For the first time in 60 years of Formula 1 racing, a season has come down to the final Grand Prix, with four drivers in contention for the World Championship—the most coveted title in all of international motorsports.
After 18 races on five continents, 1,074 laps of high-speed action over the course of eight months, these four—Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton—will climb into their chariots this Sunday in hopes of being crowned champion at the Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi.
Even McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh, who’s unlikely to walk away with any big trophy this weekend, has hailed 2010’s Formula 1 season as “probably the greatest in history.”
“I’ve been in racing for 51 years and I’ve never seen anything like this,” said David Hobbs, a former F1 driver who’ll call Sunday’s race on TV. Wall Street Journal
The Ferrari driver leads the points table, has his Italian team right behind him and is finishing fastest of any of the title contenders.
Alonso also knows the Red Bull team’s internal split - with half favouring Webber and the other half behind Vettel - gives him the advantage in the duel in the desert.
“Our only picture of the race at the moment is winning it or finishing second,” Alonso said.
“That’s the target and I think that’s what we’re going to achieve this weekend. Herald Sun
Webber, who is eight points adrift of Ferrari’s two-time champion Fernando Alonso ahead of the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, he said he wanted to “have another crack next year” even if he wins the title for Red Bull.
“I want to do it on Sunday, but if it doesn’t happen then I will have another crack next year,” said Webber.
“I know I have been very fortunate even to have a chance to get to this point, so I am not getting greedy, but I know it was good to have a chance.” AFP
Pos Driver Team Points 1 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 246 2 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 238 3 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 231 4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 222 5 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 199 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 143 7 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 130 8 Robert Kubica Renault 126 9 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 72 10 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 47 11 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 47 12 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 32 13 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 22 14 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 21 15 Vitaly Petrov Renault 19 16 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 8 17 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari 6 18 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber-Ferrari 6 19 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 3 20 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 0 21 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 0 22 Karun Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 0 23 Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 0 24 Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 0 25 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 0
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