2012 Formula One World Championship
Round Grand Prix Circuit Date
1 Australian Grand Prix Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit , Melbourne 18 March
2 Malaysian Grand Prix Sepang International Circuit , Kuala Lumpur 25 March
3 Chinese Grand Prix Shanghai International Circuit , Shanghai 15 April
4 Bahrain Grand Prix Bahrain International Circuit , Sakhir 22 April
5 Spanish Grand Prix Circuit de Catalunya , Barcelona 13 May
6 Monaco Grand Prix Circuit de Monaco , Monte Carlo 27 May
7 Canadian Grand Prix Circuit Gilles Villeneuve , Montreal 10 June
8 European Grand Prix Valencia Street Circuit , Valencia 24 June
9 British Grand Prix Silverstone Circuit , Silverstone 8 July
10 German Grand Prix Hockenheimring , Hockenheim 22 July
11 Hungarian Grand Prix Hungaroring , Budapest 29 July
12 Belgian Grand Prix Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps , Stavelot 2 September
13 Italian Grand Prix Autodromo Nazionale Monza , Monza 9 September
14 Singapore Grand Prix Marina Bay Street Circuit , Singapore 23 September
15 Japanese Grand Prix Suzuka Circuit , Suzuka 7 October
16 Korean Grand Prix Korea International Circuit , Yeongam 14 October
17 Indian Grand Prix Buddh International Circuit , Greater Noida 28 October
18 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Yas Marina Circuit , Abu Dhabi 4 November
19 United States Grand Prix Circuit of the Americas , Austin , Texas 18 November
20 Brazilian Grand Prix Autódromo José Carlos Pace , São Paulo 25 November
Season calendar
Nations hosting Formula One Grands Prix in 2012 .
The 2012 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 66th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 63rd FIA Formula One World Championship, a motor racing series for Formula One cars, recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) - the governing body of motorsport - as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. The championship was contested over twenty rounds, which started in Australia on 18 March and ended in Brazil on 25 November. The 2012 season saw the return of the United States Grand Prix, which was held at the Circuit of the Americas, a purpose-built circuit in Austin, Texas. After being cancelled in 2011 due to civil protests, the Bahrain Grand Prix also returned to the calendar. The early season was tumultuous, with seven different drivers winning the first seven races of the championship; a record for the series. It was not until the European Grand Prix in June that a driver, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, won his second race of the year, and with it, emerged as a championship contender. Alonso maintained his hold on the championship lead for the next seven races, taking his third win in Germany and finishing on the podium in the United Kingdom, Italy and Singapore. However, costly first-lap retirements in Belgium and Japan allowed his rivals to catch up, and defending World Champion Sebastian Vettel - like Alonso, a two-time title winner - took the lead in the sixteenth race of the season. Vettel, too, encountered difficulties throughout the season; contact with a backmarker left him to finish outside the points in Malaysia, while alternator failures at the European and Italian Grands Prix cost him valuable points and exclusion from qualifying in Abu Dhabi led him to start from the pit lane. Vettel entered the final race of the season with a thirteen-point lead over Alonso. Alonso needed a podium finish to stand any chance of becoming World Drivers' Champion, but in a race of attrition that finished under the safety car, Vettel finished in sixth place, scoring enough points to win his third consecutive championship, becoming just the third driver in the sport's sixty-three-year history to do so.