George from MD

Best season in a long, long time. I was so happy to see Vettel win and both Hambone and Jensen on the podium with him. Clearly, they were happy for him too.

Alonso showed real talent and class after the race was over....what an egotistical whiner.

ltc

I loved Petrov's reaction when he threw his arms up in the air as if he said "WTF did you expect me to do?"

Another great, yet brief, moment after the race was Alonso sitting with his physio (the one who became famous during the Alonso - Hamilton 10 second pit stop at Hungary for McLaren...where Ron Dennis' head almost exploded).

His physio was giving him something to drink, consoling him ... I kept thinking "I hope it is a Motrin".

I would have given anything to see Luca during the race, SpeedTV had no shots of him after the start of the race (where he was smiling, waving, enjoying himself).

ltc

So, the last driver to win a WDC for Ferrari was Kimi (the driver they paid to go away), followed by Massa (who lost out by one point, courtesy of Timo Glock), followed by Alonso (who lost by 9 points, once you give back the 7 points taken from Massa by Luca).

So, Kimi's gone, Massa is likely gone, sure, keep the guy at the bottom of the list .... oh wait, this is just coming in....Alonso is co-owner of the team according to Santander... never mind.

bobt993

MJ, I think you have it right. Ferrari just did not have a plan for this race and tried to play follow the leader. It seemed as if they felt it was a given that Alonso would score more points. When FA let Button go by early I had a feeling they were going way to conservative on a race plan. I wonder if they got the pit info wrong for Petrov and thought he still had to change tires. Hamilton lost his cool chasing Kubica, but his crew was on it and knew a pit stop was eminent so they seemed to calm him down a bit. Petrov had every right to defend his position being on the same lap and in the points. Last week Alonso was more aggressive and took chances. Other than his one "off" there was none of that this time.

Bob Rouleau

Re: Webber's early pit stop - I heard team radio telling him to come in because the right rear was losing pressure. I also heard him complaining about vibration. Since he did tag the wall - sparks and all shown on the replay, I think his pitstop was directly related to a failing tire and was NOT a play to sucker Ferrari.

M758

I don't thing that was too conservative. I think it was smart. Had he stayed in 4th with webbo behind him he would have won the WDC. Better to give up when Button had both a run an the inside for the corner than to press and risk a crash or damaged wing. That could have put him a hole from the start. So Alonso go beat on the start and made the right choice slotting in behind.

However coming out behind the Petrov and Rosberg was a big mistake. Rosberg never came into play due to not being able to pass Petrov, never the less Rosberg was one more obstical. Alonso got held up so long that Kubica could change to options late and still stay in front.

M758

I remember hearing Webbo saying the rear tire were losing grip. I did NOT hear the other calls. I did see the sparks. It does seem Webber was stuck with car where the handling was going away fast and needed to pit to correct it. So he was sort of forced into stopping early. It is not clear to me if it was bad luck or driver induced. Either way Webber was put in bad spot by first qualfing down the order, then by not being able to take any spots at the start and then by issues forcing an early stop. Then of course he ran into the same Russian wall as Big talent Freddy.

bobt993

Joe, this entire season has been about pit stop track position with slower cars. I agree Weber had to come in unplanned, but Ferrari needed to make sure getting back on track would give them some open track ahead. Hamilton's WDC was a bit of good luck as they tried the similar strategy two years ago banking on a conservative points finish.

My993C2

I hate to play the "what if" game since everyone can play this. But what if Vettel's engine had not blown up in Korea? All this Alonso Ferrari talk would not even be a factor today. The Vettel + Red Bull combo was a dominate force in the last 4 races of the season. He took the pole in all of these races (something his teammate could not do) and he won 3 of the last 4 races. I know the Vettel haters loved questioning Red Bull for not favoring Webber, but my hat goes off to Red Bull for believing in the young German and letting their two drivers race. Heck put a talented driver like Kubica in a Red Bull and maybe he is the WDC. Who knows what Hamilton could do with a Red Bull?

There were a lot of mistakes made by various young drivers throughout much of the season, but a lot of these young drivers really started to gel late in the season. Not only did Vettel become the youngest WDC, but Hamilton, Petrov, Rosberg, the now unemployed Hulkenburg and yes Kobayashi have all showed us they have awesome talent for young guys. Vettel and Hamilton were their own worst enemies throughout most of the year, but they are two of the best, two extremely talent racers who are not afraid to race.

I think I am rambling now ... LOL ... so I will close in saying "What a great year". I am in the process of downloading all of the races to watch again at my leisure during the off season.

multi21

Lewis,

My early Christmas gift to you. Enjoy, I know how much you love Luca...

'Ashamed' Italian minister calls for di Montezemolo to resign

As the fall-out from Ferrari's failure to clinch the F1 2010 Drivers' World Championship crown continues post-Abu Dhabi, an Italian minister has sensationally called for Luca di Montezemolo's head...
An Italian politician has made the extraordinary outburst in the wake of Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo should immediately resign for having 'shamed' the country with an 'insane strategy' in the final race of the F1 2010 campaign that caused the Scuderia to 'lose a championship already won'.

Fernando Alonso headed into the weekend with an eight-point margin over Red Bull Racing adversary Mark Webber atop the title standings, and 15 in-hand over the Australian's team-mate, Sebastian Vettel. That meant that second place would be enough for the Spaniard to clinch the crown regardless of what either of his RBR rivals did – but despite qualifying in-between the pair in P3 and looking odds-on to lift the laurels for the third time in his nine-year career in the top flight, in the event, the 26-time grand prix-winner could finish only seventh.

After ceding a spot to McLaren-Mercedes' Jenson Button at the start, Alonso was running fourth ahead of Webber when the latter made his pit-stop on lap eleven, and in an effort to make sure they covered him, Ferrari brought the Oviedo native in four laps later. However, in so doing, the Prancing Horse failed to take into account Nico Rosberg and Vitaly Petrov, who had both pitted during the early safety car period and consequently leapfrogged the pair of them.

With Petrov's Renault F1 team-mate Robert Kubica leaving his own stop until as late as lap 46 of 55, the Pole similarly re-emerged ahead of Alonso and Webber, who would end up a frustrated seventh and eighth at the chequered flag, as Vettel sped on unhindered to win the race – and with it, the world championship. In hindsight, the fact that Vettel and McLaren pairing Lewis Hamilton and Button all stopped rather later – the latter particularly so – and still went on to finish one-two-three highlighted Ferrari's error. One for which, MP Roberto Calderoni contends, di Montezemolo must pay.

“Despite the ability of the excellent Alonso, Ferrari has managed to lose a championship already won,” blasted the minister who serves in Silvio Berlusconi's cabinet in Italy. “We are ashamed of this insane strategy and he (di Montezemolo) is guilty. He should get out of Maranello immediately so he does no further harm to Ferrari – by the evening, we expect his resignation.”

di Montezemolo, however, brushed off the attack, deriding his critic as a 'small' person and telling Rome newspaper Il Messaggero: “Sometimes winners lose, but we do not give up. There are some small people who systematically root against the country and its symbols. Luckily, they are the minority.”

“Afterwards it is very easy to see the best strategy,” concurred Alonso. “This is a sport and sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Congratulations to Red Bull and Sebastian – next year we will try again.”

morganabowen

I think it is really unfair for Petrov and Renault when anyone suggests that he is an inferior driver in a inferior car Petrov is no Alonso/Hamilton/Vettel; however, he was driving for his future in F1 and Renault has steadily improved their car throughout this season Fernando made several efforts to pass and just couldn't do it without destroying his car. Hamilton and Webber were unable to pass the Renaults either. How anyone can fault Fernando after bringing back Ferrari from the first half of the season to come in second in the World Driver's Championship considering the competition is a little difficult to understand I think this has been one of the more exciting seasons in the past decade. There is just nothing that compares with Formula One Racing

RajDatta

It's pretty clear, Ferrari raced in A D, not trying to lose instead of trying to win. In the end, "prevent defense" failed as it usually does. The team with the momentum won.
Even McLaren did not give up until the last round and had major upgrades for their cars. It was quite clear that McLaren had surpassed Ferrari in race pace by the last race.
Hopefully people will learn from this. I expect heads to roll at Ferrari. It was their WDC to lose and they lost it with a terrible pit stop decision. This is where they miss Ross Brawn, who would have never made such a blunder.
Oh well, you win as a team, you lose as a team.

RajDatta

You can, because the pesssimists will only focus on negativity, and will not acknowledge brilliance. It's part of their build up. They can't help it.
It's nice to see them happy for a change. If Alonso would have won, I think we might lost a few individuals for good.
Let them gloat.

Veloce Raptor

Oh, we acknowledge brilliance.

Vettel's performance was brilliant. So was Hamilton's, Button's, Kubica's, and Petrov's.

Your boy, however, got outdriven by a Russian rookie in a French donkey cart, and then proved his TOTAL lack of class by flipping said Russian rookie off after the race as if he were entitled to a point by from him.

Alonso is 100% pure ****stain. This has been evident since his days at McLaren, when he was outdriven by another rookie (his teammate) in an identical car, and had world-class tantrums. Add multiiple other scandals there & at Renault of which he was at the very epicenter.

Now his reputation is absolute. He wilted when it mattered most--the most crucial race of the year for him. And then flipped off the guy who outdrove him, on worldwide TV. Brilliant!








Professional Racing and Driving Coach

M758

The Ferrari is better than the Renault and has been all year.
Fred is better than Petrov. One guy is a 2 time WDC looking for his 3rd Title. The other is rookie still getting his feet wet. No disrespect to Petrov, but anyone hoping to win a WDC needs to pass him.

Hammy vs Kubica... Similar, but Hammy did have two differences. 1) Kubica is veteran driver who is quite skilled. He not any easy pass. 2) Kubica had to stop so Hammy would pass at somepoint. So risk vs reward is different.

Even so Hammy failed to pass and had to wait for the pit stop. He made a couple mistakes and that cost him. Classic Hamilton. Good.. very good in fact, but still makes mistakes and sometimes they are costly.

Fred just did not get the job done on track. How would you expect be worthly of WDC if you cannot pass a rookie in lesser car on older tires when you have plenty laps to try in a "Must pass" situation.