Record holder for victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with eight wins, the Danish driver holds this official position for the second time in 2012, having also officiated at the Spanish Grand Prix. At Interlagos, he has the daunting task of assisting and advising the stewards for the last round of the duel between Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Renault) and Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), separated by thirteen points in the title race.

Tom Kristensen is the fifth former winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans to hold this office in the F1 2012 season, he joins Johnny Herbert (GP Australia and Malaysia), Emanuele Pirro (GP of China, Bahrain , Europe and Italy) Derek Warwick (GP of Germany, Japan and Abu Dhabi) and Allan McNish (Singapore GP). The five of them total seventeen victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Note that of the eight victories of Tom Kristensen three were with Emanuele Pirro and one with Allan McNish.

The list of other drivers to have performed this function at Grand Prix includes Nigel Mansell in 2012 (Monaco and British GP), Mika Salo (GP of Europe), Danny Sullivan (Hungarian GP), Eliseo Salazar (Belgian GP ), Martin Donnelly (GP Canada and South Korea), Alan Jones (Indian GP) and Emerson Fittipaldi (GP of United States).