2012 Brazilian GP :- The Wet Hulk

[Nitrodaze]

This was the championship decider for the 2012 season. Hulkenburg was the star of this race until it went wrong some 20 laps from the end. The hulk overtook both Ferraris and both Mclarens to put his Force India in the lead of the race. He led this wet race which had very changeable conditions, for nearly 20 laps. While everyone else was changing to inters as the drizzle slowly turned to rain, Hulkenburg and Button stayed out with slicks in the treacherous conditions of Sao Paolo. The conditions changed again and slowly dried, which brought the race back to the cars still on slick. Hulkenburg on slick, passed Button who was leading the race to take the lead.



Hamilton who was nearly a full minute behind in 3rd, was brought into contention as the safety car was sent out to allow marshals to remove carbon fibre debris from the track. After the the safety pulled back into the pits, Hamilton overtook Button and later Hulkenburg to take the lead with the Force India in hot pursuit. Hulkenburg crashed into Hamilton as they both were overtaking backmarkers. Hamilton's car was damaged, Hulkenburg was given a drive through penalty for causing a collition which dropped him back to 5th position, with Button retaking the lead and the win.

FULL RACE : - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcWmqX8l9QM

My favorite Japanese driver Kobayashi, drove one of his finest race on his final outing for Sauber. Kobayashi overtook both Redbulls and Ferrari and was running a strong 5th for a while before a couple of near spins put him down to 8th.

This was a race that Alonso needed to finish on the podium with Vettel out of point scoring positions for him to be the world champion. Reminicient of the 2008 Brazilian GP, Vettel had a crash at the start of the race and end up plum last from 4th on the grid. Massa initially powered into 2nd at the start, putting Button in 3rd with Hamilton ahead in the lead and Alonso dropping a position to 5th.



After the Hulkenburg-Hamilton crash, Alonso was in 2nd position with Vettel strongly in 6th position and well into championship winning position. The title prospect changed back and forth throughout the race. At this point, Alonso had to catch Button and take the lead to be world champoin if Vettel stayed in 6th.



A crash by Paul Di Resta in tha Force India brought out double yellow flags which sealed the positions and the win for Button with Alonso in 2nd and Massa 3rd. But Vettel in a battered Redbull, won his 3rd consecutive driver world championship title from 6th.



This also happened to be the last race of Schumacher for the Mercedes Petronas team. As Hamilton was signed by Mercedes to join them in the following season [2013].