2012 Australian Grand Prix

Report

The 2012 race was the first Grand Prix since the 1973 German Grand Prix not to feature an Italian driver on the grid, as Vitantonio Liuzzi failed to secure a seat and Jarno Trulli was replaced at Caterham during pre-season. It was also the first Grand Prix to include six current and former Formula One World Champions, and the first Australian Grand Prix with two Australian drivers on the grid. The circuit featured two Drag Reduction System (DRS) zones for 2012, located along the main straight and between Turns 2 and 3, with a single detection point at the entry to Turn 14. Thicker, spongier astroturf was introduced on the exit of several corners to discourage drivers from exceeding track limits.

Mercedes' F1 W03 rear wing was examined by FIA technical delegate Charlie Whiting on the Thursday before the race and declared legal. HRT encountered problems with Pedro de la Rosa's #22 chassis, failing to complete work in time for Thursday afternoon scrutineering; the FIA granted a delay until 11 am local time, and the car ultimately passed scrutineering, though it was not ready for the first practice session. Several drivers made their Formula One debut, including Charles Pic and Jean-Éric Vergne, while Romain Grosjean and Daniel Ricciardo participated in their first Australian Grand Prix as full-time drivers.

Classification

Sergio Pérez received a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change. Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan failed to set a lap time within 107% of the fastest Q1 time and were not granted permission to start the race by the stewards, thus failing to qualify. Heikki Kovalainen was given a five-place grid penalty at the next race for overtaking cars on a restart before passing the safety car line.