2010 Formula One Season - Report

Report

In stark contrast to 2009, no one driver emerged as dominant in the early stages of the 2010 season. Fernando Alonso won the opening race of the season in Bahrain after Sebastian Vettel's engine misfired, with Alonso becoming just the sixth Ferrari driver to win on debut for the Italian team. Reigning World Champion Jenson Button claimed victory in Australia for the second year in succession, whilst Vettel won in Malaysia, setting up a unique situation that would last for the rest of the season whereby no driver would win a race while leading the World Championship.

Button became the first driver to win more than one race with victory in China, but Mark Webber would be the first to take back-to-back victories with wins in Spain and Monaco. Webber was leading the Turkish Grand Prix when team-mate Vettel attempted a pass on lap 40 that ended with the two Red Bulls colliding; Vettel retired whilst Webber recovered to finish third behind eventual race winner Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. Hamilton would match Webber's feat of back-to-back victories by claiming first place in Canada.

The middle of the season saw controversy, starting at the European Grand Prix in Valencia following a disputed safety car ruling. Mark Webber collided with Heikki Kovalainen at the fastest point on the circuit, the collision destroying Webber's front wing and launching Webber into a somersault. The safety car was deployed immediately, joining the circuit behind race leader Vettel, but ahead of then-second placed Hamilton and the Ferraris of Alonso and Felipe Massa. Hamilton overtook the safety car as it emerged from the pit lane but after it had crossed the safety car control line. It took the race stewards twenty minutes to pass verdict on the infringement, and while Hamilton was issued with a drive-through penalty for his actions, it had little effect as he was already well clear of the rest of the field.

The British Grand Prix marked the halfway point of the season and was the source of further controversy, this time in the Red Bull garage as the "Red Bull Civil War" spilled over into open hostilities when team principal Christian Horner removed the team's Silverstone-spec front wing from Mark Webber's car and placed it on Vettel's for qualifying and the race after the German driver damaged his in the final practice session. Webber won the race after passing Vettel from second off the start, who then developed a puncture on the first lap and was forced to pit.

The German Grand Prix saw a return to form for Ferrari, with both Alonso and Massa quickest over the course of the race meeting. On the anniversary of his accident, Felipe Massa led most of the race before a message from the Ferrari pit appeared to be a coded instruction telling Massa to move over and let Alonso through, granting Alonso seven extra World Championship points for his ultimate win. Ferrari were fined US$100,000 for the use of team orders to deliberately alter the outcome of a race and faced further sanctions at a meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in September where they face charges of bringing the sport into disrepute, though the hearing would ultimately acquit Ferrari on the grounds of a lack of evidence.

After finishing sixth in Germany, Webber won again in Hungary after Vettel broke an obscure safety car rule and was issued with a drive-through penalty that demoted him to third, while Lewis Hamilton won a wet Belgian Grand Prix from Mark Webber and Robert Kubica while Vettel was involved in a collision with Button that eliminated the incumbent World Champion whilst Vettel was handed his second drive-through penalty in as many races. Fernando Alonso retired after an uncharacteristic mistake in the wet. The European season ended in Italy, with Alonso claiming his third victory of the season and adding a fourth to his tally – and his first Grand Slam – in Singapore.

The 2010 season also saw the debut of three new teams, Virgin, Lotus and Hispania. The teams were often more than three seconds per lap slower than the established teams. After fighting reliability issues early in the season, the three teams soon established themselves with Lotus leading the way, their best result being a twelfth place for Heikki Kovalainen in Japan. Virgin struggled after discovering their fuel tank was too small, forcing them to push their development schedule back five races in order to build a car that could finish the race. Hispania were the slowest of the three, and by mid-season were rotating their drivers on a regular basis, but a pair of fourteenth places by Karun Chandhok in Australia and Monaco put the team ahead of Virgin in the Constructors' Championship for most of the season.

Red Bull reasserted their dominance in Japan, with Vettel winning comfortably from Webber and Alonso third. They were prepared to continue their performance in a rain-delayed Korean Grand Prix, but an early accident eliminated Webber and a late engine failure for Vettel handed the victory to Alonso. Nico Hülkenberg claimed his maiden pole position for Williams by over a second in changing conditions in Brazil, but Red Bull went on to claim their fourth one-two finish of the season, claiming enough points to be declared World Constructors' Champions in just their sixth year of competition.

In the week leading up to the final race of the season, Red Bull repeated their intentions not to use team orders, a decision they were widely criticised for as allowing Mark Webber to finish ahead of Sebastian Vettel would have meant he trailed Fernando Alonso by just one point ahead of the race in Abu Dhabi. However, the Australian struggled to find speed across the weekend, qualifying behind Alonso and unable to find a way past the Ferrari driver for most of the race. Like Webber, Alonso had opted for an early pit stop in his tyre strategy, but emerged behind Russian rookie Vitaly Petrov. Taking into account the cars ahead of them that had yet to stop, this meant that Alonso would be running sixth on the road when he needed to finish fourth to claim the title.

McLaren's Jenson Button took the lead of the race when Sebastian Vettel pitted, the 2009 World Champion attempting to extend his lead enough to avoid a costly encounter with Robert Kubica after Lewis Hamilton got caught behind the Renault driver; passing Kubica would give him a chance to catch Vettel, who would resume the lead when Button pitted. Button needed a lead of twenty-two seconds to rejoin the circuit ahead of Kubica and Hamilton, but Kubica was able to match him on lap times and McLaren were forced to pit Button, who rejoined fourth behind his team mate, becoming third when Kubica pitted. While Kubica was expected to rejoin somewhere behind Mark Webber, Vitaly Petrov had held Webber and Alonso up enough that when Kubica completed his stop, he joined the circuit ahead of them, adding his name to the list of drivers Alonso needed to pass in order to win the World Championship. Sebastian Vettel won the race, with the McLarens second and third. Alonso was unable to find a way past Petrov and so finished seventh, handing the title to Vettel by four points. Abu Dhabi was the first time Sebastian Vettel had led the 2010 World Championship.