With Sebastian Vettel having been disqualified from Saturday’s qualifying results for failing to return to the pits under the cars own power and then failing to provide the mandatory one litre fuel sample, his subsequent penalty sees all but two drivers promoted a place on the grid.
Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber remain first and second for Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, whilst the remaining 21 drivers move up a place.
Vettel will start from the pitlane rather than 24th, a decision made by team principal Christian Horner, which has allowed the team to optimise his car for the race. The FIA’s technical delegate Jo Bauer confirmed the team have changed his gearbox, gear ratios – to allow for a greater top speed to aid overtaking – and his suspension.
The grid for the race is as per below.
2012 Abu Dhabi GP Race Grid: (P) denotes pitlane start:
| # | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 (P) | S. Vettel | Red Bull | No Time | No Time | No Time |
| 02 | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:41.933 | 1:41.277 | 1:40.978 |
| 05 | J. Button | McLaren | 1:42.342 | 1:41.873 | 1:41.290 |
| 15 | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 1:43.582 | 1:42.606 | |
| 09 | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 1:42.046 | 1:41.620 | 1:41.778 |
| 11 | S. Perez | Sauber | 1:42.624 | 1:42.084 | |
| 06 | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:41.939 | 1:41.514 | 1:41.582 |
| 04 | K. Räikkönen | Lotus | 1:42.222 | 1:41.532 | 1:41.260 |
| 01 | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 1:41.497 | 1:40.901 | 1:40.630 |
| 10 | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:42.579 | 1:42.019 | |
| 08 | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:41.974 | 1:41.846 | 1:41.723 |
| 12 | P. di Resta | Force India | 1:42.572 | 1:42.218 | |
| 13 | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:42.735 | 1:42.289 | |
| 03 | P. Maldonado | Williams | 1:41.981 | 1:41.907 | 1:41.226 |
| 07 | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:41.926 | 1:41.698 | 1:41.603 |
| 16 | D. Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 1:43.280 | 1:42.765 | |
| 17 | J. Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1:44.058 | ||
| 14 | B. Senna | Williams | 1:43.298 | 1:42.330 | |
| 18 | H. Kovalainen | Caterham | 1:44.956 | ||
| 21 | T. Glock | Marussia | 1:45.426 | ||
| 22 | P. de la Rosa | HRT | 1:45.766 | ||
| 19 | C. Pic | Marussia | 1:45.089 | ||
| 20 | V. Petrov | Caterham | 1:45.151 | ||
| 23 | N. Karthikeyan | HRT | 1:46.382 | ||
| Q1 107% Time: | 1:48.601 | ||||
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