The hits and flops of Abu Dhabi

The tops

Sebastian Vettel
The German driver had a perfect Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, starting from pole and leading the race? except during the laps between his pit stop and that of Jenson Button. Sebastian Vettel, although he was unable to influence what was happening behind him, was able to get his third victory in six weeks, winning his first World Champion title. The pilot Red Bull receives the reward of a season which he dominated in speed but during which he encountered numerous problems (reliability, errors). Despite this significant loss of points, the native of Heppenheim refocused in the final straight to win the world crown ahead of Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber.

Red Bull
The Austrian team focused on sporting values ​​until the end. Between Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber, the Milton Keynes team never wanted to choose. If the German is the driver they wanted to see triumph, the management team did everything to ensure that their colt achieved it alone, without Mark Webber being slowed down like Felipe Massa at Ferrari. Red Bull “cracked” at Silverstone, giving Vettel the more advanced wing of Webber. After the barrage of criticism against it, the energy drink brand's team then adopted parity between its two drivers, at the risk of letting the two world titles slip away. In the end, Red Bull was rewarded by winning both crowns.

Vitaly Petrov
Questioned for several weeks (and even recently by Nick Heidfeld), Vitaly Petrov had a very good race. He took advantage of the early entry of the safety car to change tires, which allowed him to get back to the front. He then knew how to resist Fernando Alonso, who was a candidate in the title race. The Russian held his position without influencing the debates, either in one direction or the other. Finally sixth, he ended his season on a positive note. Robert Kubica, who delayed his pit stop until the very end of the race, is also to be congratulated for his fifth place.

McLaren
For the last race of the year, McLaren was able to react and put its two drivers on the podium, while the Woking team had been losing momentum for several weeks. Before the next season, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button can be reassured by the responsiveness of their team. Lewis Hamilton kept pace with Sebastian Vettel for a long time, before being left behind during the second half of the race. As for Jenson Button, he beat Fernando Alonso at the start and led the race before changing tires.

Jaime Alguersuari
The young Spaniard, who finishes his first full season in Formula 1, had a good Grand Prix, finishing ninth behind Mark Webber and ahead of Felipe Massa. Advantaged by an early tire change, he showed an interesting pace, knowing how to resist the big names in the field. In qualifying, he was ahead of his teammate Sébastien Buemi, yet more experienced. The Catalan was able to end his season on a positive note.

Lotus? Virgin? HRT
The three teams can congratulate themselves on having been able to take on an important challenge, by managing to take the start of the first race of the season, then by having managed to maintain their commitment until Abu Dhabi, where some thought that ?one or two teams would not finish the year. The honors go to Lotus Racing, which dominated the other new teams in the field throughout the season. Having seen his team finish behind that of Tony Fernandes (Lotus, AirAsia), Richard Branson (Virgin Racing, Virgin Atlantic) will have to serve as a flight attendant on an AirAsia flight?

Season 2010
In everyone's opinion, this 2010 Formula 1 season is one of the best in recent seasons: three teams at the top, five drivers involved in the title race, and four more in the last race. The suspense of this 2010 season proved to be of rare intensity, as was the balance of the debates between the three teams.

The flops

Ferrari? Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso, on the podium ten times this year, only needed a fourth place to be titled. He held it at the start of the race, after being overtaken by Jenson Button at the start. Then, when Mark Webber? 6th behind Alonso? stopped very early, Ferrari decided to model the Spaniard?s racing strategy on that of the Red Bull driver. Missed: Alonso certainly came out ahead of Webber? but behind Rosberg and Petrov! The Oviedo native, in this pit stop, lost the World Champion title that was promised to him. A better start would have allowed him to escape this unfortunate strategy...

Mark Webber
If he played his role this weekend, Mark Webber was expected in the title race. Fifth on the starting grid for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, he jeopardized his chances of world crown on Saturday. During the race, he started too far from Sebastian Vettel to be able to imagine catching him. After a very good first half of the season, the Australian slowed down and saw his opponents come back. Having no longer won since Hungary, he logically let the title slip away. His early pit stop in Abu Dhabi still led Ferrari to stop Fernando Alonso early, which gave Sebastian Vettel an advantage in winning the world title.

Felipe Massa
The Brazilian concluded a disappointing season this Sunday with a tenth place. Sometimes in good times, the 2008 vice-World Champion lacked consistency this year, finishing in sixth place in the championship, a sixth place not far from being threatened by Nico Rosberg and Robert Kubica. Above all, in accordance with what his supporters feared, the native of Sao Paulo was taken over at Ferrari by Fernando Alonso, the undeniable spearhead of the Scuderia.