Button, the right Australian way

imagf1 #01 Australian GP March 18, 2012 Button, the right Australian way

01/18 The essential Date March 18, 2012 Driver Jenson Button Car McLaren-Mercedes MP4/27 Jenson Button and McLaren went from shadow to light. Disappointment from 2011 is already forgotten. 2012 starts with a victory.

02/18 Starting Grid On track 1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren 2 Jenson Button 3 McLaren Romain Grosjean LotusF1 4 Michael Highlights of the Australian GP 5 Schumacher Mercedes AMG Mark Webber 6 Red Bull Sebastian Vettel 7 Red Bull Nico Rosberg 8 Start Mercedes AMG Pastor Maldonado 9 Williams Button surprises Hamilton with a great Nico Hülkenberg start and takes the lead. Schumacher 10 Force India passes Grosjean. The French driver Daniel Ricciardo loses two to three positions Toro Rosso 11 and is now behind Rosberg and Vettel. Jean-Eric Vergne 12 Toro Rosso Fernando Alonso Ferrari 13 Kamui Kobayashi 14 Sauber Bruno Senna Williams 15 Paul Di Resta 16 Force India Felipe Massa Ferrari 17 Kimi Räikkönen 18 LotusF1 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham 19 Vitaly Petrov 20 Caterham Timo Glock Marussia 21 Charles Pic 22 Marussia Sergio Pérez * Sauber NQ NQ * 5-position penalty for gearbox change. NQ = not-qualified Narain Karthikeyan HRT Pedro De La Rosa HRT

On track 03/18 11 th lap Vettel threats Schumacher. The Mercedes driver goes straight on the 1st corner. Concerns with the gearbox. His compatriot then gets on 3rd position. Schumacher has to slow down. 1 st lap Hülkenberg goes straight to the gravel. Ricciardo hits Senna. Both cars are damaged and have to go to pit to get repaired. Vergne is sent off-track by Hülkenberg. 2 nd lap Vettel passes Rosberg and gets to 4th position. Grosjean hits Maldonado who was passing him. He stops. Alonso is now on 6th position. Pérez started 22nd and is now 10th. 5 th lap Maldonado s mistake (7 th ) takes him off-track. Webber and Massa pass him. 6 th lap Vettel goes straight. Rosberg arrives and Alonso also gets there. Vettel remains 4th. 17 th lap End of the 1st round of leaders s pit stops. Button still leads. 21 st lap Hamilton finally passes Pérez the Brave. He s back to 2nd position. Button breaks away and keeps the lead. Pérez heroically resists Vettel.

On track 04/18 01/18 37 th lap Petrov s Caterham stops in the middle of a straight. Safety car enters. Good thing to Vettel who passes Hamilton while changing tires. 27 th lap Räikkönen attacks. Within 2 laps, he passes Kobayashi and Massa and gets into Top 10. 31 st lap Webber puts pressure on Rosberg. The German goes straight and gets to pit. Maldonado was right behind them. 42 nd lap Race restarts. Button still leads. Vettel remains ahead of Hamilton, Webber and Alonso. No change of position when the race restarts. 48 th lap Collision between Senna and Massa. They were very far in the classification. 55 th lap Vettel is back on Button, and Webber on Hamilton. The Red Bull cars end the Grand Prix at top speed. 58 th lap Maldonado, who meant to pass Alonso, violently gets off-track. Ricciardo surprises Vergne and Di Resta finally ends on 9th position. Puncture for Rosberg hit by Pérez.

05/18 01/18 Race Analysis With a winter full of questions, verdict on track puts the record straight. But did not answer to all questions. w e expected some surprises. Big surprises. Thunder. Miracles, in fact. As, for instance, an exploit for Lotus F1 or Mercedes. Some dreamed of an amazing comeback of Räikkönen who realized the best score during winter practice in Barcelona. Others thought that Mercedes would make a feat and that Michael Schumacher would be on the podium for the 1st time since his comeback to race in 2010. Unfortunately, dreams don t often come true. Especially, Räikkönen s. The Finn, constantly nervous, missed his free practice and all the more his qualifications. 17th on the start grid, he couldn t hope to reach the podium but to score some points at least. Michael Schumacher s hope lasted a bit longer, up to lap 14. At that time of the race, the German was able to reach the podium. He had gotten rid of Grosjean at the start and was following the McLaren cars, resisting Vettel. Reality was then hard, in a portion of grass. He commited a mistake under pressure given by the current double world champion. Another incredible scenario also ended from the very beginning of the race : Romain Grosjean, 3 rd on the start grid, impressed everybody. The French driver finally lived Räikkönen s initial plan. One more time, reality was tough. Grosjean missed his start, and then hit Maldonado. Here are some great stories, all ruined from the very beginning. Logic was then back... although... Since Red Bull did not dominate the whole race. Better or worse, they were dominated by McLaren. This is the only upset resulting from winter 2011/2012. It is not significant but major enough. That such a dominating team loses his leadership within 3 months may be surprising. This winter, we could feel McLaren s threat but we could not imagine such a seizure of power. With very little challenges. We cannot mention absolute domination by Button and Hamilton, however, the case was relatively well tied: with Hamilton qualified just in front of Button, and then Button, dominating the race, more clearly. Lewis seemed transformed on Saturday. Button may have to suffer. Well no. Button kindly passed him at the beginning before flying to victory. Hamilton has never been able to follow him before having to defend his second position ahead of Vettel and then losing it with the safety car episode. Button shook a bit at the very end of the race. Vettel s comeback was finaly under control. Many hopes may have been dashed in Melbourne. Except one. 2012 season will highly be disputed. From all points of view. Red Bull doesn t dominate it all any longer, and McLaren doesn t dominate that much yet.

To sum up Button s victory, podium for Vettel, Alonso and Räikkönen are back, first points for Ricciardo. FIA official classification for the Australian Grand Prix 2012 POS NO DRIVER NAT ENTRANT LAPS TIME GAP KPH BEST LAP 1 3 J. BUTTON GBR Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 58 1:34:09.565 195.991 1:29.187 56 2 1 S. VETTEL GER Red Bull Racing 58 1:34:11.704 2.139 1.936 195.917 1:29.417 57 3 4 L. HAMILTON GBR Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 58 1:34:13.640 4.075 0.472 195.850 1:29.538 57 4 2 M. WEBBER AUS Red Bull Racing 58 1:34:14.112 4.547 17.018 195.833 1:29.438 57 5 5 F. ALONSO ESP Scuderia Ferrari 58 1:34:31.130 21.565 15.201 195.246 1:30.277 52 6 14 K. KOBAYASHI JPN Sauber F1 Team 58 1:34:46.331 36.766 1.248 194.724 1:30.620 55 7 9 K. RAIKKONEN FIN Lotus F1 Team 58 1:34:47.579 38.014 1.444 194.681 1:30.759 50 8 15 S. PEREZ MEX Sauber F1 Team 58 1:34:49.023 39.458 0.098 194.632 1:30.843 46 9 16 D. RICCIARDO AUS Scuderia Toro Rosso 58 1:34:49.121 39.556 0.181 194.628 1:30.592 53 10 11 P. DI RESTA GBR Sahara Force India F1 Team 58 1:34:49.302 39.737 0.111 194.622 1:30.605 57 11 17 J. VERGNE FRA Scuderia Toro Rosso 58 1:34:49.413 39.848 17.794 194.618 1:30.274 52 12 8 N. ROSBERG GER Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 58 1:35:07.207 57.642 194.011 1:30.931 53 13 18 P. MALDONADO VEN Williams F1 Team 57 1:32:57.859 DNF 195.088 1:30.254 53 116.965 14 24 T. GLOCK GER Marussia F1 Team 57 1:34:54.824 1 LAP 191.081 1:34.253 43 15 25 C. PIC FRA Marussia F1 Team 53 1:30:30.587 DNF 186.317 1:35.011 45 16 19 B. SENNA BRA Williams F1 Team 52 1:27:08.928 DNF 189.851 1:30.855 49 NOT CLASSIFIED 6 F. MASSA BRA Scuderia Ferrari 46 1:16:28.791 DNF 191.374 1:31.940 46 20 H. KOVALAINEN FIN Caterham F1 Team 38 1:03:48.677 DNF 189.478 1:33.693 26 21 V. PETROV RUS Caterham F1 Team 34 54:38.913 DNF 197.958 1:33.214 27 7 M. SCHUMACHER GER Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 10 15:52.170 DNF 200.497 1:34.021 4 10 R. GROSJEAN FRA Lotus F1 Team 1 1:43.730 DNF 184.042 12 N. HULKENBERG GER Sahara Force India F1 Team 0 DNF FASTEST LAP 3 J. BUTTON GBR Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 1:29.187 on lap 56 214.053 Drivers World Championship Pos. Team Ecurie Teams World Championship 06/18 01/18 Total 1 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 25 2 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 18 3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 15 4 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 12 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 10 6 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 8 7 Kimi RaÏkkönen Lotus F1-Renault 6 8 Sergio Pérez Sauber-Ferrari 4 9 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2 10 Paul Di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1 11 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 0 12 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 0 13 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 0 14 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth 0 15 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth 0 16 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault 0 - Nico Hülkenberg Force India-Mercedes 0 - Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault 0 - Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 0 - Pedro De La Rosa HRT-Cosworth 0 - Felipe Massa Ferrari 0 - Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 0 - Michael Schumacher Mercedes 0 - Romain Grosjean Lotus F1-Renault 0 Pos. Team Total 1 McLaren-Mercedes 40 2 Red Bull-Renault 30 3 Sauber-Ferrari 12 4 Ferrari 10 5 Lotus F1-Renault 6 6 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2 7 Force India-Mercedes 1 8 Mercedes 0 9 Williams-Renault 0 10 Marussia-Renault 0 11 HRT-Cosworth 0 12 Caterham-Renault 0

Sport Auto Barometer Here is our classification for a virtual championship only taking into account the 4 last races. Jenson Button leads the 1st barometer of the year. The English driver sticks to the podium for 4 consecutive races, what never happened to any other driver. Top Flop 07/18 01/18 Sebastian Vettel, leader after the Brazilian GP last year, loses one position. He still paies his retirement in Abu Dhabi. Mark Webber remains 3rd ahead of Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Felipe Massa and Michael Schumacher. 1. J. Button 73 pts +2 2. S. Vettel 61 pts -1 3. M. Webber 61 pts - 4. F. Alonso 55 pts - 5. L. Hamilton 46 pts -1 6. N. Rosberg 22 pts +1 7. F. Massa 20 pts -1 8. M. Schumacher 16 pts - 9. A. Sutil 14 pts - 10. K. Kobayashi 11 pts +1 McLaren Disappointing for the past 2 seasons, McLaren starts strongly in 2012. For two winters, McLaren has suffered a lot. Especially last year. The month of February 2012 gave the impression that McLaren was about to well start the season. Confirmation made in Melbourne, with pole position and victory. No team was that serene during the weekend, rising performance and perfectly managing the situation. The only risk could have been a confrontation between Button and Hamilton to know who would get the 1st input of the 2012 season. Everything was under control. Button beat Hamilton without any problem. Great job done, despite Hamilton s misfortune versus Vettel, during the safety car episode. Mercedes Amazingly performant during free practice and 1st qualifications, Mercedes did not make it during the race. Much was expected from Mercedes. A podium in fact. Confirmation during free practice. The W03 had an exemplary behavior. Schumacher was also impressive, Rosberg a bit less. Unfortunalely, the race wasn t successful. Schumacher s gearbox betrayed him and Rosberg remained stuck in the pack of drivers before being hit by Pérez. No doubt, the Mercedes is a fast car, however, results were not good. A missed opportunity.

Lap by Lap Who s who... 1 Vettel 2 Webber 3 Button 4 Hamilton 5 Alonso 6 Massa 7 Schumacher 8 Rosberg 9 Räikkönen 10 Grosjean 11 Di Resta 12 Hülkenberg 14 Kobayashi 15 Pérez 16 Ricciardo 17 Vergne 18 Maldonado 19 Senna 20 Kovalainen 21 Petrov 22 De La Rosa 23 Karthikeyan 24 Glock 25 Pic What is what... Horizontal Driver s position Vertical Laps Underlined bold Pit stops Downline On the left of this line, in the leader s lap. 08/18 01/18 POS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 GRID 4 3 10 7 2 1 8 18 12 16 17 5 14 19 11 6 9 20 21 24 25 15 LAP 1 3 4 7 8 1 10 18 5 2 6 14 15 9 24 11 17 20 25 21 19 16 LAP 2 3 4 7 1 8 5 18 2 6 14 15 9 11 24 17 20 21 25 19 16 LAP 3 3 4 7 1 8 5 18 2 6 14 15 9 11 17 24 20 21 25 19 16 LAP 4 3 4 7 1 8 5 18 2 6 15 14 9 11 17 24 20 21 25 19 16 LAP 5 3 4 7 1 8 5 2 6 18 15 14 9 11 17 24 20 21 25 19 16 LAP 6 3 4 7 1 8 5 2 6 18 15 14 9 11 17 24 20 21 25 19 16 LAP 7 3 4 7 1 8 5 2 6 18 15 14 9 11 17 20 21 24 25 19 16 LAP 8 3 4 7 1 8 5 2 6 18 15 14 9 11 17 20 21 24 25 19 16 LAP 9 3 4 7 1 8 5 2 18 6 15 14 9 11 17 20 21 24 25 19 16 LAP 10 3 4 7 1 8 5 2 18 6 15 14 9 11 17 20 21 24 25 19 16 LAP 11 3 4 1 8 5 2 18 14 9 15 11 17 20 21 6 24 25 19 16 LAP 12 3 4 1 5 2 18 14 9 15 11 17 8 20 21 6 24 25 19 16 LAP 13 3 4 1 2 18 9 15 5 17 8 20 21 6 14 11 24 25 19 16 LAP 14 3 4 1 18 9 15 17 2 5 8 21 6 14 11 24 20 19 25 16 LAP 15 3 4 1 18 9 15 17 5 8 2 21 6 14 11 24 19 25 16 20 LAP 16 4 3 9 1 15 17 5 8 18 2 21 6 14 11 24 19 25 20 16 LAP 17 3 4 9 15 17 1 5 8 2 18 21 6 14 11 24 19 20 16 25 LAP 18 3 9 15 4 1 17 5 8 2 18 6 14 11 19 21 24 20 16 25 LAP 19 3 15 4 1 5 8 2 18 9 6 14 11 17 19 24 21 20 16 25 LAP 20 3 15 4 1 5 8 2 18 6 14 9 11 17 19 21 20 16 25 24 LAP 21 3 4 1 15 5 8 2 18 6 14 9 11 17 19 21 20 16 24 25 LAP 22 3 4 1 15 5 8 2 18 6 14 9 11 17 19 21 20 16 24 25 LAP 23 3 4 1 5 8 2 15 18 6 14 9 11 17 19 21 20 16 24 25 LAP 24 3 4 1 5 8 2 18 6 14 9 11 17 15 19 21 20 16 24 25 LAP 25 3 4 1 5 8 2 18 6 9 14 11 17 15 19 21 20 16 24 25 LAP 26 3 4 1 5 8 2 18 6 9 14 11 17 15 19 21 20 16 24 25 LAP 27 3 4 1 5 8 2 18 9 14 6 11 17 15 19 21 20 16 24 25 LAP 28 3 4 1 5 8 2 18 9 14 11 17 15 6 19 21 20 16 24 25 LAP 29 3 4 1 5 8 2 18 9 14 11 17 15 19 6 21 20 16 24 25 LAP 30 3 4 1 5 8 2 18 9 14 11 17 15 6 21 20 19 16 24 25 LAP 31 3 4 1 5 2 18 9 14 11 8 15 17 6 21 20 19 16 24 25 LAP 32 3 4 1 5 2 18 9 14 11 15 8 17 6 21 20 19 16 24 25 LAP 33 3 4 1 5 2 18 9 14 15 8 17 11 6 21 20 19 16 24 25 LAP 34 3 4 1 2 18 9 5 14 15 8 17 11 6 21 19 16 20 24 25 LAP 35 3 4 1 2 18 9 14 5 15 8 17 11 6 19 16 20 24 25 LAP 36 1 3 2 4 18 9 5 15 8 17 14 11 6 19 16 20 24 25 Race Lap Chart LAP 37 3 1 4 2 18 5 15 9 8 14 11 17 6 19 16 20 24 25 LAP 38 3 1 4 2 5 18 15 8 9 14 11 17 6 19 16 20 24 25 LAP 39 3 1 4 2 5 18 15 8 9 14 11 17 6 19 16 24 25 LAP 40 3 1 4 2 5 18 15 8 9 14 11 17 6 19 16 24 25 LAP 41 POS 3 1 1 2 4 3 2 4 5 18 6 15 7 8 9 14 10 11 17 12 13 6 19 14 16 15 24 16 25 17 18 19 20 21 22 LAP 42 3 1 4 2 5 18 15 8 14 9 11 17 6 16 19 24 25 GRID 4 3 10 7 2 1 8 18 12 16 17 5 14 19 11 6 9 20 21 24 25 15 LAP 1 3 4 7 8 1 10 18 5 2 6 14 15 9 24 11 17 20 25 21 Page 1 of 2 19 16 LAP 2 3 4 7 1 8 5 18 2 6 14 15 9 11 24 17 20 21 25 19 16 LAP 3 3 4 7 1 8 5 18 2 6 14 15 9 11 17 24 20 21 25 19 16 LAP 4 3 4 7 1 8 5 18 2 6 15 14 9 11 17 24 20 21 25 19 16 LAP 5 3 4 7 1 8 5 2 6 18 15 14 9 11 17 24 20 21 25 19 16 LAP 6 3 4 7 1 8 5 2 6 18 15 14 9 11 17 24 20 21 25 19 16 LAP 7 3 4 7 1 8 5 2 6 18 15 14 9 11 17 20 21 24 25 19 16 LAP 8 3 4 7 1 8 5 2 6 18 15 14 9 11 17 20 21 24 25 19 16 LAP 9 3 4 7 1 8 5 2 18 6 15 14 9 11 17 20 21 24 25 19 16 LAP 10 3 4 7 1 8 5 2 18 6 15 14 9 11 17 20 21 24 25 19 16 LAP 11 3 4 1 8 5 2 18 14 9 15 11 17 20 21 6 24 25 19 16 LAP 12 3 4 1 5 2 18 14 9 15 11 17 8 20 21 6 24 25 19 16 LAP 13 3 4 1 2 18 9 15 5 17 8 20 21 6 14 11 24 25 19 16 LAP 14 3 4 1 18 9 15 17 2 5 8 21 6 14 11 24 20 19 25 16 LAP 15 3 4 1 18 9 15 17 5 8 2 21 6 14 11 24 19 25 16 20 LAP 16 4 3 9 1 15 17 5 8 18 2 21 6 14 11 24 19 25 20 16

Drivers said... Here are the drivers impressions at the end this Australian GP. 09/18 01/18 20 20 th pole position for Lewis Hamilton. Red Bull Sebastian Vettel I m very happy with myself today I think it was the most we could have achieved. Even before the safety car, I think we would have had a good shot at Lewis towards the end. I had a good start initially and was surprised by Nico, who had a very good start and got past. I passed him again. Behind Michael, I had a mistake and went off in the first corner; he then did exactly the same when I got close to him. Mark Webber There are some positives to take out of today. Qualifying was difficult for us, but the race pace was better today, it was just that we didn t have track position. I had a poor start. I didn t want the race to be over; I was able to keep going and then started to build from there. The car felt quite tricky on the options in the first stint and I wondered if I had some damage from the first corner, but then when I got the primes the race came alive for me. We had a bit of luck with the safety car than Lewis at the end. 24 Red Bull had positioned at least one car on the first line of the start grid for 24 GP. Serie ended up. 60 Doubles for McLaren in qualifications. 2003 Grosjean 3 rd in qualifications: it s been the best result for a French driver since Panis (3 rd ) in Indianapolis in 2003 on Toyota. McLaren Jenson Button There s a huge amount of positives to take away from this weekend: we ve got a great car and we can fight for the world championships. This is a perfect start to my season and I m already looking forward to Malaysia. Lewis Hamilton I m not sure what happened at the start, but I lost ground and then suffered from tire degradation at the end of the first stint. At the end of the race, I wasn t able to close the gap to Seb. Mercedes Michael Schumacher It was an unfortunate end to my race when I lost drive going into turn one. I was trying different gears and occasionally the drive came back, but in the end, I had to go onto the grass to avoid the risk of the car being forced into a spin. Nico Rosberg I had a perfect start today and was able to gain three positions, however unfortunately we weren t able to maintain that pace, and the race did not turn out as we had hoped. We have to understand why.

Drivers said... Sauber 01/18 10/18 Kamui Kobayashi I am very happy - for the team and myself. Finishing sixth is a great start to the season. Ferrari Fernando Alonso We knew it would be a very complicated race and I am happy I managed to bring home a useful number of points. Today the car was better than yesterday and we were closer to the leaders. We are probably a second off pole and there are seven or eight teams who are all very close to one another. Felipe Massa This has been a really poor weekend for me. Already yesterday I suffered because the car was badly balanced and today, it was probably even worse, because after a few laps I was struggling with the tires. 13 Jenson Button s victories in F1. As many as Coulthard and Ascari. The last one was in Japan at the end of 2011. 150 Best laps in race for McLaren in F1. 2The very 1st points to Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso). 3Three victories in four seasons for Button in Melbourne. LotusF1 Kimi Räikkönen It feels like I ve never been away. Yesterday we made some mistakes which cost us quite badly so it could easily have been better in the race. I made a good start but then there was an accident in front of me at the first turn, so we lost a few places there as I had to almost stop and move onto the grass to avoid it. That made the race harder again as we had the speed, but a lot of traffic to get through. We had the safety car which I think actually hurt us a bit as well. Toro Rosso Daniel Ricciardo I don t really know how that happened on the last lap. I had a chance to attack Jean-Eric. He defended into Turn 13 and I thought I could make the switch back and I did, which put me in P9. The last few laps were crazy and I was pushing like hell. Jean-Eric Vergne Trying to pass Di Resta, I made a small mistake, braking a tiny bit too late and went into the gravel. Even on dirty tires, I was doing some very quick times. It s just a shame that at the end I tried too hard and lost too much ground. Force India Nico Hülkenberg I don t seem to have much luck at Albert Park. My first race here in 2010 was less than a lap and today was a repeat of that. Williams Pastor Maldonado Unfortunately, I just lost the back of the car while pushing Alonso and I had nowhere to go. Caterham Heikki Kovalainen I lost DRS until about lap six, and had to switch off KERS right at the start, so the sort of times we were doing were clearly competitive. Marussia Charles Pic I am quite happy with my first race and very pleased for the team to have such a good debut for the car also. HRT (not qualified) Pedro De La Rosa There s a lot of room for improvement and, although it s true that we have to change many things. We need to be patient.

Romain Grosjean s Chronicle 01/18 11/18 Feelings during qualifications W hat a pleasure to be back in F1! I approached it without being too excited or nervous. Only wanting to do my best. Heading to Australia on Monday evening, wait was a bit long before the first practice. But it was even longer before : being back in F1, is what I have been fighting for since the end of 2009. I didn t know the Albert Park circuit. To be exact, I had never driven there. However, I had been there once as 3rd driver for Renault in 2009. LotusF1 not having a driving simulator yet, I focused on learning the track by watching videos on Youtube and by playing video games on consoles. It is a great cricuit, quite tricky in fact. Brakings are bumpy. It s not easy to find the right places to brake. The hardest are the ones on corner #3, #6 and #9. I think this last turn is great, but not easy at all. Rain disrupted the first practice. Hard conditions to learn but on some dry track relays, I found the excellent car we had this winter. It s even improved, I think, thanks to Kimi s great job during the last 2 days in Barcelona. Up to now, I follow a program parallel to Räikkönen s. He s got so much experience. And this suits me well on top of easing work to our team. In the rain, I did not take many risks. It wasn t worth it. On Saturday morning, with a few adjustments, the car was quite improved. I did not really know where we were up to despite my second time. I did not attack at 100%. I thought McLaren were more charged in fuel than we were. Qualifications also went great. Appart from a warning on Q2. I had new tires when we had Alonso s red flag. In Q3, I gave my best and I heard my engineer quietly saying: you re on P3! 3 rd! This actually reminded me of so many things. And I, then thought to people who always trusted me. In my lap, I certainly lost some time in the 1st corner. What if pole position was possible? The Lotus E20 has even improved since winter practice. Thanks to Räikkönen s great job during the last 2 days in Barcelona. The weekend did not end great because of an issue on second speed at the start and because of Maldonado s optimistic offensive. Too bad. Only good things to remember, though. We ll be competitive this year. Me too! www.romaingrosjean.com http://f1.total.com/

Report Card Decreasing 9/20 Paul Di Resta Bruno Senna 4/20 n Not much in his favor. He was easily dominated by his new teammate during qualifications, Hülkenberg. He catches up on the edge in race. 3/20 n Dominated from the very beginning by his teammate, Maldonado, and making a mistake in race. Tough start... Felipe Massa n In the Ferrari doldrums, Massa also suffers. He made quite a few mistakes and was never fast enough, unlike Alonso. 8/20 Nico Hülkenberg n Really good on one lap, but quite disappointing in race. Back in F1, he makes the same mistakes. 10/20 Michael Schumacher 12/20 Romain Grosjean 10/20 Nico Rosberg 13/20 Daniel Ricciardo 11/20 Timo Glock 12/20 12/20 11/20 Charles Vitaly Pic Petrov Heikki Kovalainen 10/20 Kimi Räikkönen Constant Increasing 14/20 Kamui Kobayashi Not entrant Pedro De La Rosa 12/20 Jean-Eric Vergne 14/20 Sebastian Vettel Not entrant Narain Karthikeyan 14/20 Fernando Alonso 13/20 Mark Webber 18/20 Lewis Hamilton n A very good Lewis. Great pole position and a race without any mistake. Too bad, Button surprised him at the start. 15/20 18/20 Pastor Maldonado n He was highly criticized last year. Maldonado did a great job. Qualified in Q3 and very good race. Before making a mistake. But he attacked so much... Jenson Button Sergio Pérez 01/18 12/18 n As usual, a very strong Button. A bit slower than Hamilton during practice but perfect during the race. 17/20 n Great performance by the Mexican. Leaving on last position on the start grid, he s 2nd on lap 20 ahead of Hamilton, the poleman! He finally arrives 8th.

01/18 13/18 Back to... Qualifications Räikkönen s early elimination, disaster for Ferrari, Pic qualified, impression on Grosjean, disappointement for Red Bull and McLaren s victory. N Driver Team Free 1 Free 2 Free 3 Qualif 1 Qualif 2 Qualif 3 Grid 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1 29 790 1 32 194 1 26 211 1 26 773 1 25 982 1 25 668 6 2 Mark Webber Red Bull 1 28 467 1 32 296 1 25 900 1 27 117 1 26 297 1 25 651 5 3 Jenson Button McLaren 1 27 560 1 33 039 1 25 906 1 26 832 1 25 663 1 25 074 2 4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1 27 805 1 33 252 1 25 681 1 26 800 1 25 626 1 24 922 1 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1 28 360 1 30 341 1 27 323 1 26 688 1 26 494-12 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1 30 743 1 31 505 1 28 023 1 27 633 1 27 497-16 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1 28 235 1 29 183 1 26 078 1 26 586 1 25 571 1 25 336 4 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1 28 683 1 32 184 1 25 929 1 26 763 1 25 469 1 25 686 7 9 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus F1 1 29 565 1 34 275 1 26 737 1 27 758 - - 17 10 Romain Grosjean Lotus F1 1 30 515 1 32 822 1 25 758 1 26 498 1 25 845 1 25 302 3 11 Paul Di Resta Force India 1 29 881 1 31 466 1 27 428 1 27 469 1 27 086-15 12 Nico Hülkenberg Force India 1 29 865 1 29 292 1 27 029 1 27 464 1 26 314 1 26 451 9 14 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1 29 722 1 30 709 1 26 755 1 26 182 1 26 590-13 15 Sergio Pérez Sauber 1 30 124 1 30 199 1 26 632 1 26 596 pas de temps - 22* 16 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1 28 908 1 34 604 1 26 723 1 27 024 1 26 319 pas de temps 10 17 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1 31 178 1 34 485 1 26 733 1 26 493 1 26 429-11 18 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1 29 415 1 34 108 1 26 470 1 26 803 1 26 206 1 25 908 8 19 Bruno Senna Williams 1 29 953 1 34 312 1 27 119 1 27 004 1 26 663-14 20 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham 1 30 586 1 31 932 1 28 341 1 28 679 - - 18 21 Vitaly Petrov Caterham 1 31 983 1 32 767 1 28 702 1 29 018 - - 19 22 Pedro De La Rosa HRT - - 1 33 114 1 33 495 - - NQ 23 Narain Karthikeyan HRT - 1 42 627 1 33 261 1 33 643 - - NQ 24 Timo Glock Marussia 1 34 730 1 32 632 1 30 728 1 30 923 - - 20 25 Charles Pic Marussia 1 40 256 1 34 770 1 31 225 1 31 670 - - 21 * 5-position penalty for gearbox change. NQ = non qualified (107% rule). Q1 Q2 Q3 Räikkönen out! Pic beats Glock on first lap. Hamilton and Schumacher offtrack. Rosberg takes the lead. Big fear for Räikkönen. He s eliminated anyway in Q1. HRT are last, over the 107% limit. Caterham are also out. Massa, 16th, remains on track in extremis. Kobayashi best lap ahead of Vergne and Grosjean. Alonso is KO Bruno Senna s mistake. Alonso s spin, stuck in the gravel. Red flag. Webber off-track. Rosberg and Schumacher are at the forefront. No time lap for Pérez, eliminated. Di Resta, Senna, Kobayashi, Alonso and Vergne don t pass Q2 either. Ricciardo gets to Q3, as well as Maldonado s surprise. Hamilton on pole Hamilton on pole right away. Vettel finally appears, 2nd. Rosberg makes a mistake during his last lap. Grosjean gets the 3rd best lap. Only both McLaren beat him. Hamilton ahead of Button. Schumacher gets on 4th, Rosberg even further on 7th. Disappointment for Red Bull : Webber on 5 th and Vettel on 6 th.. No time for Ricciardo, 10 th. Williams beats Force India.

01/18 14/18 Back to... Free Practice What happened on the circuit during all 3 free practice. Free practice 01 Wet start, Massa showered Wet track at the beginning of the session because of the rain. Vergne is the very first one in action. Massa s big spin. No lap for De La Rosa s HRT, not ready. The other one is out of order. First best lap of the season for Button. McLaren takes advantage, with Hamilton on 2nd. As Schumacher and Mercedes on 3rd. Issue on steering gear for Räikkönen on its Lotus. Free practice 02 Schumacher makes an appointment Back in the rain. Ricciardo s spin and then Pérez s straight. Up to Webber to miss a chicane. No action for more than 30 minutes. Pérez leads the dance, then Grosjean and Di Resta. Off-track for Maldonado and Kovalainen. Huge spin for Pérez. At last, best lap for Schumacher. Still no time for De La Rosa (HRT). Free practice 03 Vettel and Schumacher to mistake Back in the sun. Both Mercedes cars make mistake during the same lap. Another spin for Massa. Kobayashi is off-track. Senna spins in the grass. Same for Vettel but in the gravel. Violent loss of control following braking. Same thing for Schumacher. Hamilton dislodges Grosjean from pole position. And then Webber 3rd and Button 4 th. De La Rosa finally runs a lap.

Off-track Before competing for real on the circuit, Vettel and Webber play cricket on the beach of Saint-Kilda, in Melbourne. Who won? The young Vettel, obviously! 01/18 15/18

Release Total in F1 Fostering young talents, supporting them up to excellence T otal reinforces its commitment to F1, by sponsoring a French driver. For over 40 years, Total has been major in motorsport. As matter of fact, the Group s commitment to Formula One is more than just communication. Active in various disciplines, from the Auto Sport Academy to F3, but also Renault 3,5 and GP2, Total wants its commitment to competition to be dedicated to technological innovation with an undisputable role. This year, Total has decided to take a step further, reinforcing its commitment to F1, by sponsoring a French driver. Fostering young talents and supporting them to excellence and performance is also part of the company s will said Jacques- Emmanuel Saulnier, Total Communication Director. So here we have Grosjean in Formula One, on Lotus, motorized by Renault, the historical partner of the Group. All started with a bit of chance. Back in 2006, Gilles Buannic, Total F1 Manager, met a young driver. I wanted to greet Philippe Sinault, from Signature, and he introduced me to some Romain Grosjean. This unexpected meeting is the starting point of a relationship of confidence between the Group and Romain Grosjean. For 6 years, Total has been supporting the young driver. The Group even became infatuated with him. When Romain wanted to stop at the end of 2009, because of his failure on Renault, we told him it would be a mistake and we accompanied him as far as we could told us Gilles Buannic. Now, Romain is on Formula One and Total is its very first fan. http://f1.total.com/ @F1TotalOfficial

01/18 17/18 Next Grand Prix Malaysian G.P. Gearbox Ratios Speed (km/h) Lateral force (G) Sepang Circuit Kuala Lumpur some impressions... Vitantonio Liuzzi (Former HRT driver) n F1 season only really starts with the Malaysian Grand Prix. This track is very technical, really fast and very aero demanding. It reflects more the cars real potential rather than the Australian one that can be considered more random. off the record... n Physical challenge on the Malaysian «sauna» isn t really one. Drivers are really well prepared. 5 last winners 2009 Jenson Button (Brawn GP) DRS Zone 2011 2008 2007 Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) 2010 Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) Fernando Alonso (McLaren) 2011 Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) It happened once In 2003, Alonso is on pole position for the 1st time in F1 and Räikkönen wins for the 1st time as well. Our favorite corner... Turn #13 Long turn following a very fast «S» (250km/h) and then having to break very strongly. This turn is essential for the straight back. 2011 edition 24 entrants, 17 classified. Pole position : Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) in 1 34 870. n Winner : Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) in 1 h 37 39 832. n Podium : 1. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault). 2. Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes) at 3 261. 3. Nick Heidfeld (Lotus Renault GP) at 25 075. n Best race lap : Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) in 1 40 571. n n March 25, 2012 time table Friday March 23 Free practice #1 10:00am to 11:30am local time. Free practice #2 2:00pm to 3:30pm local time. Saturday March 24 Free practice #3 1:00pm to 2:00pm local time. Qualifications 4:00pm local time. Sunday March 25 G.P. at 4:00pm local time. How much? 3-day pass : from 24 (non-covered platform). n 311,4 km/h Maximum speed in 2011 Downforce : llllm Brakes : lllmm Tires : lllmm Engine : llllm Fuel consumption : lllmm Off track City of Kuala Lumpur and its Petronas twin towers. 5,543 Track length in kilometers 1 32 582 Lap record Fernando Alonso on Renault in 2005. and also... n On F1 calendar : 13 times. n Start : 1999. n Circuit designed by : Hermann Tilke. n Used layout : Sepang (1 version). n Most victorious driver: Michael Schumacher (3). n Most victorious team: Ferrari (5). n Best lap in race : 1 34 223 (Juan Pablo Montoya on Williams in 2004). 56 laps during the Grand Prix, so 310,408 km www.malaysiangp.com.my

imagf1 Editor Laurent Chiapello Digital Editor in Chief Stéphane Desclouds Magazine Editor in Chief Jean-Eric Raoul Art Director Thomas Hilly Reporter / Head of Section Thibault Larue In collaboration with Frédérique Houpert 18/18 Marketing Director Agnès Nicolas Marketing Managers Cécile Vivien, Sandra Boixel In charge of Promotion Cécile Giordanengo imagf1 Sport Auto is published by Editions Mondadori Axel Springer, 8 Rue Francois Ory 92543 Montrouge Cedex France. Co-managers Jean-Luc Breysse et Robert Sandmann Publishing Director Jean-Luc Breysse Mail support@sportauto.fr thibault.larue@mondadori.fr Texts Thibault Larue Photos Sutton/Panoramic