Renault F1 team - 0 Wins - 3 Podiums - 0 Pole Positions

The Renault team entered 2010 with as a fundamentally new team after the famous deliberate crash scandal that resulted in the FIA banning the two most influential persons within the team from the sport. Both of Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds were banned from conducting any activity within the sport after investigations proved both deliberately instructed Nilson Piquet Jr. to purposely crash during the Singaporean Grand Prix to bring out the safety car which helped his team-mate then Fernando Alonso who happened to just pitted at the same time and go to the race in fornt and win the race. Piquet was given immunity after coming out about the accident, while Alonso was cleared of any wrongdoing or knowledge about it.

With a new organization within the team, it was a big task for the new management team to prove it is capable of bringing the 2005 and 2006 championship winning team to the top again. Well, new team boss Eric Boullier proved he’s worthy of such a task, bringing Robert Kubica to fill the huge gap left by Fernando Alonso as a driver, and reorganizing the entire team to focus on producing a good car after a couple of disappointing seasons.

Robert Kubica turned to be what Renault really needs; a fast, consistent, and a leading driver, with Vitally Petrov alongside as his team-mate, Kubica led the team to an excellent performance throughout the 2010 season, securing very strong results and squeezing the most out of the Renault car which wasn’t on par with the top four teams’ cars, even so he managed to punch above his weight and challenge at the front on several occasions securing podiums and pushing the team’s entire developmental and strategic into the right direction, by the end of the season, Kubica has even outscored his team-mate by a huge margin. After a difficult 2009 campaign with BMW, he proved himself once again as one of the fastest in the field.

The team is retaining its good combination of drivers for 2011, as well as, progressing well with its car development, carrying over the good performance of 2010. We expect big things from Renault this year.

Next week, we will bring the latest news and developments in the sport until the start of the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2011, including all the new 2011 Formula One 12 cars.

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Mercedes GP Team - 0 Wins - 3 Podiums - 0 Pole Positions

After a dream season which saw them crowned as World Champions, Brawn GP were taken over by Mercedes to become a fully manufacturer team for 2010 as Mercedes GP. 

When Honda pulled off the sport at the end of the 2008 season, the team was going to be sold as a scrap along with its 2009 car that has been under development for over a year under the direction of Ross Brawn, nobody believed that the car parked in the team’s garage was a monster of a machine waiting to be unleashed, only Ross Brawn strongly believed that he had a definite winning formula beneath his hands, a belief that was materialized in him buying out the team from Honda. What happened afterwards was history, a car that won 8 out of 17 races, wining the constructors’ championship and Button securing the drivers titles for the first time in his career.

With Jenson Button leaving the team to McLaren, who have in turn lost their strategic status as Mercedes official team, legendary team principle Ross Brown opted for an old friend to replace him, yes it was Michael Schumacher.

Rubens Barrichello was replaced by the young German star Nico Roseberg, completing a swap with the Williams team, and establishing a fully German team in Mercedes GP with Schumacher.

Both of the team and Schumacher were a disappointment in the 2010 season, the expectations were very high for a championship winning team and a legendary seven time world champion who came from a three-years retirement, due to all the focus the team has put over its car development for 2009 season title fight, the team was distracted in developing its 2010 challenger which proved to be not competitive enough to challenge for wins and the team caught in a fight with Renault over fourth place in the championship.

On the other hand, Nico Roseberg had the best season of his career, outperforming his famous team-mate and pushing the car to its limits scoring a number of important podiums during the season, bringing double the amount of points that Michael Schumacher has scored. After overshadowing his team-mate, Roseberg can be very proud of such an achievement after early fears of being sidelined with Schumacher’s presence in the team. After finishing a distant fourth in the 2010 standings, Mercedes GP, and Michael Schumacher, are looking for a rejuvenated year ahead of them, Nico Roseberg can carry on with a huge confidence.

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Ferrari - 5 wins – 10 Podiums - 2 Pole Positions

Ferrari’s 2010 season can be read from two very different views; first, a strong title campaign which saw Fernando Alonso going into the finale as points leader and title favourite, and second, a season filled with strategic mistakes by the drivers and the team which cumulated in losing the title at the end when they almost had it in hand. 

They seemed to made a wise choice in bringing Fernando Alonso to lead the team after ditching Kimi Raikkonen, with Massa returning to racing after being absent for the majority of the 2009 season after his head injury in Hungary. At no point in the season Massa looked as a threat to Alonso as he grabbed all the team’s poles and wins, a psychological blow to Massa, the runner-up in the 2008 season, where he fought brilliantly against Lewis Hamilton until the very last lap for the championship title. Suggestion of struggling with the 2010-spec tyres clouded Massa’s campaign.

As expected from him, Alonso established his authority within the team by winning the season opener in Bahrain, although he only won it after a mechanical failure in Sebastian Vettel’s car when he was leading the race, the Ferrari of Alonso looked very strong throughout the race. It seemed from the start that Alonso will be running away with the drivers’ title in no time, but things have changed dramatically.

After Bahrain’s debut win, the team suffered from low performing car developments and uncharacteristic mistakes by Alonso; a jump start in China and crashing during qualifying in Monaco meant Alonso and the team were behind their rivals Red Bull and McLaren in the points table, the media has written Alonso off by mid-season.

The team and Alonso in particular, seemed very determined to climb up to the top again, after the British Grand Prix, Alonso was very optimistic about the prospects for the coming races, an optimism that was justified with a stunning performance in the second half of the season; winning four races and scoring three podiums. Alonso was the biggest point scorer in the second half, more than his four title rivals. Ferrari has bounced back with a punch.

With the good news of the second half of the season, bad moments were there too; a team order for Massa, while he was leading the race, to move aside to let Alonso pass him and win the race in the final laps of the German Grand Prix. Ferrari made that decision from the logic of backing Alonso who was leading by a huge margin of pints over Massa and seemed to have a better shot the title, but this meant breaching the team-orders ban in the sport, which prevents teams to manipulate race results. However, after fining Ferrari for this breach, the FIA has decided to remove the rule for the 2011 season.

Heading into the finale in Abu Dhabi, Alonso was comfortably leading and all he needed is to finish fifth or higher in order for him to seal the title, regardless of where Vettel, Webber, or Hamilton finish. As a team, Ferrari were so confident and focused they missed on their whole strategy during the race, in an attempt to cover Mark Webber’s pit stop, who was the closest to Alonso in points, the team called in Alonso while running third, after the pit stop the team started to realize the mistake it has done when the Mercedes’ and the Renaults opted for a one-stop strategy at the end of the race, meaning that Alonso who came behind them after his pit stop was held up in seventh. Alonso frustration was apparent during the final laps of the race as he was unable to overtake the Renault of Petrov and the Mercedes of Rosebrg on a track that is hard to overtake on, handing the title unexpectedly to Sebastian Vettel.

For the 2011, and with the Abu Dhabi blunder behind them, Ferrari has decided to make an overhaul change to their strategy and in-race team with new processes. This should be enough for them to be again a strong title contender for 2011, with an ever-determined Alonso, and a hopeful Massa.

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McLaren-Mercedes - 5 wins – 9 Podiums - 1 Pole Position

McLaren started the season on back of a somehow disappointing campaign in 2009, where they have managed to score some important wins in Hungary and Singapore but were unable to get anywhere near the Red Bulls and Brawn GPs.

For the 2010 season, Jenson Button, the reigning world champion, was signed alongside Lewis Hamilton, forming an all-star team with two champions on board. Some said that the team is repeating the same mistake by combining two winning drivers which may result in internal fractions and rivalry that could cost the team dearly, a reminiscent of their ill-fated 2007 season when they literally handed the championship to Ferrari because of the fierce competition between Alonso and Hamilton which resulted in Alonso’s early quit from the team.

Nevertheless, the 2010 season turned out to be a very solid campaign for the all-British team, as they managed the relationship between their two drivers very well, the team made sure Button felt welcome and at home. Probably the Alonso experience in 2007 gave some important lessons to the team on how manage two competitive drivers, after all this is the team that saw the biggest rivalry in F1’s history between the greats Ayrton Senna and Allan Prost.

The relationship went so well on track between both drivers; competing against each other sometimes, and backing up each other throughout the season. The success of this relationship combined with the overall good car they have produced resulted in 5 excellent wins.

One of the brilliant engineering ideas the team came up with was the =F Duct idea and the ever more complex front wings. Initially some teams raised complaints about the F-duct system being considered as a moveable device (banned by the FIA), such coimplaints were refuted by the FIA, allowing other teams to integrate such a system into their cars at later stages of the season.

By the end of the season, and with only three races to go, Button was considered to be almost out of contention, but the team stuck to their driver equality policy, especially that Hamilton’s championship chances were not looking so good either, but he still managed to show up at the last race with a shot at the title behind the Red Bull drivers and Fernando Alonso. The team’s overall good development of their car and the excellent integration of Button into the team during 2010 mean good things for McLaren for the coming seasons as a very stable team, and their start to the 2011 season may produce a very strong campaign against Ferrari and Red Bull.

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Introduction to the second issue

Welcome to the second issue Gulf Air Formula One Blog which will continue the team-by-team review of the 2010 season. But, first, let’s take look at the latest development and news in the world of Formula One.

- By now, all the teams have launched their 2011 challengers; Ferrari were first with their F-150 Italia (the “Italia” suffix was added after a suitcase from Ford for using one of its famous off-road trucks name). McLaren opted for a very radical design with their new MP4-26 with using L-shaped side-pods, while World Champions Red Bull’s RB7 has been produced as an evolution of their title wining the RB6.

- Lotus-Renault’s star driver Robert Kubica has been injured in a high speed rally accident while competing for fun in a rally in Italy, he has suffered a very serious hand injury, according to media sources, his right hand was severely damaged when his car crashed into a small church wall. He was admitted into a hospital where an urgent surgery was performed on his hand. He is unlikely to be able to compete in this year’s season which starts in just a month. Lotus-Renault has issued a candidate list of replacements including Bruno Senna and Nick Hiedfield.

- Despite a legal case pending in court, both of Team Lotus and the newly sponsored Lotus-Renault launched their cars with their new livery carrying the same historic name Lotus. Both cars seem to be a step forward for both teams; Team Lotus has sealed a very important deal to use Renault engines, and Red Bull gearbox and suspension systems, a step that could see them moving up the ranks in the field. On the other hand the Lotus-Renault team has consolidated its transition from a manufacturer team to a 100% independent team that runs on its own but still has the backing of Renault in form of engines and gearboxes, the team is looking forward to return to the top by building on the success it has achieved during the last season.

- The Williams team has gone into public ownership with their shares IPO, the majority of the team’s shares still in the hands of its founders Frank Williams and technical director Patrick Head.

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GULF AIR – FORMULA ONE 2010 SEASON REVIEW

GULF AIR – FORMULA ONE 2010 SEASON REVIEW

We are the proud title sponsor of the FORMULA 1™ GULF AIR
BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX. Our sponsorship of this prestigious
sporting event since 2004 has put Bahrain on the world
sporting map, increased sport tourism and turned the
country into the home of motor sport in the Middle East.
Coincidently, in 2010, both Gulf Air and F1 celebrated 60
years, making the F1 season even more exciting.


Welcome to the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix Blog which will start by a season review of last year’s exciting Formula One season, we take a look back at how the top five teams of 2010 and how they have performed during the season, in this first issue we review Red Bull Racing’s season and how it cumulated into its magical win at the end of the championship.

The 2010 (and 60th) FIA Formula One World Championship has been regarded by many experts in the sport as one of the greatest seasons in recent memory.

The season opener in Sakhir a the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix laid out the scene for a close championship battle between five drivers from three different teams down to the wire at the penal-time race at Abu Dhabi, a first in the sport’s history books.

All of the championship contenders were tested to their limits throughout the gruelling 19-race calendar as Alonso crashed his Ferrari during qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix while Vettel and Webber got involved in their infamous crash in the Turkish Grand Prix. Some teams made pit-stop errors and others’ had botched strategies that back-fired when it mattered the most, we can’t miss mentioning Ferrari’s strategy that cost Alonso a podium place in Abu Dhabi, and subsequently his third championship.

Throughout the thrilling rollercoaster season, the lead swung astonishingly 7 times between four drivers; Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, Mark Webber of Red Bull, and the McLaren champion-duo Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button (the defending 2009 World Champion), only for the driver who never took the lead during the season to grab it at the very final round!

Sebastian Vettel’s incredible drives on the last two races earned him two wins, therefore closing the gap to the leader then, Fernando Alonso, taking the title and becoming the youngest ever Formula One World Champion at the age of 23 years and 134 days, a special addition to his impressive records in Formula One as the youngest point-scorer, race-lap-leader, and race winner in the history of the sport.

Away from the race track, and unlike the previous three seasons, the 2010 season saw no controversial headlines within the sport, the only political issue was related to the team-orders controversy caused Ferrari team in which it publicly instructed Felipe Massa to let Fernando Alonso pass him and win the race in the final laps of German Grand Prix, breaching the team-orders ban which, ironically, was triggered by Ferrari themselves in the 2002 season when Rubens Barrichello was ordered, again in front of TV audiences, to let Michael Schumacher through to win the race. The FIA has decided to remove the rule for the 2011 season, citing the difficulty to determine whether a team has breached the rule or not, and the team’s strategic decision whether a driver must let his team-mate, who has a better shot the title.

The 2010 season saw the rise of Red Bull as a formidable force within the sport, disturbing the order of the established teams such as Ferrari, Renault, and McLaren who dominated the last decade, as well as the establishment of a new force to be recognized with in the coming years in the shape of Mercedes GP, a manufacturer team that has come to the field after splitting from McLaren and acquiring 2009 champions Brawn GP.

Red Bull Racing - 9 wins - 20 Podiums - 15 Pole Positions

Red Bull started the season from where they left in the previous season, where they appeared to be the only team capable of stopping Brawn GP from running away with the title, thanks to genius aerodynamics designer Adrian Newy who, after spending a couple of years building the team from scratch, started to see the fruits of his hard work in Red Bull’s 2009 challenger. Some experts say that if it wasn’t for the double diffuser design that Brawn GP pioneered through a loophole in the regulations, Red Bull might have been the ones who were running away with the title with their perfectly designed single-diffuser car.

When the 2010 campaign started, followers of the sport knew that all the teams will start integrating the double-diffuser design into their 2010 cars, and therefore, closing the gap in performance advantage to Brawn GP (now became Mercedes GP) and making it redundant. Once again Red Bull proved they have the best aerodynamics expert in town, their car started to top all the qualifying sheets, and proved to be ultra fast and suitable for all different types of circuits on the calendar.

But there was an Achilles’ heel to Red Bull’s starling car, its reliability proved to be a headache to the team in the first two races, where Vettel losing his car, due to engine and brake failures, during the Bahraini and Australian Grand Prix while he was in the lead from pole. Before the media was going to stamp the car as “fast-but-fragile”, the team ironed out all of these problems, and the results started to show up by the third race with Vettel’s win in Malaysia.

Now, with reliability problems well behind them, the problem started to have problems from a different kind; drivers rivalry, both of Vettel and Webber knew they had a definite winning car under their hands, what started as team-mate competitiveness was shifted into inter-team tensions which started to show on track when they crashed into each other while they were leading the race first and second, the blames started to appear within the garage and there were media reports suggesting that Red Bull were favouring the younger Vettel. What added fuel to fire was the decision of switching some new parts from Webber’s car to Vettel’s prior to the British Grand Prix.

Nevertheless, the team stood by its motto of absolute equal treatment for both of its drivers, a policy that was questioned when Alonso, with Ferrari publicly backing him over Massa, was pulling ahead on top of the standings. This firm policy by the team, even though it appeared they were risking their championship chances, paid very well in the end with Vettel’s miraculous triumph as the drivers champion in the end, given he was behind his team mate and Alonso in the standings, two races after Red Bull secured their first ever constructers’ championship.

Red Bull proved, as a young independent team, that it could take the fight to big well established teams like Ferrari and McLaren and beat them while sticking to their sport-spirited rule; letting drivers race freely!

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