The Pirelli tyre company supplied all the tyres to the F1 circus in 2012 and has released some of the interesting statistics from that.
The total numbers of tyres used in 2012 was 23,500 (21,400 dry tyres and 2,100 wet tyres).
The average life span of a dry-compound tyre in 2012 was 180 km, while the average life span of a wet compound was 140 km.
McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton (and now with Mercedes), reached the highest average speed on Pirelli tyres this season – 248.241 km/h in qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix. At the other end of the scale, Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes averaged just 161.828 km/h to set the fastest time in qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix.
Racing Pirelli.
13 different drivers and 8 different constructors led at least one lap in 2012. For the drivers, Sebastian Vettel led the most laps (368) from Lewis Hamilton (229) and Fernando Alonso (216). For the constructors, Red Bull led the most (434) from McLaren (365) and Ferrari (217).
Not only did Kimi Raikkonen finish every race in 2012, he also completed the most racing laps: 1,191. Ironically his Lotus teammates, Romain Grosjean and Jerome D’Ambrosio, registered the fewest (803 and 53 respectively).
There were 957 pit stops in 2012 (of which 14 were drive-through penalties and two stop-go penalties).
The Malaysian Grand Prix featured the most pit stops (76) whilst the United States Grand Prix featured the fewest (24).
Pirelli’s tyre fitters took 124 air and track temperature measurements every race weekend in 2012 with the coldest track temperature during a session recorded in the United States (11 degrees Celsius) and the hottest track temperature recorded a week later in Brazil (55 degrees Celsius).
The highest ambient temperature during a session in 2012 was recorded at the European Grand Prix (37 degrees Celsius) and the coolest ambient temperature was at the United States Grand Prix (4 degrees Celsius).
Lewis Hamilton started on the front row 11 times, three times more than Sebastian Vettel who had the second most front-row starts. Hamilton also outscored Vettel 7-6 in pole positions.
Constructors’ champions Red Bull completed the most race laps (2,293) in 2012, bottom-ranked team HRT completed the fewest (1825).
So that was the tyre year that was!
