2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Discussion Thread

[patrick]

Well, what a season. It was Vettel's to lose from the moment he put it on pole in Bahrain. Yes, he faltered but who didn't this year. He deserves it and undoubtedly there is more to come from him.
Great drive from Petrov, he has tried hard for that seat and I think this proves he deserves it. Kubica too, did what he needed to once more. The Schumacher-Liuzzi crash was scary to say the least. All in all not a bad race, very tense.

[Libertango]

No conspiracy theory yet?

I have one, involving Renault engines and Schumi

[tc3j3r]

Full list of ironic points:
·Schumacher's crash contributed to his former team losing the title.
·Ross Brawn's strategy call in bringing Rosberg in early contributed to his former team losing the title.
·Renault's strategy with both cars contributed to their former driver losing the title and their customer team winning the title.
·Webber's error in brushing the wall which forced him to pit early contributed to his team-mate winning the title.
·Hamilton not managing to beat Vettel to the win cost his old rival the title. Maybe he deliberately lost?

[eytl]

Full list of ironic points:
·Schumacher's crash contributed to his former team losing the title.
·Ross Brawn's strategy call in bringing Rosberg in early contributed to his former team losing the title.
·Renault's strategy with both cars contributed to their former driver losing the title and their customer team winning the title.
·Webber's error in brushing the wall which forced him to pit early contributed to his team-mate winning the title.
·Hamilton not managing to beat Vettel to the win cost his old rival the title. Maybe he deliberately lost?

One can have endless fun with this. And they will be standing up for a very long time.

[dr-baker]

There's still time for the two Red Bulls and Alonso's Ferrari to fail scrutineering and hand the title to Lewis isn't there?

[Ferrim]

2011: five champions on the grid.

We had four this season, and four in '99 as well (Häkkinen, Schumacher, Hill, Villeneuve). I'm not sure if there ever were five already crowned champions racing at the same time.

[Libertango]

Asked whether he blamed Petrov for the result, Alonso replied: "I tried to pass him once and he protected like it was the last lap, in the last race in the championship, fighting both for the championship, so he was very aggressive."

From Autosport

That's his excuse? Dear Fernando, Petrov probably thought that this was his last formula one race!!!

[Salamander]

As much as I dislike Vettel, he drove a superb race.

As much as I dislike Vettel I discovered it paled in comparison to my dislike of Alonso as soon as the race started. I'd always liked Alonso when the season started, I'm not sure why I can't stand him anymore.

Pretty much the same thing here. That's really odd, isn't it? Congrats to Vettel and Petrov, commiserations to Webber, haha to Alonso, and a holy crap for Kubica! Passing Kobayashi around the outside in what I reckon was the overtake of the season? Then duly screwing up McLaren by holding off Hamilton and keeping in touch with Button? Drive of the year in my books. But then I may be biased in my opinion...

[Benetton]

Congratulations to Vettel! He deserved it, no doubt about it. Youngest weltmeister ever!

Alonso shaking his fist at Petrov was classless. Alonso has no one else than to blame himself. He could have stayed out longer, he couldn't pass a rookie in an inferior car. Understand that he is frustrated (and Spanish) but still, his fault that he lost the title.

Petrov just secured his drive for next year. What a drive.

[patrick]

Interesting thought crossed my mind, when was the last time the last three world champions stood on the podium together like today? or even sequentially (vet, but, ham)

[tc3j3r]

Interesting thought crossed my mind, when was the last time the last three world champions stood on the podium together like today?

Canada 2010? (Hamilton, Button, Alonso).

[LukeB]

Not at all. I've had to edit three posts in the thread already, that's what I meant. Carry on.

Ahh fair enough my mistake, carry on then

[Benetton]

Interesting thought crossed my mind, when was the last time the last three world champions stood on the podium together like today?

Canada 2010? (Hamilton, Button, Alonso).

Räikkönen says hello.

[Ferrim]

Understand that he is frustrated (and Spanish)

What does being Spanish have to do with that?

[patrick]

Looking back, it's an interesting race to analyse. I can't remember who else pitted during the safety car but certainly Rosberg and Petrov essentially did the whole race on one set of tyres. Which is also doubly impressive for a rookie like Petrov. Add to that the pressure of having Alonso on his back for the whole race and he really did do a sterling job. Nico did his typical silent drive into a good position - the Mercedes had good pace on the hard tyre and they were probably going to pit him early anyway.
The tyres lasted too well this race, no doubt Pirelli were watching, and must take note.

[DonTirri]

GENTLEMEN. WE ARE NOT HAVING A FLAME WAR IN HERE.

Failures to respect the appropriate code of conduct and good manners will be edited, warnings will be issued if necessary, and whatever else it takes to ensure the usual calm, proper, ordered discussion is maintained.
As mentioned above, there are plenty of places on the Internet where you can go and be infantile to your hearts' content.

Uhm... Why was my post edited? Last time I checked, (...) is not a profanity. Hell, I've had to endure a year long spree of Vettel-bashing and when despite all the detractors, Vettel triumphs, I am not allowed to rub it in?

Seems like someone has gotten his anti-vettel and his moderator-classes mixed up... Go Home CarlosFerreira.

(Besides, I've gotten away with worse even recently. I didn't see you censoring my rant at the Korean GP thread.... So bitter much that Vettel won?)

[Salamander]

Was it just me, or did Ferrari's urging of Alonso to "Use (his) talent" remind anyone of Star Wars? Y'know, "Use the Force" and such.

[ADx_Wales]

It was more "I've got a bad feeling about this"

And as a fuzzball myself, i am laughing it up.

[Walsh_e]

In the end a boring race made a little more interesting by what was at stake, incredible drive by Petrov.

As for Webber, (one of the last guys in top teams who worked his way up to F1 the hard way) I was sad to seem him lose but sadly it wasn't to be, the Korea mistake was what cost him the title. Vettel is a very deserving champion, 4 races he lost out due to car problems, thats 4 more than Webber at the end of the day.

With Alonso, his gestures to Petrov are the antics of someone who has always had his own way, this has happened more in the last few years with young driver programs leading to drivers always being in the best team, with a team mate who is not allowed to compete, Hamilton gained some humility from last year, Alonso hasn't. (note: I know Alonso spent a while at Minardi, but apart from his time at McLaren were he could not handle not being number one he has always been the lead man in every team)

At the end of the day, a great season, perhaps one of the greatest, can't wait for next year!

[thehemogoblin]

GENTLEMEN. WE ARE NOT HAVING A FLAME WAR IN HERE.

Failures to respect the appropriate code of conduct and good manners will be edited, warnings will be issued if necessary, and whatever else it takes to ensure the usual calm, proper, ordered discussion is maintained.
As mentioned above, there are plenty of places on the Internet where you can go and be infantile to your hearts' content.

Uhm... Why was my post edited? Last time I checked, (...) is not a profanity. Hell, I've had to endure a year long spree of Vettel-bashing and when despite all the detractors, Vettel triumphs, I am not allowed to rub it in?

Seems like someone has gotten his anti-vettel and his moderator-classes mixed up... Go Home CarlosFerreira.

(Besides, I've gotten away with worse even recently. I didn't see you censoring my rant at the Korean GP thread.... So bitter much that Vettel won?)

The Korean GP thread wasn't going to be as actively controversial as this was. I'm guessing he was just getting proactive and nipping the whole thing in the bud. I, on the other hand, was asleep when this happened.

[CarlosFerreira]

Fair game on Petrov - raising his hands and saying it's impossible to overtake in Abu Dhabi:

Whitmarsh's comments have been backed by Petrov himself - who successfully held off Alonso through the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

"Overtaking is not possible here," Petrov said when asked by AUTOSPORT. "The Ferrari was behind and he could not overtake here. But I don't know what they can change because they have already built the place.

"To help overtaking, I think you need a faster corner, maybe third or fourth gear and then you have an opportunity to overtake. If at Turn 7, the hairpin onto the back straight, if that corner was like Turn 1 then I am sure it would be better."

Didn't expect to hear that from last Sunday's hero. He's just won his place in F1 with those comments, as far as I am concerned.

[watka]

I'm very very late on this (I had a course all week, and was up late every night with people!), but congratulations to Vettel. He should have won the title much earlier in the season, and the fact that he had more mechanical problems and accidents than most of the other championship contenders alongside his number of pole positions I think goes to show that he was easily the fastest driver all season. The race itself would have been deadly boring if it was anything other than the title decider (this was really down there with Bahrain and Valencia in terms of quality), but sometimes races are decided by strategy, and it really does help if you head the field and force everyone else into a change of strategy.