Europe – Course: Synthesis of Strategies

It was by using a two-stop strategy that Fernando Alonso became the only driver to win two races in 2012, driving his Ferrari. The Spaniard takes the lead in the world championship thanks to an emotionally charged victory in his home country. Alonso started from 11th position but gained 10 places thanks to two short stints on the P Zero Yellow soft tire and 29 laps on the P Zero White medium tire.

Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull built up a lead of up to 20 seconds after starting from pole position, until the safety car intervened halfway through the race. After two stints on soft tires, the German then pitted to switch to medium compounds and rejoined in the lead. But shortly after the restart, Vettel was forced to retire due to a technical problem, leaving the lead to the local hero Alonso, who had stopped as soon as the safety car came out to switch to mediums.

Romain Grosjean, in the Lotus, was on a strategy similar to Alonso’s and in a solid position to hold off the Ferrari, until he too had a technical problem on the fortieth lap. The final podium positions were only decided in the last laps, after a dramatic finish characterized by crashes and numerous overtakes.

Kimi Räikkönen takes second place for Lotus, ahead of Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes. Räikkönen also benefited from the safety car coming out to put on his last set of tires, while Schumacher was on a different strategy. The highest ranked from the grid of the 5 drivers starting on medium tires (12th) achieves his best result of the season, and his first podium since returning to Formula 1, after a spectacular charge in the final laps on soft tires. Once again, three cars from three different teams take the podium, in the hands of three World Champions.

Paul di Resta (Force India) was the only driver to attempt a one-stop strategy, pitting on the 23rd lap to switch from soft to medium tires. He completed the longest stint with both compounds, running 23 laps on softs and 34 on mediums. Di Resta crossed the finish line in 7th position, two places behind his teammate Nico Hülkenberg, who achieved the best result of his career with his fifth place finish.

Paul Hembery, Pirelli Motorsport Director: Valencia is an incredibly complicated circuit for overtaking, but that didn’t seem to be the case today, to the point where you couldn’t know what to expect! Valencia is a difficult circuit, as we saw with the many retirements this afternoon. Starting from 11th position, Fernando did an incredible job to win this race. The final laps to the checkered flag were particularly interesting, with the top three cars opting for similar strategies until Lewis Hamilton was involved in an accident and Michael Schumacher emerged. It was a fascinating opportunity to see how the cars and drivers managed the tires, particularly in the final laps. Congratulations also to Michael Schumacher and Mercedes. It’s fantastic to see a great champion like him back on the podium, alongside two other great champions who did equally impressive work.

[From the official statement released by Pirelli]

Summary of Pit Stops from the 2012 European Grand Prix:

To better understand this graph, you can use the lap-by-lap summary from the FIA by clicking here.