Formula 1 2012 #2 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mercedes

This story was originally broken at the beginning of September by Eddie Jordan, the former team owner, who was working for the BBC at the time; however it took some time for the deal to be made public. The news surprised many as although McLaren had experienced some problems with the car in terms of reliability and in pit stops, it was still a race winning car. By contrast the Mercedes lead driver (Nico Rosberg) finished 97 points behind Hamilton in the driver's championship and Mercedes themselves finished fifth in the constructor's championship.

Answer: Kamui Kobayashi

There were no Russian or Mexican Grands Prix held in the 2012 season to enable Petrov or Perez to race in front of their home fans. The Indian Grand Prix was round 17; however, the sole Indian driver on the grid, Narain Karthikeyan, was driving a very uncompetitive HRT and finished in 21st.

Unfortunately, this superb drive by Kobayashi didn't stop him losing his race seat at Sauber at the end of the season.

Answer: Third

After Vettel was put to the back of the grid, his Red Bull team withdrew his car from Parc Fermé so they could make adjustments to the car. The usual penalty for doing this is the car must start from the pit lane. The change in the car's settings to make it easier for Vettel to overtake, coupled with two safety car periods, enabled him to finish the race on the podium.

Answer: Kimi Räikkönen

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix occurred the weekend after his Lotus team confirmed Kimi would continue to drive for them in the 2013 season. He had an excellent start to the race and having started fourth, he was running in second when Lewis Hamilton retired from the lead with mechanical issues.

Answer: Austin

Indianapolis was the home of the US Grand Prix between 2000 and 2007, having been held at Phoenix for three years between 1989 and 1991. A race in New Jersey was included in the provisional 2013 calendar published by the FIA, however this was subsequently postponed.

Answer: True

Fernando Alonso had qualified 8th, however his team-mate, Massa, had qualified 6th. As the circuit had not been used before the even numbered grid slots were on the dirty side of the track and it was anticipated that this would be a huge disadvantage at the start.

Ferrari admitted there was no issue with Massa's gearbox, but by breaking the seal, Alonso was moved up to 7th and Massa dropped to 11th. Crucially, however, they were both now on the clean side of the grid.

Answer: True

Surprisingly, given that Alonso, Hamilton and Vettel (putting them in alphabetical order) were three of the top drivers in the late 2000s/early 2010s, it took until Vettel's fifth full season for all three of these drivers to appear on the winner's podium together.

Answer: No

In fact it was Lewis who beat Jenson to pole position by a mere 0.05 of a second. By doing to, he equalled the number of pole positions secured by Finnish double world champion Mika Häkkinen during his McLaren career (26).
In the race, however, it was Jenson Button who won the race after Lewis retired following a collision with Nico Hülkenberg.

Answer: Sebastian Vettel

At the start of the Brazilian Grand Prix race weekend, there were only two drivers in contention for the World Driver's Championship. Either driver would claim the accolade as the sport's youngest driver to win three championships.

Alonso needed a podium finish, and even then Vettel could still win the title depending on where he finished. In the end, Alonso finished second and whilst there was briefly some post-race controversy in the days following the race as to whether Vettel had overtaken whilst yellow flags were being waived, this was proved by the FIA not to be the case and Vettel was awarded the championship.

Vettel: 281 points
Alonso: 278 points

Answer: Red Bull

Red Bull won the 2012 World Constructors Championship as a result of Sebastian Vettel's second place finish at the U.S. Grand Prix. They joined a very select group of teams that had won three consecutive constructors championships. It was even more impressive, however, given that it was their first three championships that were won in a row.