The 2012 Italian Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Gran Premio Santander d'Italia 2012) was a Formula One motor race that took place at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Monza, Italy on 9 September 2012. It was the thirteenth race of the 2012 season, and the final race in Europe before the teams returned to Asia for the Singapore Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton qualified on pole, ahead of teammate Jenson Button. The result gave McLaren their sixty-second front-row lock-out, breaking the previous record set by Williams. Hamilton won the race by four seconds from Sergio Pérez, with Fernando Alonso completing the podium.
This was McLaren's last win at Monza until 2021.
Report
Background
Tyre supplier Pirelli brought its silver-banded hard compound tyre as the harder "prime" tyre and the white-banded medium compound tyre as the softer "option" tyre.
Circuit changes
The drag reduction system zones used in 2011 were shortened for the 2012 race. The first DRS zone, located on the straight between the second Lesmo corner and the Variante Ascari, was shortened by fifty meters, while the DRS zone on the front straight was shortened by five meters.
Driver penalties
Lotus driver Romain Grosjean did not participate in the race due to receiving a one-race ban for his involvement in the first-lap incident at the Belgian Grand Prix that saw four cars crash heavily at the La Source hairpin. Grosjean was replaced by the team's testing and reserve driver, Jérôme d'Ambrosio. Estonian Kevin Korjus became reserve driver for the weekend.
Pastor Maldonado received two five-place grid penalties. the first for jumping the start of the Belgian Grand Prix and the second for causing an avoidable accident with Timo Glock after Grosjean's accident.
Paul di Resta was also demoted five places for an unscheduled gearbox change on Saturday morning, his second gearbox penalty of the season.
Driver changes
Ma Qinghua became the first Chinese driver to take part in a Grand Prix weekend when he drove Narain Karthikeyan's HRT F112 in the first free practice session on Friday morning. Valtteri Bottas drove Bruno Senna's Williams FW34 in the same session, while Jules Bianchi took Paul di Resta's place at Force India.
Free practice
Mercedes AMG driver Michael Schumacher was fastest in the first practice session, three-tenths of a second quicker than Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg. For Lotus, Jérôme d'Ambrosio finished the session fifteenth, over a second and a half slower than Schumacher and sixth-tenths down on teammate Kimi Räikkönen. Ma Qinghua was the slowest runner after ninety minutes, nearly six seconds slower than Schumacher, and within two seconds of teammate Pedro de la Rosa. At the end of the session, both Fernando Alonso and Pastor Maldonado were observed to stop on the circuit with technical problems.
Lewis Hamilton was the fastest driver in the second session, narrowly edging out Button and Alonso, the latter of whom had another disrupted session with a series of technical problems surrounding the gearbox and brakes that limited his time on the circuit. Having set the fastest time in the morning session, Schumacher finished tenth following a series of off-track excursions. He was highly-critical of the speed bumps placed around the Variante della Roggia chicane, claiming they were a safety hazard that could result in serious injury if a driver hit them at speed.
Hamilton was once again fastest in the third session, just one thousandth of a second ahead of Alonso. Paul di Resta finished the session third, while Sebastian Vettel suffered a loss of power on his final lap and pulled over at the Roggia chicane. The Red Bull RB8 was consistently one of the slowest cars through the speed trap, evidenced by the way neither Red Bull driver featured in the top ten runners in any of the free practice sessions, with the exception of Mark Webber, who set the ninth-fastest time of the first session.
Race
Felipe Massa made a great start to pass Jenson Button for second place. He pulled alongside pole sitter Lewis Hamilton going into the first chicane, but Hamilton had the inside line and was able to stay ahead. Fernando Alonso was able to make his way up from 10th to 7th place by the end of the first lap, and passed Kimi Räikkönen for 6th going into the first chicane on the second lap.