Nico Rosberg's victory was the first Formula One win for an official Mercedes-Benz team since the 1955 Italian Grand Prix, ending a 55-season absence.
Key Facts
- Race laps
- 56
- Championship round
- 3rd round of 2012 season
- Winner
- Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
- Winning margin
- Over 20 seconds ahead of Button and Hamilton
- Finishers
- 23 of 24 starters
- HRT record
- 39th start without scoring a point
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The 2012 Formula One season opened with six different winners in six races, reflecting competitive unpredictability. Mercedes entered the Chinese Grand Prix with Nico Rosberg seeking his first Formula One victory, seven years after the team's last win as an official works constructor in 1955.
Held on 15 April 2012 at the Shanghai International Circuit, the 56-lap race saw Nico Rosberg dominate from front to back, leading home McLaren drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton by more than twenty seconds to claim his debut Formula One victory in the Mercedes car.
Rosberg became the first German driver to win a Grand Prix in a German car in Formula One history, and Mercedes secured their first win as an official team since the 1955 Italian Grand Prix. The result also broke a streak in which only Red Bull, McLaren, or Ferrari had won races since the 2009 Italian Grand Prix.