Singapore GP: Bitter disappointment for Williams


Bruno Senna

By Andrew Hooper
September 23 2012

The result of the 2012 Singapore Grand Prix would list both Williams cars as having retired. Pastor Maldonado had being running close to the top three when he retired in his pit with a hydraulic failure. Team-mate Bruno Senna would retire out on the track. Such a huge disappointment for the Williams team.

 
 Singapore GP Race Review
 
Maldonado
 

Qualifying for the sixty one lap 2012 Singapore Grand Prix would see Williams F1 drivers Pastor Maldonado and Bruno Senna finish in second and seventeenth. But for Bruno he would make contact with the wall seeing him forced to take a gearbox change and as a result a five grid place penalty seeing him now line up in twenty second. For Pastor the race offered another opportunity for him to secure a good result but for Bruno it was going to be difficult coming well from the back. On pole was Hamilton from Pastor, Vettel, Button, Alonso, Di Resta, Webber, Grosjean, Schumacher and in tenth Rosberg. Other question marks hanging over the race was the possibility of rain and the use of the Safety Car during the race. Prior to the start of the race one minutes silence was held in memory of Professor Sid Watkins.

Of the top ten the cars all would be on the super soft tyre for the race start. Drivers starting on the soft tyres were Hulkenberg, Kobayashi, Perez, Vergne, De la Rosa, Glock and Pic. Bruno would start on the super soft tyre as the grid moved away on their parade lap. They would form up and the lights would go out and it would be Hamilton leading with Vettel getting past Pastor going into Turn one and two. Pastor was now fourth and looking like he was taking it very carefully. Button had past Pastor as well with Alonso fifth from Di Resta, Webber, Grosjean, Schumacher, and Rosberg. A few cars had taken the first corner wide and we would see Petrov with a damaged car minus his front wing. Bruno was running in eighteenth as Massa also pitted.

 
Maldonado
 

Massa had a left rear puncture taking on the soft tyre. Lap two and Hamilton was leading Vettel by 1.5 seconds. Pastor was 1.4 seconds behind Button. Bruno was lucky not to get damage to his car after seeing Ricciardo come across at Turn one at the start. Alonso was 2.2 seconds behind Pastor with the race settling down with reasonable gaps between the drivers. At the front Hamilton and Vettel swapped fastest laps. Down in twelfth and thirteenth Hulkenberg and Perez were the top two running on the soft tyre. Pastor was running pretty much by himself as they complete lap five. Behind eleventh placed Raikkonen there was a queue of cars with Bruno now seventeenth. The stewards would take no action in regard to the incidents at the first corner during the start. Lap seven and Alonso had dropped further back from Pastor. Bruno would pass Kovalainen to be sixteenth as on lap nine Webber would pit, taking on the soft tyre. Webber would come back out behind Pic in twentieth.

Lap ten and Vettel would get it wrong under braking at the Turn 10 chicane, taking his car around the kerb before continuing. Both Button and Pastor were faster than the two cars in front while Bruno was now fifteenth. Vettel would pit on lap eleven taking on the soft tyre. Bruno had been told not to use his first gear as there was a problem with it. Bruno had also pitted while Vettel came back out behind Perez to be twelfth. Bruno was also on the soft tyre as on lap twelve Alonso would pit also taking on the soft tyre. Schumacher was also in joined by Ricciardo. Hamilton was leading from Button and Pastor and Di Resta. Bruno was down in twenty first as on lap thirteen Hamilton would pit joined by Di Resta, Rosberg, Vergne, and Kovalainen. Vettel would pass Raikkonen while Hamilton was now fourth. Pastor would pit on lap fourteen taking on the soft tyre. Raikkonen would also come in while at the front Button was leading from Grosjean and Hamilton now third.

 
Maldonado
 

Pastor was now seventh running behind sixth placed Hulkenberg. Button would pit on lap fourteen joined by Grosjean. Hamilton was again leading from Vettel and Button. Pastor would pass Hulkenberg for fourth with Hulkenberg fifth followed by Alonso, Perez, Di Resta, Webber, and Rosberg tenth. Pastor would have a moment seeing his car slide when he ran with his DRS open behind Hulkenberg. So after lap fifteen Hamilton was leading Vettel by 1.5 seconds with Button 4.2 seconds behind the Red Bull. Pastor was 4.5 seconds behind Button while Bruno had moved up the order to be fourteenth. Alonso had been able to pass Hulkenberg for fifth. Bruno had been told that he could again use first gear. Di Resta would get past Hulkenberg with the two on different strategies. Hulkenberg and Perez would both pit on lap nineteen taking on new soft tyres with the pair on two stop strategies. Hamilton's lead over Vettel was remaining fairly static with Pastor and Alonso now making the pace.

Bruno was now twelfth and closing in onto Raikkonen and Schumacher who were running in eleventh and tenth. But for race leading Hamilton his race would come to an end on lap twenty three with his car coming to s stop out on the track with no drive with what seemed like a gearbox failure. This would see Vettel now leading from Button and Pastor. Hamilton would get out of his car and walk away looking very dejected. Pastor would have a big lock-up going into Turn one seeing him miss the corner. Alonso was now running closer to Pastor while Bruno was now eleventh. The Williams mechanics would come out for Bruno who would pit on lap twenty six. He would take on the super soft tyre for this run. Vettel was leading Button by 3.4 seconds with Pastor 2.6 behind the McLaren. Alonso was fourth followed by Di Resta, Webber, Rosberg, Grosjean, Schumacher, and Raikkonen in tenth.

 
Senna
 

Bruno was fifteenth running behind Vergne. Pastor would respond to Alonso setting a new personal best. On his super soft tyre Bruno would set a new fastest lap on lap twenty eight and the next lap Webber would pit from sixth. Webber would switch back to the super soft tyre coming back out in eleventh. Pastor and Alonso would pit on lap thirty with Pastor taking on the super soft tyre and Alonso the soft. Pastor would come back out in sixth and Alonso seventh. With Pastor stuck behind Grosjean Alonso had closed the gap to the Williams. Lap thirty one and Vettel was leading by 3.1 seconds with Di Resta third. Rosberg was fourth followed by Grosjean, Pastor, Alonso, Schumacher, Raikkonen, and Hulkenberg. Pastor was having to hold off Alonso but their would be yellow flags as a result of Karthikeyan crashing at Turn eighteen.

This would see the Safety Car come out with both Vettel and Button pitting. Di Resta would also come in joined by Rosberg, Grosjean, Pastor, and Schumacher. Pastor would change back to the soft tyres while team-mate Brno would also come in. Both Vettel and Button had taken on the soft tyre with the Safety Car picking up the leaders. Vettel was leading Button with Alonso third from Di Resta, Hulkenberg, Webber, Perez, Rosberg, Grosjean, and Pastor tenth. Bruno was now fifteenth but for Pastor there was a report that he had been told by his team that he had a hydraulic issue and that he should pit which he would do so on lap thirty seven retiring his car. Pastor was very very unlucky. The Safety car would come in on lap thirty nine with Vettel leading Button. Webber would pass Hulkenberg for fifth while Rosberg would pass Perez for seventh. But the first lap would see Schumacher crash into the rear of Vergne with the Mercedes hitting the rear of the Torro Rosso in what was a big mistake from Schumacher. Both cars would go into the escape road seeing the Safety car come back out.

Drivers would pit including Webber, Hulkenberg, Perez, Petrov, and De la Rosa. The collision between Schumacher and Vergne would be investigated after the race. Petrov had retired in his pit while the Safety Car would come in on lap forty three. In their stops Perez and Hulkenberg had taken on super soft tyres. Despite been shown as retired Petrov would come back out with his issue fixed. With the restart Bruno was down in ninth but under attack by Massa. They would touch but both were able to continue with Massa having past Bruno. Bruno had taken the racing line and really would not have expected Massa to come alongside him. Bruno was now tenth while at the front Vettel was leading Button by 1.4 seconds after lap forty four. Alonso was third from Di Resta, Rosberg, Grosjean, Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Massa and Bruno. The incident between Bruno and Massa was under investigation by the stewards.

 
Senna
 

Massa would pass Ricciardo with Bruno now right behind Ricciardo. It was going to be a timed race as Button started to close the gap to Vettel. Button was told that he had twelve more laps remaining. Perez would make contact with Hulkenberg seeing him damage his front wing. Webber would pass Kobayashi for eleventh with Hulkenberg would make contact with the Sauber seeing both cars pit with Kobayashi taking on a new front wing and Hulkenberg getting a new set of tyres while back out on the track Vettel had extended his lead over Button. With Webber up to eleventh the incident between himself and Kobayashi was being investigated by the stewards. There was now action to be taken in regard to the Massa Senna incident. Webber had closed in onto Bruno with Webber taking huge amounts of time from Bruno. Bruno could not hold off Webber and he would be passed with Webber using his DRS. Another race where the Williams team would fail to score any points. Webber would close in onto Ricciardo while Bruno was told to keep as close as he could to Webber.

Bruno would complain of a loss of power as he dropped down to twelfth with Perez passing him. But Bruno would join Pastor in retirement pulling his car down in an escape road. Such a disappointing result for Williams. With two hours completed Vettel would cross the line to win the Singapore Grand Prix. Button was second from Alonso, Di Resta, Rosberg, Raikkonen, Grosjean, Massa, Ricciardo, and Webber tenth. For the Williams team it was a race that started with great expectations but ended in bitter disappointment with both Williams drivers retiring.

 

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Singapore GP: Bitter disappointment for Williams
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