A close-run championship
The 2010 Formula One season is all set for a photo finish.
When the drivers’ line-ups were finalised for the 2010 season, Formula One fans the world over rubbed their hands in glee. It wasn’t just the anticipation of Michael Schumacher’s return, but also the fact that with four teams in the fray, any or all of their eight drivers were contenders for the World Drivers’ Championship crown. As it turns out, Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber (Red Bull) and, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button (McLaren) stay locked in heated battle with just three races to go.
That Schumacher fans are disappointed is because Mercedes GP got the weight distribution of their car wrong. The five contenders, meanwhile, have burnt rubber, sizzling circuits across the world and notching up 16 wins amongst themselves. Webber (220 points) and Alonso (206) have won four times each, Vettel (206) and Hamilton (192) thrice each, and Button (189) has won twice. They are separated by 31 points.
Many would point to the change in the points system itself, implemented from this season onwards, as a major reason for that. 25 points are awarded for a win now, 20 for 2nd place and 15 for 3rd. That notion is far away from the truth. If we revert to the old points system, wherein 10 points for a win and eight and six for 2nd and 3rd, this is the points’ situation we get after 16 races — Webber (88), Vettel (84), Alonso (83), Hamilton (79) and Button (77), separated by a mere 11 points.
| Championships won by a single point 1958 – Mike Hawthorn (Ferrari) over Stirling Moss (Vanwall) 1961 – Phil Hill (Ferrari) over Wolfgang von Trips (Ferrari) 1964 – John Surtees (Ferrari) over Graham Hill (BRM) 1976 – James Hunt (McLaren) over Niki Lauda (Ferrari) 1981 – Nelson Piquet (Brabham) over Carlos Reutemann (Williams) 1994 – Michael Schumacher (Benetton) over Damon Hill (Williams) 2007 – Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) over Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) 2008 – Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) over Felipe Massa (Ferrari) |
In reality then it is reflective of the highly competitive season F1 is experiencing at present. In motorsport terms, it is better known as a vintage year, when you don’t find any one team so dominant that the championship is decided by early September. It happened in 2009 with Brawn GP and earlier in 2003 with Ferrari. This year Red Bull may have been the quickest car on track but errors on their part meant the chasing pack were able to pounce and keep tabs. The last time there were five title contenders with three races to go, was in 1981. Nelson Piquet, driving a Brabham-Ford, came out on top ahead of Carlos Reutemann (Williams), Alan Jones (Williams), Jacques Laffite (Ligier-Matra) and Alain Prost (Renault), a mere seven points separating them in the final standings.
Now, with the unknown element that is the inaugural Korean GP, the tough demands of the Brazil and the spectacle of the Abu Dhabi GP, it is anybody’s guess what might happen in the next five weeks. A single mistake, a blown engine, an untimely pit-stop, rain or any untoward incident (and they do happen often) will be enough to pull out contenders from the mix. In Formula One, it is often said, ‘to finish first, first you have to finish (the race)’. The drivers might just be mulling on that for a bit, as even one point has separated champions from also-rans in the past.
(Chetan Narula is a Delhi-based freelance writer)