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The 2012 season was one of the most exciting seasons in Formula 1 history and there were some huge crashes with dramatic consequences. So let’s take a look at the top 5 crashes of the 2012 F1 season.
First Corner Carnage at Spa
The first corner shunt at Spa this year was possibly one of the biggest accidents F1 has seen in the past few years and it also showed how good the level of safety in F1 cars is.
The accident was triggered by young French rookie Romain Grosjean, when he swiped to the right of Lewis Hamilton just after the race start. This forced Hamilton on to the grass, causing him to lose control of his McLaren and tailgate Romain Grosjean. The momentum of the crash with Hamilton forced the Lotus of Grosjean into the unsuspecting Ferrari of Fernando Alonso. The Saubers of Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi were the other unlucky victims of the crash.
At the end of the season, we saw that Sebastian Vettel won the championship over Fernando Alonso with a lead of just 3 points; had Alonso not been taken out in Spa, he probably would have won the championship.
Michael Schumacher’s monster crash in Singapore with Jean Eric Vergne
Michael Schumacher made it two in a row at the Singapore Grand Prix, crashing in the same manner as in the 2011 Singapore Grand Prix. The veteran German tailgated the Toro Rosso of Jean Eric Vergne at turn 14, just after the safety car had dived into the pits. In 2011, Michael had tailgated the Sauber of Sergio Perez in the same manner at turn 11.
The accident meant that both Michael Schumacher and Jean Eric Vergne had to retire from the race and the German had to take a 10 place grid drop for the next Grand Prix.
Maldonado drives into Lewis Hamilton at Valencia
This year’s European Grand Prix at Valencia was probably among the most exciting races of the 2012 season and the main reason for that was the drama in the last few laps of the Grand Prix.
Fernando Alonso had led the race after the Red Bull and the Lotus of Sebastian Vettel and Romain Grosjean respectively had suffered alternator problems. Lewis Hamilton was hanging in second place, with what was a very slow Mclaren. Pastor Maldonado had looked all set for a podium finish when he tried an aggressive maneuver on Lewis Hamilton in the penultimate lap of the race. The badly judged maneuver meant that Maldonado drove into the side of Hamilton’s McLaren, putting him into the wall and damaging his own front wing.
The incident allowed Kimi Raikkonen to take second place and Michael Schumacher to take his sole podium finish after his comeback. Maldonado finished the race in tenth but then had to give away his tenth place after being slapped with a time penalty.
Michael Schumacher’s blunder in Barcelona
In the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona, seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher drove into the back of Bruno Senna’s Williams, causing Bruno to retire from the race. The German veteran had just come out of the pits and was on fresher tyres while Bruno Senna was trying to extend his tyre life as far as possible; this was when the German miscalculated the braking performance of Bruno’s Williams on worn tyres, and ran into the back of his Williams at the first corner of the Circuit de Catalunya.
The incident meant that Schumacher was handed a five-place grid penalty for the next Grand Prix in Monaco. Ironically, the German took his first pole of his comeback but was demoted five places due to the five-place grid penalty he incurred for the above mentioned incident.
Nico Rosberg’s scary crash in Abu Dhabi
Nico Rosberg’s monster crash in the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with the HRT of Narain Karthikeyan was again one of the most dangerous moments of 2012. Nico was lucky that there was some run-off area. Had there been a wall or a crash barrier, he may have suffered some serious injuries.
The incident took place on lap 9 of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Nico Rosberg had earlier dived into the pits for a front wing change after colliding with the Lotus of Romain Grosjean. At the time, he had been making his way through the field, when he encountered the HRT of Narain Karthikeyan. As Narain approached turn 16, his HRT suffered a hydraulic failure and a consequent steering problem which forced him to slam on the brakes. Rosberg, on the other hand, didn’t expect Narain to brake at the approach of turn 16 as it is usually taken flat-out. This misunderstanding meant that Rosberg crashed heavily into the back of HRT, before flying over and slamming into the crash barrier.
