Red Bull’s Vettel emerged champion in a season that went down to the last race with five drivers fighting to finish first.
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel emerged champion in a season that went down to the last race with five drivers fighting to finish first.
The race for the Formula One championship in 2010 saw many fluctuations with as many as five drivers harbouring hopes of clinching the coveted title, but in the end it was Sebastian Vettel who won.
For the other four — Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button — it was so near, yet so far.
As the battle went into the deep end, the lead at the top changed hands on eight occasions through 18 races, none of them saw Vettel on top. The only time he led the championship was after winning the 19th race — Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. At 23, the German also became the youngest ever to be crowned Formula One champion.
Alonso was destined to win the title going into the final race at Yas Marina circuit but a tactical blunder saw his chances evaporate.
Hamilton’s chances imploded after failures in Italy and Singapore. Webber and Button failed to show teeth when it mattered.
Vettel was always considered a future champion. The question was can he keep it cool when things are not going his way. The incident involving him and Red Bull teammate Webber at the Turkish Grand Prix suggested the German is still shaky under pressure. Vettel exited the race and Webber returned in third but too far behind the McLarens of Hamilton and Button.
It was also the start of cold war between the two drivers. The relationship worsened at the British GP when Red Bull decided to switch front wings during qualifying. In the end, it didn’t make much difference to Webber, who went on to win the race while Vettel finished a disappointing seventh. The battle came out in the open when Webber proclaimed on team radio, “Well done guys, not bad for a No 2 driver.”
Webber, who was leading the championship at this point, could manage just one more win at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Thereafter his season went into oblivion, succumbing under pressure. At the same time, Alonso started his mid-season surge, winning in Germany, Italy Singapore and South Korea, which propelled him to the top.
Many wrote Vettel off, stating that it would take him one more year to be a champion material. But in the final stretch, he bounced back from being described as the “crash kid” to show nerves of steel, winning three of the last four races.
Some would say he was lucky but he made the most of the opportunity he had and that’s what counts. To put it in perspective — at Vettel’s age, Michael Schumacher had yet to win his first race.
If Vettel and Webber were able to deliver results as their breathtakingly fast car was capable of, Red Bull would have wrapped up the championships with plenty of races to spare.
Luckily for the fans, it proved adept at tripping itself up, so instead of a Red Bull whitewash, there was a thrilling title struggle. In the end, Red Bull prevailed and took its first constructors’ title outperforming the giants of Formula One — McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes.
Ferrari were at it again
The team orders row at the German Grand Prix became one of the main talking points of the 2010 season. Ferrari’s Felipe Massa had dominated the race but was clearly slower than teammate Fernando Alonso, who relentlessly tried to force a way pass. The Spaniard complained on the team radio and Massa was instructed to make way for Alonso to eventually take victory in Germany.
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