The 2012 Italian GP was a cracker of a race, but you wouldn’t have expected it to be from the beginning of the weekend. There were a number of big stories building up to the race of course with Romain Grosjean’s one race ban coming into action after his part in the collision at Spa the previous week forcing Lotus to call upon the services of their reserve driver, Jerome d’Ambrosio. And the question was naturally, could this be the young Belgian’s first and possibly last chance to score points in Formula One. Williams’ Pastor Maldonado also came to the track with penalties, in the form of two five place grid demotions for his collision with Timo Glock and for a jump start at the Belgian Grand Prix.
However, one of the biggest stories came from right at the back of the field on Friday morning where HRT reserve driver Ma Qinghua became the first ever Chinese racer to take part in a Grand Prix weekend in place of regular driver Narain Karthikeyan. Ma’s career didn’t last very long, and nowadays he is racing in the World Touring Car Championship.
Qualifying got off with a bang as Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg grounded to a halt at the first corner; one down, 23 remaining. Meanwhile his teammate Paul di Resta, who had looked strong all weekend qualified a career best fourth place, but unfortunately due to a gearbox change was demoted five places to ninth. Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren stormed to pole position ahead of the sister car driven by Jenson Button and a Felipe Massa enjoying his renaissance. Then came Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg, Kimi Raikkonen and Kamui Kobayshi with Sauber team mate Sergio Perez a lowly 13th. Just behind Tifosi favourite Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber.
Race day came and Massa got a blinder of a start, jumping second placed man Button and challenging Hamilton into the first corner. Teammate Alonso was able to make his way up from 10th to seventh place by the end of the first lap, while later on, title rival Vettel passed German compatriot Schumacher under braking into the first chicane for fourth. One lap later, Bruno Senna attempted to pass Rosberg around the outside into the first chicane. There wasn’t enough room for both cars, they banged wheels, and Senna went straight through the chicane to take 11th.
Four laps later the under pressure Brazilian tried to pass Paul di Resta who had made steady progress through the field on the outside going into the second chicane. Di Resta moved over, forcing Senna wide and through the chicane and back onto the racing line right in front of Mark Webber, who dodged around him as they entered the first Lesmo corner. On the next lap, Toro Rosso’s Jean Eric Vergne had a dramatic right rear suspension failure under braking into the first chicane, spinning and sliding sideways over one of the curbs, launching his car into the air over the chicane.
Lap 21 and many of the leading cars pitted allowing the tyre savvy Pérez, who hadn’t pitted yet, to take the lead from 2nd after Hamilton boxed.
What happened next was pretty much a case of deja vu as Fernando Alonso tried to go around the outside of Sebastian Vettel through Curva Grande. Vettel moved to the outside, pushing Alonso off the track and onto the gravel, similar to a move Alonso pulled on Vettel the year before, but this time Vettel was given a drive-through penalty. Alonso was able to pass Vettel on lap 29, and the drive-through on lap 35 put Vettel in ninth place behind Webber.
Hamilton retook the lead from Pérez and he pitted on the next lap and came back out in eighth place. Button retired following a sudden loss of fuel pressure. This moved Massa back up to second with Alonso and Pérez gaining on him. Massa was passed by Alonso on lap 40, and then by Pérez three laps later. Pérez quickly chased down Alonso and passed him once again showing his skills at overtaking, impressing future employers McLaren.
Sebastian Vettel retired with a failed alternator and later Aussie teammate Mark Webber clipped the curb on the exit of the Ascari chicane and spun. He fell out of the point-scoring positions and retired due to severely flat-spotted tyres.
Lewis Hamilton won the race, with Sergio Pérez, who started 13th, in second and quickly catching him putting on a show stopper of a race with Spaniard Fernando Alonso completed the podium, having started tenth giving the Tifosi something to cheer about. Jerome d’Ambrosio had a quiet race but finished outside the points in a respectable 13th.
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