2012 Australian Grand Prix

Jenson Button won the 2012 Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit on 18 Mar 2012 for McLaren, from 2nd on the grid; Sebastian Vettel was second and Lewis Hamilton third. Pole position: Lewis Hamilton.

Button took the lead for good on lap 37 of 58, from Sebastian Vettel; the lead changed hands 4 times in all. There was one safety-car period (laps 37 to 42). Button stopped 2 times, on laps 16 and 36; 12 of 16 finishers made 2 stops, and the median first stop was lap 16. The fastest lap was Jenson Button's, 1:29.187 on lap 56. 16 of 24 starters were classified; 8 retired or were not classified. After the race Jenson Button led the championship with 25 points, 7 ahead of Sebastian Vettel, with 19 rounds left.

Date

18 Mar 2012

Circuit

Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia

Round

1 of 20

Winner

Jenson Button (McLaren)

Pole position

Lewis Hamilton (1:24.922)

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Race classification

Grid differs from qualifying for 8 drivers: Sergio Pérez qualified 17th, started 22nd; Kimi Räikkönen qualified 18th, started 17th; Heikki Kovalainen qualified 19th, started 18th; Vitaly Petrov qualified 20th, started 19th; Timo Glock qualified 21st, started 20th; Charles Pic qualified 22nd, started 21st; Pedro de la Rosa qualified 23rd, started from the pit lane; Narain Karthikeyan qualified 24th, started from the pit lane. The data records the positions, not the reason; such gaps come from grid penalties, car or engine changes, or pit-lane starts. The small "q" number in the Grid column is the qualifying position.

Grid "PL" means started from the pit lane. FL marks the fastest lap of the race.

Lap chart

Explained: how to read a lap chart · safety car, virtual safety car and red flags.

Race history: gap to the leader

How the race was won

Winner

Jenson Button: 2 stops (laps 16, 36), stints of 16, 20, 22 laps

2nd

Sebastian Vettel: 2 stops (laps 16, 37), stints of 16, 21, 21 laps

3rd

Lewis Hamilton: 2 stops (laps 17, 36), stints of 17, 19, 22 laps

Finishers

1 stop: 1 · 2 stops: 12 · 3 or more: 3

First stops

median lap 16 of 58

Pit stops

Explained: tyres, compounds and pit stops · pit stops per race since 1994.

Pit-lane time: pit entry to pit exit. Tyre changes under a red flag are not counted.

Qualifying

Explained: how qualifying works · how often pole position wins.

Gap: the driver's best time in any session (session named), in seconds behind the fastest time of qualifying. That is usually the pole time; when a session gets slower (rain, for example), an earlier session's time can be faster. The bar is full at 3 seconds; larger gaps are cut off.

Standings after this race

Explained: how points and the two championships work.

Full 2012 standings