By Luke Gardener
The 2010 season saw the debut of three new teams, meaning there would be 24 cars on the grid, as well as a new points system that ensured the top ten drivers to finish a race would now receive championship points. We saw a number of changes, with the cars looking extremely different to the versions of previous years, with much bigger front wings and narrower rear wings, whilst the rule banning refuelling during the race was also introduced. This did not however have the effect of making the sport boring, as many said it would, and in fact 2010 may well have been the greatest championship fight in the 61 seasons of the sport.
So it all started in Bahrain on Sunday 14th March in the season opener, on a new track layout and what was in many people’s opinion the worse race of the season. Sebastian Vettel, who had managed to get pole position in the Saturday qualifying session, looked as if he had the race won after coming out of the pit stops still in the lead but a problem late on with his spark plug meant he was left holding onto fourth place, promoting Alonso to first, Massa to second and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton to third. There was a lot of criticism of the new format which meant refuelling was banned following the race but as we were about to find out these concerns were premature. In winning the race, Fernando Alonso became only the sixth man to win on his debut for Ferrari.
We found out in the second race of the season in Melbourne, Australia, that Formula One’s new rules were anything but a hindrance. An inspired decision by Jenson Button handed him a win he certainly wouldn’t have expected after his tangle with Fernando Alonso at the first corner on a wet track. He was the first to choose to change from intermediate to slick tyres; however Vettel managed to stay ahead until he suffered from lost torque drive, not what was originally thought to be a brake failure. Lewis Hamilton would have been on the podium or fourth had he not collided with Mark Webber, but it was Jenson Button who would gain an impressive win, underlining his credentials as a world class driver and a worthy reigning world champion.
During the changeable conditions of Malaysia’s qualifying session neither the McLarens nor the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso made it to the pole position shootout, leaving the three drivers with it all to do in the race. However, Hamilton managed to pass a car a lap at the beginning of the race and was quickly into the points. Yet the race was dominated by the Red Bull, with Vettel passing pole sitter Webber from third on the first lap and the two leading from lights to flag, thus gaining a one-two to underline their superiority at the Sepang track. The fourth and final race before the teams headed back to Europe was in China, and proved to be a great weekend for McLaren, who managed to achieve what Red Bull had at Malaysia and get an impressive first and second finish. Changeable conditions and Jenson Button’s tyre intuition once again proved the difference as under the safety car he stayed out instead of getting new intermediate tyres before going to slicks meaning he made one less pit stop giving him a healthy advantage. Hamilton was able to carve his way through and finished second, while Nico Rosberg achieved his second successive third place finish.
The first stop in Europe of the season was on the famous Spanish circuit in Barcelona. Mark Webber was impressive in gaining pole position and dominated the race from start to finish, in doing so emphasising the raw pace of the Red Bull car. Lewis Hamilton was in second place and Vettel third for the majority of the race until Hamilton suffered a left front tyre puncture followed by a tyre blowout which put him in the tyre wall. This promoted Vettel to second and Fernando Alonso to third but Vettel then had some brake issues and had to ease the car home gifting Alonso a second place in his home grand prix. Vettel had however, ensured he had enough of a gap to finish on the final step of the podium. After the first five races, there had been four different winners and Jenson Button led the championship from Alonso by three points, with Vettel seven points further back and Webber seventeen points behind the 2009 World Champion. Nico Rosberg’s impressive start to the season meant he was on fifty points, twenty behind leader Button.
Monaco was a race about Red Bull and Mark Webber was able to get his second successive win, with teammate Sebastian Vettel second, and the two leading the championship on the same number of points. Jenson Button was the unfortunate man of the race as his engine overheated thanks to a bung being left in an air intake compartment on the grid. Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were only able to finish fifth and sixth respectively as Red Bull took the initiative in the drivers championship. In Turkey, it was a case of “whatever you can do, we can do better” on the part of McLaren Mercedes as once again they responded to Red Bull’s first and second place finish in Monaco with one of their own, despite their being an element of luck involved in the result. The story of the race though was the fact that Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber collided while fighting for the lead, effectively handing Lewis Hamilton the win and Button second place. Vettel was forced to retire while Webber managed to pit and retain third position as fourth place Michael Schumacher was thirty seconds behind. Fernando Alonso could only manage to finish eighth.
After Lewis Hamilton gained his first win of the season he was in confident mood heading into Canada, one of his favourite tracks and from the start to the end of the weekend he was not going to be beaten. Hamilton took a dominant pole position; the first of the season which wasn’t a Red Bull Racing car and gained a huge win on the Sunday with teammate Jenson Button in second meaning McLaren had the lead in both the drivers and constructors championships. Alonso, Vettel and Webber were in the top five and only six points covered the top three drivers in the championship, a sign of how close things would stay throughout the season.
Round nine on the F1 calendar was the European Grand Prix on the streets of Valencia, where Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel dominated and gained a much needed victory. However, the most memorable moment of the race was when Mark Webber’s Red Bull car took off after colliding with Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus car in a moment which showed the advances of Formula One’s safety, as Webber walked away remarkably unscathed. It was a good weekend for McLaren as both drivers finished on the podium and were starting to look like real contenders for the F1 Championships. The tenth race marked the half way point in the 2010 season and was at the home of motorsport: Silverstone. There Mark Webber gained his third win from the first ten races, and courted notoriety when he said over the radio, “Not bad for a number two driver, eh?” This was in reference to Vettel being given a new, upgraded front wing that was somehow unavailable for Mark Webber’s car. Fernando Alonso suffered a drive through penalty and was unable to gain a single point while Jenson Button finished fourth and Vettel managed seventh.
So, at the half way point of the season there had been five different winners in three different cars, with the season looking like it was going to become a huge battle between Red Bull and McLaren Mercedes. However, this was not the whole story as we will see in Part Two where a champion was crowned in Abu Dhabi with four drivers in contention and the constructors’ championship was closely contested.
TOP FIVE DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1. Lewis Hamilton – 145
2. Jenson Button – 133
3. Mark Webber – 128
4. Sebastian Vettel – 121
5. Fernando Alonso – 98