2010 – A New Season

The 2010 season is upon us, with the Bahrain GP this weekend, so lets take a few moments to have a look at the state of the teams, drivers and rules, and what we think might happen.

The Rule Changes

Many of the rules stay the same this year, however there are a few big changes that we need to be aware of.

Historic

Nice post about some of the historic F1 cars over here. Great pics.

4065185357_cfc3b3d66d_o[1]Translated version of the page here

Bridgestone Out?

21_f109_Make_Cars_Green_Tyres_02 Hiroshi Yasukawa – “The decision made by the board of directors comes after considerable and lengthy evaluations and has been based on the company’s need to redirect its resources towards further intensive development of innovative technologies.”

This today from the current exclusive tyre supplier to F1, saying they will not continue to supply tyres after the 2010 season is over. This means that they will pull out of the sport after their 3 year exclusivity contract expires. What this means to F1 is unsure at the moment. Will the FIA try get another manufacturer in on an exclusive deal? or will we have the ‘tyre war’ back that added so much spice to the sport while Michelin and Bridgestone competed?

Abu Dhabi Quali

Capture Interesting Qualifying session from the newest, and has to be said, most visually impressive track on the grid.

Hamilton with the KERS helping in sector 2 comes out on top, with the two Red Bull cars 2nd and 3rd on the grid.

Rubens is then followed by world Champion elect Jenson Button. Jarno Trulli lines the Toyota up to what looks to be his final drive with Toyota in 6th, closely followed by the two BMW’s of Kubica and Heidfeld on their last race under the German car manufacturers leadership.

Brazilian GP

CaptureMark Webber wins the Brazilian Grand Prix, with a mature and strong drive from start to finish.

The story however is the world championship wins by Brawn, both Constructors and Drivers world championships have been wrapped up at the track.

However it was a great race from start to finish, with some great overtaking moves, and some great strategy by all the teams.

Jenson Champion

JensonButtonBrawnGP Jenson Button has wrapped up the title championship with a great drive from 14th on the grid. He made some great overtaking moves to finish 5th in the Brazilian race, and take the Drivers championship.

It has been 40 years since we had a British driver hand his drivers title over to another British driver. Jenson will make a worthy world champion, and be a true ambassador for the sport.

Brawn also celebrate by taking the constructors championship, a true achievement when you consider the issues they had at the start of the season.

McLaren Vodafone

Nice video about the Singapore GP published by Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.

Gives a great insight into what goes on in the leadup to the race weekend, and shows what the team back in Woking can and does do for the race team all the way from the UK.

Mobil1 Comp

The official Mobil 1 competition I mentioned a couple of months back is coming to an end, so it’s your last chance to play and win. Pop along to willyoubethe1.com and have a play, and just to get the juices flowing, here’s Lewis playing the game.

Japan Race

Capture Sebastien Vettel keeps his title hopes alive, taking a start to finish win in Japan.

Other good news was that Toyota got their second second place finish in two races, this time with Jarno getting the teams podium spot. Almost certainly cementing the Japanese constructor in the championship next year, which is good news. However the rumours about drivers are strong, with all sort of names being banded about for the team.

Singapore Race

Capture Lewis Hamilton take a start to finish win, to show that the McLaren has certainly come of age. It’s just a pity that the McLaren was so poor in the beginning of the season.

However the big news is the controlled, mature drive by Jenson Button to bring himself home in fifth spot, crucially just behind Vettel and ahead of his team mate and closest title challenger Barrichello.