So with fifteen weeks until the 2011 campaign begins, what to fill my blog with? Over the coming weeks I will find the answers, but for now I thought I would do my own personal review of the highs and lows of, as the BBC pronounced it n their season review yesterday, 'The Greatest Season'. Awards will range from best race, best overtake to quote of the season (yes my topics are that vast). I appreciate some of you may have different views to me but hey, do your own blog. So, let's begin...
Car of the Season: Red Bull RB6. Adrian Newey's rocketship took 15 poles, nine wins and four 1-2s. They deservedly secured the Constructor's and Driver's Championship. Truly the class of the field.
Runner up - Ferrari F10
Qualifying performance of the Season: There is clearly only one winner here, but I thought I would go through the contenders anyway. Any of Sebastian Vettel's pole positions would have have deserved this award along with Mark Webber's wonderful pole lap on the intermediate tyres in Malaysia. Lewis Hamilton's solitary pole of the season in Canada showed he is still the master of Montreal while Fernando Alonso's lap to qualify third in Abu Dhabi was so crucial at a pivotal point in the championship. Elsewhere Robert Kubica almost clinched pole in Monaco only to be trumped by Webber and his Red Bull rocketship and Force India's Tonio Liuzzi found himself in unfamiliar territory with fifth place in Canada. But the unanimous winner has to be Williams' Nico Hulkenberg; the rookie stormed to pole in Brazil 15 days ago by 1.1 secs from Vettel's Red Bull. He will surely get a top drive next season after he was surprisingly dumped by Williams eight days ago.
Runner up - Tonio Liuzzi in Canada (5th)
Overtake of the Season: Overtakes are few and far between in F1 these days (apparently), which makes them extra special when they are executed to perfection. There were several memorable overtakes in 2010 (and no not Alonso 'passing' Felipe Massa at Hockenheim). But there are four that permanently remain in my mind and not all for good reasons. Robert Kubica's move around the outside of Adrian Sutil at Singapore was stunning. Okay, so he had fresher tyres, but Hamilton attempted the same trick on Webber earlier in the race and looked what happened there. A risky manoeuvre, but a quite brilliant one. Kamui Kobayashi is becmong a firm favourite amongst the F1 fans and any of his overtakes in Japan (particularly his wheel banging with Jaime Alguersuari) would deservedly win my 'overtake of the season' award. Lewis Hamilton's outrageous pass on Mercedes' Nico Rosberg into Turns 11 and 12 around the outside is surely the winner then, right? In fact it isn't. The best overtake of the season, in terms of sheer bravery, was Rubens Barrichello's pass on Michael Schumacher in Hungary. Barrichello was oh so nearly driven into the wall by his former Ferrari team mate and there was clearly some bad blood in that manoeuvre. Nevertheless Rubens kept his foot in it despite coming desperately close to an enormous accident. Barrichello famously said after the race: “If he wants to go to heaven before me he can; I don't want to go to heaven. It was the most dangerous thing I've ever been through.”
Runner up - Lewis Hamilton on Nico Rosberg (Australia)
Drive of the Season: There are many contenders for this award. Fernando Alonso holding off the significantly faster Sebastian Vettel for 61 near perfect laps deserves a mention while Jenson Button's brave early call for slicks to win in Australia was magnificent. Sebastian Buemi led a Grand Prix for the first time in his career en route to finishing eighth for Toro Rosso in Canada and Vitaly Petrov earned himself few admirers in Spain for keeping Alonso at bay in Abu Dhabi denying the Spaniard a third world title. But the drive of the year for 2010 has a joint winner; Mark Webber's flawless drive in Spain was mirrored by Sebastian Vettel's equally dominant victory at Suzuka.
Runner up - Sebastian Vettel (Great Britain)
Quote of the Season: “Ok, so, Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm that you understood that message?” Rob Smedley (Felipe Massa's race engineer). No explanation is needed.
Runner up - "Not bad for a number two driver." Mark Webber after Silverstone.
Controversy of the Season: It has to be the Ferrari team orders row. It was so blatant and showed massive disrespect to the fans. It crushed Felipe Massa's spirit and he may never be the same driver again. If Alonso had won the title by the seven points he got by 'passing' Massa in Germany, it would have been disastrous for the sport.
Runner up - Vettel v Webber at Red Bull
Image of the season: Bruno Senna's eyes peering through his visor upon retirement in Bahrain was a spooky sight. It looked exactly like his late, great uncle Ayrton Senna. Mark Webber's backflip into the Red Bull energy station's pool was one of F1's happier sights although on the flip side (no pun intended) the Australian's car flying through mid air in that horrific crash in Valencia was a disconcerting experience. Lotus' Heikki Kovalainen putting out his own car's fire in Singapore was a wonderful sight but my image of the season has to be Lewis Hamilton standing by the side of his car in Suzuka after crashing in practise. The 2008 World Champion looked completely crestfallen wondering where all his luck had gone.
Runner up - The tifosi underneath the podium after Fernando Alonso's first victory at Monza in a Ferrari. Vettel on the podium in Abu Dhabi and Michael Schumacher eyeing up the Red Bull in Bahrain were other notable contenders.
Race of the Year: Other than Bahrain, every race was intriguing in plenty of ways. Turkey provided the most tension, with inter team battles at Red Bull (yes, that crash between Vettel and Webber) and Mclaren which almost provided us with an identical collision between Hamilton and Button. Germany was the most controversial race of the year while Korea gave us a splendid inaugural Grand Prix (despite it nearly lasting about five days). Spa was an epic race as per usual and the moment where Hamilton brushed the barriers left you shouting at the television. However, the stand out races were most certainly in Australia and Canada. Plenty of overtaking, plenty of thrills and spills, and of course, a British driver winning. What more could you want. Button's brave call for slicks along with Michael Schumacher battling with a Virgin (yes, you are reading that correctly), and the criticism F1 received following the previous round in Bahrain made it my race of the year.
Runner up - Canada
Driver of the season: There were so many candidates for this award. Nico Rosberg comprehensibly outperforming Schumacher at Mercedes in other years would earn him this 'coveted' award while at Mclaren Lewis Hamilton (particularly in the early part of the season) was putting his car in places it had no right to be. Mistakes in the latter part of the season grew, but his stunning victories (especially at Spa) outweighed them. Rubens Barrichello still showed he had the hunger at the 'tender' age of 37 while Fernado Alonso was relentless in his push for the title. Jenson Button can be proud of his first season at Mclaren along with his two victories in 2010 and both Red Bull drivers raised their game enormously with Vettel deservedly winning the championship. But my driver of the 2010 season is Renault's Robert Kubica. The Pole remains a talent who is still very much under-appreciated. He qualified in the top 10 in every race bar Abu Dhabi (he still finished 5th) and on the real 'driver's' tracks which remain in F1 (Monaco, Spa and Suzuka), he qualified on either the front or second row. He will surely be a future world champion and will definitely add to his solitary victory in Canada 2008 in the future.
Runner up - Sebastian Vettel
The 2010 season was simply spellbinding. If 2011 is half as good, that will suit me just fine.
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