United States 2012 - Starting grid - Gearbox penalties hit the qualifying order once more
Published by Christine
Romain Grosjean took a gearbox penalty, which we knew about quite early on, but the real storm came from Ferrari. Rumours circulated that they would be deliberately breaking the seal on Massa's gearbox to drop him down the order and move Alonso to the clean side of the grid. Lo and behold!
| Position | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing | 1:35.657 | 20 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Vodafone McLaren Mercedes | 1:35.766 | 20 |
| 3 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing | 1:36.174 | 20 |
| 4 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus F1 Team | 1:36.708 | 26 |
| 5 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | 1:36.794 | 22 |
| 6 | Nico Hülkenberg | Sahara Force India F1 Team | 1:37.141 | 20 |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:37.300 | 24 |
| 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus F1 Team | 1:36.587 | 28 |
| 9 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams F1 Team | 1:37.842 | 26 |
| 10 | Bruno Senna | Williams F1 Team | 1:37.604 | 20 |
| 11 | Felipe Massa | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:36.937 | 24 |
| 12 | Jenson Button | Vodafone McLaren Mercedes | 1:37.616 | 12 |
| 13 | Paul di Resta | Sahara Force India F1 Team | 1:37.665 | 15 |
| 14 | Jean-Éric Vergne | Scuderia Toro Rosso | 1:37.879 | 17 |
| 15 | Sergio Pérez | Sauber F1 Team | 1:38.206 | 16 |
| 16 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber F1 Team | 1:38.437 | 15 |
| 17 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | 1:38.501 | 16 |
| 18 | Daniel Ricciardo | Scuderia Toro Rosso | 1:39.114 | 9 |
| 19 | Timo Glock | Marussia F1 Team | 1:40.056 | 12 |
| 20 | Charles Pic | Marussia F1 Team | 1:40.664 | 11 |
| 21 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham F1 Team | 1:40.809 | 7 |
| 22 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham F1 Team | 1:41.166 | 7 |
| 23 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT Formula 1 Team | 1:42.011 | 12 |
| 24 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT Formula 1 Team | 1:42.740 | 10 |
- 5 places. Romain Grosjean - The Driver did not use the gearbox for five consecutive Events.
- 5 places. Felipe Massa - The Driver did not use the gearbox for five consecutive Events.
