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.