RED BULL-RENAULT
Constructors: 1st, 498 points
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) 256 (5 wins)
3 Mark Webber (Aus) 242 (4 wins)
Red Bull-Renault achieved the 'Double' of world Drivers' and Constructors' champions but it really should have been much easier than this.
The Red Bull clearly had the fastest car on the circuit throughout the season, as demonstrated by its nine race wins and 15 pole positions. But reliability problems and a tendency for the drivers to shoot themselves in the foot on race day left the Drivers' championship wide open until the final race. Perhaps Red Bull were just trying to keep the customer satisfied by inadvertently creating the best F1 season for years.
Vettel, in particular, seems to be the most fallible champion in recent years having only converted his 10 pole positions into five race wins. That ratio was even worse until he managed to win from pole in Japan and Abu Dhabi late in the season. Meanwhile victory in Brazil gave him three wins in the last four races, and finally some consistency, which was enough to see him over the line ahead of everyone else.
Australian Webber was hugely disappointed to miss out on perhaps his best chance at becoming world champion. After taking just 28 points from the first four races in yet another slow start to a season, Webber burst into form with successive victories in Spain and Monaco, and a third-place in Turkey. It was in Istanbul that the rivalry between the two Red Bull drivers came to the fore as they crashed when Vettel attempted to overtake Webber for the race lead, an incident which caused the retirement of Vettel.
In Valencia at the European GP, Webber was involved in a dramatic crash as his car flipped right over after a failed attempt to pass Kovalainen's Lotus. Thankfully, Webber was unhurt and came roaring back to record five podium finishes in the next seven races, including race wins in Great Britain and Hungary. Webber's response to his win at Silverstone was a brutal assessment of his perceived standing in the team - "not bad for a number two driver", he said over the team radio as he crossed the line. But, despite his perceptions, he remained in contention until the last race where a poor qualifying performance and an early pit-stop ended his hopes.
It had actually looked that a failure to back one driver over the other would cost Red Bull in the Drivers' championship and their failure to swap Vettel and Webber in the penultimate race in Brazil appeared particularly costly. It meant Alonso took the title lead into the final race rather than Webber but it was, of course, a gamble which paid off as Vettel managed to leapfrog both drivers with victory in the final race - much to the relief of the whole of the Red Bull team.
McLAREN-MERCEDES
Constructors: 2nd, 454 points
4 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) 240 (3 wins)
5 Jenson Button (Gbr) 214 (2 wins)
McLaren clung on to second place in the Constructors' championship but, as the season wore on, Hamilton and Button looked more and more likely to fall short for a Drivers' title as the car fell behind the pace of the Red Bulls and Alonso's Ferrari.
Despite heading into the season as world champion, Button came into the campaign under pressure to establish himself in a team where Hamilton had been previously recognised as the number one driver. Button began well with early wins in Australia and China before three successive podiums in Turkey, Canada and Valencia kept him in the hunt going into the second half of the campaign.
But a retirement in Belgium left him playing catch up in the vital closing stages, and a 12th-place in Korea proved terminal for his chances. The Frome Flyer ended the season at Abu Dhabi on a high with a seventh visit to the podium of the season after a third-placed finish.
Hamilton started much more slowly until hitting a purple patch midway through the season with successive wins in Turkey and Canada followed by successive second-placed finishes at Valencia and Silverstone.
That sequence put Hamilton at the head of the standings but it was followed in the late summer by an awful run of three retirements in four races. Never mind that he won the other one of those four races in Belgium, the three DNFs left Hamilton with little chance of a second world crown.
Second places in Korea and Abu Dhabi showed Hamilton getting back to his best but it was never going to be enough.
FERRARI
Constructors: 3rd, 396 points
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) 252 (5 wins)
6 Felipe Massa (Bra) 144
Ferrari have been forced to defend their final-race strategy which saw Alonso blow a 15-point lead over eventual champion Vettel.
Their reaction to Webber's early pit-stop left Alonso with the task of needing to overtake Petrov, Rosberg and eventually Kubica, while Vettel sped off into the distance.
With Ferrari being based in Italy, it was no surprise to see some of the politicians shove their oar into the debate in calling for the resignation of team president Luca di Montezemolo. But the Marinello-based team were right to point out that the politicians were looking at the race with the benefit of hindsight.
After all, Alonso's failure to make any inroads into the drivers in front of him came as a surprise, given his excellent form in the second half of the season. The Spaniard had appeared on the podium in seven races out of eight between the German GP and the Brazilian GP with four victories in Germany, Italy, Singapore and Korea. That record made up for a slow overall first half of the season which featured just two podium visits after an opening day race win in Bahrain.
The turning point in Ferrari's season at Hockenheim was controversial as Massa was clearly forced to move over for Alonso in contradiction to rules on team orders. Ferrari were fined for their troubles and managed the situation in a horribly crass manner, claiming Massa was happy to move over when his body language after the race hardly supported this suggestion.
Still, team orders have always been a part of F1 and it would be no surprise to see article 39.1 dropped but, undoubtedly, Ferrari should have better managed that particular situation.
From then, Massa was cast into the role of a support driver and, as such, did not win a race all season. For the most part, though, he did a decent job for Alonso with two third-placed finishes in Monza and Korea, and two fourth-placed finishes in Hungary - the site of his terrible accident in 2009 - and Belgium.
Once the disappointment dissapates, Ferrari fans will be glad to have seen their team back at the front of the grid after a wretched 2009 season. 2011 promises much, not least a more fired-up than ever Fernando Alonso.
MERCEDES GP
Constructors: 4th, 214 points
7 Nico Rosberg (Ger) 142
9 Michael Schumacher (Ger) 72
Mercedes made the big off-season headlines last winter with the announcement that Michael Schumacher was returning to F1 but the German seven-time champion was regularly out-performed by his younger compatriot.
Rosberg finished in third place on three occasions - in Malaysia, China and Great Britain - and he was fourth in the final race in Abu Dhabi. Additionally, he had five fifth-placed finishes and three sixth-placed finishes among 15 point-scoring races in total, just beating Kubica in the standings.
By contrast, Schumacher had a tough first season back. Although point-scoring was fairly regular, the German legend could not find a way onto the podium, finishing fourth in Spain, Turkey and Korea.
Schumacher's mid-season was also overshadowed by controversy when he almost drove his ever-loyal former Ferrari team-mate Barrichello into a wall in the Hungarian GP when unsuccessfully defending 10th.
RENAULT
Constructors: 5th, 163 points
8 Robert Kubica (Pol) 136
13 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) 27
Renault comfortably finished fifth in the Constructors' championship, thanks mainly to the fine efforts of Kubica.
Like Mercedes' Rosberg, the Pole was one of the few drivers on the grid to take the fight to the front three teams while Russian team-mate Petrov also impressed intermittently.
Kubica finished second in the Australian GP, and third at Monaco and in Belgium. He also finished fourth in Malaysia and fifth on four separate occasions. In all, he made 15 appearances in the points and his stock has deservedly risen.
Petrov's highlights were fewer and farther between and he had just five points finishes all season, although one of these was a fifth place in Hungary and another was a ninth-placed finish in Belgium, having started in 23rd.
However, by far his best moment of the season came in the last race in Abu Dhabi as he held off Alonso to finish sixth and kill off the Spaniard's title chances, earning a thoroughly undeserved rebuke from the Ferrari man.
WILLIAMS-COSWORTH
Constructors: 6th, 69 points
10 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) 47
14 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) 22
Williams sneaked sixth place in the Constructors' championship ahead of Force India by a single point after Hulkenberg's efforts at the penultimate Grand Prix in Brazil.
Hulkenberg was the only man outside of Vettel, Alonso, Webber and Hamilton to put a car on pole and he finished 8th in the race.
However, most of Williams' points this season came from the experienced Barrichello in his 18th season in F1. The Brazilian rolled back the years to finish fourth in the European GP and fifth at Silverstone. He scored points in 10 of the 19 races, failing to finish only twice, and it is this consistency which earns him another year in F1 with Williams.
That is not something which can be said for Hulkenberg who will be replaced in 2011 by Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado. But the young German should be too downhearted - his Sao Paulo performance should be enough to earn him a drive elsewhere. After all, the main reason for him being replaced is simply that Maldonado comes with greater financial backing.
FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES
Constructors: 7th, 68 points
11 Adrian Sutil (Ger) 47
15 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) 21
Force India will be disappointed with the 2010 season after the progress made in the latter part of 2009 when Giancarlo Fischicella even achieved a pole position at Spa in Belgium.
Sutil looked set to back up the breakthrough with a positive start in 2010 which saw him score in six consecutive races between the Spanish and the British Grand Prix. But the German scored just 12 of his 47 points in the second half of the season, 10 of them coming in one go in an impressive drive in the Belgian GP.
Liuzzi's best finish of the season came in Korea where he finished sixth but that was out of keeping with a dreadful end to an average season at best. Four of the Italian's last five races ended in retirement and included a horrible head-on crash with Michael Schumacher in the race at Abu Dhabi.
In all fairness, there was little Liuzzi could do to avoid contact with Schumacher who had been spun after contact with his team-mate Rosberg but just six points finishes and 21 points altogether still represents a poor return from a full 19 starts.
BMW SAUBER-FERRARI
Constructors: 8th, 44 points
12 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) 32
17 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) 6
18 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) 6
Kobayashi won over the doubters after a spate of retirements early in the season to bag almost 75% of Sauber's total points.
Particularly impressive was his seventh-placed finish in his homeland, and he also finished seventh in the European Grand Prix at Valencia and sixth at Silverstone.
Experienced Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa failed to match the Japanese driver's achievements, scoring just six points from a single seventh-placed finish in Hungary before being replaced by Nick Heidfeld.
German Heidfeld also scored six points but from just five races as compared to de la Rosa's 14. Heidfeld also finished in the points twice in those five starts - in Japan and Korea - but he is set to be replaced by Mexican youngster Sergio Perez in the new season.
TORO ROSSO-FERRARI
Constructors: 9th, 13 points
16 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) 8
19 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) 5
How much credit can Toro Rosso claim for Sebastian Vettel's world championship with sister team Red Bull? Not a huge amount, I suspect, but one thing for sure is that Vettel is still conspicuous by his absence from this team.
The youthful pairing of Switzerland's Sebastien Buemi and Spain's Jaime Alguersuari have just 42 years between them and regular points finishes were never really expected. It is a good job that was the case as Buemi scored on four occasions and Alguersuari just three times.
However, Alguersuari - the youngest driver on the circuit at 20 - deserves credit for having kept the car on the track almost all season. He retired just twice, while Buemi's record of five DNFs is not too bad either, and that represents something to build upon.
LOTUS-COSWORTH
Constructors: 10th, 0 points
20 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin)
21 Jarno Trulli (Ita)
Lotus were the best of the three new teams but that was surely to be expected, considering their driver line-up of Kovalainen and Trulli had 285 starts between them, including one race win each.
Having failed to impress in a much stronger car at McLaren in 2008 and 2009, this season of nul points for Kovalainen is perhaps a case of reaping what he sowed. Meanwhile, Trulli must surely feel that his best days have come to an abrupt end. Even in 2009 at Toyota, the Italian still achieved a pole position in Bahrain and three podiums but that does not look like being repeated any time soon.
Indeed, Trulli's best finish in 2010 was 13th in Japan which was also where Kovalainen had his best result of 12th. Trulli retired on seven occasions and Kovalainen five times - and so, while it is wonderful to have the Lotus name back in F1, it must surely be hoped they can produce a more competitive car for 2011.
HISPANIA-COSWORTH
Constructors: 11th, 0 points
22 Bruno Senna (Bra)
24 Karun Chandhok (Ind)
26 Sakon Yamamoto (Jpn)
27 Christian Klein (Aut)
Hispania had the toughest of debut seasons in F1 on and off the track with regular driver switches and financial problems throughout.
Indeed, it is a credit to Hispania that they managed to keep the whole thing going to the bitter end of the campaign, finishing on a relative high note in that their two drivers in Abu Dhabi - Senna and Klein - completed the race, albeit two laps behind.
In all, the Spanish team used four different drivers, starting off the season with Senna and India's second-ever F1 driver, Chandhok. Senna was first to be dropped when Yamamoto replaced him at Silverstone but, from the next race in Germany onwards, Senna was restored and it was Chandhok who failed to get a seat. Yamamoto was himself replaced by Klein in Singapore because the Japanese driver suffered from food poisoning but Klein also replaced him for the final two races in Brazil and Abu Dhabi. It was a head-spinning amount of changes.
Off the track, the future for Hispania looks bleak. The team parted company with designers Dallara and have now lost the backing of Toyota who had looked set to supply the cars for 2011. Toyota blamed a lack of payment from Hispania for their decision and, unless something changes soon, this foray into F1 looks like being a short one.
VIRGIN-COSWORTH
Constructors: 12th, 0 points
23 Lucas di Grassi (Bra)
25 Timo Glock (Ger)
Richard Branson may have enjoyed his time as a sponsor of the successful Brawn GP champions in 2009 but, predictably enough, he found having a stake in his own team a much tougher proposition.
Indeed, finishing statistically behind the Hispania team comes as somewhat of an embarrassment even at this lower end of pecking order, and German Glock - who did well at Toyota in 2008-09 - looks particularly lost. By contrast, this season was di Grassi's first taste of F1. Both drivers' best finish was 14th - di Grassi in Malaysia and Glock in Japan. Di Grassi retired seven times and Glock eight times.
FINAL STANDINGS
Drivers' Championship
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault 256 (5 wins)
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 252 (5 wins)
3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 242 (4 wins)
4 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 240 (3 wins)
5 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 214 (2 wins)
6 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 144
7 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes 142
8 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 136
9 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes 72
10 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams-Cosworth 47
11 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Mercedes 47
12 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) BMW Sauber-Ferrari 32
13 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 27
14 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams-Cosworth 22
15 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India-Mercedes 21
16 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 8
17 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) BMW Sauber-Ferrari 6
18 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber-Ferrari 6
19 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 5
(20 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus-Cosworth, 21 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus-Cosworth, 22 Bruno Senna (Bra) Hispania-Cosworth, 23 Lucas di Grassi (Bra) Virgin-Cosworth, 24 Karun Chandhok (Ind) Hispania-Cosworth, 25 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin-Cosworth, 26 Sakon Yamamoto (Jpn) Hispania-Cosworth, 27 Christian Klein (Aut) Hispania-Cosworth failed to score)
Constructors' Championship
1 Red Bull-Renault 498 (9 wins)
2 McLaren-Mercedes 454 (5 wins)
3 Ferrari 396 (5 wins)
4 Mercedes GP 214
5 Renault 163
6 Williams-Cosworth 69
7 Force India-Mercedes 68
8 BMW Sauber-Ferrari 44
9 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 13
(10 Lotus-Cosworth, 11 Virgin-Cosworth, and 12 Hispania-Cosworth failed to score)
2010 Team-by-team preview
Showing posts with label f1 2010. Show all posts
Showing posts with label f1 2010. Show all posts
Monday, 15 November 2010
Sunday, 14 November 2010
F1 2010: Vettel times his challenge to perfection as Alonso and Ferrari blow it
SEBASTIAN VETTEL became the youngest ever Formula 1 world champion as he won the final race in Abu Dhabi to take the lead in the title chase for the first time all season.
Vettel finished ahead of McLaren's British pair of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button in the UAE to win the championship by four points from Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.
Alonso could only finish in seventh having started the day as clear favourite but the Spaniard was let down by a poor strategy and a mediocre drive.
The race started badly for Alonso and got worse. Having qualified third, the two-time champion had already lost a place to Button by the first corner but, at this stage, he was still in control of his destiny.
Indeed, the early part of the race seemed to suit Alonso. Although Vettel was streaking away at the front, his Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber was off the pace and in between the two Ferraris of Alonso and Felipe Massa.
The game-changer came on lap 11 when Webber pitted, struggling with his tyres. That effectively killed off the Australian's attempts of landing a first world crown for himself, as he emerged in heavy traffic.
However, Webber did not take only himself out of the championship chase with his stop. Ferrari reacted perhaps too rashly to Webber, pitting Massa on lap 13, and then Alonso on lap 15.
Both Ferrari men also inevitably got caught up in traffic although at least Alonso, unlike Massa, was ahead of Webber.
But the more vital issue was who Alonso was behind. The answer had its roots back on the first lap of the race and Michael Schumacher's frightening head-on crash with Force India's Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi after Schumacher had been clipped by Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.
The crash caused the safety car to make a seemingly habitual early appearance and many of the mid-table drivers took the chance to change their tyres in the pits.
It meant Alonso, down in seventh and needing to finish fourth, was behind Rosberg and Russia's Vitaly Petrov in terms of actual track position. Alonso knew a third world championship relied on him making these two passes.
Unfortunately for the Alonso, he could not even overcome his first opponent as Petrov drove the race of his life in the Renault vacated last winter by the Spaniard.
Alonso barely launched a single attack on Petrov and hardly endeared himself to the wider F1-watching public by gesturing petulantly towards the Russian as the cars crossed the line.
Indeed, Petrov drove so well that by the end of the race Alonso's position had deteriorated further as Kubica in the other Renault built a big enough gap to make it in and out of the pits and still take fifth place.
All the while Vettel made hay at the front with clearly quicker race speed than either of the two McLarens, the only men who had been within striking distance.
And so, the 23-year-old German was able without much fuss to convert his 10th pole position into a fifth race win of the season.
At one stage in the season, his conversion rate was even worse and the failure to replicate Saturday success with 25 points on a Sunday looked set to cost him this championship.
But, with wins in three of the last four races - in Japan, Brazil and Abu Dhabi - in addition to his two early-season victories in Malaysia and Valencia, Vettel was able to make yet more history.
He already held F1 records for the youngest man on pole and the youngest race winner, both achieved in the Italian GP in Monza in 2008 with Red Bull's sister team, Toro Rosso.
Now, Vettel has the biggest prize of all and, while he showed throughout the season he is fallible, he is also young enough and good enough to win it again.
PODIUMS
Bahrain GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
3 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
Australian GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault
3 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
Malaysian GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
Chinese GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
Spanish GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
Monaco GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
3 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault
Turkish GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
Canadian GP (Pole: Lewis Hamilton)
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
European GP (Valencia) (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
British GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
German GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
Hungarian GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
Belgian GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
3 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault
Italian GP (Pole: Fernando Alonso)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
Singapore GP (Pole: Fernando Alonso)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
Japanese GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
Korean GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
Brazilian GP (Pole: Nico Hulkenberg)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
Abu Dhabi GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
7 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
8 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
Vettel finished ahead of McLaren's British pair of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button in the UAE to win the championship by four points from Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.
Alonso could only finish in seventh having started the day as clear favourite but the Spaniard was let down by a poor strategy and a mediocre drive.
The race started badly for Alonso and got worse. Having qualified third, the two-time champion had already lost a place to Button by the first corner but, at this stage, he was still in control of his destiny.
Indeed, the early part of the race seemed to suit Alonso. Although Vettel was streaking away at the front, his Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber was off the pace and in between the two Ferraris of Alonso and Felipe Massa.
The game-changer came on lap 11 when Webber pitted, struggling with his tyres. That effectively killed off the Australian's attempts of landing a first world crown for himself, as he emerged in heavy traffic.
However, Webber did not take only himself out of the championship chase with his stop. Ferrari reacted perhaps too rashly to Webber, pitting Massa on lap 13, and then Alonso on lap 15.
Both Ferrari men also inevitably got caught up in traffic although at least Alonso, unlike Massa, was ahead of Webber.
But the more vital issue was who Alonso was behind. The answer had its roots back on the first lap of the race and Michael Schumacher's frightening head-on crash with Force India's Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi after Schumacher had been clipped by Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.
The crash caused the safety car to make a seemingly habitual early appearance and many of the mid-table drivers took the chance to change their tyres in the pits.
It meant Alonso, down in seventh and needing to finish fourth, was behind Rosberg and Russia's Vitaly Petrov in terms of actual track position. Alonso knew a third world championship relied on him making these two passes.
Unfortunately for the Alonso, he could not even overcome his first opponent as Petrov drove the race of his life in the Renault vacated last winter by the Spaniard.
Alonso barely launched a single attack on Petrov and hardly endeared himself to the wider F1-watching public by gesturing petulantly towards the Russian as the cars crossed the line.
Indeed, Petrov drove so well that by the end of the race Alonso's position had deteriorated further as Kubica in the other Renault built a big enough gap to make it in and out of the pits and still take fifth place.
All the while Vettel made hay at the front with clearly quicker race speed than either of the two McLarens, the only men who had been within striking distance.
And so, the 23-year-old German was able without much fuss to convert his 10th pole position into a fifth race win of the season.
At one stage in the season, his conversion rate was even worse and the failure to replicate Saturday success with 25 points on a Sunday looked set to cost him this championship.
But, with wins in three of the last four races - in Japan, Brazil and Abu Dhabi - in addition to his two early-season victories in Malaysia and Valencia, Vettel was able to make yet more history.
He already held F1 records for the youngest man on pole and the youngest race winner, both achieved in the Italian GP in Monza in 2008 with Red Bull's sister team, Toro Rosso.
Now, Vettel has the biggest prize of all and, while he showed throughout the season he is fallible, he is also young enough and good enough to win it again.
2010 Season Results
PODIUMS
Bahrain GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
3 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
Australian GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault
3 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
Malaysian GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
Chinese GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
Spanish GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
Monaco GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
3 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault
Turkish GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
Canadian GP (Pole: Lewis Hamilton)
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
European GP (Valencia) (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
British GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
German GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
Hungarian GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
Belgian GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
3 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault
Italian GP (Pole: Fernando Alonso)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
Singapore GP (Pole: Fernando Alonso)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
Japanese GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
Korean GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
Brazilian GP (Pole: Nico Hulkenberg)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
Abu Dhabi GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
7 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
8 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
FINAL STANDINGS
Drivers' Championship
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault 256 (5 wins)
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 252 (5 wins)
3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 242 (4 wins)
4 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 240 (3 wins)
5 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 214 (2 wins)
6 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 144
7 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes 142
8 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 136
9 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes 72
10 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams-Cosworth 47
11 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Mercedes 47
12 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) BMW Sauber-Ferrari 32
13 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 27
14 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams-Cosworth 22
15 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India-Mercedes 21
16 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 8
17 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) BMW Sauber-Ferrari 6
18 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber-Ferrari 6
19 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 5
(20 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus-Cosworth, 21 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus-Cosworth, 22 Bruno Senna (Bra) Hispania-Cosworth, 23 Lucas di Grassi (Bra) Virgin-Cosworth, 24 Karun Chandhok (Ind) Hispania-Cosworth, 25 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin-Cosworth, 26 Sakon Yamamoto (Jpn) Hispania-Cosworth, 27 Christian Klein (Aut) Hispania-Cosworth failed to score)
Constructors' Championship
1 Red Bull-Renault 498 (9 wins)
2 McLaren-Mercedes 454 (5 wins)
3 Ferrari 396 (5 wins)
4 Mercedes GP 214
5 Renault 163
6 Williams-Cosworth 69
7 Force India-Mercedes 68
8 BMW Sauber-Ferrari 44
9 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 13
(10 Lotus-Cosworth, 11 Virgin-Cosworth, and 12 Hispania-Cosworth failed to score)
Youngest winners of the F1 World Drivers' Championship
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) 23 years, 134 days (2010)
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) 23 years, 300 days (2008)
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) 24 years, 59 days (2005)
4 Emerson Fittipaldi (Bra) 25 years, 303 days (1972)
5 Michael Schumacher (Ger) 25 years, 314 days (1994)
6 Niki Lauda (Aut) 26 years, 197 days (1975)
7 Jacques Villeneuve (Can) 26 years, 200 days (1997)
8 Jim Clark (Gbr) 27 years, 174 days (1963)
9 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) 28 years, 4 days (2007)
10 Jochen Rindt (Aut) 28 years, 140 days (1970)
Sunday, 24 October 2010
F1 2010: Alonso claims crucial Korea win to take title lead
FERNANDO ALONSO won a hectic inaugural South Korean Grand Prix to take the lead in the Drivers' Championship with just two races left.
Alonso finished ahead of McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari team mate Felipe Massa while the two Red Bull drivers, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, both retired.
The Spaniard's third win in the last four races puts him on 231 points, 11 clear of Webber and 21 ahead of Hamilton.
Vettel, in fourth place on 206 points, and defending champion Jenson Button, in fifth on 189, are still in with a mathematical chance of winning the title.
But, with Alonso in such strong form, it is just about impossible for them to close the gap at this late stage.
That is something which McLaren's Button has pretty much accepted after he could only finish 12th, failing to score after struggling for grip in the heavy Seongnam rain.
Quite how Vettel is so far behind in the title race is difficult to fathom, considering his qualifying record of nine pole positions in 14 races, including this one in South Korea.
But the young German's inability to convert Saturday successes into big points on Sunday has plagued him throughout the season.
This time, he was let down while leading by a lack of reliability in the Red Bull engine blew up on lap 46 of 55 to complete a miserable day for the Milton Keynes-based team after Webber's earlier accident.
The first ever Korean GP began behind the safety car due to rain described by Alonso as "the worst I have ever driven in".
Race director Charlie Whiting then suspended it for 45 minutes after just three laps. A further frustrating 13 laps behind the safety car followed before almost immediate drama as Webber spun off a soaked kerb, across the track and into Mercedes GP driver Nico Rosberg via a wall.
After another safety car break, Vettel looked set for a fourth victory of the campaign until Alonso dominated the latter stages of race.
First, he took back second place which he had lost in pits to Hamilton. Then, he closed the gap to Vettel who began to complain about the fading light as dusk fell.
It got worse for the German when his engine failed in spectacular fashion and Alonso eased home to continue a purple patch of form which began with his controversial win at Hockenheim in July.
Since then, the two-time champion has won in Italy, Singapore and now Korea. He was also in second place in Hungary and third in Japan when the Red Bulls dominated both qualifying and the race.
After the race in Suzuka, Webber looked in great shape to be the first Australian F1 world champions since Alan Jones for Williams in 1980.
But Alonso's experience of having won the title at Renault in 2005 and 2006 has started to tell in the second half of this season.
Now, as the most in-form driver - and having sensed Red Bull weakness and snatched the lead - it is Alonso's title to lose.
Bahrain GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
3 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
Australian GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault
3 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
Malaysian GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
Chinese GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
Spanish GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
Monaco GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
3 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault
Turkish GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
Canadian GP (Pole: Lewis Hamilton)
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
European GP (Valencia) (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
British GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
German GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
Hungarian GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
Belgian GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
3 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault
Italian GP (Pole: Fernando Alonso)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
Singapore GP (Pole: Fernando Alonso)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
Japanese GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
Korean GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
REMAINING RACES
Brazilian GP (7 November), Abu Dhabi GP (14 November)
STANDINGS
Drivers' Championship
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 231 (5 wins)
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 220 (4 wins)
3 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 210 (3 wins)
4 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault 206 (3 wins)
5 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 189 (2 wins)
6 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 143
7 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 124
8 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes 122
9 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes 66
10 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams-Cosworth 47
11 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Mercedes 47
12 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) BMW Sauber-Ferrari 31
13 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India-Mercedes 21
14 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 19
15 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams-Cosworth 18
16 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 8
17 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) BMW Sauber-Ferrari 6
18 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber-Ferrari 6
19 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rossi-Ferrari 3
Seven drivers have yet to score (Heikki Kovalainen (Fin), Jarno Trulli (Ita), Bruno Senna (Bra), Lucas di Grassi (Bra), Karun Chandhok (Ind), Timo Glock (Ger), Sakon Yamamoto (Jpn), Christian Klein (Aut))
Constructors' Championship
1 Red Bull-Renault 426
2 McLaren-Mercedes 399
3 Ferrari 374
4 Mercedes 188
5 Renault 143
6 Force India-Mercedes 68
7 Williams-Cosworth 65
8 BMW Sauber-Ferrari 43
9 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 11
Three teams have yet to score (Lotus-Cosworth, Hispania-Cosworth, Virgin-Cosworth)
Alonso finished ahead of McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari team mate Felipe Massa while the two Red Bull drivers, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, both retired.
The Spaniard's third win in the last four races puts him on 231 points, 11 clear of Webber and 21 ahead of Hamilton.
Vettel, in fourth place on 206 points, and defending champion Jenson Button, in fifth on 189, are still in with a mathematical chance of winning the title.
But, with Alonso in such strong form, it is just about impossible for them to close the gap at this late stage.
That is something which McLaren's Button has pretty much accepted after he could only finish 12th, failing to score after struggling for grip in the heavy Seongnam rain.
Quite how Vettel is so far behind in the title race is difficult to fathom, considering his qualifying record of nine pole positions in 14 races, including this one in South Korea.
But the young German's inability to convert Saturday successes into big points on Sunday has plagued him throughout the season.
This time, he was let down while leading by a lack of reliability in the Red Bull engine blew up on lap 46 of 55 to complete a miserable day for the Milton Keynes-based team after Webber's earlier accident.
The first ever Korean GP began behind the safety car due to rain described by Alonso as "the worst I have ever driven in".
Race director Charlie Whiting then suspended it for 45 minutes after just three laps. A further frustrating 13 laps behind the safety car followed before almost immediate drama as Webber spun off a soaked kerb, across the track and into Mercedes GP driver Nico Rosberg via a wall.
After another safety car break, Vettel looked set for a fourth victory of the campaign until Alonso dominated the latter stages of race.
First, he took back second place which he had lost in pits to Hamilton. Then, he closed the gap to Vettel who began to complain about the fading light as dusk fell.
It got worse for the German when his engine failed in spectacular fashion and Alonso eased home to continue a purple patch of form which began with his controversial win at Hockenheim in July.
Since then, the two-time champion has won in Italy, Singapore and now Korea. He was also in second place in Hungary and third in Japan when the Red Bulls dominated both qualifying and the race.
After the race in Suzuka, Webber looked in great shape to be the first Australian F1 world champions since Alan Jones for Williams in 1980.
But Alonso's experience of having won the title at Renault in 2005 and 2006 has started to tell in the second half of this season.
Now, as the most in-form driver - and having sensed Red Bull weakness and snatched the lead - it is Alonso's title to lose.
2010 Season Results
PODIUMSBahrain GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
3 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
Australian GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault
3 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
Malaysian GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
Chinese GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
Spanish GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
Monaco GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
3 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault
Turkish GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
Canadian GP (Pole: Lewis Hamilton)
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
European GP (Valencia) (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
British GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
German GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
Hungarian GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
Belgian GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
3 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault
Italian GP (Pole: Fernando Alonso)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
Singapore GP (Pole: Fernando Alonso)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
Japanese GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
Korean GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
REMAINING RACES
Brazilian GP (7 November), Abu Dhabi GP (14 November)
STANDINGS
Drivers' Championship
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 231 (5 wins)
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 220 (4 wins)
3 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 210 (3 wins)
4 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault 206 (3 wins)
5 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 189 (2 wins)
6 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 143
7 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 124
8 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes 122
9 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes 66
10 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams-Cosworth 47
11 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Mercedes 47
12 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) BMW Sauber-Ferrari 31
13 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India-Mercedes 21
14 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 19
15 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams-Cosworth 18
16 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 8
17 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) BMW Sauber-Ferrari 6
18 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber-Ferrari 6
19 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rossi-Ferrari 3
Seven drivers have yet to score (Heikki Kovalainen (Fin), Jarno Trulli (Ita), Bruno Senna (Bra), Lucas di Grassi (Bra), Karun Chandhok (Ind), Timo Glock (Ger), Sakon Yamamoto (Jpn), Christian Klein (Aut))
Constructors' Championship
1 Red Bull-Renault 426
2 McLaren-Mercedes 399
3 Ferrari 374
4 Mercedes 188
5 Renault 143
6 Force India-Mercedes 68
7 Williams-Cosworth 65
8 BMW Sauber-Ferrari 43
9 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 11
Three teams have yet to score (Lotus-Cosworth, Hispania-Cosworth, Virgin-Cosworth)
Monday, 13 September 2010
F1 2010: Alonso finds form as it gets even tighter at the top
FERNANDO ALONSO put the team orders controversy behind him by steering Ferrari to a first win at their home circuit in Monza for four years.
Spaniard Alonso finished ahead of Britain's Jenson Button and team-mate Felipe Massa of Brazil in the Italian Grand Prix to complete an excellent week for the Italian team.
Earlier last week, the FIA confirmed they would face no further punishment despite Massa being forced to let Alonso through to win the German Grand Prix earlier this summer.
The governing body agreed with Ferrari's assertion that Alonso had the faster car and that Massa was simply being made aware of this but it upheld the $100000 fine imposed by the race stewards.
In fairness, in the context of the championship chase, Ferrari's decision at Hockenheim was entirely understandable.
Going into that race, Alonso was on 98 points, within two race wins of championship leader Lewis Hamilton. Meanwhile, Massa was just eighth in the standings on 67 points.
But the rather bitter after-taste from the incident came from Ferrari's sheepish insistence that the blatant team order was Massa's choice.
The rather crass apology from Ferrari race engineer Rob Smedley to Massa, not to mention the Brazilian's reaction on the podium and in the post-race press conference, certainly suggested otherwise.
More poignantly still, this German Grand Prix was exactly one year on from the day when Massa almost lost his life in the qualifying session for the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Of course, it would be foolish to believe that supposedly banned team orders are not endemic throughout the sport.
Perhaps the best way to deal with this far from ideal situation would be for the rule on team orders to be scrapped altogether, the solution seemingly currently favoured by the FIA.
But, regardless of all that, it would be a crying shame if an isolated racing incident was to overshadow what has been yet another phenomenal F1 season.
Alonso's win at Monza puts him third in the Drivers' Championship on 166 points, 21 behind current leader Mark Webber. Fascinatingly, four drivers are within 24 points of the Australian with 25 awarded for a race win.
It is therefore nigh on impossible to predict who will ultimately prevail this year with none of the drivers able to put more than a couple of results together at the moment.
Lewis Hamilton lost the championship lead in Italy after an early retirement, his second in three races - but, in the meantime, he was a clear winner of the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa.
Hamilton is five points behind leader Webber who finds himself looking down on all the others despite having finished only sixth in Italy.
Alonso seems to be the driver in the best current form with two wins and a second place in three of the last four races. But his struggle in the rain and then retirement at Spa could yet prove costly.
Like Alonso, Button also retired in the Belgium after Sebastian Vettel crashed into him before the Frome flyer bounced back with a fine result in Italy.
Unlike Alonso, Button's has his team-mate is ahead of him in the standings.
Being behind is a fate which also befalls Webber's Red Bull team mate Vettel, though goodness knows how that is the the case considering the German has had seven pole positions.
Only once - at the European Grand Prix in Valencia - has Vettel converted a pole into a race win with his only other victory this season coming in Malaysia when Webber was on pole.
It means Vettel has the most work to do and his 15th place finish at Spa, due to his crash into Button and the subsequent drive-through penalty, neatly summed up an error-strewn season.
Indeed, it was Vettel's second penalty in successive races after his failure to stay within 10 car-lengths of the safety car in Hungary.
The punishment in Budapest had been costly for Vettel, demoting him to third place and effectively handing his team-mate Webber the most recent of his four wins - and his current place at the top of the standings.
With five races left, the remainder of the season is spent entirely outside of Europe. First, there are three races in east Asia - in Singapore and in Japan and the first-ever Korean Grand Prix.
Then, the campaign will reach its thrilling climax with races in successive weeks at the start of November in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.
After Ferrari's unsurprising dominance in Monza, the remaining tracks are supposed to favour the Red Bulls of Webber and Vettel.
The news would seem to put Webber in an outstanding position to win a maiden world title.
But surely this extraordinary F1 season will not allow it to be as simple as that.
Spaniard Alonso finished ahead of Britain's Jenson Button and team-mate Felipe Massa of Brazil in the Italian Grand Prix to complete an excellent week for the Italian team.
Earlier last week, the FIA confirmed they would face no further punishment despite Massa being forced to let Alonso through to win the German Grand Prix earlier this summer.
The governing body agreed with Ferrari's assertion that Alonso had the faster car and that Massa was simply being made aware of this but it upheld the $100000 fine imposed by the race stewards.
In fairness, in the context of the championship chase, Ferrari's decision at Hockenheim was entirely understandable.
Going into that race, Alonso was on 98 points, within two race wins of championship leader Lewis Hamilton. Meanwhile, Massa was just eighth in the standings on 67 points.
But the rather bitter after-taste from the incident came from Ferrari's sheepish insistence that the blatant team order was Massa's choice.
The rather crass apology from Ferrari race engineer Rob Smedley to Massa, not to mention the Brazilian's reaction on the podium and in the post-race press conference, certainly suggested otherwise.
More poignantly still, this German Grand Prix was exactly one year on from the day when Massa almost lost his life in the qualifying session for the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Of course, it would be foolish to believe that supposedly banned team orders are not endemic throughout the sport.
Perhaps the best way to deal with this far from ideal situation would be for the rule on team orders to be scrapped altogether, the solution seemingly currently favoured by the FIA.
But, regardless of all that, it would be a crying shame if an isolated racing incident was to overshadow what has been yet another phenomenal F1 season.
Alonso's win at Monza puts him third in the Drivers' Championship on 166 points, 21 behind current leader Mark Webber. Fascinatingly, four drivers are within 24 points of the Australian with 25 awarded for a race win.
It is therefore nigh on impossible to predict who will ultimately prevail this year with none of the drivers able to put more than a couple of results together at the moment.
Lewis Hamilton lost the championship lead in Italy after an early retirement, his second in three races - but, in the meantime, he was a clear winner of the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa.
Hamilton is five points behind leader Webber who finds himself looking down on all the others despite having finished only sixth in Italy.
Alonso seems to be the driver in the best current form with two wins and a second place in three of the last four races. But his struggle in the rain and then retirement at Spa could yet prove costly.
Like Alonso, Button also retired in the Belgium after Sebastian Vettel crashed into him before the Frome flyer bounced back with a fine result in Italy.
Unlike Alonso, Button's has his team-mate is ahead of him in the standings.
Being behind is a fate which also befalls Webber's Red Bull team mate Vettel, though goodness knows how that is the the case considering the German has had seven pole positions.
Only once - at the European Grand Prix in Valencia - has Vettel converted a pole into a race win with his only other victory this season coming in Malaysia when Webber was on pole.
It means Vettel has the most work to do and his 15th place finish at Spa, due to his crash into Button and the subsequent drive-through penalty, neatly summed up an error-strewn season.
Indeed, it was Vettel's second penalty in successive races after his failure to stay within 10 car-lengths of the safety car in Hungary.
The punishment in Budapest had been costly for Vettel, demoting him to third place and effectively handing his team-mate Webber the most recent of his four wins - and his current place at the top of the standings.
With five races left, the remainder of the season is spent entirely outside of Europe. First, there are three races in east Asia - in Singapore and in Japan and the first-ever Korean Grand Prix.
Then, the campaign will reach its thrilling climax with races in successive weeks at the start of November in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.
After Ferrari's unsurprising dominance in Monza, the remaining tracks are supposed to favour the Red Bulls of Webber and Vettel.
The news would seem to put Webber in an outstanding position to win a maiden world title.
But surely this extraordinary F1 season will not allow it to be as simple as that.
2010 Season Results
PODIUMS
Bahrain GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
3 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
Australian GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault
3 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
Malaysian GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
Chinese GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
Spanish GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
Monaco GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
3 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault
Turkish GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
Canadian GP (Pole: Lewis Hamilton)
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
European GP (Valencia) (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
British GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
German GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
Hungarian GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
Belgian GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
3 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault
Italian GP (Pole: Fernando Alonso)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
REMAINING RACES
Bahrain GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
3 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
Australian GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault
3 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
Malaysian GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
Chinese GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
Spanish GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
Monaco GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
3 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault
Turkish GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
Canadian GP (Pole: Lewis Hamilton)
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
European GP (Valencia) (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
British GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
German GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
Hungarian GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
Belgian GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
3 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault
Italian GP (Pole: Fernando Alonso)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
REMAINING RACES
Singapore GP (26 September), Japanese GP (10 October), Korean GP (24 October), Brazilian GP (7 November), Abu Dhabi GP (14 November)
STANDINGS
Drivers' Championship
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 187 (4 wins)
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 182 (3 wins)
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 166 (3 wins)
4 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 165 (2 wins)
5 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault 163 (2 wins)
6 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 124
7 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes 112
8 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 108
9 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes 46
10 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Mercedes 45
11 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams-Cosworth 31
12 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) BMW Sauber-Ferrari 21
13 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 19
14 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams-Cosworth 16
15 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India-Mercedes 13
16 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 7
17 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) BMW Sauber-Ferrari 6
18 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rossi-Ferrari 3
Seven drivers have yet to score (Heikki Kovalainen (Fin), Karun Chandhok (Ind), Lucas di Grassi (Bra), Jarno Trulli (Ita), Bruno Senna (Bra), Sakon Yamamoto (Jpn), Timo Glock (Ger))
Constructors' Championship
1 Red Bull-Renault 350
2 McLaren-Mercedes 347
3 Ferrari 290
4 Mercedes 158
5 Renault 127
6 Force India-Mercedes 58
7 Williams-Cosworth 47
8 BMW Sauber-Ferrari 27
9 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 10
Three teams have yet to score (Lotus-Cosworth, Hispania-Cosworth, Virgin-Cosworth)
Earlier F1 2010 posts on TheIntrepidReporter
14.07.2010 Angry Webber repels Vettel (after British GP)
19.04.2010 Button takes an early lead (after Chinese GP)
13.03.2010 Team-by-team preview
STANDINGS
Drivers' Championship
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 187 (4 wins)
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 182 (3 wins)
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 166 (3 wins)
4 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 165 (2 wins)
5 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault 163 (2 wins)
6 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 124
7 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes 112
8 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 108
9 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes 46
10 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Mercedes 45
11 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams-Cosworth 31
12 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) BMW Sauber-Ferrari 21
13 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 19
14 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams-Cosworth 16
15 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India-Mercedes 13
16 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 7
17 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) BMW Sauber-Ferrari 6
18 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rossi-Ferrari 3
Seven drivers have yet to score (Heikki Kovalainen (Fin), Karun Chandhok (Ind), Lucas di Grassi (Bra), Jarno Trulli (Ita), Bruno Senna (Bra), Sakon Yamamoto (Jpn), Timo Glock (Ger))
Constructors' Championship
1 Red Bull-Renault 350
2 McLaren-Mercedes 347
3 Ferrari 290
4 Mercedes 158
5 Renault 127
6 Force India-Mercedes 58
7 Williams-Cosworth 47
8 BMW Sauber-Ferrari 27
9 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 10
Three teams have yet to score (Lotus-Cosworth, Hispania-Cosworth, Virgin-Cosworth)
Earlier F1 2010 posts on TheIntrepidReporter
14.07.2010 Angry Webber repels Vettel (after British GP)
19.04.2010 Button takes an early lead (after Chinese GP)
13.03.2010 Team-by-team preview
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
F1 2010: Angry Webber repels Vettel to put pressure on McLaren pair
FURIOUS Mark Webber overcame Red Bull Racing's controversial decision to give his team mate Sebastian Vettel a new front wing by winning the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Webber finished ahead of championship leader Lewis Hamilton with Nico Rosberg in third and Jenson Button in fourth despite Red Bull's decision to favour Vettel.
Vettel damaged his new front wing in final practice but he inherited the one from Webber's car before narrowly out-qualifying his Australian team mate in another Red Bull front-row.
But Webber, using an old front wing, beat Vettel to the first corner and gave no quarter as Vettel ran out of track.
Vettel then received a puncture to his right rear tyre after contact with Hamilton and this effectively ended any chance of the German making it back-to-back victories at Silverstone.
Having emerged from the opening lap in the lead, Webber was able to use Red Bull's superior pace to pull away from Hamilton for a comfortable - and highly satisfying - win.
As he took the chequered flag, Webber made his feelings clear over the team radio. His words - "not bad for a number two driver" - were dripping with injustice of it all as the Red Bull 'civil war' became public.
Webber later referred to his victory as "an appointment with karma" and he now moves above Vettel into third place in the Drivers' Championship behind McLaren pair Hamilton and Button.
Hopes for a British victory at Silverstone faded away in Saturday's qualifying session as McLaren's new exhaust unbalanced the car and left Hamilton in fourth and Button in 14th.
But both Britons made excellent starts to finish the race in second and fourth. Hamilton got past Fernando Alonso before the first corner then accidentally inflicted Vettel with a puncture.
Meanwhile, Button was up six places to eighth by the end of the opening lap and his fourth place keep him just behind Hamilton in the overall standings.
The season passed the halfway mark at Silverstone and 2008 champion Hamilton leads the way with 145 points with Button on 133, Webber on 128 and Vettel on 121.
Two-time champion Alonso is fifth but now lags somewhat behind on 98 points after Ferrari suffered another miserable race day.
Alonso had qualified in third to increase the chances of a first Ferrari win at Silverstone since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007.
However, the Spaniard collided inadvertently with team mate Felipe Massa and, by the time the race settled down, not only was Hamilton ahead of him but also Mercedes' Nico Rosberg and Renault's Robert Kubica.
The clash caused Massa to receive a puncture which ended his interest of a competitive finish and left the Brazilian without a points finish for a third race in a row.
Alonso then fell foul of the race stewards having overtaken Kubica illegally on lap 19.
But his punishment - a drive-through penalty - was especially harsh as it was given after Kubica had retired and, worse, just as the safety car came out.
That dropped Alonso towards the back of the field and left him with an almighty task even just to score some minor points.
After five laps of struggling behind Force India's Vitantonio Liuizzi, Alonso finally made his move to pass the Italian but his haste cost him a puncture and he finished 14th.
By the time the safety car came out, Vettel had made his way through the field and was 12th. At the resumption, the German easily picked off Jaime Alguersuari, Vitaly Petrov and fellow German Nico Hulkenberg to move into ninth.
Then came more difficult resistance from his other fellow countrymen Michael Schumacher and Adrian Sutil but they were powerless to stop Vettel making the best of a bad day to finish seventh.
But far too often this season have the Red Bull drivers had to scrap around for points when they clearly have the fastest car on the circuit and simmering tensions between team mates have hardly helped.
Of course, the rivalry between Webber and Vettel was brought to a head earlier in the season at the Turkish Grand Prix at the end of May.
Webber qualified on pole and was on for a hat-trick of wins after successes in Spain and Monaco and, during the race in Turkey, he led Vettel in what looked like being a magnificent third 1-2 for Red Bull.
However, half way through the race, Vettel's pace picked up and he closed right up to Webber before attempting an overtaking manoeuvre on lap 39.
Webber adopted a defensive line but Vettel continued to pursue space that just was not there.
Needless to say, it went horribly wrong for the pair and their collision dropped Webber to third and put Vettel out of the race altogether.
As if it could not get any worse for Red Bull, the two cars to benefit from the incident were those of Hamilton and Button who managed to complete their own 1-2 instead.
Hamilton then replaced Webber as the form driver, becoming the first non-Red Bull of the season on pole in Canada.
On race day, Hamilton won again and McLaren completed their second successive 1-2 but only after an eventful afternoon in Montreal in which Hamilton overhauled Webber courtesy of a superior tyre strategy.
Two weeks later at the European Grand Prix in Valencia, Vettel revived Red Bull's dominance as he recorded his first pole position in five races.
Vettel won the race easily but Webber failed to finish after a dramatic crash into the back of Heikki Kovalainen on lap eight.
The collision, at 190 mph, caused Webber's Red Bull to flip upside down in mid-air before bouncing down into the side-barriers.
It is truly a testament of the design of modern Formula 1 cars that the Aussie survived with nothing more than a few minor injuries.
But his retirement and Vettel's victory in Valencia clearly influenced Red Bull strategy at Silverstone with clear favouritism towards the German.
Now Webber has hit back and this four-horse race for the title looks set to stay close during the second half of a fascinating season.
Red Bull still have the faster car but there remain doubts whether their drivers can stop bickering for long enough to overhaul the lead of the McLarens.
EARLIER F1 2010 REPORTS
19 Apr 2010 Button takes an early lead (after Chinese GP)
13 Mar 2010 Team-by-team preview
2010 Season Results
PODIUMS
Bahrain GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
3 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
Australian GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault
3 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
Malaysian GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
Chinese GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
Spanish GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
Monaco GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
3 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault
Turkish GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
Canadian GP (Pole: Lewis Hamilton)
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
European GP (Valencia) (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
British GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
Remaining races: German GP (25 July), Hungarian GP (1 August), Belgian GP (29 August), Italian GP (12 September), Singapore GP (26 September), Japanese GP (10 October), Korean GP (24 October), Brazilian GP (7 November), Abu Dhabi GP (14 November)
STANDINGS
Drivers' Championship
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 145 (2 wins)
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 133 (2 wins)
3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 128 (3 wins)
4 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault 121 (2 wins)
5 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 98 (1 win)
6 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes 90
7 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 83
8 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 67
9 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes 36
10 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Mercedes 35
11 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams-Cosworth 29
12 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) BMW Sauber-Ferrari 15
13 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India-Mercedes 12
14 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 7
15 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 6
16 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rossi-Ferrari 3
17 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams-Cosworth 2
Eight drivers have yet to score
Constructors' Championship
1 McLaren-Mercedes 278
2 Red Bull-Renault 249
3 Ferrari 165
4 Mercedes 126
5 Renault 89
6 Force India-Mercedes 47
7 Williams-Cosworth 31
8 BMW Sauber-Ferrari 15
9 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 10
Three teams have yet to score
Webber finished ahead of championship leader Lewis Hamilton with Nico Rosberg in third and Jenson Button in fourth despite Red Bull's decision to favour Vettel.
Vettel damaged his new front wing in final practice but he inherited the one from Webber's car before narrowly out-qualifying his Australian team mate in another Red Bull front-row.
But Webber, using an old front wing, beat Vettel to the first corner and gave no quarter as Vettel ran out of track.
Vettel then received a puncture to his right rear tyre after contact with Hamilton and this effectively ended any chance of the German making it back-to-back victories at Silverstone.
Having emerged from the opening lap in the lead, Webber was able to use Red Bull's superior pace to pull away from Hamilton for a comfortable - and highly satisfying - win.
As he took the chequered flag, Webber made his feelings clear over the team radio. His words - "not bad for a number two driver" - were dripping with injustice of it all as the Red Bull 'civil war' became public.
Webber later referred to his victory as "an appointment with karma" and he now moves above Vettel into third place in the Drivers' Championship behind McLaren pair Hamilton and Button.
Hopes for a British victory at Silverstone faded away in Saturday's qualifying session as McLaren's new exhaust unbalanced the car and left Hamilton in fourth and Button in 14th.
But both Britons made excellent starts to finish the race in second and fourth. Hamilton got past Fernando Alonso before the first corner then accidentally inflicted Vettel with a puncture.
Meanwhile, Button was up six places to eighth by the end of the opening lap and his fourth place keep him just behind Hamilton in the overall standings.
The season passed the halfway mark at Silverstone and 2008 champion Hamilton leads the way with 145 points with Button on 133, Webber on 128 and Vettel on 121.
Two-time champion Alonso is fifth but now lags somewhat behind on 98 points after Ferrari suffered another miserable race day.
Alonso had qualified in third to increase the chances of a first Ferrari win at Silverstone since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007.
However, the Spaniard collided inadvertently with team mate Felipe Massa and, by the time the race settled down, not only was Hamilton ahead of him but also Mercedes' Nico Rosberg and Renault's Robert Kubica.
The clash caused Massa to receive a puncture which ended his interest of a competitive finish and left the Brazilian without a points finish for a third race in a row.
Alonso then fell foul of the race stewards having overtaken Kubica illegally on lap 19.
But his punishment - a drive-through penalty - was especially harsh as it was given after Kubica had retired and, worse, just as the safety car came out.
That dropped Alonso towards the back of the field and left him with an almighty task even just to score some minor points.
After five laps of struggling behind Force India's Vitantonio Liuizzi, Alonso finally made his move to pass the Italian but his haste cost him a puncture and he finished 14th.
By the time the safety car came out, Vettel had made his way through the field and was 12th. At the resumption, the German easily picked off Jaime Alguersuari, Vitaly Petrov and fellow German Nico Hulkenberg to move into ninth.
Then came more difficult resistance from his other fellow countrymen Michael Schumacher and Adrian Sutil but they were powerless to stop Vettel making the best of a bad day to finish seventh.
But far too often this season have the Red Bull drivers had to scrap around for points when they clearly have the fastest car on the circuit and simmering tensions between team mates have hardly helped.
Of course, the rivalry between Webber and Vettel was brought to a head earlier in the season at the Turkish Grand Prix at the end of May.
Webber qualified on pole and was on for a hat-trick of wins after successes in Spain and Monaco and, during the race in Turkey, he led Vettel in what looked like being a magnificent third 1-2 for Red Bull.
However, half way through the race, Vettel's pace picked up and he closed right up to Webber before attempting an overtaking manoeuvre on lap 39.
Webber adopted a defensive line but Vettel continued to pursue space that just was not there.
Needless to say, it went horribly wrong for the pair and their collision dropped Webber to third and put Vettel out of the race altogether.
As if it could not get any worse for Red Bull, the two cars to benefit from the incident were those of Hamilton and Button who managed to complete their own 1-2 instead.
Hamilton then replaced Webber as the form driver, becoming the first non-Red Bull of the season on pole in Canada.
On race day, Hamilton won again and McLaren completed their second successive 1-2 but only after an eventful afternoon in Montreal in which Hamilton overhauled Webber courtesy of a superior tyre strategy.
Two weeks later at the European Grand Prix in Valencia, Vettel revived Red Bull's dominance as he recorded his first pole position in five races.
Vettel won the race easily but Webber failed to finish after a dramatic crash into the back of Heikki Kovalainen on lap eight.
The collision, at 190 mph, caused Webber's Red Bull to flip upside down in mid-air before bouncing down into the side-barriers.
It is truly a testament of the design of modern Formula 1 cars that the Aussie survived with nothing more than a few minor injuries.
But his retirement and Vettel's victory in Valencia clearly influenced Red Bull strategy at Silverstone with clear favouritism towards the German.
Now Webber has hit back and this four-horse race for the title looks set to stay close during the second half of a fascinating season.
Red Bull still have the faster car but there remain doubts whether their drivers can stop bickering for long enough to overhaul the lead of the McLarens.
EARLIER F1 2010 REPORTS
19 Apr 2010 Button takes an early lead (after Chinese GP)
13 Mar 2010 Team-by-team preview
2010 Season Results
PODIUMS
Bahrain GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
3 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
Australian GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault
3 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
Malaysian GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
Chinese GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
Spanish GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
Monaco GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
3 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault
Turkish GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
Canadian GP (Pole: Lewis Hamilton)
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
European GP (Valencia) (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
British GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
Remaining races: German GP (25 July), Hungarian GP (1 August), Belgian GP (29 August), Italian GP (12 September), Singapore GP (26 September), Japanese GP (10 October), Korean GP (24 October), Brazilian GP (7 November), Abu Dhabi GP (14 November)
STANDINGS
Drivers' Championship
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 145 (2 wins)
2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 133 (2 wins)
3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 128 (3 wins)
4 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault 121 (2 wins)
5 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 98 (1 win)
6 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes 90
7 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 83
8 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 67
9 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes 36
10 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Mercedes 35
11 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams-Cosworth 29
12 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) BMW Sauber-Ferrari 15
13 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India-Mercedes 12
14 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 7
15 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 6
16 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rossi-Ferrari 3
17 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams-Cosworth 2
Eight drivers have yet to score
Constructors' Championship
1 McLaren-Mercedes 278
2 Red Bull-Renault 249
3 Ferrari 165
4 Mercedes 126
5 Renault 89
6 Force India-Mercedes 47
7 Williams-Cosworth 31
8 BMW Sauber-Ferrari 15
9 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 10
Three teams have yet to score
Monday, 19 April 2010
F1 2010: Button takes an early lead
DEFENDING champion Jenson Button heads the standings after the opening four races of an already fascinating F1 season.
Wins in Australia and China have helped McLaren driver Button to 60 points. He is 10 clear of Mercedes' Nico Rosberg, and 11 clear of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and team mate Lewis Hamilton.
Sebastian Vettel lies fifth in the standing on 45 points but the German really would be doing better than that if his Red Bull was more reliable.
Vettel has qualified in pole position in three of the four races so far, and the only time he missed out - in Malaysia - team mate Mark Webber took the honours.
But, except for an excellent 1-2 in Malaysia, it has been a feature of the season that the Red Bulls have failed to turn strong positions into more points.
The season had an inauspicious start in Bahrain which, not for the first time, produced a dreadfully drab race. It was won eventually by Alonso in a Ferrari 1-2 after a surprise twist.
Bahrain was definitely a race that Vettel should have won and the German led from the start and looked set for a comfortable win.
But a spark plug failure hampered him midway through the race, and Alonso and his team mate Felipe Massa passed the Red Bull driver with ease.
Vettel eventually finished fourth, behind 2008 champions Lewis Hamilton, but holding off Mercedes pair Rosberg and returning seven-time champion Michael Schumacher in fifth and sixth.
That sixth place represents Schumacher's best result of the season and the excitement generated in the build-up to his comeback has so far not been matched on the track.
At least, F1 recovered from the slow start in Bahrain with a typically dramatic Australian GP around Melbourne's Albert Park.
The scene of Button’s first win in his championship season last year returned more happy memories for him this year.
With rain falling, Button crucially opted for slick tyres in an early tactical pit stop.
His decision to pit was vindicated as he scythed through the field and into second place behind Vettel who had qualified on pole.
Red Bull’s Vettel had once again controlled the early stages of the race, having stayed out of trouble.
But, again his challenge ended prematurely as he suffered brake failure and slid off into the gravel on lap 26
As a result, Button gained a precious lead and, with a clear track ahead, he was able to build a clear gap ahead of Renault’s Robert Kubica and Ferrari pair Massa and Alonso.
Alonso’s fourth-place finish was a major feat after the Spaniard fell to the back of the grid following contact with Button but the glory was with the Briton.
In Malaysia, Red Bull finally delivered. This time, it was Vettel’s Australian team mate Webber who provided the pole position.
But, at the very first corner, Vettel forged ahead before both cars cruised to the chequered flag.
The Red Bulls were aided by strategic errors by McLaren and Ferrari who misjudged the wet weather in qualifying, leaving Button, Hamilton Alonso and Massa well down the grid.
The race proved to be just as frustrating for the quartet who all had their problems.
Alonso suffered a broken clutch and eventually retired on lap 54, while Hamilton and Massa could not find a way past Force India's Adrian Sutil. Button struggled with his tyres to eighth place.
But Button's disappointment and Red Bull's delight were short-lived as the Briton hit the top of the standings for the first time this season with victory in a tough race in China.
He described the win as his best yet and it will have been even sweeter that he finished just ahead of team mate Hamilton.
There were many who doubted the wisdom of Button's move to McLaren where Hamilton was recognised as the team's number one last season.
But Button has more than held his own in the early stages of this year and again he made the better tyre choice in another unpredictable wet race.
Over the course of the most dramatic race so far in 2010, he made two pit stops, as compared to Hamilton's four.
Indeed most of the field pitted twice early on to change to intermediate and then slick tyres.
Button had already chosen slicks and, along with Kubica and Rosberg, he secured a commanding early advantage.
In the second half of the race, Hamilton, Alonso and Vettel tore through the field to finish among the leading drivers while Russian Vitaly Petrov gained a credible seventh in his Renault.
Webber, who had started on the front row, eventually had to settle for eighth ahead of Ferrari's Massa and Mercedes' Schumacher who disappointed once again.
The F1 circuit takes a three week break before moving to Europe for three races in May, including the Monaco GP on 16 May - volcano ash clouds permitting, of course.
PODIUMS
Bahrain GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
3 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
Australian GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault
3 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
Malaysian GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP
Chinese GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP
STANDINGS
Drivers' Championship
1 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 60 (2 wins)
2 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 50
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 49 (1 win)
4 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 49
5 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault 45 (1 win)
6 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 41
7 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 40
8 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 28
9 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Mercedes 10
9 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes 10
11 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India-Mercedes 8
12 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 6
13 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams-Cosworth 5
14 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2
15 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams-Cosworth 1
Nine drivers have yet to score
Constructors' Championship
1 McLaren-Mercedes 109
2 Ferrari 90
3 Red Bull-Renault 73
4 Mercedes GP 60
5 Renault 46
6 Force India-Mercedes 18
7 Williams-Cosworth 6
8 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2
Four teams have yet to score
Wins in Australia and China have helped McLaren driver Button to 60 points. He is 10 clear of Mercedes' Nico Rosberg, and 11 clear of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and team mate Lewis Hamilton.
Sebastian Vettel lies fifth in the standing on 45 points but the German really would be doing better than that if his Red Bull was more reliable.
Vettel has qualified in pole position in three of the four races so far, and the only time he missed out - in Malaysia - team mate Mark Webber took the honours.
But, except for an excellent 1-2 in Malaysia, it has been a feature of the season that the Red Bulls have failed to turn strong positions into more points.
The season had an inauspicious start in Bahrain which, not for the first time, produced a dreadfully drab race. It was won eventually by Alonso in a Ferrari 1-2 after a surprise twist.
Bahrain was definitely a race that Vettel should have won and the German led from the start and looked set for a comfortable win.
But a spark plug failure hampered him midway through the race, and Alonso and his team mate Felipe Massa passed the Red Bull driver with ease.
Vettel eventually finished fourth, behind 2008 champions Lewis Hamilton, but holding off Mercedes pair Rosberg and returning seven-time champion Michael Schumacher in fifth and sixth.
That sixth place represents Schumacher's best result of the season and the excitement generated in the build-up to his comeback has so far not been matched on the track.
At least, F1 recovered from the slow start in Bahrain with a typically dramatic Australian GP around Melbourne's Albert Park.
The scene of Button’s first win in his championship season last year returned more happy memories for him this year.
With rain falling, Button crucially opted for slick tyres in an early tactical pit stop.
His decision to pit was vindicated as he scythed through the field and into second place behind Vettel who had qualified on pole.
Red Bull’s Vettel had once again controlled the early stages of the race, having stayed out of trouble.
But, again his challenge ended prematurely as he suffered brake failure and slid off into the gravel on lap 26
As a result, Button gained a precious lead and, with a clear track ahead, he was able to build a clear gap ahead of Renault’s Robert Kubica and Ferrari pair Massa and Alonso.
Alonso’s fourth-place finish was a major feat after the Spaniard fell to the back of the grid following contact with Button but the glory was with the Briton.
In Malaysia, Red Bull finally delivered. This time, it was Vettel’s Australian team mate Webber who provided the pole position.
But, at the very first corner, Vettel forged ahead before both cars cruised to the chequered flag.
The Red Bulls were aided by strategic errors by McLaren and Ferrari who misjudged the wet weather in qualifying, leaving Button, Hamilton Alonso and Massa well down the grid.
The race proved to be just as frustrating for the quartet who all had their problems.
Alonso suffered a broken clutch and eventually retired on lap 54, while Hamilton and Massa could not find a way past Force India's Adrian Sutil. Button struggled with his tyres to eighth place.
But Button's disappointment and Red Bull's delight were short-lived as the Briton hit the top of the standings for the first time this season with victory in a tough race in China.
He described the win as his best yet and it will have been even sweeter that he finished just ahead of team mate Hamilton.
There were many who doubted the wisdom of Button's move to McLaren where Hamilton was recognised as the team's number one last season.
But Button has more than held his own in the early stages of this year and again he made the better tyre choice in another unpredictable wet race.
Over the course of the most dramatic race so far in 2010, he made two pit stops, as compared to Hamilton's four.
Indeed most of the field pitted twice early on to change to intermediate and then slick tyres.
Button had already chosen slicks and, along with Kubica and Rosberg, he secured a commanding early advantage.
In the second half of the race, Hamilton, Alonso and Vettel tore through the field to finish among the leading drivers while Russian Vitaly Petrov gained a credible seventh in his Renault.
Webber, who had started on the front row, eventually had to settle for eighth ahead of Ferrari's Massa and Mercedes' Schumacher who disappointed once again.
The F1 circuit takes a three week break before moving to Europe for three races in May, including the Monaco GP on 16 May - volcano ash clouds permitting, of course.
PODIUMS
Bahrain GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari
2 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
3 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
Australian GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault
3 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari
Malaysian GP (Pole: Mark Webber)
1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault
2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP
Chinese GP (Pole: Sebastian Vettel)
1 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP
STANDINGS
Drivers' Championship
1 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 60 (2 wins)
2 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 50
3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 49 (1 win)
4 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren-Mercedes 49
5 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault 45 (1 win)
6 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 41
7 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 40
8 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 28
9 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Mercedes 10
9 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes 10
11 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India-Mercedes 8
12 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 6
13 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams-Cosworth 5
14 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2
15 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams-Cosworth 1
Nine drivers have yet to score
Constructors' Championship
1 McLaren-Mercedes 109
2 Ferrari 90
3 Red Bull-Renault 73
4 Mercedes GP 60
5 Renault 46
6 Force India-Mercedes 18
7 Williams-Cosworth 6
8 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2
Four teams have yet to score
Saturday, 13 March 2010
F1 2010: Team-by-team preview
FORMULA ONE is back - and it's bigger and better with 12 teams and 24 drivers on the starting grid for the first time since 1995 and 19 races for the first time since 2005.
The return of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher has dominated the headlines in the off-season.
But the German's track comeback with Mercedes is just one of a myriad of sub-plots which make this F1 season the most eagerly awaited in years.
British pair Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, who have shared the last two world championships between them, will compete together at McLaren.
Meanwhile, two-times winner Fernando Alonso finally got his dream move to Ferrari who will be desperate to make up for their struggles in 2009.
There are five debutants among the 24 drivers with the Senna name back in F1 for the first time since Ayrton's untimely death at Imola, 16 years ago. Nephew Bruno will race for the new Hispania Racing team.
The main rule changes have seen refuelling during the race abolished and a new points system intended to get drivers to go for the win.
Twenty-five points will be awarded for a race win, with 18 for second and 15 for third, 12 for fourth, 10 for fifth and then eight, six, four, two and one for drivers finishing between sixth and 10th.
MCLAREN
World champion Jenson Button has made the risky move to McLaren where 2008 winner Lewis Hamilton is already established as the number one driver. Button will aim to displace his compatriot but he may find this difficult as Hamilton is widely regarded as one of the fastest qualifiers on the circuit.
Button won the world championship last year for Brawn GP with a stunning six wins in the first seven races as traditional big-hitters Ferrari and McLaren lagged behind in the development of their cars.
But, once McLaren finally produced a race-worthy machine, it was no surprise to see Hamilton's form pick back up and it seems unlikely that Button will enjoy another early advantage this time around.
Jenson Button
F1 career: Races 172, Wins 7, Pole 7, Points 327 (1 Championship)
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 6, Pole 4, Points 95, Pos: Champion
Lewis Hamilton
F1 career: Races 52, Wins 11, Pole 17, Points 256 (1 Championship)
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 2, Pole 4, Points 49, Pos: 5th
MERCEDES
Having just about scrambled a team together in time last winter, Brawn GP then did the unthinkable and won the drivers' and constructors' championships.
Jenson Button has now moved on to McLaren - and there were changes at the top of Brawn GP too as Mercedes-Benz and Aaber Investments bought a 75.1% stake and renamed the team.
Nico Rosberg was announced as the team's first driver shortly after the buyout with Rubens Barrichello having moved the opposite way to Williams.
But the biggest news in F1 came two days before Christmas as seven-time champion Michael Schumacher joined the team to complete an all-German line-up.
Schumacher has made it clear that he has not returned just to mix it up with the back markers but he shouldn't worry - the Merc engineers and the technical expertise of Ross Brawn, with whom he won all those world crowns, will ensure his comeback is competitive.
Michael Schumacher
F1 career: Races 250, Wins 91, Pole 68, Points 1369 (7 Championships)
2009 F1 Season: N/A
Nico Rosberg
F1 career: Races 70, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 75.5
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 34.5, Pos: 7th
RED BULL
Of all the expected front-runners, Red Bull is the only team to keep faith with its driver line-up from 2009.
That decision comes as no surprise after the excellent performances from Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber last season saw them both finish in the top four. Along the way, Vettel and Webber gave their Austrian team three 1-2s - in China, Germany and Abu Dhabi.
At 33, Webber is unlikely at his age to improve any further but, given a few more years, 22-year-old Sebastian Vettel has the look of a future world champion in the making.
Sebastian Vettel
F1 career: Races 43, Wins 5, Pole 5, Points 125
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 4, Pole 4, Points 84, Pos: 2nd
Mark Webber
F1 career: Races 140, Wins 2, Pole 1, Points 169.5
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 2, Pole 1, Points 69.5, Pos: 4th
FERRARI
Ferrari endured their worst ever start to an F1 season in a nightmare 2009 which Felipe Massa was simply glad to have survived. The team failed to score in any of the first three races before Kimi Raikonnen picked up points in sixth in the fourth race at Bahrain.
In the second half of the season, matters improved slightly and Raikonnen won the Belgian GP but Ferrari struggled to provide any back-up for the Finn after Massa's freak accident in qualifying for the Hungarian GP.
Thankfully, Massa has made a full recovery but the Brazilian will face a tough new challenge from Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard finally got his dream move to Ferrari after he was unable to repeat his world championship successes in a second spell at Renault.
The recent seasons of struggle will have made Alonso arguably the hungriest man on the grid and he should be aided by a Ferrari team also desperate to avoid another 2009.
Felipe Massa
F1 career: Races 116, Wins 11, Pole 15, Points 320
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 22, Pos: 11th
Fernando Alonso
F1 career: Races 140, Wins 21, Pole 18, Points 577 (2 Championships)
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 0, Pole 1, Points 26, Pos: 9th
WILLIAMS
A complete driver change for Williams with Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenburg in for Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima.
Williams have made a sound choice with Barrichello who is the fourth highest points scorer in F1 history despite never having won a world championship. The unlucky Brazilian has had to play second fiddle over the years to Michael Schumacher at Ferrari and then, again, to Jenson Button last season at Brawn GP.
But Barrichello often out-qualified and outshone eventual champ Button in the second part of last season and this is a belated chance for him to establish himself as a team's number one.
Former test driver Nico Hulkenburg will be looking to impress having graduated to a main seat after winning both the Formula 3 and GP2 series in the last two years.
Rubens Barrichello
F1 career: Races 288, Wins 11, Pole 14, Points 607
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 2, Pole 1, Points 77, Pos: 3rd
Nico Hulkenburg
F1 career: 2010 is debut season in F1
2009 F1 Season: N/A
RENAULT
The exits of fellow-manufacturers Toyota and BMW caused speculation that Renault would be the next team to leave F1 as the recession began to take effect.
The feeling that F1 was more trouble than its worth to Renault increased further after their shameful appearance before the courts for race-fixing. That episode ended with a suspended two-year ban for the team and a life-ban for then-managing director Flavio Briatore.
But, having sold their majority stake to a Luxembourg investment company, Renault remain in F1 for now.
They are a long way away from repeating the Fernando Alonso world championship years of 2005 and 2006, though, and they have the less than glamorous line-up of Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov who, nevertheless, becomes the first ever Russian F1 driver.
Robert Kubica
F1 career: Races 57, Wins 1, Pole 1, Points 137
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 17, Pos: 14th
Vitaly Petrov
F1 career: 2010 is debut season in F1
2009 F1 Season: N/A
FORCE INDIA
It is a big season for Force India who showed signs of getting it right in the latter part of last year, even going as far as earning their first pole position.
That came courtesy of Giancarlo Fisichella at the Belgian GP before the Italian was allowed to replace the injured Felipe Massa at Ferrari for the rest of the season.
Still, in his absence, Adrian Sutil did reasonably well and finished fourth in the Italian GP, having qualified in second. Much more will be expected from Sutil all season round, this time.
Fisichella's replacement Vitantonio Liuzzi was also running well at Monza when a gearbox failure forced him to retire and he was deemed to have done a good enough filling in job to gain a seat for this season.
Adrian Sutil
F1 career: Races 52, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 6
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 5, Pos: 17th
Vitantonio Liuzzi
F1 career: Races 44, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 5
2009 F1 Season: Races 5, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 0, Pos: 22nd
TORO ROSSO
Toro Rosso endured a tough 2009 season, finishing last in the constructors' championship, after failing to cope the pre-season loss of Sebastian Vettel to sister team Red Bull Racing.
The performances of Sebastien Bourdais, in particular, were heavily criticised and he crashed into team-mate Sebastien Buemi on the first lap of the Spanish GP, the Frenchman was replaced mid-season by 19-year-old Jaime Alguersuari.
Alguersuari failed to score a point in any of his eight races but, with youth on his side, he retains his seat alongside Buemi in a youthful team. Buemi improved in the latter part of last season to record points finishes in the final two races.
But the odd points finish here and there will be all that either of these two drivers can expect this season.
Sebastien Buemi
F1 career: Races 17, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 6
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 6, Pos: 16th
Jaime Alguersuari
F1 career: Races 8, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 0
2009 F1 Season: Races 8, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 0, Pos: 24th
LOTUS F1
Lotus F1 would like to remind everyone that Michael Schumacher is not the only famous name making a comeback this season.
Team Lotus raced in Formula One for 37 years until 1994, winning six drivers' championship and seven constructors' crowns, and the new team have been making a lot of positive noises with technical director Mike Gascoyne sounding particularly bullish.
An relatively experienced driver line-up will give Lotus the best chance of all the new entrants of making a few waves but a Brawn GP repeat would be an even bigger surprise than last year.
Jarno Trulli
F1 career: Races 219, Wins 1, Pole 4, Points 246.5
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 0, Pole 1, Points 32.5, Pos: 8th
Heikki Kovalainen
F1 career: Races 52, Wins 1, Pole 1, Points 105
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 22, Pos: 12th
HISPANIA RACING TEAM
While Lotus GP may have invested in experience, another new team Hispania Racing will be relying on beginner's luck.
The Spanish team are fielding two debutants Karun Chandhok - only the second Indian driver in F1 history after Narain Karthikeyan in 2005 - and Bruno Senna.
The return of the Senna name to F1, 16 years after Ayrton's death at Imola, has generated some excitement. But it will be interesting to see how long into the season that it lasts, if Chandhok and Senna struggle round in what looks like a rather slow car.
Karun Chandhok
F1 career: 2010 is debut season in F1
2009 F1 Season: N/A
Bruno Senna
F1 career: 2010 is debut season in F1
2009 F1 Season: N/A
BMW SAUBER
Sauber make an unexpected appearance on the grid after it looked as if their participation had ended. The FIA even went so far as to accept their resignation and put the Lotus F1 team in their place.
The chances of a Sauber appearance in 2010 looked even bleaker when a deal to put them on the track with investment company Qadbak fell through. But just a week later, BMW sold its 80% share to Peter Sauber and replaced Toyota who were definitely leaving.
Toyota's departure left Kamui Kobayashi without a seat despite an impressive sixth-placed finish in Abu Dhabi.
But Sauber snapped up the Japanese driver and have paired him with a more experienced man in Pedro de la Rosa who has spent the last six years testing at McLaren.
Of all the teams, Sauber will be glad that their rather chaotic winter is over and the real action can begin.
Pedro de la Rosa
F1 career: Races 72, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 29
2009 F1 Season: N/A
Kamui Kobayashi
F1 career: Races 2, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 3
2009 F1 Season: Races 2, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 3, Pos: 18th
VIRGIN RACING
Virgin supremo Richard Branson tested the water last season with his sponsorship of the successful Brawn GP team but, this year, the bearded billionaire has decided to grab a piece of the action with his own team.
Timo Glock has signed up having rejected Renault to guarantee himself number one driver status ahead of debutant Lucas di Grassi.
German Glock has proven to be a solid enough driver at Toyota while Brazilian di Grassi has featured at the right end of the track in the GP2 series for the last three years.
But Branson should not expect immediate results a la Brawn GP for, if he does, this adventure could be very short-lived.
Timo Glock
F1 career: Races 37, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 51
2009 F1 Season: Races 14, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 24, Pos: 10th
Lucas di Grassi
F1 career: 2010 is debut season in F1
2009 F1 Season: N/A
Race Calendar
The season begins in Bahrain tomorrow and finishes in Abu Dhabi on 14 November. The Monte Carlo GP is on 16 May and the British GP from Silverstone is on 11 July.
Canada returns to the calendar on 13 June after a one-year hiatus with the Korean GP from Yeongam making its F1 bow.
14 March Bahrain GP (Sakhir)
28 March Australian GP (Melbourne)
4 April Malaysian GP (Sepang)
18 April Chinese GP (Shanghai)
9 May Spanish GP (Barcelona)
16 May Monaco GP (Monte Carlo)
30 May Turkish GP (Istanbul)
13 June Canadian GP (Montreal)
27 June European GP (Valencia)
11 July British GP (Silverstone)
25 July German GP (Hockenheim)
1 August Hungarian GP (Budapest)
29 August Belgian GP (Spa)
12 September Italian GP (Monza)
26 September Singapore GP (Singapore)
10 October Japanese GP (Suzuka)
24 October Korean GP (Yeongam)
7 November Brazilian GP (Sao Paulo)
14 November Abu Dhabi GP (Yas Island)
The return of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher has dominated the headlines in the off-season.
But the German's track comeback with Mercedes is just one of a myriad of sub-plots which make this F1 season the most eagerly awaited in years.
British pair Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, who have shared the last two world championships between them, will compete together at McLaren.
Meanwhile, two-times winner Fernando Alonso finally got his dream move to Ferrari who will be desperate to make up for their struggles in 2009.
There are five debutants among the 24 drivers with the Senna name back in F1 for the first time since Ayrton's untimely death at Imola, 16 years ago. Nephew Bruno will race for the new Hispania Racing team.
The main rule changes have seen refuelling during the race abolished and a new points system intended to get drivers to go for the win.
Twenty-five points will be awarded for a race win, with 18 for second and 15 for third, 12 for fourth, 10 for fifth and then eight, six, four, two and one for drivers finishing between sixth and 10th.
MCLAREN
World champion Jenson Button has made the risky move to McLaren where 2008 winner Lewis Hamilton is already established as the number one driver. Button will aim to displace his compatriot but he may find this difficult as Hamilton is widely regarded as one of the fastest qualifiers on the circuit.
Button won the world championship last year for Brawn GP with a stunning six wins in the first seven races as traditional big-hitters Ferrari and McLaren lagged behind in the development of their cars.
But, once McLaren finally produced a race-worthy machine, it was no surprise to see Hamilton's form pick back up and it seems unlikely that Button will enjoy another early advantage this time around.
Jenson Button
F1 career: Races 172, Wins 7, Pole 7, Points 327 (1 Championship)
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 6, Pole 4, Points 95, Pos: Champion
Lewis Hamilton
F1 career: Races 52, Wins 11, Pole 17, Points 256 (1 Championship)
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 2, Pole 4, Points 49, Pos: 5th
MERCEDES
Having just about scrambled a team together in time last winter, Brawn GP then did the unthinkable and won the drivers' and constructors' championships.
Jenson Button has now moved on to McLaren - and there were changes at the top of Brawn GP too as Mercedes-Benz and Aaber Investments bought a 75.1% stake and renamed the team.
Nico Rosberg was announced as the team's first driver shortly after the buyout with Rubens Barrichello having moved the opposite way to Williams.
But the biggest news in F1 came two days before Christmas as seven-time champion Michael Schumacher joined the team to complete an all-German line-up.
Schumacher has made it clear that he has not returned just to mix it up with the back markers but he shouldn't worry - the Merc engineers and the technical expertise of Ross Brawn, with whom he won all those world crowns, will ensure his comeback is competitive.
Michael Schumacher
F1 career: Races 250, Wins 91, Pole 68, Points 1369 (7 Championships)
2009 F1 Season: N/A
Nico Rosberg
F1 career: Races 70, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 75.5
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 34.5, Pos: 7th
RED BULL
Of all the expected front-runners, Red Bull is the only team to keep faith with its driver line-up from 2009.
That decision comes as no surprise after the excellent performances from Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber last season saw them both finish in the top four. Along the way, Vettel and Webber gave their Austrian team three 1-2s - in China, Germany and Abu Dhabi.
At 33, Webber is unlikely at his age to improve any further but, given a few more years, 22-year-old Sebastian Vettel has the look of a future world champion in the making.
Sebastian Vettel
F1 career: Races 43, Wins 5, Pole 5, Points 125
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 4, Pole 4, Points 84, Pos: 2nd
Mark Webber
F1 career: Races 140, Wins 2, Pole 1, Points 169.5
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 2, Pole 1, Points 69.5, Pos: 4th
FERRARI
Ferrari endured their worst ever start to an F1 season in a nightmare 2009 which Felipe Massa was simply glad to have survived. The team failed to score in any of the first three races before Kimi Raikonnen picked up points in sixth in the fourth race at Bahrain.
In the second half of the season, matters improved slightly and Raikonnen won the Belgian GP but Ferrari struggled to provide any back-up for the Finn after Massa's freak accident in qualifying for the Hungarian GP.
Thankfully, Massa has made a full recovery but the Brazilian will face a tough new challenge from Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard finally got his dream move to Ferrari after he was unable to repeat his world championship successes in a second spell at Renault.
The recent seasons of struggle will have made Alonso arguably the hungriest man on the grid and he should be aided by a Ferrari team also desperate to avoid another 2009.
Felipe Massa
F1 career: Races 116, Wins 11, Pole 15, Points 320
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 22, Pos: 11th
Fernando Alonso
F1 career: Races 140, Wins 21, Pole 18, Points 577 (2 Championships)
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 0, Pole 1, Points 26, Pos: 9th
WILLIAMS
A complete driver change for Williams with Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenburg in for Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima.
Williams have made a sound choice with Barrichello who is the fourth highest points scorer in F1 history despite never having won a world championship. The unlucky Brazilian has had to play second fiddle over the years to Michael Schumacher at Ferrari and then, again, to Jenson Button last season at Brawn GP.
But Barrichello often out-qualified and outshone eventual champ Button in the second part of last season and this is a belated chance for him to establish himself as a team's number one.
Former test driver Nico Hulkenburg will be looking to impress having graduated to a main seat after winning both the Formula 3 and GP2 series in the last two years.
Rubens Barrichello
F1 career: Races 288, Wins 11, Pole 14, Points 607
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 2, Pole 1, Points 77, Pos: 3rd
Nico Hulkenburg
F1 career: 2010 is debut season in F1
2009 F1 Season: N/A
RENAULT
The exits of fellow-manufacturers Toyota and BMW caused speculation that Renault would be the next team to leave F1 as the recession began to take effect.
The feeling that F1 was more trouble than its worth to Renault increased further after their shameful appearance before the courts for race-fixing. That episode ended with a suspended two-year ban for the team and a life-ban for then-managing director Flavio Briatore.
But, having sold their majority stake to a Luxembourg investment company, Renault remain in F1 for now.
They are a long way away from repeating the Fernando Alonso world championship years of 2005 and 2006, though, and they have the less than glamorous line-up of Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov who, nevertheless, becomes the first ever Russian F1 driver.
Robert Kubica
F1 career: Races 57, Wins 1, Pole 1, Points 137
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 17, Pos: 14th
Vitaly Petrov
F1 career: 2010 is debut season in F1
2009 F1 Season: N/A
FORCE INDIA
It is a big season for Force India who showed signs of getting it right in the latter part of last year, even going as far as earning their first pole position.
That came courtesy of Giancarlo Fisichella at the Belgian GP before the Italian was allowed to replace the injured Felipe Massa at Ferrari for the rest of the season.
Still, in his absence, Adrian Sutil did reasonably well and finished fourth in the Italian GP, having qualified in second. Much more will be expected from Sutil all season round, this time.
Fisichella's replacement Vitantonio Liuzzi was also running well at Monza when a gearbox failure forced him to retire and he was deemed to have done a good enough filling in job to gain a seat for this season.
Adrian Sutil
F1 career: Races 52, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 6
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 5, Pos: 17th
Vitantonio Liuzzi
F1 career: Races 44, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 5
2009 F1 Season: Races 5, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 0, Pos: 22nd
TORO ROSSO
Toro Rosso endured a tough 2009 season, finishing last in the constructors' championship, after failing to cope the pre-season loss of Sebastian Vettel to sister team Red Bull Racing.
The performances of Sebastien Bourdais, in particular, were heavily criticised and he crashed into team-mate Sebastien Buemi on the first lap of the Spanish GP, the Frenchman was replaced mid-season by 19-year-old Jaime Alguersuari.
Alguersuari failed to score a point in any of his eight races but, with youth on his side, he retains his seat alongside Buemi in a youthful team. Buemi improved in the latter part of last season to record points finishes in the final two races.
But the odd points finish here and there will be all that either of these two drivers can expect this season.
Sebastien Buemi
F1 career: Races 17, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 6
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 6, Pos: 16th
Jaime Alguersuari
F1 career: Races 8, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 0
2009 F1 Season: Races 8, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 0, Pos: 24th
LOTUS F1
Lotus F1 would like to remind everyone that Michael Schumacher is not the only famous name making a comeback this season.
Team Lotus raced in Formula One for 37 years until 1994, winning six drivers' championship and seven constructors' crowns, and the new team have been making a lot of positive noises with technical director Mike Gascoyne sounding particularly bullish.
An relatively experienced driver line-up will give Lotus the best chance of all the new entrants of making a few waves but a Brawn GP repeat would be an even bigger surprise than last year.
Jarno Trulli
F1 career: Races 219, Wins 1, Pole 4, Points 246.5
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 0, Pole 1, Points 32.5, Pos: 8th
Heikki Kovalainen
F1 career: Races 52, Wins 1, Pole 1, Points 105
2009 F1 Season: Races 17, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 22, Pos: 12th
HISPANIA RACING TEAM
While Lotus GP may have invested in experience, another new team Hispania Racing will be relying on beginner's luck.
The Spanish team are fielding two debutants Karun Chandhok - only the second Indian driver in F1 history after Narain Karthikeyan in 2005 - and Bruno Senna.
The return of the Senna name to F1, 16 years after Ayrton's death at Imola, has generated some excitement. But it will be interesting to see how long into the season that it lasts, if Chandhok and Senna struggle round in what looks like a rather slow car.
Karun Chandhok
F1 career: 2010 is debut season in F1
2009 F1 Season: N/A
Bruno Senna
F1 career: 2010 is debut season in F1
2009 F1 Season: N/A
BMW SAUBER
Sauber make an unexpected appearance on the grid after it looked as if their participation had ended. The FIA even went so far as to accept their resignation and put the Lotus F1 team in their place.
The chances of a Sauber appearance in 2010 looked even bleaker when a deal to put them on the track with investment company Qadbak fell through. But just a week later, BMW sold its 80% share to Peter Sauber and replaced Toyota who were definitely leaving.
Toyota's departure left Kamui Kobayashi without a seat despite an impressive sixth-placed finish in Abu Dhabi.
But Sauber snapped up the Japanese driver and have paired him with a more experienced man in Pedro de la Rosa who has spent the last six years testing at McLaren.
Of all the teams, Sauber will be glad that their rather chaotic winter is over and the real action can begin.
Pedro de la Rosa
F1 career: Races 72, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 29
2009 F1 Season: N/A
Kamui Kobayashi
F1 career: Races 2, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 3
2009 F1 Season: Races 2, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 3, Pos: 18th
VIRGIN RACING
Virgin supremo Richard Branson tested the water last season with his sponsorship of the successful Brawn GP team but, this year, the bearded billionaire has decided to grab a piece of the action with his own team.
Timo Glock has signed up having rejected Renault to guarantee himself number one driver status ahead of debutant Lucas di Grassi.
German Glock has proven to be a solid enough driver at Toyota while Brazilian di Grassi has featured at the right end of the track in the GP2 series for the last three years.
But Branson should not expect immediate results a la Brawn GP for, if he does, this adventure could be very short-lived.
Timo Glock
F1 career: Races 37, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 51
2009 F1 Season: Races 14, Wins 0, Pole 0, Points 24, Pos: 10th
Lucas di Grassi
F1 career: 2010 is debut season in F1
2009 F1 Season: N/A
Race Calendar
The season begins in Bahrain tomorrow and finishes in Abu Dhabi on 14 November. The Monte Carlo GP is on 16 May and the British GP from Silverstone is on 11 July.
Canada returns to the calendar on 13 June after a one-year hiatus with the Korean GP from Yeongam making its F1 bow.
14 March Bahrain GP (Sakhir)
28 March Australian GP (Melbourne)
4 April Malaysian GP (Sepang)
18 April Chinese GP (Shanghai)
9 May Spanish GP (Barcelona)
16 May Monaco GP (Monte Carlo)
30 May Turkish GP (Istanbul)
13 June Canadian GP (Montreal)
27 June European GP (Valencia)
11 July British GP (Silverstone)
25 July German GP (Hockenheim)
1 August Hungarian GP (Budapest)
29 August Belgian GP (Spa)
12 September Italian GP (Monza)
26 September Singapore GP (Singapore)
10 October Japanese GP (Suzuka)
24 October Korean GP (Yeongam)
7 November Brazilian GP (Sao Paulo)
14 November Abu Dhabi GP (Yas Island)
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