2012 Spanish Grand Prix
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 5 of 20 in the 2012 Formula One season | |||
Circuit de Catalunya
|
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| Date | 13 May 2012 | ||
| Official name | Formula 1 Gran Premio de España Santander 2012 | ||
| Location |
Circuit de Catalunya Barcelona, Spain |
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| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 4.655 km (2.892 mi) | ||
| Distance | 66 laps, 307.104 km (190.826 mi) | ||
| Weather |
Partially cloudy, dry Air Temp 23 °C (73 °F) Track Temp 36 °C (97 °F) |
||
| Attendance | 80,500 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Williams-Renault | ||
| Time | 1:22.285 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Romain Grosjean
|
Lotus-Renault | |
| Time | 1:26.250 on lap 53 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Williams-Renault | ||
| Second | Ferrari | ||
| Third | Lotus-Renault | ||
|
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Partially cloudy, dry Air Temp 23 °C (73 °F)
The 2012 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race that was held on 13 May 2012 at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain. It was the fifth round of the 2012 season and the twenty-second time the Spanish Grand Prix been held at the circuit. The race was supported by the GP2 and GP3 Series.
Lewis Hamilton initially qualified on pole, but he was excluded from the results for a technical infringement, and Williams's Pastor Maldonado inherited pole. Maldonado went on to win the race, his team's first victory since the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix and the first ever Formula One victory by a Venezuelan driver.Fernando Alonso finished second, ahead of Kimi Räikkönen in third.
The race was preceded by a four-day test at the Mugello Circuit in Italy, starting on 1 May. The test saw teams introduce major aerodynamic upgrades ahead of the race.
Following criticism over the extreme sensitivity of their tyre compounds, tyre supplier Pirelli announced that they would be providing teams with the silver-banded hard compound and yellow-banded soft compound for the Spanish Grand Prix, as opposed to the soft and medium tyres they had supplied for previous races in the season.
The Drag Reduction System (DRS) zone was placed in a similar position to the 2011 race. Race officials elected to place it on the start-finish straight to allow for overtaking into the first corner complex however, it was 50 metres longer than the previous year. The DRS detection point was positioned at the safety car line before the final turn, with the activation point located on the start/finish control line, creating a DRS zone of 830 metres.
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