent their rivals from overhearing their plans.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 7 – Canada
Hamilton had twenty laps to make up a twelve-second deficit, and he easily reeled Vettel in; in response, Red Bull pitted the reigning World Champion, and Vettel fell to fifth. Hamilton's next target was Alonso, whose tyres lost all grip and he fell victim to Hamilton, Romain Grosjean, Sergio Pérez and Vettel in quick succession. Hamilton won the race, becoming the seventh winner in seven races and taking a two-point lead in the championship. Grosjean's second place saw Lotus take third place in the Constructors' Championship from Ferrari. Both Grosjean and Pérez expressed surprise at finishing on the podium, while 2011 winner Jenson Button finished sixteenth in what he described as his "worst race in years" and Michael Schumacher suffered a hydraulics failure that left his drag reduction system (DRS) device jammed in the open position.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 8 – Europe
Fernando Alonso became the first man to win two races in 2012 at the European Grand Prix in Valencia, scoring his first home win since the 2006 Spanish Grand Prix. Starting eleventh, he was forced to navigate his way through traffic, narrowly avoiding early contact between Bruno Senna and Kamui Kobayashi as Sebastian Vettel broke free of the field to establish a twenty-second lead by the first round of stops. Vettel's lead was quashed when Heikki Kovalainen and Jean-Éric Vergne made contact, triggering the deployment of the safety car to clear debris from the circuit.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 8 – Europe
Alonso found himself third at the restart and pounced on a mistake by second-placed Romain Grosjean to lead the chase against Vettel. Vettel pulled away once more, but his lead was short-lived as he lost drive and his engine shut down on lap 33. Grosjean attempted to challenge Alonso, but was forced out of the race with an alternator problem seven laps later, leaving Alonso in the lead, four seconds clear of Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Räikkönen.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 8 – Europe
As the race entered the final laps, Räikkönen forced his way past Hamilton to secure second place, but Pastor Maldonado's attempts to take third place ended with Hamilton in the barrier and a broken nose for the Williams driver. Maldonado finished tenth, but was given a post-race drive-through penalty and was classified twelfth. Meanwhile, Michael Schumacher and Mark Webber had started to carve their way through the field by virtue of a late pit stop and easily picked off the minor points positions and taking advantage of the Maldonado—Hamilton collision to finish third and fourth behind Alonso and Räikkönen. It was Schumacher's first podium since the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix. Alonso's win cemented a twenty-point lead in the championship, whilst Vettel's retirement relegated him to fourth overall, twenty-six points behind Alonso.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 9 – Great Britain
Difficult conditions greeted the teams upon their arrival at the Silverstone Circuit, as parts of the Midlands received a month's rainfall in the space of two days. The torrential rain lasted throughout the weekend, forcing qualifying to be suspended for ninety minutes, before race day dawned clear. The circuit was declared dry, allowing the drivers to start on the tyre compound of their choice, with Alonso on the harder tyre streaking away at the start while Paul di Resta crashed at Aintree on the first lap after making contact with Romain Grosjean.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 9 – Great Britain
As the leaders settled into a rhythm, Pastor Maldonado and Sergio Pérez collided at Brooklands, prompting an angry response from the Mexican driver. Perez's teammate Kamui Kobayashi also ran into trouble, locking his tyres as he entered his pit box and hitting three members of his pit crew, though none were seriously injured. The race was ultimately decided by the choice of tyre in the first stint as Alonso moved onto the softer option and Webber onto the harder prime for the final phase of the race.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 9 – Great Britain
Webber caught Alonso with five laps to go, passing him on the Wellington Straight. Webber held on for his second win of the season, with Vettel third and Felipe Massa in fourth, his best result since achieving a podium in South Korea in 2010. The result meant Webber closed to within thirteen points of Alonso's championship lead, with both drivers breaking away from third-placed Vettel. After showing early promise in the wet conditions, McLaren went backwards in the dry, losing second place in the Constructors' Championship to Ferrari and third to Lotus.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 10 – Germany
Limited running in practice and a wet qualifying session meant that teams had to improvise their strategies at the Hockenheimring. Fernando Alonso controlled much of the race from pole position, only relinquishing the lead when he pitted, and he went on to take his third victory of the season. Lewis Hamilton's one hundredth Grand Prix started with a disaster when he picked up a puncture on the third lap and spent most of the race at the tail end of the field before retiring on lap 56 with a suspension problem.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 10 – Germany
Confusion briefly reigned when Hamilton, in seventeenth place at the time, began lapping faster than the leaders and sought to unlap himself. Sebastian Vettel later claimed that this was a ploy by McLaren to force both him and Alonso to drive defensively against Hamilton, slowing them down enough to allow team-mate Jenson Button to leap-frog them at the second round of stops; Vettel lost a position to Button, but Alonso was unaffected, as Ferrari pitted him before Hamilton could interfere with his race.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 10 – Germany
Button briefly looked as if he had the pace to pass Alonso for the race lead, but the race was deadlocked in the final twenty laps, and Button began to fade in the final five laps of the race. The race was marked by another technical dispute regarding Red Bull Racing, who were referred to the stewards by FIA Technical Delegate Jo Bauer for what he felt was an illegal engine map in use on the Red Bull RB8.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 10 – Germany
The stewards elected to take no action against Red Bull, stating that the team had not violated any of the technical regulations, but noted that they did not accept all of the arguments presented by the team when asked to explain. The stewards were less forgiving of Vettel, who ran wide at the hairpin while trying to pass Button and could only complete the pass outside the limits of the circuit. Vettel had twenty seconds added to his race time as a penalty, demoting him to fifth overall. With Button promoted to second, Kimi Räikkönen inherited third place and Kamui Kobayashi was classified a career-best fourth.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 11 – Hungary
As the championship moved into the second half of the season, Fernando Alonso maintained a thirty-four-point lead over his nearest rival, Mark Webber, with Sebastian Vettel a further ten points behind. Alonso's outlook for the race was dour, qualifying sixth and pinning his hopes on a wet race as Lewis Hamilton continued McLaren's mid-season resurgence, returning to pole position for the first time since the Malaysian Grand Prix. Following an aborted start triggered by Michael Schumacher lining up in the wrong grid position and then shutting his engine off in the confusion, Hamilton and Grosjean lead the field away.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 11 – Hungary
After prematurely moving Jenson Button onto a three-stop strategy, McLaren gave Hamilton the order to hold position as the tight confines of the Hungaroring circuit forced the teams to try to make up positions in the pits. This was evidenced by Kimi Räikkönen, who inherited the lead after the first set of stops and produced a series of fast laps that allowed him to rejoin in second, coming dangerously close to team-mate Grosjean under brakes as he emerged from the pit lane.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 11 – Hungary
Despite taking two seconds out of Hamilton's lead within five laps of rejoining the race, Räikkönen was powerless to reel Hamilton in any further. Hamilton won the race, the nineteenth of his career, with Räikkönen second and Grosjean in third. Hamilton's victory brought with it twenty-five points that put him back in championship contention, while a late decision by Red Bull to move Mark Webber onto a three-stop strategy saw the Australian slip further behind Fernando Alonso, as the Spaniard extended his championship lead to forty points.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 12 – Belgium
The championship resumed one month later in Belgium. Jenson Button qualified on pole and broke away at the start while a four-car pile-up started behind him when Romain Grosjean made contact with Lewis Hamilton and they both slammed into Fernando Alonso and Sergio Pérez, eliminating all four on the spot and triggering the safety car. Kamui Kobayashi's car was also damaged, and Pastor Maldonado was spun around amidst the chaos. Grosjean was later given a one-race ban for causing the collision, becoming the first driver in eighteen years to be banned from racing.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 12 – Belgium
Maldonado retired shortly after the restart with a broken front wing after making contact with Timo Glock, while Narain Karthikeyan spun off at Stavelot mid-way through the race when his wheel came loose. Button controlled the race from the front and was unchallenged throughout, while Sebastian Vettel clawed his way up to second from tenth on the grid.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 12 – Belgium
Kimi Räikkönen started and finished third, let down by a conservative pit strategy that forced him to make a second stop late in the race in order to use both compounds of tyre as per the rules – even when it became apparent that Button and Vettel were racing on a one-stop strategy – and Nico Hülkenberg finished in a career-best fourth place. Button's win allowed him to regain precious ground on the championship fight, while Alonso's retirement from the race and Vettel's second place moved the reigning World Champion to within twenty-four points of the championship lead.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 12 – Belgium
Scuderia Toro Rosso scored their first points since the Malaysian Grand Prix, with Jean-Éric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo finishing eighth and ninth respectively. Further down the order, Caterham was summoned to the stewards on charges of an unsafe pit release when Heikki Kovalainen was released directly into the path of Karthikeyan and the team was given a €10,000 fine for the incident.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 12 – Belgium
"When you love racing this is very hard. I accept my mistake. We know that La Source is a very tough corner. [ ...] I did a mistake [sic] and I misjudged the gap with Lewis [Hamilton]. I was sure I was in front of him. So a small mistake made a big incident. I didn't change my line, I went from left to right. I was not really wanting to put anyone in the wall – I'm not here to stop the race in the first corner. I'm very, very sorry and I'm glad that nobody is hurt. But I have to say it is a very, very hard decision to hear."


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 12 – Belgium
Romain Grosjean's response to being given a one-race ban for causing a multi-car pile-up at the start of the Belgian Grand Prix.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 13 – Italy
The final race in Europe took place at Monza. Ferrari's early bid to put Fernando Alonso on pole position by way of using Felipe Massa to offer him a slipstream ended in disaster when Alonso's rear anti-roll bar failed in the final period of qualifying, leaving the championship leader marooned in tenth while Lewis Hamilton took pole.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 13 – Italy
Hamilton asserted early control over the race, and while Ferrari made significant ground early on to be running second and third – despite losing the data uplink between their cars and the pit wall that provided them with telemetry – it was Sergio Pérez who proved to be Hamilton's biggest challenge. Starting outside the top ten, Pérez elected to start on the harder compound tyres and complete one stop, producing fastest lap after fastest lap as McLaren's confidence was broken when Jenson Button's car was paralysed by a fuel pressure problem.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 13 – Italy
Hamilton would ultimately prevail, but he was forced to push in the final few laps to maintain his lead, and won the race by four seconds as Pérez claimed his third podium of the season with second place. Alonso went on to finish third, benefiting from Button's retirement and a drive-through penalty for Sebastian Vettel when the reigning World Champion forced him so wide through the Curva Grande that Alonso was forced off the circuit.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 13 – Italy
Bruno Senna later criticised the race stewards for not penalising Paul di Resta for a similar altercation on the approach to the Variante della Roggia early in the race. Meanwhile, with Romain Grosjean serving his suspension, Lotus enlisted former Marussia F1 driver Jérôme d'Ambrosio as their second driver for the weekend. He qualified sixteenth, and went on to finish thirteenth overall.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 13 – Italy
Red Bull Racing suffered a double retirement, with Vettel falling victim to another alternator failure and Mark Webber spinning violently at the Ascari chicane, with the resultant damage to his tyres sending vibrations through the car that forced him to retire. This allowed Hamilton to leapfrog both drivers and Kimi Räikkönen – who finished the race fifth – to take second place in the World Drivers' Championship, with the result enabling McLaren to close the gap to Red Bull in the World Constructors' Championship.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 14 – Singapore
As the teams returned to Asia, the focus shifted to the championship race. Lewis Hamilton put himself in the ideal position to take the fight to Fernando Alonso, qualifying on pole whilst Alonso could only manage fifth place. In the physically most demanding race of the year, the teams jostled for position through the first phase of the Grand Prix, trying to position themselves for the final ten laps. Just as the drivers established a rhythm, Hamilton's gearbox failed, forcing him out of the race and handing the lead to Sebastian Vettel.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 14 – Singapore
The race was shortened by two laps to fit the two-hour time limit for a Grand Prix following a pair of lengthy safety car interventions; first, Narain Karthikeyan understeered into the barriers under the grandstands on lap 30, forcing the safety car to be deployed.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 14 – Singapore
The drivers had little opportunity to get comfortable on the restart, as Michael Schumacher misjudged his braking point at the end of the Esplanade Bridge, careening into the back of Jean-Éric Vergne and triggering the safety car for the second time in an accident that was a near mirror-image of his collision with Sergio Pérez in 2011. He was later given a ten-place grid penalty for the Japanese Grand Prix.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 14 – Singapore
Vettel controlled the race from the second restart, beating Jenson Button to the line, for his second win of the season and his first since the Bahrain Grand Prix five months previously. Alonso completed the podium, retaining his championship lead after defending from Paul di Resta late in the race.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 14 – Singapore
Elsewhere, a string of retirements – including a late engine problem for Bruno Senna, which left the Brazilian with minor burns to his back – and a series of altercations involving Mark Webber, Nico Hülkenberg, Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Pérez as they fought over the minor points positions allowed Timo Glock to finish twelfth, the result seeing Marussia retake tenth position in the World Constructors' Championship from Caterham.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 15 – Japan
Fernando Alonso's luck finally ran out in Japan; having spent most of the season profiting from poor results from his rivals when he needed them the most, Alonso was the victim of a dramatic first corner clash, spinning out when he made contact with Kimi Räikkönen and paving the way for his championship rivals to make considerable inroads into his twenty-nine-point championship lead.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 15 – Japan
Mark Webber was also caught up in the opening lap melee when he was hit by Romain Grosjean; Webber was forced to pit straight away, while Grosjean was given a ten-second stop-go penalty for causing yet another first lap incident. Bruno Senna also ran afoul of the stewards, hitting Nico Rosberg whilst trying to avoid Grosjean and Webber and earning a drive-through penalty for his troubles while Rosberg retired on the spot.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 15 – Japan
Sergio Pérez added his name to the growing list of early retirements when he slid off at the hairpin under brakes and into the gravel trap whilst trying to force his way past a struggling Lewis Hamilton. Sebastian Vettel won the race from pole position, having led every lap of the race and setting the fastest lap time in the process to complete his second Grand Chelem.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 15 – Japan
Felipe Massa finished second, his first podium result since the 2010 Korean Grand Prix, whilst Kamui Kobayashi claimed the first podium of his career – and the first podium for a Japanese driver at the Suzuka Circuit since Aguri Suzuki finished third in 1990 – after withstanding late pressure from Jenson Button.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 15 – Japan
With Alonso retiring and Vettel taking a full twenty-five points for victory, the championship fight became as close as it had been all season long.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 15 – Japan
"It's five races to go, it will be like a mini championship, because we start with the same points and we need to score one more point [than Vettel] in five races. So we will try to do it."


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 15 – Japan
Championship leader Fernando Alonso when asked how he will win the World Drivers' Championship after Sebastian Vettel cut his lead to just four points after the Japanese Grand Prix.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 16 – Korea
Sebastian Vettel's momentum continued one week later in Korea, winning his third consecutive race and taking a six-point championship lead as Fernando Alonso finished third. Vettel overcame pole-sitter Mark Webber at the start, and was aided in building up a lead by first-lap contact between Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg and Kamui Kobayashi that saw Button and Rosberg retire with damage from the collision; Rosberg pulled over on the approach to the third turn, forcing a protracted yellow flag period as marshalls attempted to retrieve his car.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 16 – Korea
With the sporting regulations banning overtaking while yellow flags were shown, the field was effectively thinned out in the opening laps as drivers were unable to pass one another. Tyre management became the focus of the race, as drivers reported heavy graining, particularly on the right-front tyre, which bore most of the load over a lap of the circuit. Vettel ignored six radio calls from his pit wall cautioning him that a tyre failure was imminent, only backing off just enough in the final few laps to secure victory over Webber by six seconds.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 16 – Korea
The team later denied that there had ever been a problem with Vettel's tyres. Further down the order, Scuderia Toro Rosso's Jean-Éric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo fought their way from sixteenth and twenty-first on the grid to finish eighth and ninth, while Romain Grosjean drove a conservative race to finish seventh, having been warned beforehand by the stewards that another first-lap altercation would likely result in his disqualification from the race.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 16 – Korea
Lewis Hamilton's day went from bad to worse when an anti-roll bar on his McLaren failed, while the car handled its tyres so poorly that he was forced to make an unscheduled stop in order to make it to the finish, only to tear up a length of astroturf that wreaked havoc on his downforce and he slid down to tenth place, narrowly fending off an opportunistic charge from Sergio Pérez to take the final World Championship point on offer. Button's retirement and Hamilton's single point meant that McLaren lost second place in the World Constructors' Championship to Ferrari, and Hamilton admitted that his bid to be the 2012 World Drivers' Champion was over.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 17 – India
Ferrari's strategy for staying in the championship battle saw them introduce upgrades to the F2012 at every remaining race in the season, starting with an extensive revision for the Indian Grand Prix, but whatever advantage they offered was still not enough for Fernando Alonso to catch Sebastian Vettel. Vettel dominated the weekend, setting the fastest time in every practice session before qualifying on pole, and leading every lap of the sixty-lap race, though he was denied his third Grand Chelem when Jenson Button set the fastest lap of the race on the final lap.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 17 – India
Fernando Alonso finished second, conceding another seven championship points to Vettel. The Ferrari driver rounded up both McLaren drivers at the start of the race and proceeded to chase down Mark Webber for second, only overtaking the Australian on the long back straight when his car developed a KERS fault fifteen laps from the end that it never recovered from. Webber held off a late challenge from Lewis Hamilton to complete the podium.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 17 – India
Further down the order, Kimi Räikkönen finished seventh after spending most of the race trapped behind Felipe Massa, and later claimed that mistakes on Saturday had robbed him of a podium on Sunday, while Pedro de la Rosa retired from the race when he suffered a brake failure that saw him spin into the barriers at Turn 4.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 17 – India
The race was marked by a series of explosive punctures after cars made light contact with one another; Michael Schumacher's right-rear tyre deflated on the first lap when he made contact with Jean-Éric Vergne at the first corner; Sergio Pérez suffered a puncture under similar circumstances when he glanced Daniel Ricciardo's front wing, with the loose rubber damaging the floor of Pérez's car enough that he was forced into retirement; and Pastor Maldonado also had a tyre punctured when he and Kamui Kobayashi touched at speed on the approach to Turn 5, forcing the Venezuelan to run wide onto the tarmac run-off, but suffering no lasting damage.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 18 – Abu Dhabi
Sebastian Vettel's dominant run was derailed in Abu Dhabi when his car was found to have insufficient fuel after qualifying and he was subsequently moved to the back of the grid. As Lewis Hamilton led the race away from the start, Vettel started from pit lane and took advantage of a chaotic opening corner that saw Nico Hülkenberg, Paul di Resta, Romain Grosjean and Bruno Senna tangle; Hülkenberg was forced out, while di Resta and Grosjean pitted with damage.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 18 – Abu Dhabi
Vettel began to round up the HRTs, Marussias and Caterhams, but his early progress came at the expense of his front wing endplate when he made contact with Senna at Turn 8 switchback. He chose not to pit for the time being, as the race was interrupted by the intervention of the safety car. Nico Rosberg, who had been forced to pit with damage to his front wing, was in the process of overtaking Narain Karthikeyan as Karthikeyan's car began to fail and the Indian quickly slowed.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 18 – Abu Dhabi
Rosberg, caught unawares by Karthikeyan's troubles, was launched over the back of the HRT and into the barrier. During the safety car period, Vettel was forced to pit when he swerved to avoid Daniel Ricciardo and crashed into the polystyrene bollard marking the start of the DRS zone, further damaging his wing. Red Bull Racing took the opportunity to pit him early, with the downside being that Vettel would have to do 42 laps on the soft tyre when supplier Pirelli predicted they could only do 36.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 18 – Abu Dhabi
Meanwhile, Hamilton suffered another mechanical failure while leading the race, and was once again forced out, handing the lead to Kimi Räikkönen while Fernando Alonso inherited second. Vettel began to work his way through the field again, but was forced to make a second stop when his tyres started losing grip.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 18 – Abu Dhabi
He was saved by the second appearance of the safety car moments later, brought about when di Resta forced Sergio Pérez wide; as Pérez rejoined the circuit, he cut back across the front of Grosjean and the two made contact, which in turn forced Grosjean into the path of Mark Webber. Grosjean and Webber retired, whilst Pérez was given a stop-go penalty. When racing resumed, Räikkönen began to rebuild his lead over Alonso, who was being harried by Jenson Button; Button himself was being harried by Vettel in fourth.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 18 – Abu Dhabi
Button and Vettel's duel allowed Alonso to break free, and he started chasing down Räikkönen in the last five laps. Räikkönen held on to secure his – and Lotus F1's – first victory of the season. Alonso was second, while Vettel caught and passed Button to complete the podium, keeping a ten-point championship lead in the process. With both Alonso and Vettel finishing on the podium with him, Räikkönen's win was not enough to keep him in contention for the World Drivers' Championship, leaving the title to be fought out between Alonso and Vettel over the final two races of the season.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 19 – United States
Despite its troubled construction period, the Circuit of the Americas passed its final FIA inspection on 25 September, allowing the race to go ahead. Sebastian Vettel took his sixth pole position of the season, whilst Alonso struggled throughout qualifying to start the race ninth, which became eighth when Romain Grosjean received a grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 19 – United States
Amid concerns that drivers starting from even-numbered grid slots would suffer from a lack of grip as they were located off the racing line, Ferrari deliberately broke the seal on Felipe Massa's gearbox, thereby giving him a five-place grid penalty and promoting Alonso to seventh and the clean side of the grid. Ferrari's fears were not without merit as the drivers starting from even-number spaces fell behind at the start of the race. Vettel quickly converted pole position into a steady race lead as Lewis Hamilton fought to regain second place from Mark Webber.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 19 – United States
Moments after Hamilton caught him on lap 17, the Australian suffered yet another alternator problem, and coasted to a halt. Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner later admitted that the team's perpetual alternator problems were a serious concern with just one race left in the championship, a World Championship at stake and very little time to diagnose and correct the problem.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 19 – United States
With Webber now out of the running, Hamilton then turned his attentions on Vettel and steadily closed the gap to the lead, overtaking the World Championship leader on lap 42 when Vettel got caught behind Narain Karthikeyan in the meandering first sector, which allowed Hamilton to pass Vettel along the long back straight. Hamilton held onto the lead for the final fourteen laps, but with Vettel never more than a second and a half behind him, Hamilton could not afford to relax, and he won the race by just six-tenths of a second.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 19 – United States
Alonso recovered from seventh to finish third – marking the first time that he, Hamilton and Vettel had stood on the podium together in the one hundred races all three had contested together – and forcing the title fight to extend to the final round in Brazil. Further down the order, Massa overcame his gearbox penalty to finish fourth, while Jenson Button fell from twelfth on the grid to sixteenth at the end of the first lap, using an alternative strategy to claw his way back up to fifth.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 19 – United States
Michael Schumacher, on the other hand, went backwards; after qualifying fifth, his Mercedes chewed through its tyres, forcing him to make a second stop that sent him plummeting down the order to finish sixteenth, and a clutch problem during his stop deprived Kimi Räikkönen of the chance to compete with Alonso for the final podium place. Both Marussia drivers out-qualified the Caterhams for the first time, only for Timo Glock and Charles Pic be out-raced by Heikki Kovalainen and Vitaly Petrov, but the Russian team held onto tenth place in the World Constructors' Championship. Despite losing Webber to an alternator failure, Red Bull collected enough points to secure their third consecutive World Constructors' Championship title.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 20 – Brazil
The final race of the season was run in conditions that were never quite wet enough for drivers to use wet tyres, but never quite dry enough for slick tyres to provide enough grip. While Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton fought over the race lead, Sebastian Vettel was involved in a first-lap clash with Bruno Senna that damaged his exhaust and spun him around, relegating him to last place. Senna retired on the spot, as did Sergio Pérez, who was caught in the crossfire. The race was one of attrition, with Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean also crashing out early.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 20 – Brazil
Button seized the lead from Hamilton, but soon found himself under pressure from Nico Hülkenberg and lost the lead to the German driver on lap 18, and second place to Hamilton shortly thereafter. The field stabilised themselves after the first round of stops, with Vettel in the lower points and Fernando Alonso running fourth when he needed a podium to stand any chance of being champion. Hülkenberg spun on lap 48 and lost the lead to Hamilton, but caught the McLaren on lap 54 as they encountered lapped traffic.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 20 – Brazil
The two made contact in the first corner, forcing Hamilton out of the race and earning Hülkenberg a drive-through penalty for causing an avoidable accident. In the wake of their collision, Button re-took the lead and held on to the end of the race. Meanwhile, the rain intensified, prompting teams to scramble for tyres. Hülkenberg's penalty and Hamilton's retirement promoted Alonso to the podium, which became second place when team-mate Felipe Massa yielded for him. A slow stop for Vettel relegated him to twelfth and swinging the balance of power in Alonso's favour.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 20 – Brazil
In the last ten laps of the race, Vettel began to make his way back up the order until he was seventh, just enough to secure the title, but leaving him vulnerable if the damage he received on the first lap – which by now had left a long crack running along the floor of his car – got worse. Vettel's seventh became sixth when Michael Schumacher moved aside to let Vettel through. Two laps from the end of the race, Paul di Resta crashed heavily as he came onto the main straight, forcing the deployment of the safety car.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 20 – Brazil
Button won the race, with Alonso second and Massa third, but Vettel's sixth place was enough to secure his third consecutive World Drivers' Championship. Kimi Räikkönen finished the season third overall, having benefited from Hamilton's retirement to hold onto the place following a bizarre incident in which he left the circuit and attempted to rejoin by taking to the support paddock pit lane, only to find the way blocked and forcing him to double back and find another way onto the circuit.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Round 20 – Brazil
In his final race in Formula One, Schumacher's seventh place saw him finish the season in thirteenth place overall; his worst performance over a season since he contested six rounds during the 1991 season. In the World Constructors' Championship, Ferrari secured second place from McLaren with two cars on the podium, while Kamui Kobayashi's ninth place was not enough for Sauber to take fifth from Mercedes, and Marussia lost tenth place to Caterham when Vitaly Petrov secured the team's best result of the season with eleventh place. Nikolai Fomenko, Marussia's director of engineering, later claimed that Charles Pic had deliberately let Petrov through, as Pic had announced his move to Caterham for the 2013 season two days before the race; however, no action was taken by the FIA in response to these claims.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Post-season controversy
Three days after the Brazilian Grand Prix, reports began to surface suggesting that Sebastian Vettel's championship was under threat and that Ferrari would be filing a formal protest against the race results. The challenge centred on a pass Vettel made on Jean-Éric Vergne early in the race. At the time, the first sector of the circuit was under yellow flag conditions following the spin and retirement of Pastor Maldonado at Curva do Sol, the Interlagos circuit's third corner, which feeds onto the back straight.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Post-season controversy
Vettel overtook Vergne along the straight, which led to claims that the pass was illegal because of the yellow flags. Intense media speculation suggested that the challenge threatened Vettel's championship because as the race finished behind the safety car, any post-race penalty had the potential to demote him in the race standings, and Vettel would not have enough points to secure the title. Ferrari wrote to the FIA, requesting clarification on the matter.


2012 Formula One World Championship, Race summaries, Post-season controversy
The FIA reviewed the incident and declared that Vettel's pass was legal as a green flag was being shown by a marshal adjacent to the pit exit, meaning the track was green from that point onward; the confusion had been caused by a digital board showing a yellow flag on the exit of Curva do Sol some one hundred metres before the marshalling post. Both Ferrari and Red Bull Racing announced that they were satisfied with the ruling, thereby preserving Vettel's championship.


2012 Formula Pilota China
The 2012 Formula Pilota China season was the second season of the Formula Pilota China series and the last to run on regulations based upon Formula Abarth. The championship started on 17 June at Shanghai and finished on 8 December at Sepang after eighteen races held at six meetings.


2012 Formula Pilota China, Race calendar and results
The series' provisional schedule was released on 3 March 2012. It will consist of six rounds, with three races at each round. The Guangdong and Shanghai Tianma events were dropped, while Zhuhai and the new Penbay International Circuit in Taiwan were included. But later calendar was revised with changing Zhuhai and Penbay to Guandong and second Sepang round.


2012 Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Series
The 2012 Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Series is the second year of the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps series, and the eleventh season of the former Swiss Formula Renault Championship. The championship began on 24 March at Monza and will finish on 21 October at Barcelona after fourteen races held at seven meetings.


2012 Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Series
The second-year drivers shined in the opening weekend at Monza. The first pole position of the season was claimed by Tech 1's Paul-Loup Chatin, but in the first race he was passed by Red Bull-backed Koiranen's Daniil Kvyat and 2011 Junior champion Melville McKee. Kvyat, who set the second fastest time in qualifying, dominated in both races and left Monza with 53 of 54 possible points.


2012 Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Series, Race calendar and results
The seven-event calendar for the 2012 season was announced on 22 November 2011. The series supported Italian Renault Clio Cup events at all Italian circuits in the schedule and on the Red Bull Ring with Pau Grand Prix, FIA Formula Two Championship round at Spa and World Series by Renault round at Barcelona.


2012 Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Series, Championship standings, Teams' championship
Prior to each round of the championship, two drivers from each team – if applicable – are nominated to score teams' championship points.


2012 Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup
The 2012 Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup is the seventh Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup season. The season began at Hockenheimring on 21 April and finished on 14 October at Spa, after 20 races at 8 events.


2012 Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup, Drivers and teams
After the Formula Renault UK was cancelled for the 2012 season, British team Fortec Motorsports joined the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC with refugee Josh Hill and Intersteps champion Jake Dennis among its drivers, whereas Manor Competition followed with Jordan King.


2012 Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup, Race calendar and results
The eight-event provisional calendar for the 2012 season was announced on 22 November 2011. The Spa round was later moved to the end of the season.


2012 Formula Renault 3.5 Series
The 2012 Formula Renault 3.5 Series was the eighth season of the Renault–supported single–seater category.


2012 Formula Renault 3.5 Series
It was the first season for the new Dallara T12 chassis, which featured a new, 530 bhp (400 kW) V8 engine supplied by British firm Zytek Motorsport. The car also featured a new gearbox developed by Ricardo and a Drag Reduction System similar to the one first used in the 2011 Formula One season. The series' organising committee has also announced that the series' sporting regulations were set to remain unchanged.


2012 Formula Renault 3.5 Series
Robin Frijns won the championship in his first season of competition, becoming the first driver (since Robert Kubica in 2005) to win the Formula Renault 3.5 Series in his debut year. Tech 1 Racing won the teams' championship for the fourth time.


2012 Formula Renault 3.5 Series, Teams and drivers
On 10 October 2011, it was announced that 18 teams had applied to compete in the 2012 season. Twelve of the thirteen teams that competed in 2011 submitted entries, while Mofaz Racing withdrew after failing to acquire the requisite funds to continue in the series. Several new teams, including Arden International, Atech Reid GP, DAMS, Koiranen Motorsport, Max Travin Racing Team – however prior the start of the season, Max Travin Racing Team joined forces with BVM Target as part of a three-year partnership – and Van Amersfoort Racing all submitted entries to join the series. The final list of thirteen teams was published on 17 October 2011, with GP2 Series teams Arden International and DAMS selected to join, while EPIC Racing and Koiranen Motorsport were placed on a reserve list.


2012 Formula Renault 3.5 Series, Race calendar and results
In August 2011, series organisers had announced that the championship was due to visit Russia and Brazil during the 2012 season. The 2012 calendar was announced on 10 October 2011, the day after the end of the 2011 season. Russia was included, but Brazil omitted. Seven of the nine rounds will form meetings of the 2012 World Series by Renault season, with additional rounds in support of the Monaco Grand Prix and the 6 Hours of Silverstone.


2012 Formula Renault 3.5 Series, Championship standings, Drivers' Championship
Bold – PoleItalics – Fastest Lap† – Retired, but classified


2012 Formula Renault 3.5 Series, Championship standings, Teams' Championship
Bold – PoleItalics – Fastest Lap† – Retired, but classified


2012 Formula Renault BARC season
The Protyre 2012 Formula Renault BARC season was a multi-event motor racing championship for open wheel, formula racing cars held across England. The championship featured a mix of professional motor racing teams and privately funded drivers competing in 2 litre Formula Renault single seat race cars that conform to the technical regulations for the championship. The 2012 season was the 18th Formula Renault BARC Championship; the season began at Snetterton 200 on 7 April and ended on 7 October at Silverstone, after fourteen races, all held in England.


2012 Formula Renault BARC season
Following a second-place finish in the final race at Silverstone, Scott Malvern secured the championship title after achieving three victories during the season and eleven podiums in total, driving for Cliff Dempsey Racing in the opening half of the season and Cullen Motorsport thereafter. MGR Motorsport driver Josh Webster finished the season as runner-up for the second consecutive year; although he won five races – tied for most wins in the season along with Fortec Motorsport's Seb Morris – during the campaign, a less consistent finishing record allowed Malvern to take the title by 33 points via dropped scores. Morris was third at the end of the season, having started half of the season's races from pole position in his first year in the series having graduated from Ginetta Juniors. The only other race winner was Webster's team-mate David Wagner, who finished fourth in the championship.


2012 Formula Renault BARC season, Race calendar and results
The series will form part of the BARC club racing meetings and will expand to fourteen rounds at six events, with two triple header events. A provisional calendar was released on 10 November 2011, with the final round still to be confirmed. This first provisional calendar showed Snetterton and Brands Hatch as the season opening triple headers. A revised provisional calendar was released on 2 December 2011, adding Silverstone as the final round, in support of the British Touring Car Championship. The round at Brands Hatch was replaced in favour of a round at Thruxton. The calendar also had major date changes, with the triple header events moved to Snetterton, and Donington Park.


2012 Formula Renault BARC season, Championship standings
A driver's best 13 scores counted towards the championship, with any other points being discarded.


2012 Formula Renault BARC season, Formula Renault BARC Winter Series
The 2012 Protyre Formula Renault BARC Winter Series with Michelin will be the 15th British Formula Renault Winter Series and the first season without the Formula Renault 2.0 UK championship, making this the first BARC championship only winter series. The series will commence at Brands Hatch on 20–21 October and end at Rockingham on 10 November, after four races at two rounds held in England.


2012 Formula Renault BARC season, Formula Renault BARC Winter Series, Teams and drivers
The series organisers announced a 19 car grid on 18 October 2012, for the opening round of the winter series, with more cars expected for the Rockingham round.


2012 Formula Renault BARC season, Formula Renault BARC Winter Series, Race calendar and results
The calendar was announced by the championship organisers on 7 September 2012, with the first round at Brands Hatch in support of the British Touring Car Championship.


2012 Formula Renault seasons
This article describes all the 2012 seasons of Formula Renault series across the world.


2012 Formula Renault seasons, Other Formulas powered by Renault championships, 2012 GP2 Series seasons
The GP2 Series is powered by 4 litre Renault V8 engines and Pirelli tyres with a Dallara chassis.


2012 Formula Renault seasons, Other Formulas powered by Renault championships, 2012 Austria Formel Renault Cup season
The season will be probably held on 14 rounds in 7 venues in Czech Republic, Germany, France and Austria. The races occur with other categories: Austria Formula 3 Cup, Formelfrei and Formula 3,5L like (Renault 3,5L from World Series, Lola Cosworth). This section presents only the Austrian Formula Renault 2.0L classification.


2012 Formula Renault seasons, Other Formulas powered by Renault championships, 2012 Formula Renault 2.0 Argentina season
All cars use Tito 02 chassis, all races were held in Argentina.


2012 Fort Lauderdale Strikers season
The 2012 Fort Lauderdale Strikers season was the second season of the team in the North American Soccer League, and the entire club's thirty-eighth season in professional soccer. This year, the team finished fifth in the regular season and made it to the quarterfinals in the playoffs.


2012 Fort Lauderdale Strikers season, Squad information, Current roster
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2012 Fort Lauderdale Strikers season, Squad statistics, Top scorers
Includes all competitive matches. The list is sorted by shirt number when total goals are equal.


2012 Fort Lauderdale mayoral election
The 2012 Fort Lauderdale mayoral election was held on February 14, 2012 to elect the mayor of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It saw the reelection of Jack Seiler.


2012 Fort Wayne Summer Cash
The 2012 Fort Wayne Summer Cash was held from August 17 to 19 at the Lutheran Health Sportscenter in Fort Wayne, Indiana as part of the 2012–13 Ontario Curling Tour. The event was held in a round robin format, with the purse for the event being USD$7,500.


2012 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships
The 2012 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships was an international figure skating competition in the 2011–12 season. It was held at the World Arena in Colorado Springs, USA on February 7–12. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing.


2012 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, Qualification
The competition was open to skaters from a non-European member nation of the International Skating Union who reached the age of 15 before July 1, 2011. The corresponding competition for European skaters was the 2012 European Championships.


2012 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, Entries
The entries were as follows. Jeremy Abbott withdrew due to injury and was replaced by Richard Dornbush.


2012 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, Medals summary, Medals by country
Table of small medals for placement in the short segment:


2012 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, Medals summary, Medals by country
Table of small medals for placement in the free segment:


2012 Four Nations Tournament (women's football)
The 2012 Four Nations Tournament was the eleventh edition of the Four Nations Tournament, an invitational women's football tournament held in China.


2012 Foxtel Cup
The 2012 Foxtel Cup was the second season of Australian rules football knock-out cup competition involving clubs from the various state league competitions from around Australia.


2012 Foxtel Cup
The cup's purpose is to support and promote the second-tier Australian rules football competitions and to provide another way of developing lower-tier Australian Football League (AFL) players. It was originally designed to be a one-off, but due to a significant amount of public interest the AFL said the competition would continue through to at least 2016.


2012 Foxtel Cup
The competition began on 31 March 2012 and concluded with the grand final on 2 August 2012. Matches are played as curtain-raisers to Saturday AFL games or as stand-alone matches, with all games to be screened on Fox Sports. Prize-money was increased by about 20 per cent from the 2011 competition, with A$60,000 to be awarded to the winners.


2012 Foxtel Cup
The AFL invited three teams from the South Australian National Football League, the Victorian Football League and the West Australian Football League; two teams from the Tasmanian Football League; and five teams from the two conferences of the North East Australian Football League, including clubs from the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, the Northern Territory, and Queensland. Greater Western Sydney, who had acceded to the AFL in 2012, were replaced by a second Tasmanian team.


2012 Foxtel Cup
Claremont became the 2012 Foxtel Cup champions when they defeated Werribee by 44 points in the Grand Final at Patersons Stadium on 2 August 2012. Claremont forward Tom Lee won the Coles Medal as best afield with his six-goal display.


2012 Foxtel Cup, Fixture, Round of 16
^ Although stand-alone with regards to AFL games, the Ainslie v West Perth game was played as a curtain-raiser to the NEAFL game between UWS Giants and Queanbeyan.


2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina
In June 2012, France toured Argentina to play two Tests against the Pumas. The French tour was one in a series of tours by northern teams to be hosted by southern hemisphere nations.


2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina
The previous French tour of Argentina took place in 2010 as part of a global Two Test tour of South Africa and Argentina, where France lost to both nations. France's last winning tour of Argentina dated back to 1998 when the touring side claimed victory in both Tests. Since then France had an overall losing record against Argentina with 5 wins (4 at home and 1 in Ireland in the 1999 Rugby World Cup) and 7 losses (3 at home including two in the 2007 Rugby World Cup and 4 in Argentina).


2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina
No mid-week fixture had been planned for this tour, however most of the French squad, styled for the occasion as the "XV du Président", played a warm-up fixture against a team hand-picked by Serge Betsen, a former France international, for his jubilee.


2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina
The series was drawn 1-1, Argentina winning the first test and France the second.


2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina
Argentina and France's next encounter took place on 17 November 2012 on French soil as part of the 2012 end of year tests. France claimed another victory (39-22) against their old foes.


2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina, Background
Argentina experienced a strong start in the 2011 Rugby World Cup with a rather successful pool stage, finishing runners-up to England with three wins (over Georgia, Romania and Scotland) and a narrow loss to England (9-13). However the Pumas were unable to capitalise on it when they met future World Champions the All Blacks in the quarter-finals, losing 33-10.


2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina, Background
France, on the other hand, experienced a rather slow start in the competition with two wins (over Japan and Canada) and two losses (to New Zealand and Tonga), finishing runners-up to New Zealand on the virtue of a greater tally of bonus points than Tonga (who also finished with two wins and two losses). However France produced a stronger showing in the knock-out stages, beating England in the quarter-finals (19-12), Wales in the semi-finals (9-8) and losing with the narrowest of margins to New Zealand in the final (8-7).


2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina, Background
Due to the World Cup neither team played any Test in the 2011 end of year tests. On 2 January 2012 France was ranked 3rd in the IRB World Rankings while Argentina stood in the 7th place.


2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina, Background
France experienced a disappointing 2012 Six Nations Championship with two wins (over Italy and Scotland), two losses (to England and Wales) and a draw (with Ireland), finishing 4th overall.


2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina, Background
As a result on 2 April France had dropped to the 6th place in the IRB Rankings while Argentina remained on the 7th spot.


2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina, Background
As part of Italy's Summer Tour of Americas and prior to the arrival of the French team, Argentina played a Test against Italy on Saturday 9 June in San Juan. Argentina won the game 37-22.


2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina, Background
Before the first test between France and Argentina they remained respectively on the 6th and 7th spot in the IRB Rankings.


2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina, Test Matches, First Test
Touch judges: Wayne Barnes Christie du PreezTelevision match official: Shaun Veldsman


2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina, Test Matches, Second Test
Touch judges: Wayne Barnes Christie du PreezTelevision match official: Shaun Veldsman


2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina, Touring squad
Philippe Saint-André announced his 28-man France squad for the June tour to Argentina. Several key faces were rested, including captain Thierry Dusautoir.


2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina, Touring squad
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina, Touring squad
Note*: After he sustained an injury in the First Test, Yvan Watremez was replaced in the squad by Thomas Domingo. (Philippe Saint-André originally planned to call up Castres prop Yannick Forestier but the latter was touring Japan with the French Barbarians and no satisfactory travel arrangement could be made, hence prompting the return of Domingo in the French squad after he sustained an important injury prior to the 2011 Rugby World Cup which prevented him from taking part in the competition and playing the major part of the 2011-2012 season with his club.)


2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina, Touring squad
Note**: Although they took part in the warm-up fixture, Geoffrey Doumayrou, Antoine Guillamon and Romain Martial failed to appear in any of the Tests, thus remaining uncapped at the end of the Tour.


2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina, Home squad
Argentina's 29-man squad named for the 2012 June Tests against Italy and France. Coach Santiago Phelan decided not to select any player involved in the Top 14 playoffs, reserving his best squad for the upcoming 2012 Rugby Championship. Esteban Lozada was a late addition to the squad after his recovery from injury.


2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina, Home squad
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.


2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina, Home squad
Note*: Matias Orlando failed to appear in any of the Tests against both Italy and France, thus remaining uncapped at the end of the Tour.


2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina, Aftermath
On 25 June 2012 (after all mid-year Tests had been played) France stood at the 5th place (their best ranking since March 2012) in the IRB Rankings (thanks to their second test comprehensive victory over the Pumas and Wales' loss to Australia in their third test) while Argentina had dropped to the 8th spot (their worst ranking since March 2012).


2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina, Aftermath
From August to October 2012, Argentina competed in the inaugural Rugby Championship (the new incarnation of the Tri Nations Series) with Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, finishing bottom of the table with a draw (at home against the Springboks) and five losses. On 8 October 2012 France and Argentina remained respectively at the 5th and 8th places of the IRB World ranking.


2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina, Aftermath
As part of the 2012 end of year tests the Pumas toured Wales, France and Ireland, playing one Test against each union. They beat the Welsh but lost to the two other unions while France recorded three straight wins (against Australia, Argentina and Samoa). At the end of their Tests France had climbed to the IRB rankings 4th place, their best ranking since February 2012, while Argentina had dropped to the 9th place, their worst ranking since September 2011. However following the fourth week of Tests (of which Argentina and France were not part) Argentina climbed back to the 8th place thanks to Wales' defeat by Australia over the weekend.


2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina, Aftermath
As a result on December 3 for the 2015 Rugby World Cup Pool Draw France was drawn in Pot 1 while Argentina was drawn in Pot 2 and they ended up in Pool D and C respectively, meaning they will not meet before the Quarter Finals.


2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina, Aftermath
From February to March 2013, France competed in the Six Nations Championship (the 14th series following this format) with England, Ireland, Scotland, Italy and Wales, finishing bottom of the table with one win (at home against Scotland), a draw (in Ireland) and three losses (at home to Wales, in England and Italy). On 18 March 2013 France has dropped to the 6th place in the IRB rankings while Argentina remained on the 8th place.


2012 France rugby union tour of Argentina, Aftermath
As part of the 2013 mid-year tests, France will tour New Zealand in a Three-Test Series while Argentina will host England in a Two-Test Series and Georgia for a one-off Test.


2012 Franken Challenge
The 2012 Franken Challenge was a professional tennis tournament played on clay courts. It was the 26th edition of the tournament which was part of the 2012 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Fürth, Germany between 4 and 10 June 2012.


2012 Franken Challenge, Singles main draw entrants, Other Entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 Franken Challenge – Doubles
Rameez Junaid and Frank Moser were the defending champions but Moser decided not to participate. Junaid played alongside Purav Raja and reached the final but lost to Arnau Brugués-Davi and João Sousa 7–5, 6–7(4–7), [11–9].


2012 Franken Challenge – Singles
João Sousa was the defending champion. Blaž Kavčič won the tournament by defeating Sergiy Stakhovsky 6–3, 2–6, 6–2 in the final.


2012 François Hollande presidential campaign
27President of the General Council of Corrèze and former First Secretary of the French Socialist Party François Hollande launched his campaign in March 2011 to become the Socialist and Radical Left Party candidate for the 2012 French presidential election and announced that he would be contesting the presidential primary. Hollande made the announcement that he was running for President following his re-election as a department executive. On 16 October 2011 he won the Socialist and Radical Left Party nomination with more than 56% of the votes over First Secretary Martine Aubry, following a long campaign. On 22 April he topped the ballot in the first round of voting in the presidential election, and on 6 May he defeated the incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy in the second round run-off, becoming the new President of France.


2012 François Hollande presidential campaign, History, 2007 nomination
As the First Secretary of the Socialist Party François Hollande first openly considered running for the 2007 presidential election. Capitalizing on her popularity Ségolène Royal, his partner of 30 years and the mother of their four children was to take him the nomination. They had separated in 2006 and announced it publicly after the 2007 election.


2012 François Hollande presidential campaign, History, Resignation as leader of the Socialist Party
Following Ségolène Royal's loss in the 2007 presidential election the defeat of the Socialists in the following legislative elections put the Socialist Party in disarray. Hollande announced that he would not seek another term as First Secretary of the party. He publicly declared his support for Bertrand Delanoë, the Mayor of Paris, although it was Martine Aubry who would go on to win the race to succeed him in 2008.


2012 François Hollande presidential campaign, History, Early stages
Hollande began his pre campaign in Lorient on 27 June 2009. Without personal announcement it was the first of many speech where he would polish his image as a credible alternative to both Nicolas Sarkozy and the others socialist front figures, mainly Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Martine Aubry and Ségolène Royal.


2012 François Hollande presidential campaign, History, Announcement
François Hollande announced on 31 March 2011 that he will run for his party's nomination in the 2012 presidential race.


2012 François Hollande presidential campaign, History, Primary
In Socialist primary, Hollande won 39.17 percent of the votes followed by Martine Aubry, the party’s current leader who secured 30.42 percent. He won run-off stage of the primary with a 56.57% score over first secretary who received 43.43% of votes.


2012 François Hollande presidential campaign, History, Headquarters
The campaign is based in Paris in 7th arrondissement. The building of 1,000 square meters is leased 40,000 euros per month.


2012 François Hollande presidential campaign, Potential Prime Ministers
Leader of the Socialist Group in the National Assembly Jean-Marc Ayrault, MP and former minister Michel Sapin, campaign manager Pierre Moscovici and Party Secretary Martine Aubry are favorites to be selected as Prime Minister of France if Hollande win. A poll showed that 50% of people believed Aubry should be given the job, followed by Moscovici on 17%, Laurent Fabius on 11%, Jean-Marc Ayrault on 10% and Sapin on 9%. In the final days leading up to the Presidential election, two individuals were left on Hollande's final list for Prime Minister: Jean-Marc Ayrault and Martine Aubry.


2012 François Hollande presidential campaign, Polls
When he entered his candidacy he was very low in polls, but after the Dominique Strauss-Kahn sexual assault case Hollande was propelled to head of the polls for the remainder of the primary. Boosted by his victory, Hollande was constantly in mind in the first round and widely the projected winner against President Nicolas Sarkozy in a hypothetical runoff.


2012 French Athletics Championships
The 2012 French Athletics Championships was the 124th edition of the national championship in outdoor track and field for France. It was held on 15–17 June at the Stade du Lac de Maine in Angers. A total of 38 events (divided evenly between the sexes) were contested over the three-day competition.


2012 French F4 Championship
The 2012 French F4 Championship season was the twentieth season of the series for 1600cc Formula Renault machinery, and the second season to run under the guise of the French F4 Championship. The series began on 28 April at Circuit de Lédenon and ended on 28 October at Circuit Paul Ricard, after seven rounds and fourteen races.


2012 French Figure Skating Championships
The 2012 French Figure Skating Championships took place between 16 and 18 December 2011 at the Patinoire de la Cartonnerie in Dammarie-lès-Lys. Skaters competed in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, ice dancing, and synchronized skating on the senior level for the title of national champion of France. The results were among the criteria used to choose the French entries for the 2012 World Championships and the 2012 European Championships.


2012 French Figure Skating Championships, Junior results
The Junior Championships took place from 24 to 26 February 2012 in Charleville-Mézières.


2012 French Indoor Athletics Championships
The 2012 French Indoor Athletics Championships was the 41st edition of the national championship in indoor track and field for France, organised by the French Athletics Federation. It was held on 25–26 February at the Jean-Pellez Stadium in Aubière. A total of 26 events (divided evenly between the sexes) were contested over the two-day competition.


2012 French Open
The 2012 French Open (also known as Roland Garros, after the famous French aviator) was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 116th edition of the French Open, and took place at the Stade Roland Garros from 27 May until 11 June 2012.


2012 French Open
Rafael Nadal won the tournament for the third year in succession, and the seventh time in eight years, defeating first-time Roland Garros finalist Novak Djokovic. His seventh title broke Björn Borg's record of six French Open Men's Singles titles, and equalled Chris Evert's record for most French Open titles won by a man or woman. Li Na was unsuccessful in her title defence, being defeated in the fourth round by Yaroslava Shvedova. Maria Sharapova defeated 21st seed Sara Errani in the final to win her first French Open title, to complete a career Grand Slam, and to return to the World No. 1 ranking for the first time in four years.


2012 French Open
This championship was the second time in grand slam history that two multiple slam sets were accomplished in two different disciplines, and that was Mahesh Bhupathi won his first multiple slam in Mixed Doubles, and Esther Vergeer won her second multiple slam set in Women's Wheelchair Doubles. At the 1969 US Open, Rod Laver won his first multiple slam set in Men's Singles, and his fellow countryman Ken Rosewall did in Men's Doubles for the first time. This would occur again for the third time at the 2013 French Open.


2012 French Open, Tournament
The 2012 French Open was the one hundred and eleventh edition of the French Open and was held at Stade Roland Garros in Paris. The Men's Singles Final was won by Rafael Nadal by defeating Novak Djokovic in the final. By winning his seventh title at Roland Garros, Nadal surpassed Borg's overall titles record to become the most successful tennis player in French Open history. The tournament was an event run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is part of the 2012 ATP World Tour and the 2012 WTA Tour calendars under the Grand Slam category. The tournament consisted of both men's and women's singles and doubles draws as well as a mixed doubles event.


2012 French Open, Tournament
There was a singles and doubles events for both boys and girls (players under 18), which is part of the Grade A category of tournaments, and singles and doubles events for men's and women's wheelchair tennis players as part of the NEC tour under the Grand Slam category. The tournament was played on clay courts and took place over a series of twenty courts, including the three main showcourts, Court Philippe Chatrier, Court Suzanne Lenglen and Court 1.


2012 French Open, Prize money and ranking points
For 2012, the prize money purse was increased to €18,718,000 from €17,520,000 in 2011. The prize money and points breakdown is as follows:


2012 French Open, Prize money and ranking points, Points, Junior
Below is a table charting the points that are available to the boys and girls in boy singles and doubles play.


2012 French Open, Events, Seniors, Men's doubles
Max Mirnyi /  Daniel Nestor defeated  Bob Bryan /  Mike Bryan, 6–4, 6–4


2012 French Open, Events, Seniors, Women's doubles
Sara Errani /  Roberta Vinci defeated  Maria Kirilenko /  Nadia Petrova, 4–6, 6–4, 6–2


2012 French Open, Events, Seniors, Mixed doubles
Sania Mirza /  Mahesh Bhupathi defeated  Klaudia Jans-Ignacik /  Santiago González, 7–6(7–3), 6–1


2012 French Open, Events, Juniors, Boys' Doubles
Andrew Harris /  Nick Kyrgios defeated  Adam Pavlásek /  Václav Šafránek, 6–4, 2–6, [10–7]


2012 French Open, Events, Juniors, Girls' Doubles
Daria Gavrilova /  Irina Khromacheva defeated  Montserrat González /  Beatriz Haddad Maia, 4–6, 6–4, [10–8]


2012 French Open, Events, Wheelchair events, Wheelchair Men's Doubles
Frédéric Cattaneo /  Shingo Kunieda defeated  Michael Jeremiasz /  Stefan Olsson, 3–6, 7–6(7–3), [10–6]


2012 French Open, Events, Wheelchair events, Wheelchair Women's Doubles
Marjolein Buis /  Esther Vergeer defeated  Sabine Ellerbrock /  Yui Kamiji, 6–0, 6–1


2012 French Open, Events, Other events, Legends Under 45 Doubles
Albert Costa /  Carlos Moyá defeated  Thomas Enqvist /  Todd Woodbridge, 6–2, 6–1


2012 French Open, Events, Other events, Legends Over 45 Doubles
John McEnroe /  Patrick McEnroe defeated  Guy Forget /  Henri Leconte, 7–6(7–5), 6–3


2012 French Open, Events, Other events, Women's Legends Doubles
Lindsay Davenport /  Martina Hingis defeated  Martina Navratilova /  Jana Novotná, 6–4, 6–4


2012 French Open, Singles seeds
The following are the seeded players and notable players who withdrew from the event. Seedings based on ATP and WTA rankings are as of 21 May 2012, Rankings and Points are as of 28 May 2012.


2012 French Open, Singles seeds
Because the tournament takes place one week later than in 2011, points defending includes results from both the 2011 French Open and tournaments from the week of 6 June 2011 (Halle and London for men; Birmingham and Copenhagen for women).


2012 French Open, Singles seeds, Men's Singles
The following players would have been seeded, but they withdrew from the tournament.


2012 French Open, Singles seeds, Women's Singles
The following players would have been seeded, but they withdrew from the tournament.


2012 French Open, Protected ranking
The following players were accepted directly into the main draw using a protected ranking:


2012 French Open, Withdrawals
The following players were accepted directly into the main tournament, but withdrew with injuries or personal reasons.


2012 French Open – Boys' Doubles
Andrés Artuñedo and Roberto Carballes were the defending champions. Andrew Harris and Nick Kyrgios won the title by defeating Adam Pavlásek and Václav Šafránek in the final, 6–4, 2–6, [10–7]


2012 French Open – Boys' Singles
Bjorn Fratangelo was the defending champion, but was not eligible to participate. Kimmer Coppejans won this event, defeating 5th-seed Filip Peliwo 6–1, 6–4 in the final.


2012 French Open – Day-by-day summaries
This list is a form of detail the day-by-day summaries:


2012 French Open – Day-by-day summaries, Day 9 (4 June)
Peschke/Bryan couple was eliminated in the quarterfinals of Mixed Doubles draw.


2012 French Open – Girls' Doubles
Irina Khromacheva and Maryna Zanevska were the defending champions. Zanevska did not compete in the event, but Khromacheva retained her title alongside new partner Daria Gavrilova, with the Russian pair defeating Montserrat González and Beatriz Haddad Maia in the final, 4–6, 6–4, [10–8].


2012 French Open – Girls' Singles
Ons Jabeur was the defending champion but instead chose to play at the 2012 Aegon Trophy in Nottingham. Annika Beck defeated Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 3–6, 7–5, 6–3 in the final to win her first Junior Grand Slam.


2012 French Open – Legends Over 45 Doubles
Guy Forget and Henri Leconte were the defending champions but lost the final to John McEnroe and Patrick McEnroe, 7–6(7–5), 6–3.


2012 French Open – Legends Over 45 Doubles, Draw, Group A
Standings are determined by: 1) Number of wins; 2) Number of matches; 3) In three-players-ties, percentage of sets won, or of games won; 4) Steering Committee decision.


2012 French Open – Legends Over 45 Doubles, Draw, Group B
Standings are determined by: 1) Number of wins; 2) Number of matches; 3) In three-players-ties, percentage of sets won, or of games won; 4) Steering Committee decision.


2012 French Open – Legends Under 45 Doubles
Fabrice Santoro and Todd Woodbridge were the defending champions, but they decided not to participate together. Santoro played alongside Cédric Pioline, while Woodbridge partnered up with Thomas Enqvist. Albert Costa and Carlos Moyá won the event beating Enqvist and Woodbridge in the final, 6–2, 6–1


2012 French Open – Legends Under 45 Doubles, Draw, Group A
Standings are determined by: 1) Number of wins; 2) Number of matches; 3) In three-players-ties, percentage of sets won, or of games won; 4) Steering Committee decision.


2012 French Open – Legends Under 45 Doubles, Draw, Group B
Standings are determined by: 1) Number of wins; 2) Number of matches; 3) In three-players-ties, percentage of sets won, or of games won; 4) Steering Committee decision.


2012 French Open – Men's Doubles
Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor were the defending champions and top seeds, and Nestor came into the event as the two-time defending champion. They successfully defended their title by defeating Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan 6–4, 6–4 in the final.


2012 French Open – Men's Singles
Two-time defending champion Rafael Nadal successfully defended his title, defeating Novak Djokovic 6–4, 6–3, 2–6, 7–5 in the final to win the Men's Singles tennis title at the 2012 French Open. It marked Nadal's record-breaking seventh French Open title and eleventh Grand Slam title overall, surpassing Björn Borg's record of six French Open titles and equaling Pete Sampras' Wimbledon record for the most men's singles titles at one major and Chris Evert's record for the most French Open singles titles.


2012 French Open – Men's Singles
Djokovic had the chance to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four major titles at once, having won the previous year's Wimbledon and US Open titles as well as that year's Australian Open (all won over Nadal). It was Djokovic's fourth consecutive loss to Nadal at Roland Garros, but the first time that Djokovic took a set from Nadal at the tournament.


2012 French Open – Men's Singles
Roger Federer was attempting to become the first man in the Open Era and the third man ever to achieve a double career Grand Slam, but he lost to Djokovic in the semifinals.


2012 French Open – Men's Singles
Due to rain, the final was postponed to Monday, 11 June 2012 at 1:00 local time, after the score on Sunday was 6–4, 6–3, 2–6, 1–2 with Djokovic serving, after 3 hours of play of the 3:49 total length.


2012 French Open – Men's Singles
This was also the last Grand Slam tournament for 2001 Australian Open finalist and former world No. 10 Arnaud Clement, and the last French Open appearance for 2003 champion and former world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero and former world No. 1 Andy Roddick.


2012 French Open – Men's Singles, Seeds
Click on the seed number of a player to go to their draw section.


2012 French Open – Men's Singles Qualifying
This article displays the qualifying draw for men's singles at the 2012 French Open.


2012 French Open – Men's singles final
The 2012 French Open men's singles final was the championship tennis match of the men's singles tournament at the 2012 French Open, with Rafael Nadal defeating Novak Djokovic 6–4, 6–3, 2–6, 7–5. It was a Grand Slam final match of historic proportions for both players. Nadal was aiming to become the first man to win seven French Open titles, breaking the record previously held by Björn Borg, who won six titles, and equalling the record held by Chris Evert, who won seven titles. Djokovic was aiming to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously. Additionally, since Djokovic had defeated Nadal in the previous three Grand Slam finals, Nadal was attempting to avoid losing in all four tournaments to the same player.


2012 French Open – Men's singles final, Match
Nadal won the first set 6–4, gaining a break of serve after a long attritional battle. There were several delays due to the erratic rain, but none lasting more than an hour. With Nadal leading by two sets to one, and Djokovic leading 2–1 and serving (up a break) in the fourth set, the match was suspended due to rain; it was initially thought that Djokovic had gained the momentum, having won eight games in a row prior to the suspension of the match. However, Nadal was able to regroup and take the fourth set, and ultimately the match, after Djokovic double-faulted on championship point down.


2012 French Open – Men's singles final, Post-match reactions
Djokovic: "I could have easily lost the match in the fourth round or even more against Tsonga, but I managed to come to the finals for the first time in my career," Djokovic said. "I should be happy about that, of course.


2012 French Open – Men's singles final, Post-match reactions
I will be, and I am, but in this moment I am disappointed about this loss because I thought I started to play better in the third set and felt like I could take this match to a fifth set and then everything could be possible, but there was a rain delay when I started to feel really good on the court".


2012 French Open – Men's singles final, Post-match reactions
Nadal: "When you lose, it's because you don't deserve the title,". "So in my mind, this was the final I had to win. That's why I was so emotional".