A captivating Formula 1 season came to a close in dramatic fashion last weekend as Sebastian Vettel became the youngest ever champion in the sport’s 60-year history. Needless to say this season has also seen no less controversy than we have come to expect from Formula 1. Sport.co.uk recalls some of the 2010 season’s more provocative moments either on the track, in the paddock or on the streets of Adelaide…
What, no fuel stops?!
This season saw refuelling during the race banned for the first time since 1993, but the prospect of completing the race on a single tank of petrol was not entirely welcome within the F1 community. Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso were among those critical of the rule changes, Michael Schumacher claimed they rendered overtaking ‘basically impossible’, while the tabloids quickly dubbed the 2010 season curtain-raiser the ‘Bore-rain Grand Prix’.
McLaren rear wing controversy ahead of Bahrain
The season had not even begun before teams were pointing to each other’s cars like snitching schoolboys. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner led concerns about how McLaren were employing a fin over the engine cover in an attempt to reduce drag. McLaren remained adamant that the design was entirely legal and were vindicated when the MP4-25 passed an FIA inspection ahead of the opening race.
Hamilton falls foul of the rules of the road in Australia
After finishing a disappointing sixth, Lewis Hamilton’s misery was compounded when he was slapped with a $500 fine for ‘deliberately losing traction’ as he performed a burnout on the streets of Adelaide later that evening. Driving in what he referred to as ‘an over-exuberant manner’, it seems a shame that it wasn’t a British officer who pulled him over…
“Think we’re Lewis Hamilton, do we sir?”
Red Bull wipeout in Turkey
Going into the final third of the Turkish Grand Prix with Mark Webber leading from Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull looked comfortable for a one-two finish. However disaster struck on lap 40 as the young German attempted an audacious passing manoeuvre, only to bring his race to an abrupt end after to colliding with his team-mate. Webber himself still managed to finish, but did so at the expense of two positions after damage from the collision forced him to pit. Both drivers refused to accept responsibility for the crash and there was bad blood between the pair for many races to come.
Madness in Valencia
The European Grand Prix will mostly be remembered for the sight of Mark Webber’s RB6 performing an acrobatic flip after running into the back of Heikki Kovalainen, from which he was lucky to emerge unscathed. However the laps that followed that sparked controversy as Lewis Hamilton passed the safety car and, after much deliberation, was served with a drive-through penalty 20 minutes later. Fernando Alonso was furious that it had taken so long to penalise Hamilton, a delay that had benefitted the British driver, and accused race stewards of manipulating the outcome of the race.
Red Bull gives you wings at Silverstone
…but only if you’re the team favourite it seems. Mark Webber was livid, and rightly so, when Red Bull decided to give his front wing to fellow driver Sebastian Vettel after the German damaged his own during final practice. Inevitably it was Webber who went on to win the British Grand Prix, despite the perceived bias towards his team-mate.
“Not bad for a number two driver,” he quipped over team radio after taking the chequered flag.
Team orders at Hockenheim
Without doubt, this season’s major controversy was in Germany, when Ferrari once again found themselves at the centre of a row regarding team orders. Back in 2002, the team had courted controversy by staging the finish to allow Michael Schumacher to overtake race leader and team-mate Rubens Barrichello on the final lap. On this occasion, Ferrari were slightly more ambiguous with the perceived orders that were given over team radio to Felipe Massa. The Brazilian’s race engineer Rob Smedley was heard to tell the Brazilian in no uncertain terms, “Fernando is faster than you.” So infamous became the message that it has since appeared on t-shirts. Meanwhile Ferrari were fined $100,000 for manipulating the outcome of the race.
Schumacher back to his old tricks in Hungary
After three years away from the sport hype inevitably surrounded Michael Schumacher’s return, but the seven-time world champion failed to record a single podium finish and finished a distant ninth in the drivers’ standings. His was heavily criticised at the Hungaroring, where he employed excessively aggressive tactics to prevent one-time team-mate and all-round good guy Rubens Barrichello from passing. Jackie Stewart described it as ‘one of the most blatant abuses of another driver that I have seen,’ indeed the only superlative to emerge from the German’s damp squib of a return to Formula 1.
Ground clearance row hits new low pre-Belgium
Technicalities were again on the agenda after complaints surfaced during the summer break regarding the low ground clearance of both the Red Bull RB6 and the Ferrari F10. The FIA reacted by increasing test loads for the cars’ front wings ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, but both cars passed and the case was closed.
Alonso flicks the finger in Abu Dhabi
After seven podium finishes in his previous eight races, Fernando Alonso will have felt that he had both the momentum and the consistency required to sew up his third world championship title at the Yas Marina circuit. However an ill-judged tyre-stop left him several places adrift and stuck behind the Renault of Vitaly Petrov who stubbornly, and quite rightly, refused to let him through without a fight. In the end Alonso only managed to get past the Russian on the warm-down lap and it was then that the frustrated Spaniard gesticulated angrily at his fellow driver. Still, while Petrov may have burned his bridges as far as Alonso is concerned, it seems that he has a new ally in Sebastian Vettel. “I'm going to buy him a drink. I hope he is in Formula 1 next year,” revealed the new world champion after the race.