Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2010

Formula One's longest ever season finally came to a close under the lights at the spectacular Yas Marina facility with four drivers having arrived harbouring title aspirations – Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton. In the end just one man could come away with the trophy, and 55 laps later, that man was Sebastian Vettel.

Indeed, if the championship points were awarded on the virtue of grid positions, the young German would have sealed the title long ago. As it was though, despite capturing his tenth pole of the season, he began the weekend 15 points behind championship leader Alonso, with the paddock mostly expecting him to play second fiddle to his Red Bull teammate Webber who was just 8 points adrift of the Spaniard. Lewis Hamilton knew that Alonso scoring just one point would put paid to his chances, but certainly did himself no harm by qualifying second, the McLaren seeming to have improved pace with its revised rear wing. His teammate Button affirmed this by lining up fourth, one place behind Alonso but one ahead of a strangely subdued Webber.

As the field got away for the final time this year, Vettel led after Hamilton backed out of a potential pass at Turn 1. Button on the other hand hooked up his start considerably better than Alonso, earning himself a position at the expense of the championship favourite. Meanwhile, further back in the field Michael Schumacher spun his Mercedes as his teammate Nico Rosberg dived past him for 8^th place, and was subsequently ploughed into by the hapless Vitantonio Liuzzi, just about summarising the comeback season of the seven-time champion.

This brought out the safety car for four laps, and Rosberg took the opportunity to make the mandatory switch of tyre compounds along with Vitaly Petrov and Jaime Alguersauri. This would turn out to have a profound effect on the championship indeed, but for the time being, Vettel led from Hamilton, Button, Alonso, Webber, Felipe Massa, Rubens Barrichello and Kamui Kobayashi as the race got underway once more on lap 6.

Vettel was never really able to shake Hamilton, the Brit always remaining within around three seconds of the Red Bull pilot. Button however couldn't keep up with the leading duo's pace, but at the same time never looked truly threatened by Alonso, who knew fourth would be sufficient to clinch his third title if things stayed as they were. Just behind, Webber, after a close shave with the Armco became the first of the title contenders to make a pitstop on lap 12. Ferrari immediately pitted Massa in a vain attempt to leapfrog the Australian, but both got stuck behind Alguersuari's Toro Rosso, who had already made his stop during the safety car period.

Whilst Webber found an easy way past within just a couple of laps (doubtless thanks to Toro Rosso's ownership by a certain Austrian energy drink company), Massa in fact found his efforts frustrated by Alguersauri for the entire remainder of the race. As things transpired, he wouldn't be the only Ferrari driver to suffer that problem. Alonso made his stop on lap 16 in order to cover off Webber whom he did rejoin ahead of, but at the same behind he crucially fell behind Rosberg and Petrov who, like Alguersuari, made early stops behind the safety car. Alonso immediately began to pressurise Petrov, but like Massa couldn't find a way past.

With Alonso and Webber both stuck in traffic, it looked as if Hamilton would now be the only man capable of denying Vettel his maiden title. However he would too find traffic to be his undoing – after pitting on lap 24, he found himself rejoining just behind the other Renault of Robert Kubica and Kobayashi, neither of whom had stopped by this point. The latter, having started on soft tyres, was dispatched by Hamilton on lap 26, but Kubica proved more troublesome. This allowed Vettel to escape at the front of the field, pitting one lap later than Hamilton and vitally remaining just ahead of Kubica when he rejoined.

From that point onwards, with Alonso looking increasingly unlikely to pass Petrov, let alone catch and pass Rosberg, Vettel's title just came to him. Button was likewise unable to deny Vettel the win, regaining third place after Kubica finally made his stop on lap 47. Alonso's chances then began to look even slimmer when the Pole rejoined ahead of the Spaniard's scrap with Petrov, whilst Webber never even looked like making a move on Alonso until the very dying stages of the race.

All of this meant that Vettel was able to virtually cruise to the chequered flag and narrowly clinch the title. The Red Bull ace knew exactly what he had to do to be in with a chance, and he absolutely delivered. Having seen so many potential points of his go down the drain because of errors and mechanical maladies throughout the season, it was a thoroughly satisfying sight to see a champagne-soaked Vettel atop the podium, basking in the glory of the German national anthem – where he really did deserve to be.

It was a strong result for McLaren too, bagging the other two places on the podium with Hamilton and Button, and cementing the runner-up spot in the constructors' standings for good measure. Rosberg rounded off an impressive season with fourth, as did Kubica with fifth. Petrov's unwavering defence of Alonso and the ensuing sixth place may have just earned the Russian his second season in Formula One.

It was a day to forget for Ferrari though, registering a mere seven points with Alonso a lowly seventh and Massa in tenth, both held up in traffic. There's no doubt that the Maranello squad, along with the boys from Woking, and perhaps others will all be gunning for the crown once again in 2011. Until then though, Vettel and the entire Red Bull team can rest assured that they were the undoubted champions of 2010, a vintage year for the sport.

Brazilian Grand Prix 2010

For the last five seasons, the spectators of the Autodromo Carlos Pace in Sao Paulo have had the privilege of witnessing the Formula One champion being crowned. Fernando Alonso kicked off the tradition in 2005, repeating the feat one year later, before Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button all sewed up their respective title-winning campaigns on the hallowed strip of tarmac that is situated just a stone's throw from the birthplace of Ayrton Senna. Leading the championship by 11 points heading into the race, Alonso had the opportunity to extend that streak, but only if he finished sufficiently ahead of the Red Bull duo of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel. He failed, and now the title's going down to the wire.

It was clear from the outset that Red Bull would once more be the pacesetters, but surprisingly neither Webber nor Vettel were successful in capturing pole. Instead, that honour fell to a shock star of qualifying – Nico Hulkenberg. The 2009 GP2 champion took full advantage of the drying track in Q3 and posted a time over a second clear of his compatriot Vettel. Webber lined up in 3^rd, ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Alonso and the sister Williams car of Rubens Barrichello. The Grove-based squad thus took their first pole position in five years, at the very venue their last victory was posted by Juan Pablo Montoya in 2004.

Predictably though, Hulkenberg's lead was short-lived. Almost immediately, Vettel got a superior getaway and slid his Red Bull RB6 straight up the inside of the first corner to take a commanding lead, with Webber following soon after as the Williams pilot ran wide at turn 4. However, 'Hulk' did give more of a headache to Alonso who passed Hamilton mid-way round the second lap following a gaffe from the Brit. It wasn't until lap 7 that the Spaniard finally found a way through, but by then the writing was on the wall – he would have to settle for 3^rd barring disaster ahead.

Hamilton meanwhile seemed even more frustrated by Hulkenberg, after several failed attempts into Turn 1. In the end, it wasn't actually until the German pitted on lap 15 that Hamilton finally found himself in 4^th place, by now a long way adrift of Alonso, let alone the Red Bulls. Hulkenberg in fact pitted in a reaction to championship outsider Jenson Button, who pitted on lap 11 from 10^th place having started one place lower. Whilst he rejoined the field in 18^th place, he soon dispensed with local hero Felipe Massa (who had opted for a similar strategy) in light of the McLaren's apparent preference for the hard tyre. The outgoing champion thus stole further positions from Michael Schumacher, Barrichello, Robert Kubica and Hulkenberg, ending up behind his McLaren teammate Hamilton after all the stops panned out. However a botched pit-stop and the subsequent need for an unscheduled stop prevented Massa from making similar gains.

So after the flurry of pit activity, Vettel led from Webber by a fairly comfortable margin of 3 seconds, with Alonso some 15 seconds further back in 3^rd by the half-way point (the first three having all pitted without losing any positions). Kobayashi briefly held 4^th having opted to not pit after starting on hard tyres, but soon fell foul to the McLarens of Hamilton and Button, both at turn 1. Nico Rosberg, who had also leapt up several positions with superior pace during the pit-stops, also demoted the Japanese driver a further position. Sutil held 8^th after following an identical strategy to Kobayashi, ahead of Schumacher, Hulkenberg, Kubica and Nick Heidfeld after Barrichello's appalling luck at his home circuit continued when he sustained a puncture as a result of contact with Jaime Alguersauri.

The race seemed to have settled when Vitantonio Liuzzi provided some excitement by burying his Force India in the barriers at turn 2 on lap 51, becoming the only retirement of the entire race. This brought out the Safety Car, but because the leaders had by this stage begun to lap the midfield runners they found themselves several cars apart from each other. Suffering from tyre wear, Hamilton opted to pit, losing just one place to Button who came in the following lap to undo the swap. Rosberg followed suit, and as the last car on the lead lap he didn't lose any places either, even when his Mercedes pit crew had to bring him in again after mistakenly sending him out with his teammate Schumacher's allocated tyres.

As the Safety Car pulled in at the end of lap 55, we were racing once more with Vettel leading the way from Webber and Alonso, still with lapped traffic between them. There was however plenty of activity in the midfield, with Kobayashi making good use of his fresh rubber having pitted 3 laps prior to the appearance of the Safety Car. He dispatched Sebastien Buemi and later the other Toro Rosso of Alguersauri to reach 10^th place. Rosberg also used the advantage of his newer tyres to take back 6^th from Schumacher, as did Sutil to demote Buemi a further place.

However there was simply no stopping Vettel from romping to his 4^th victory of the year, after the Red Bull elected to not deploy team orders that may have allowed Webber to win the race instead. Alonso's third position was subsequently enough to give him a cushion of 8 points over the Australian heading into the decider at Abu Dhabi. Hamilton's 4^th place all but eliminated him from the running, now lying 24 points behind with only 25 left on offer, whilst Button's 5^th place did indeed extinguish what miniscule hopes he had of retaining his world champion status. Rosberg and Schumacher were next after a solid day for Mercedes, with Hulkenberg, Kubica and Kobayashi rounding out the points scorers.

And so, after 18 races and more twists and turns than the Interlagos race track itself, the championship is ultimately going to boil down to a confrontation between Alonso, Webber and Vettel under the lights of the spectacular Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi. Red Bull may have sown up the constructors' championship with their latest one-two finish, but no-one can be certain of who will emerge victorious in the drivers'. One thing is for sure, though: whoever wins will thoroughly deserve it. Game on boys.

Korean Grand Prix 2010

Today, Formula One almost suffered the ultimate irony. After weeks of speculation as to whether the inaugural Korean Grand Prix would actually go ahead, torrential conditions aggravated by the slippiness of the newly-laid tarmac seemed at one point to have put paid to all the organisers' hard work. However, after an initial three incredibly tentative laps under the safety car, a red flag and nearly an hour of delays, the race got underway in earnest, albeit once more with the safety car leading the way.

Behind Bernd Maylander's modified silver Mercedes SLS was the Red Bull pair who had annexed the front row the previous day in a dry qualifying session, Sebastian Vettel heading his championship-leading teammate Mark Webber. Fernando Alonso for Ferrari was next, from Lewis Hamilton's McLaren, Nico Rosberg's Mercedes and the second Ferrari of Felipe Massa, with Jenson Button in the sister McLaren languishing in 7^th position. That was the order as the safety car peeled into the pit lane on lap 18 of 55, signifying the real start of the race.

One team revelling in the adverse conditions was Mercedes. No sooner than the green flag was shown had celebrated weltmeister Michael Schumacher placed himself alongside the Renault of Robert Kubica on the approach to turn 1 before easing past the Pole into 8^th position. Almost simultaneously, Rosberg in the other Mercedes was harrying Hamilton for 4^th position, and two corners later he too made a position in a well-timed move up the inside of turn 3.

Meanwhile, as Vettel pressed home his advantage at the head of the field, the tiniest mistake by his Aussie teammate would have a profound effect on the course of the championship. On lap 19, Webber ran out onto the kerbs at the exit of turn 12, and applied just enough throttle to send his Red Bull RB6 pirouetting helplessly into the retaining wall. The momentum then carried the stricken car back across the track, where Rosberg was incredibly unfortunate to be collected and have his promising race ruined. The copious amount of debris gave the Safety Car yet another appearance, but only for 5 laps this time whilst the marshals rushed to clear the wrecked cars.

The order was thus Vettel from Alonso, Hamilton, Massa, Button and Schumacher whose assured driving made up for Rosberg's premature exit somewhat. He proceeded to enthral his team further though when three laps after the restart he found his way past Button at turn 3 to steal 5^th place. Button was struggling for grip profusely at this stage, feeling the need to switch to the intermediate tyre two laps after his demotion to 6^th by Schumacher. Unfortunately for the Brit, the stop was poorly timed as he rejoined down in 16^th behind a long train of new-team cars and those who opted to pit for inters under the safety car. That train was shortened somewhat by a collision between Sebastien Buemi and Timo Glock, caused by the former launching an overly ambitious assault on 11^th place up the inside of turn 3. This was particularly painful for the Virgin team who lost the chance to overhaul rivals Lotus in the constructors championship and therefore to secure precious prize money.

Both were out on the spot, and more debris was spewed across the track, necessitating a further appearance from the Safety Car, delaying proceedings for another 4 laps. This was the point at which the leading quartet of Vettel, Alonso, Hamilton and Massa all decided to make the switch for intermediate tyres too. They would've rejoined in that order also if it weren't for a slightly fumbled pitstop by Ferrari that saw their man fall behind Hamilton into 3^rd. As the race began once more however, Lewis squandered that position gained in the pits by running wide at the first corner, allowing Alonso to scoot back into 2^nd. Further back and several laps later, Petrov became the next casualty by ending his hitherto impressive race in the barriers at the final corner, although thankfully the safety car was not required on this occasion.

Just as it seemed the race couldn't get any more dramatic, there was another sting in the tail for the Red Bull team yet after Webber's earlier disaster. As Vettel crossed the line to begin Lap 46, his speed appeared to falter, allowing Alonso to snatch the lead unchallenged. Hamilton soon followed suit, and it became clear that the Red Bull's Renault powerplant had simply had enough and dramatically expired in a huge cloud of smoke, sprinkling shards of destroyed engine all the way down the 1.2km straight between turns 2 and 3.

That left Alonso to claim a relatively easy victory, as Hamilton was unable to close the gap that had emerged since his earlier off. The Spaniard took with the winner's trophy the lead of the championship, having achieved four wins and six podiums in the last seven races. Hamilton however still had reason to be happy after finishing in 2^nd, made all the better by his teammate Button's continued struggle for grip and subsequent non-score in a lowly 12th. Massa drove quietly home to claim 3^rd, his fifth podium of the season. Schumacher was next to take the chequered after arguably his best drive of the season – keeping his head when many around him lost theirs. Kubica took advantage of some late misfortune for both of the Williams drivers to take a solid 5^th place, as did Tonio Liuzzi who produced a measured drive to 6^th after his teammate Adrian Sutil proved fast but erratic, ending his race after some contact with Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi in the closing stages of the race. The Japanese driver did survive the scare to finish in 8^th, behind Barrichello but ahead fellow Sauber pilot Nick Heidfeld. Hulkenberg rounded out the top 10 after a late puncture that cost him several positions.

So, after what nearly wasn't the Korean Grand Prix, the weather gave us another thrilling race that changed the face of the championship radically. Alonso now has the momentum firmly behind him and with the Ferrari operation focussed exclusively upon him, Red Bull and McLaren surely now will have to make the decision to back one of their two drivers to be able to challenge the Scuderia. Whilst the choice is a no-brainer for McLaren after Button's non-score leaving 42 points adrift of Alonso, Red Bull's is slightly trickier. After all, today's race served to remind us how quickly the balance of power can shift in Formula One.

Singapore Grand Prix 2010

The floodlit Marina Bay circuit offers a unique challenge to today's F1 drivers. The technical corners, humid atmosphere and sheer amount of time spent in the cockpit make it one of the most gruelling events on the calendar, and its spectacular backdrop has led to a deserving label of 'Monaco of the East'. Fernando Alonso overcame all the obstacles to record his third win in five races, making him the real danger man of the championship, as well as dispelling the sour taste of his contrived win here of two years ago as a result of Crashgate.

Red Bull, after dominant displays at the other street circuits of Monaco and Valencia earlier in the season, seemed to hold all the cards during practice. However, when it came to qualifying, it was the blistering pace of Ferrari and Alonso that bagged another crucial pole position. It wasn't all good news for Ferrari though, as Felipe Massa in the sister car suffered gearbox failure, and was forced to line up 24^th and last. Sebastian Vettel was the man who joined Alonso on the front row, three places ahead of fellow RB6 pilot and championship leader Mark Webber. The McLarens of Britons Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button split the Red Bull pair.

As the race got underway, Vettel made a superior getaway to Alonso, but was covered off in an aggressive leftward lunge by the Spaniard. Further round the initial tour, there was contact between series returnee Nick Heidfeld of Sauber and the Force India of Tonio Liuzzi, the net result of which was an unscheduled front-wing change for the former and retirement for the latter. As the officials deemed where Liuzzi parked to be potentially unsafe, the Safety Car was scrambled at the beginning of lap 3.

Webber, unable to make an impression on the McLarens ahead, was instructed to make an early pit-stop to get his softer tyres out of the way. He was joined by numerous others, but as they all rejoined the circuit, they were forced to form an orderly queue behind Virgin Racing's Timo Glock who opted to stay out. As the Safety Car peeled into the pits and race restarted, Webber made short work of Glock, before setting about trying to close the gap back to the McLarens several places ahead prior to their pitstops.

The Australian wasted no time in making a series of decisive overtakes, first on Kamui Kobayashi, then Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. Behind, Hulkenberg shunted into the inside of Petrov, costing himself a place to Sutil, and the Russian an extra spot to Massa, who had made serious headway after pitting at the end of the first lap. The first of the lead cars to pit was Hamilton on lap 29, who duly fell behind Webber who was able to stay within 20 seconds of the Brit and thus jump into third after the pitstops took place. However, his teammate Vettel along with race leader Alonso was sufficiently ahead to retain the first two positions after they pitted simultaneously on lap 30.

Hamilton would get a chance to retaliate however as a result of a safety car deployed courtesy of Kamui Kobayashi, who had buried his Sauber in the barrier at turn 18 on lap 32, joined out of sympathy by Hispania's Bruno Senna. With two Virgin cars between Vettel and Webber at the restart four laps later, Hamilton was able to make a run at Webber, attempting to dive around the outside of the Australian at turn 7. However, Webber had nowhere to go but into Hamilton, putting the Brit out on the spot for the second time in as many races. The stewards deemed it a racing incident and as such awarded no penalties. They did likewise for a later, rather overambitious move by Schumacher on his fellow German Heidfeld, although the other Sauber was now too out of the race and the 7-time champ was forced to limp back to the pits with his front wing making sparks as it dragged along the circuit.

Meanwhile, Robert Kubica was forced to make an unscheduled stop after his Renault picked up a puncture from 6^th. But with the superior grip of new tyres compared with those around him who had been running the same set of tyres since the first safety car period on lap 3, the Pole made short work of Buemi, Petrov, Massa, Hulkenberg and finally Sutil to recover all but one of the places he had lost. All the while, at the front Vettel had been steadily reducing Alonso's three-second advantage to a matter of tenths with a handful of laps to go.

There was to be one final piece of drama – Heikki Kovalainen, after some contact with Sebastien Buemi, was forced to park his car on the start finish straight after it caught fire, creating a no-overtaking yellow flag zone in the final corners of the race. The pint-sized Finn leapt out of his car, was handed a fire extinguisher from the pit-wall, and proceeded to put out the fire about to consume his Lotus T127.

Alonso held on by two tenths of a second for win number four of the season from Vettel, putting himself within 11 points of Webber, who finished third. Hamilton's non-finish left him in 3^rd place, 20 points behind, 5 points ahead of Button who banked a solid 4^th place finish. Rosberg, Barrichello, Kubica, Hulkenberg, Massa and Sutil, who was awarded a 20-second penalty for gaining places by leaving the circuit, made up the rest of the points-scorers.

Hamilton said after his blunder that he isn't focussing on the title any longer. That may seem a bit premature given he's only 20 points behind Webber in the title chase, but bearing in mind the superiority of the Ferrari and Red Bull cars which looks likely to persist, his chances do seem somewhat slim. But, as Alonso proved a few races ago, it's never too late to re-assert yourself in what promises to be a thrilling title run-in.

Belgian Grand Prix 2010

Spa is the favourite track of many of today’s F1 drivers, and not without good reason. Corners such as Eau Rouge, Blanchimont, Pouhon, Les Combes and Stavelot all combine to create one of the most technically challenging and rewarding tracks in the world. Combine that with a weather system that's just about impossible to predict and you have yourself a truly classic venue that never fails to provide excitement for the F1 fan.

After Webber took pole position on Saturday, it looked as if the Australian should have had the best possible chance of victory number five, particularly as his teammate Sebastian Vettel could only muster fourth position. Splitting the Red Bull pair were the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton and an impressive Robert Kubica for Renault. Jenson Button was able to qualify in fifth place, but the final title challenger Alonso suffered a wretched session, qualifying in a lowly tenth place after being compromised by a late shower.

The race began dry but the threat of rain, as is often the case at Spa, loomed large nonetheless. It was a dream start for the McLaren team when Webber bogged down on the grid allowing Lewis Hamilton to lead into the first corner unchallenged with Button making an equally impressive getaway to make it a McLaren one-two by the end of the second lap, ahead of Vettel, Kubica and the slow-starting Webber.

Shortly after, the rain did arrive very briefly around the start-finish area, resulting in almost the entire field failing to make the final Bus Stop chicane. There was particular misery for Rubens Barrichello, who ended his three-hundredth Formula One start by losing control of the car under braking and side swiping Alonso in the process. Whilst the Brazilian was out on the spot, Alonso miraculously survived the encounter and made a bee line for the pit lane, where the Ferrari crew fitted his car with intermediate tyres in a strategic gamble. Fellow Spaniards Pedro De La Rosa and Jaime Alguersauri also stopped to fit the inters, but likewise lost track position in the process.

However, the rain was not to last and thus Alonso’s venture backfired. After immediately reverting back to slicks, he found himself consigned to seventeenth place. Back at the front, Hamilton was controlling the race, steadily increasing his lead from Button, who was struggling to shake off the faster cars of Vettel, Kubica, Webber and Massa.

Whilst things were going swimmingly for McLaren #2, things were about to hit rock bottom for the #1 car of Button. Vettel had been steadily closing in, and began lining up the reigning champion for a move at the Bus Stop chicane. However, in a manner not dissimilar to Barrichello, albeit now in dry conditions, the young German lost control of the car and clobbered the side of Button's McLaren, necessitating his immediate retirement with irreparable damage done to the side-pod.

Vettel on the other hand was fortunate enough to be able to continue, naturally having to pit for a new nose section. He would then be slapped with a drive-through penalty for causing an avoidable accident, his second in as many races. Having proceeded to make a fairly swift ascent through the field, he undid his hard work once more by making contact with the Force India of Tonio Liuzzi, giving himself a slow puncture. The ‘crash kid’, as McLaren principal Martin Whitmarsh labelled him after the race would wind up in a lowly 15^th place.

Back at the front, Hamilton continued to lead, now from Kubica, Webber and Ferrari’s Felipe Massa who had just cleared the Force India of Adrian Sutil for 4^th place. The two Mercedes cars of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg and had also made up ground to both be inside the points (despite their earlier altercation where Schumacher sheared off his teammate’s front wing end-plate in a brash overtaking move) after the safety car period that followed the Vettel-Button incident.

Just when the race had appeared to settle down however, the erratic Belgian weather took another dramatic turn as the rain began to fall at the far side of the circuit, very nearly accounting for race leader Hamilton’s race after he sailed into the gravel trap, just millimetres away from the crash barrier. It quickly became evident wet-weather tyres would be necessary, and so the leading cars all made the switch. Much to the chagrin of Renault, Kubica accidentally overshot his pit box in doing so, forfeiting 2^nd place to Webber in the process.

The other victim of the late shower would be Fernando Alonso who became the final casualty of the day when he pirouetted into the barriers in a rare error exiting the Les Combes-Malmedy complex. The Spaniard had fought his way back to 8^th after his earlier mishaps, but once again through his own fault had placed his title ambitions very much on the back foot.

There were no such problems however for Hamilton, who made no further errors as he cruised to his third win of the season, confirmed his prowess in changeable conditions. Webber took 2nd place, but that wouldn't be enough to prevent Hamilton usurping him at the top of the championship table. Kubica completed the podium after a faultless performance, pitstops aside.

Massa plugged away to a solid 4th place, from Adrian Sutil for Force India and both the Mercedes cars of Rosberg and Schumacher. Kamui Kobayashi for Sauber, Vitaly Petrov for Renault and Liuzzi in the other Force India completed the points, the latter benefitting from an off-road excursion for De La Rosa and a 20-second timed penalty for Alguersauri.

Whilst Hamilton and Webber are now the clear leaders in the title race after non-scores for Vettel, Button and Alonso, it would be churlish to think that the latter three are now out of the running. After all, there's only 41 points between the quintet (about 15 in old money), with 6 races to go and thus 150 points left up for grabs. Everything is still to play for.

The Silly Season

The 2009 silly season was one of the best in recent memory. We had Button making what many regarded as a foolhardy move to McLaren, Alonso making his long-awaited jump to Ferrari, and rumours swirling of a certain Michael Schumacher making a full-time comeback with Mercedes after being unable to replace the injured Felipe Massa at Ferrari. Added with the expected arrival of three new teams, and thus six fresh seats, the prospect of who was heading where was almost as exciting as the action on track itself.


This year's silly season however has turned out to be something of a letdown. Continuity seems the name of the game, with Ferrari extending Massa's contract to 2012, Webber being retained for another season by Red Bull, and Mercedes showing no signs of giving up hope on Schumacher. Of course McLaren already had Button and Hamilton on contract, and Alonso, Rosberg and Vettel seem to be going nowhere soon either. Looking further down the field, Williams seem set to retain both Barrichello and Hulkenberg, Renault has Kubica firmly in its clutches, Toro Rosso have confirmed both Buemi and Alguersauri, and the Force India line-up looks unlikely to change too, despite impressive practice showings from Paul Di Resta.


So, that means the best seat up for grabs seems to be the one at Renault currently being occupied by Russian novice Vitaly Petrov. Whilst he has been very inconsistent, he has shown flashes of promise at Turkey, Germany and more notably at Hungary. Whether those performances will be sufficient to merit his retention by the French manufacturer is yet to be seen though, particularly with fierce competition from many more experienced pilots.


2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen was mooted at one point, but since then he's committed himself to at least one more year's rallying with Citroen. The other contenders for the seat appear to be Heikki Kovalainen, Timo Glock, and the current Mercedes third driver Nick Heidfeld, who coincidentally used to partner Kubica at the BMW works squad. The sad fact for Petrov is that you just can't help feeling all the aforementioned would more than likely do a better job than he is now. The Russian's only saving grace is he's only going to get better, whilst arguably the others have already peaked.

I'd personally like to see Heidfeld snaffle the drive, but equally Petrov does deserve to stay in F1. If he was to be ousted from Renault, his next likely port of call would be Sauber. Whilst the Swiss team's current pairing of De La Rosa and Kobayashi are doing a solid enough job at the moment, a driver who brings funding to the team would be valuable, particularly for a team with no title sponsor. At age 39, it's likely De La Rosa would be the one given the boot, particularly since he's been outpaced by his young Japanese teammate more often than not.


Petrov is far from the only well-heeled candidate out there however, for there are a multitude of up-and-coming racers in GP2. Pastor Maldonado is currently stamping his authority on this year's championship, but then Sergio Perez and Jules Bianchi would also be good bets, the latter already having signed some kind of long-term deal with Sauber's engine supplier Ferrari. Looking a stage further down the ladder, Esteban Gutierrez is dominating the GP3 field this year, and already has a Sauber testing deal in his pocket.


As for the new teams, in theory Lotus have both of their drivers under contract (although that won't stop either leaving should a better offer arise), as does Virgin Timo Glock. Lucas Di Grassi may have to make way for one of their test drivers Jerome D'Ambrosio or Luis Razia, again depending on how hungry Branson is for cash. As for Hispania, it's probably going to be a case of who's the highest bidder. Both Senna and Chandhok have acquitted themselves well this year, but that means little in the face of the Sakon Yamamotos of this world who have impressive bank accounts.


Looking further into the future, Ferrari and Red Bull appear to be the most fluid. Massa is under contract until 2012, but you can bet your bottom dollar Ferrari would usher in Webber or possibly Kubica if they saw fit for 2012. Indeed if the Ferrari seat was to go the way of the Aussie, that would free a coveted space at Red Bull. Dr. Helmut Marko has made no secret of the fact he'd like to see Sebastien Buemi, who Red Bull have backed since his Formula BMW days, nab the drive. Alternatively, Raikkonen could yet be lured back from the rallying scene if Red Bull remains the finest package on the grid.


Finally, there's the trifling matter of who will get the 13^th grid space after the shambolic attempt from USF1. Now hot favourites ART have pulled the plug the slot looks to go either to respected sportscar constructor Epsilon Euskadi, Stefan GP who unsuccessfully tried to claim the 13^th slot this year, or erstwhile GP2 team Durango in conjunction with none other than 1997 champion Jacques Villeneuve. The Canadian has been looking for an F1 reprieve for a couple of years now, and Schumacher's dismal return doesn't seem to have put him off at all. But with rumoured involvement from the stars of Crashgate Flavio Briatore, Pat Symonds, Nelson Piquet Jr. along with the son of Colonel Gaddafi, it will be interesting to see if the FIA will even touch them with a bargepole.


Epsilon Euskadi, with their wind tunnel supposedly already up and running seem the likely victor. As for their drivers, planned USF1 driver Jose Maria Lopez is certainly in with a shout, but so are the likes of Kazuki Nakajima, Anthony Davidson and Christian Klien if the team feels the need for an experienced runner. With the right talent, there's no reason why the Spanish outfit shouldn't be able to mix it with the other new teams straight from the off.

Hungarian Grand Prix 2010

If Adrian Newey was asked to sketch a circuit that would get the most out of his Red Bull RB6, it would look something like the Hungaroring. The antithesis of the today's typical Tilke-designed tracks, it features a raft of medium-speed corners with very few straights, perfect for a car with a copious amount of downforce but a fairly meagre Renault powerplant. Mark Webber was able to take full advantage of this fact to stroll to his fourth victory of the season, but only after teammate Sebastian Vettel shot himself in the foot having looking a sure-fire bet for the win.

The performance advantage the Austrian cars enjoyed on Saturday was enormous. While 1.2 seconds would normally be seen as a staggering margin to be languishing behind your rivals in qualifying, it was good enough to take 3^rd on the grid yesterday afternoon behind the Red Bulls. That's just what Fernando Alonso did, with Vettel on pole and Webber in 2^nd place simply out of reach for the Ferrari pilot. Felipe Massa joined his teammate on the second row, with Lewis Hamilton only managing 5^th place after bemoaning his car's lack of pace. Nico Rosberg was next for Mercedes, ahead of the two impressive Renaults of Vitaly Petrov and Robert Kubica, the former outqualifying his teammate for the very first time this year.

Due to the relatively little amount of other racing the Hungaroring sees compared with most other F1 circuits, starting on the dirty side of the grid is particularly disadvantageous at this circuit. Webber discovered this the hard way at the start of the race as he saw his teammate hook up a perfect start, with Alonso rocketing past him too. Petrov also took full advantage of his clean grid slot to move up to 5^th place at turn 1, even if Hamilton did quickly demote him back to 6^th a corner later. Meanwhile Vettel had wasted no time in stamping his authority on proceedings at the front escaping from the clutches of Alonso at a rate of almost a second per lap. However everything changed on lap 16 when the deployment of the Safety Car in response to the wayward front wing of Tonio Liuzzi threw a major spanner into the works for the German.

Unsurprisingly, almost the entire field scrambled for the pits, with the only notable exceptions of Webber and Barrichello. What followed with so many cars in the pits were scenes that wouldn't have seemed out of place in an episode of Chucklevision. First, Rosberg's right-rear went AWOL as the Mercedes left its pit box, sending said wheel hurtling down the pits where it was fortunate to cause minor bruising to just one unlucky mechanic. Meanwhile, a few pit boxes further down the way, Adrian Sutil and Kubica drove clean into each other, as the former attempted to enter his pit box and the latter leave. While Sutil was out on the spot, Kubica was slapped with a token 10-second stop-go penalty, just to add insult to the injury of now being last. The Pole soon called it a day after, with the offending parties of Mercedes and Renault both awarded $50,000 fines by the stewards.

Today I, and Vettel it seems, became aware of a rule that dictates that you cannot leave a gap of more than 10 car-lengths between yourself and the next car under Safety Car conditions. As Webber escaped at the front having not yet pitted, Vettel paid the ultimate price by serving a drive-through penalty that dropped him behind Alonso, but more crucially allowed the Aussie to build the gap required to pit with his lead intact.

The 25 laps between the restart and Webber's eventual pitstop were devastatingly fast – so much so that he still had 8 seconds in hand over the squabbling pair of Alonso and Vettel, who just couldn't find a way past the Spaniard. So, Webber's path was clear to romp to a thoroughly deserved chequered flag that propelled him back to first place in the driver's standings. Alonso continued Ferrari's mini-resurgence to take a creditable 2^nd, ahead of a livid Vettel who knew full well that he and he alone had squandered yet another pole position.

Massa took 4^th at the very place he suffered a horrific near-fatal accident one year prior after Hamilton suffered a gearbox failure soon after his pitstop. That also meant Petrov was promoted back to 5^th place where he stayed for the remainder in by far his best drive of the year at his 'home' race. The same can be said for his GP2 rival Nico Hulkenberg who had a fine drive to 6^th, ahead of Sauber's Pedro De La Rosa who added himself to this year's scoreboard with 7^th. Button trundled to a lacklustre 8^th place to top off a disastrous weekend for the McLaren team who lost the lead in both sets of standings, ahead of the other Sauber of Kobayashi in 9^th who had an outstanding run from the back row of the grid.

The final point for 10^th was fiercely contested between erstwhile Ferrari stablemates Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. After leaving his pitstop very late, his Williams easily had the measure of Schumacher's Mercedes on fresh super-soft tyres. When Schuey made a small slip-up in the final corner with a few laps to go, it gave Barrichello the impetus he needed to make the pass. That he did, but not before being brusquely shoved towards, and very nearly into, the pit wall by the ruthless and unapologetic German, for which he rightly got a 10-place grid drop for next time out at Spa.

As F1's summer break gets underway, just 20 points separate the top 5 championship contenders. Vettel had a golden opportunity to be that man at the front, but hardly for the first time this year, his own error cost him dear. He who makes the least mistakes from here-on in is likely to be he who comes away with the silverware come the end of the year.

German Grand Prix 2010

Cast your minds back, if you will, to the Austrian Grand Prix at the A1 Ring in 2002. That day, Rubens Barrichello was denied a thoroughly deserved win due to team orders from Ferrari. Flash forward 8 years, and most would argue that Felipe Massa was similarly denied a thoroughly deserved win due to team orders from Ferrari. Whilst it's just about impossible to not subscribe to that viewpoint, I unashamedly defend Ferrari's decision. The reason it was inexcusable in 2002 was because Ferrari had a commanding lead in both championships anyway, meaning the position change was totally needless. In 2010 however, Fernando Alonso prior to today had fallen 49 points behind championship leader Lewis Hamilton, Massa 78 points. The choice to treat drivers equally until one is mathematically eliminated can prove counter-productive, so I salute Ferrari for electing to throw their full weight behind Alonso. After all, what's Felipe's race compared to Fernando's possible championship?

Controversy aside though, It was clear from the outset that the Ferraris were on the pace, for real this time. Alonso emphatically confirmed that fact by coming just two-thousandths of a second shy of pole position, with Massa lining up in 3^rd. Sebastian Vettel continued the Red Bull near-monopoly on pole, whilst Mark Webber in the sister car didn't have an answer to the Ferraris on Saturday. The McLarens were even further off the pace, sharing row three between them, Button ahead of Hamilton.

When the lights went out at the start of the race, Vettel made his trademark 'pin 'em against the pitwall' manoeuvre which proved costly on this particular occasion – it opened an inviting gap for an especially fast-starting Massa, which he duly took before sweeping around the outside of Alonso to take an early lead. The Bahrain winner muscled his way through on Vettel anyway; whilst Jenson Button's fine start was for naught when he was baulked by the German. Hamilton wasted no time in passing Webber at the hairpin on Lap 1, but thereafter just couldn't keep up with the pace of Vettel and the Scarlet machines.

Meanwhile, Sebastien Buemi had his wing unceremoniously torn off by Adrian Sutil's rogue Force India at the same time, meaning the German had to make a pitstop. Incidentally, both teammates were also caught up warranting Jaime Alguersauri and Tonio Liuzzi unforeseen trips to the pits as well. Then, to make matters worse for Force India, the pit crew accidentally put the sets of tyres on the cars the wrong way round! Both Force India drivers were called in the next lap to avoid a penalty for that, but their races were well and truly ruined.

Back at the front, Massa was starting to make headway from Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton, Webber and Button. Home driver Vettel was the first of that group to pit on Lap 13, rejoining the action in 6^th place comfortably ahead of Robert Kubica who had well and truly been dropped by the leading sextet. Alonso and Webber were next to oblige, with Alonso returning 4^th behind Massa and the two McLarens, whilst Webber lost out somewhat, filtering back into the pack down in 9^th. Button opted to pit later than most, finally coming in on lap 23, but the decision paid dividends when he took 5^th place from Webber.

Now on the hard compound tyres, the top 6 split into 2 distinct groups: The two Ferraris and Vettel, and then the two McLarens and Webber. That became 3 when Webber dropped back because of oil consumption issues, but at the front things were getting interesting. Alonso was clearly the quicker on the harder compound tyre, with Massa seemingly feeling considerable pressure after locking his wheels three times under braking. With Vettel beginning to loom on the horizon, Alonso gesticulated his frustration visibly on the on-board camera.

Massa began to recover, but after hitting traffic, Alonso was able to close to within a second. It was at this point that on the exit of the hairpin, Massa deliberately and obviously backed off to let his more illustrious teammate by, having received an ominous call from race engineer Rob Smedley to say 'Fernando is faster than you.' There was no question of the result from there on, and Alonso went on to win the race by a comfortable margin from an incredibly downtrodden Massa. Vettel was able to close on, but ultimately not overtake Massa to claim the final spot on the podium for his adoring home fans.

The two McLarens finished 4^th and 5^th, Hamilton from Button, whilst Webber brought his ailing Red Bull home in 6^th. Kubica, the two Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher (off the pace once again at Mercedes' home race) and Vitaly Petrov rounded out the point scorers. Kamui Kobayashi couldn't continue his impressive form to trail home in 11^th, ahead of the two unimpressive Williams cars of newly-crowned Top Gear test track champ Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg, and the other Sauber of Pedro De La Rosa whose alternative strategy failed to net him positions. Alguersauri was next ahead of the beleaguered Force Indias, Timo Glock's Virgin and Bruno Senna's Hispania.

Alonso's win brings him right back into contention for title honours, with the Spaniard just 24 points behind Hamilton in the points standings. Button remains 2^nd after an anonymous race, ahead of the two Red Bulls who are now interestingly tied for points. But the debate remains: was Ferrari's decision justified?

The most excruciating thing about the whole affair was the way the team handled the PR, i.e. horrendously. The Ferrari press office vehemently denied any wrong-doing, despite the clear signals given from Massa and Smedley in the post-race interviews. However, the FiA saw through this blatant charade and slapped the team with a $100,000 fine. Some would argue that's not sufficient, but to dock points or administer grid penalties would surely be punishing the wrong parties – it wasn't the drivers' decision to switch positions, despite what Ferrari press officer Luca Colajanni would have you believe. The sad fact remains though that this kind of thing, if done properly, is near-impossible to police. It's just a shame Ferrari didn't do it properly.

Half-Term Review

With 10 races down, here are my thoughts on how the class of 2010 have fared so far this season...

Jenson Button, McLaren, 2^nd Place, 133 pts
A-

It's fair to surmise that thus far Jenson has exceeded expectations – the paddock duly expected him to be eaten alive by his better-established and, in the eyes of most, more talented teammate. However, after racking up two expert wet-weather drives involving some bold strategy calls, and consolidating those with three consecutive podiums, Button has proved he's the real deal. Sitting just twelve points behind Lewis in the standings currently, he's now got a real shot at becoming Britain's first back-to-back champion.

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, Leads, 145pts
A
With four top-two finishes in the last four races, things are certainly looking rosy for Britain's other contender for glory. While his Turkish win may have been handed to him on a silver platter courtesy of Mr. Vettel, he was there to apply the pressure on the German to cause the infamous Red Bull clash in the first place. He's also the only man to break the Austrian team's stranglehold on Pole Position, an advantage he utilised to the maximum to take victory at Canada. McLaren clearly aren't as fast as Red Bull at the moment, so does the fact that Lewis leads the standings reflect ability or merely luck? Time will tell...

Michael Schumacher, Mercedes, 9^th, 36pts
C-

Many expected Schumacher to add to his lofty tally of 91 victories coming into the season, but it's become patently obvious that the machinery at his disposal won't cater for that. That said however, he has consistently punched under his weight in comparison to teammate Rosberg, who has taken all 3 of Mercedes' podiums this year so far. Whilst it's clear that there will have to be considerable improvements on the part of the Brackley-based team, equally Michael is going to have to up his game if his much-lauded comeback is to be branded as anything but failure.

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 6^th, 90pts
B+
With almost triple the amount of points to his name than his more illustrious teammate, Rosberg's season is going just about as well as could have been hoped for given the calibre of the Mercedes mount provided for him. His three podiums have all been richly deserved, but then again he did struggle somewhat inexplicably at Barcelona considering Schumacher had his best showing of the season. The title's out of reach, but given the circumstances the possibility is there for Rosberg to take his maiden victory at some stage this year.

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 4^th, 121pts
A

Vettel has been devastatingly quick just about everywhere, but poor judgement and luck have conspired to keep Red Bull's supposed number one from leading the standings. At least 80 points have gone begging thanks to a combination of technical trouble at Bahrain, disintegrating brakes at Melbourne, a puncture at Silverstone and a somewhat farcical decision to try and wrest the lead from Webber at Turkey. He has the fastest car beneath him, and if the team is indeed behind him in the way many paddock figures suspect, he should be the man who comes away from Abu Dhabi World Champion.

Mark Webber, Red Bull, 3^rd, 128pts
A

2010 has been the year Mark Webber has come of age. With three victories to his name, one more than any of his rivals, Webber is looking like the man most likely to take the fight to his teammate for the title. His drives at Barcelona, Monaco and Silverstone were absolutely second-to-none, the only real blot in his copybook being his aerial antics with Kovalainen at Valencia, which were largely of his own making. The talent is there, he has the car, and all he needs is the full backing of his team to ensure a fair title fight in which Mark has a real chance of becoming Australia's first champion in 30 years.

Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 5^th, 98pts
A-

At first glance, A- may seem a tad generous to the pre-season favourite who's wound up in 5th place at the halfway stage. However, his misfortunes have been very little of his own making. If it weren't for 1. being nerfed off track at the first corner in Melbourne, 2. his team's ill-judged decision to not place a 'banker' in qualifying in Malaysia, 3. being baulked by backmarkers at Canada, 4. being caught out by the safety car at Valencia and 5. being handed a draconian penalty by the stewards at Silverstone, he would be well in the title hunt despite his own blunders at China and Monaco. Write him off at your peril.

Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 8^th, 67pts
C+

After two consecutive podiums in the first two outings of the year, things have gone rapidly downhill for the Brazilian – he just doesn't seem like the same man who came within a whisker of denying Hamilton the title in 2008. He hasn't scored points since Turkey, and is in serious need of some reinvigoration. To notch up at least one victory this season would go some way towards helping the paddock to overlook what has largely been a season to forget for Felipe.

Rubens Barrichello, Williams, 11^th, 29pts
B+
Whilst it's hardly been the Williams team's breakthrough year, lying just seventh in the constructors' standings, Rubens is as ever performing a solid job with the equipment given to him. He's tallied a fairly impressive 29 points so far, compared to just two for his highly-rated rookie teammate Hulkenberg. After bagging a fourth and a fifth place in the last two races, things are looking on the up, and beating former teammate Schumacher seems well within the realms of possibility.

Robert Kubica, Renault, 7^th, 83pts
A

Kubica has been another driver to well and truly put his teammate in the shade – Kubica has amassed a hefty haul of 83 points so far compared to just six for Petrov, another highly fancied GP2 graduate. The Renault car, admittedly inconsistently, has been close to the leading pace, and when the car's been up to scratch Kubica has delivered the goods. Two podiums and counting this year for the talented Pole reflect this, and the onus is now on Renault to repay the faith Kubica has put in the Anglo-French squad who have now extended his contract to the end of 2012.

Adrian Sutil, Force India, 10^th, 35pts
B

Having just about shaken off his reputation as a crasher with just one mechanical retirement to his name this year so far, Sutil has been a constant presence in the points-scoring positions since Barcelona. He's another driver that has been performing favourably against his teammate, and it will be largely up to Adrian to defend Force India's current 6^th place in the constructors' standings from the onslaught of Williams and Sauber.

Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber, 12^th, 15pts
B+
When his car hasn't given up on him, Kobayashi has shown striking pace throughout the season. Now with 15 points to his name, this young Japanese charger who impressed so much in his outings for Toyota last year has been able to show what he's truly made of. He's failed to consistently outpace his vastly more experienced teammate De La Rosa, but given the gulf in mileage of an F1 car that's to be expected. Showing the occasional flash of genius was all that was required from Kamui in order to secure his immediate future, and that's precisely what he's done.

The Rest

Vitantonio Liuzzi in his first full season for Force India has been somewhat hit-and-miss, and crucially far less successful in the way of points than teammate Sutil. Vitaly Petrov and Nico Hulkenberg really have failed to deliver the goods considering the pace of their cars, and their lack of experience won't be an excuse for too much longer. The STR pairing of Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersauri have both seemed genuine future prospects at various points this season, whilst looking frankly ordinary at others. It's difficult to judge De La Rosa given the appalling reliability of the Sauber, but it's beginning to come clear his pace isn't as strong as Sauber teammate Kobayashi's. The Lotus drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli have just about done everything that's been asked of them, as has Virgin's Timo Glock, although Lucas di Grassi in the other Virgin has endured something of a baptism of fire. Bruno Senna's pace in the HRT has looked reasonable despite only having finished on three occasions, while Karun Chandhok has proved surprisingly competent and the wheel of his HRT, nabbing a 14^th place at Melbourne to lie ahead of both the Virgins, Trulli and his own teammate Senna in the standings.

British Grand Prix 2010

Silverstone, as host of Formula One's inaugural race 60 years ago, has earned a special place in the hearts of motor racing aficionados. 12 months ago, the F1 fraternity thought the place had run its final British Grand Prix for the foreseeable future, but Donington Park's ambitious plans never came close to fruition. So here we were again, albeit with a revised section of the track that received a mixed response from the drivers. Red Bull was once more the class of the field, with 'number two' Mark Webber becoming the first driver this season to chalk up a third win. After his frustration over his newer-spec front wing being taken from him by the team in favour of teammate Sebastian Vettel, he responded in the best possible way with a flawless drive to victory.

The Milton-Keynes based team seized upon their speed advantage to lock out yet another front row in qualifying, with Vettel edging Webber for the pole slot. McLaren on the other hand were very much on the back foot after their blown diffuser upgrade caused the team's pace to regress, meaning Button could only manage a dismal 14^th. Hamilton however was able to bag a spot on the second row in 4^th just behind Alonso despite having the same issue. A revitalised Rosberg lined up next in 5^th, joined by Kubica on row 3.

Opposite to convention, it was actually the 2^nd-placed man who got the best getaway at the start of the race. This meant Webber catapulted into an early lead, despite Vettel's best efforts to keep the Australian at bay. Moments later though, the German's rear-right tyre was tagged by the front wing of the rapid starting Hamilton causing his Red Bull mount to career straight on at Maggotts with Vettel himself confirming over the radio that he had sustained a puncture. He dropped to 24^th and last place, touring at a very leisurely pace before pitting at the end of that lap, at least getting his soft-tyre phase done and dusted.

Things were hardly going better for Ferrari either. Alonso made a terrible start, being swallowed by Hamilton, Kubica and Rosberg almost immediately. His Ferrari stablemate Massa then drew alongside the Spaniard through Maggotts, before contact between the pair gave the Brazilian a puncture too. It wasn't long before Webber started to ease away from Hamilton as the pair in turn routed from the rest of the field, being visibly held up by Kubica's Renault. Behind him, Rosberg was applying serious pressure to the Pole, who also had to soak up pressure from a speedy Alonso in 5^th. Rubens Barrichello was running nicely in 6^th for Williams, from former teammate Michael Schumacher, a fast-starting Button and an ever-impressive Kamui Kobayashi in the Sauber.

With most of the top runners on soft compound tyres, the drivers soon came in to make their one and only stop of the race. Rosberg was the big winner here, passing Kubica for 3^rd, whilst Button was able to leapfrog both Barrichello and Schumacher to emerge in 6^th behind Alonso's Ferrari. With the former champion right behind and clearly far quicker than Kubica, the Ferrari de facto number one tried a bold move around the outside of Vale. Kubica rightfully held his line, but this forced Alonso to cut the second part of the corner. Nonetheless Alonso took the position and duly pulled away rapidly, incidentally the Renault would splutter to a halt just two laps later with differential problems. Now unable to hand the place back to Kubica, Alonso was handed a drive-through penalty by the stewards.

His troubles were compounded by the appearance of the Safety Car, which was brought out to allow the marshals to clear a piece of De La Rosa's rear wing which had gone AWOL after contact with Sutil. This meant when Alonso served his penalty, he was spat out in 15^th place. When proceedings got underway once more, the order was Webber from Hamilton, Rosberg, Button who had benefitted massively by leaving his stop very late, Barrichello and Kobayashi. Having avoided falling a lap behind the leaders, Massa and Vettel set about grabbing hold of the opportunity to gain places, along with Alonso, fuming after his penalty, evident from his request for radio silence for the remainder of the race.

It was Vettel who was making the most decisive progress though, dispatching both Toro Rossos, Petrov's Renault after the Russian ran wide and fellow Germans Hulkenberg and Schumacher. Now in 8^th place, he found Sutil more of a challenge to pass, being repeatedly denied through the new complex. With a lap to go however, he threw caution to the wind and barged the Force India out of the way to finally snatch the place. Alonso had at last cleared the other Force India of Liuzzi for 11^th before having to pit courtesy of a puncture picked up from contact with the Italian driver. It was the final mishap in a thoroughly miserable and points-free day for Ferrari.

No such problems for Webber however, as the Australian brought the car home for his third win of the year, putting himself ahead of Red Bull's supposed favoured son Vettel in the standings. 2^nd place kept Hamilton at the top of the championship, likewise 4^th place for Button keeping his 2^nd place secure for now. Rosberg gained considerable ground on the non-scoring Alonso for 5^th in the table with a well-deserved podium, with Barrichello and Kobayashi giving welcome boosts to Williams and Sauber respectively for finishing in 5^th and 6^th places. The German quartet of Vettel, Sutil, Schumacher and Hulkenberg completed the top 10.

Considering the unusually good British weather and lasting tyres, Silverstone was able to provide the adoring crowd with an excellent race, due to the fact several big boys were forced to make their way through the pack. Perhaps there may be sense in introducing a random or reverse element to qualifying to make this happen more often in the future.

 

 

Motorsport World Cup

After watching England's frankly embarrassing defeat at the hands of Germany this time last week in the World Cup, it got me wondering: could we fare any better in a World Cup of motorsport? After all, England has given the world its last two F1 champions in the form of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, so surely we would stand a fighting chance of victory. So, I assigned each country its three finest race and rally drivers, and set about working out which nation would emerge triumphant.

Before you wail 'wasn't A1GP supposed to be the World Cup of Motorsport?' let me explain how my format is different and better (something's clearly amiss when Ireland is proclaimed motorsport champion of the world). Trying to stick as closely to the football format as possible, my world cup is essentially a long series of head-to-head battles that take place on a Race of Champions-style circuit. For those of you who have never seen the Race of Champions, it uses a track with two parallel lanes that cross over, so two drivers start in opposing lanes but end up driving both lanes. This way there is no room for racing incidents, with pure skill alone determining the outcome – both drivers using identical cars, naturally. Using the rankings from the Castrol Rankings website, I organised the nations into eight groups of four countries, as per the World Cup, with each group comprising 6 matches. I mean races.

So, the big question is how did England fare? I decided that Kris Meeke, as our country's best rally driver, should join Lewis and Jenson in salvaging glory for England. As second seeds according to Castrol, the hand of fate selected Sweden, Canada and Greece to join us in our group. Jenson Button made short work of Greece's Lambros Athanssoulas, though Kris Meeke had a slightly closer win against Canada's DTM (German Touring Cars) ace Bruno Spengler. However, it was Lewis Hamilton that let the side down, failing to best Sweden's Mattias Ekstrom. Before you scratch your head as to why one of the world's fastest drivers would've been beaten by someone you may never have even heard of, allow me to explain: Hamilton's aggressive, balls-out approach simply doesn't suit this style of racing. On the other hand, Ekstrom's does – he's a 3-time victor of the Race of Champions.

Thus, we finished second in our group, with two victories to Sweden's three. Whilst they would face a fairly gentle match-up with Austria, we had a far tougher challenge awaiting us: Australia. According to Castrol, they were the number one seeds, strolling through their group. Nonetheless, our boys were able to give the Aussies (Mark Webber, Ryan Briscoe of IndyCar fame, and former WRC star Chris Atkinson) a damn good thrashing to secure our place in the quarters, two wins to one.

Waiting for us there was none other than Germany. With a fearsome line-up of Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg, and a certain Mr. Schumacher, they predictably topped their group with the greatest of ease before suitably demolishing Switzerland in the round of 16. That paved a way for a rematch of sorts. The first pair to take to the track were Vettel and Hamilton – keeping consistent with my theory of Hamilton not being at home, Germany were one-nil up. Next were Schumacher and Button, which given the former's lacklustre form in F1 this season, you'd have been forgiven for thinking we would've scored the equaliser. However I have an inclination to believe that Schumacher would still be too much for Jenson given equal machinery. Even if he wasn't, Kris Meeke would surely stand next to no chance against Nico Rosberg. Even the most patriotic optimist would have to concede that our hopes of surviving this encounter were very slim indeed.

Germany would go on to face fifth seeds France in the semi-final. Fresh from crushing Italy and then Brazil, six-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb would probably have had the measure of all three Germans, only to be let down by his teammates and namesakes Ogier (also of the WRC) and Bourdais (Champ Car supremo-turned F1 reject). The German steamroller therefore continues. In the other semi-final, our former adversaries Sweden would have fallen to the mighty Finnish rally driving-trio of Mikko Hirvonen, Jari-Matti Latvala and Kimi Raikkonen. That would set up a classic encounter between the F1 giant of Germany and the Rallying giant of Finland for the final, which by my predictions Germany would have just about come out on top of, three wins to two. Well, at least we lost to the eventual winners!

First Round

Group A: Australia (1), Austria,
Colombia (13), Monaco

Group B: Sweden, England (2), Canada (16), Greece

Group C: Germany (3), Norway (13), Czech Republic, United Arab Emirates

Group D: United States (4), Switzerland, Poland (12), Japan

Group E: France (5), Scotland (9), South Africa, Malaysia

Group F: Finland (6), Italy (11), Estonia, India

Group G: Brazil (7), Portugal, New Zealand (10), Argentina

Group H: Spain (8), Denmark, Russia (15), Indonesia

Second Round

England (2) bt. Australia (1)

Germany (3) bt. Switzerland

France (5) bt. Italy (11)

Brazil (7) bt. Denmark

Sweden bt. Austria

Norway (13) bt. United States (4)

Finland (6) bt. Scotland (9)

Spain (8) bt. Portugal

Quarter Finals

Germany (3) bt. England (2)

France (5) bt. Brazil (7)

Sweden bt. Norway (13)

Finland (6) bt. Spain (8)

Semi Finals

Germany (3) bt. France (5)

Finland (6) bt. Sweden

Final

Germany (3) bt. Finland (6)

Failed to Qualify

Morocco, Mexico, Venezuela, Netherlands, Belgium, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Wales, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Hungary, Turkey, Lebanon, Qatar, Bahrain, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea

 

European Grand Prix 2010

Yesterday was a fine day to be a German sports fan. Not only did England get predictably obliterated in the World Cup match, but Germany scored another victory over England thanks to Sebastian Vettel, who triumphed over the English McLaren pair of Hamilton and Button who joined him on the podium. It may have been a far closer contest than it was however, with more safety car confusion earning Lewis a drive-through penalty. Despite that, home hero Fernando Alonso and his Ferrari team were galled at the fact said penalty didn't actually cost Lewis any track position. To make matters worse, the F1 fraternity were forced to look on with raised eyebrows at how little impact the updates for the cars in red had seemingly made.
That was first alluded to with a somewhat lacklustre 4^th on the grid for the Spaniard, with stable-mate Felipe Massa one place behind, and good friend Hamilton one ahead. The front row however fell not for the first time entirely to Red Bull – Vettel secured Pole number 4 of the season, less than a tenth of a second ahead of the sister car of Mark Webber. Kubica lined up in a solid 6^th place, whilst both Mercedes languished. Rosberg could only muster 12^th place, Schumacher a miserable 15^th.
As the pack got away, the man on the move immediately was Hamilton – he catapulted his way past Webber's RB6, before launching an attack on Vettel's similar machine. The pair indeed made slight contact midway round the first lap as Hamilton made a hopelessly optimistic lunge up the inside of Vettel which he thought better of a tad late. The damage sustained however was minimal, and Lewis comfortably held second from that point onwards. Webber made a solid enough getaway, but his lines through the opening sequence of turns seemed questionable as Hamilton, Alonso, Massa, Kubica, Button and both Williams cars poured past in fairly quick succession to leave the erstwhile championship leader in 9^th place at the end of Lap 1.
Things were scarcely about to improve for him either. He opted for an early pit stop on lap 8, and rejoined the action firmly amongst the new-team cars over which he enjoyed a huge speed advantage. This fact was made clear as day as he drew to the back of Kovalainen's Lotus in a battle for 17^th place at turn 12, only to launch straight over the rear of the Finn's car, flipping over in mid-air, landing and ploughing into a tyre barrier at 200mph. Miraculously, both men emerged completely unscathed: a testament to the strength and safety of modern F1 cars.
This mother and father of all crashes inevitably brought out the safety car. This where the controversy occurred – whilst race leader Vettel easily cleared the safety car as it came onto the track, Hamilton held his speed, before seemingly hesitating and falling a fraction behind the safety car as it crossed the line. He then sped back up to pass it, which clearly contravened the rules. The thing that got Ferrari's metaphorical knickers in a twist was the fact Alonso and Massa were then forced to slow down behind the safety car, whilst Hamilton continued at green flag pace to complete the remainder of the lap before making his pit stop.
This left Vettel at the head of the pack, from the somewhat jammy Hamilton, Kobayashi who had yet to stop, Button, Barrichello and Kubica, who conceded places in the pitstops. Alonso was spat out from the stops in a lowly 10^th place to the dismay of his adoring Spanish fans, with Massa down in 15^th having lost even more time being forced to queue behind Alonso in the stops. Ferrari's de facto number one made his anger very clear at what he considered to be nothing short of downright cheating from Hamilton over the radio, and sure enough the stewards began to investigate the incident. Only 15 laps after the offence was committed did Hamilton receive his drive through punishment, and the Briton had already pulled out enough of a gap from Kobayashi's Sauber to ensure the punishment actually cost him zero track position. It did however effectively destroy any hope of challenging Vettel out front.
It was an utterly spirited drive from Kobayashi, displaying for the first time since Abu Dhabi last year exactly why Peter Sauber chose him to pilot one of his cars over the likes of Nick Heidfeld and Giancarlo Fisichella. Not only did he repel Button to maintain 3^rd to his late pitstop, but he was actually able to extend a small advantage over the reigning champion. When he finally made his stop 4 laps from home, he did fall to 9^th position, but using his fresh rubber he skilfully negotiated his way though Alonso and Buemi to reach a creditworthy 7^th place in the race's dying moments.
Back to the head of the field, there was simply no challenging Vettel who duly crossed the line for his second win of the season, whilst Hamilton's 2^nd place finish ahead of Button's 3^rd place ensured the former extended his championship lead over the latter. Barrichello took William's finest result of the year in 4^th ahead of Kubica's Renault, whilst Sutil completed the top 6 ahead of Kobayashi, Buemi, a visibly fuming Alonso and Rosberg, after another fairly dire outing for the Mercedes team.
Whilst it was probably too much to ask for Valencia to actually produce much overtaking, the race did at least provide intrigue in the way of a rather hair-raising incident for motorsport's favourite Aussie, and the ensuing hullabaloo regarding a certain Mr. Hamilton and the Safety car. No matter how much Ferrari whine though, the fact remains: their car simply isn't fast enough. Fernando is beginning to lose touch with the championship leaders, and any aspirations of a third title really needs a shot in the arm before it's too late.