Sebastian Vettel started the last race of 2010 in third place in the standings, 15 points behind Fernando Alonso, and never once led the championship all season. Ninety-nine minutes later, on November 14, 2010, he was Formula One’s youngest world champion at 23 years and 134 days.
The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit was the first finale in the sport’s history with four drivers still able to win the title. Vettel took pole, led from the start, won by 10.162 seconds and only learned he was champion after crossing the line.
Four men, one race
The table going into the 55-lap race looked like this:
- Fernando Alonso, Ferrari: 246 points
- Mark Webber, Red Bull: 238
- Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull: 231
- Lewis Hamilton, McLaren: 222
A win was worth 25 points. Alonso needed only second place to clinch his third title without help. Even if Vettel won, Alonso could still take the crown by finishing fourth or better. Vettel, in other words, had to win and hope.
How the title slipped away from Ferrari
The race turned on lap one. Michael Schumacher spun his Mercedes and was hit by Vitantonio Liuzzi, bringing out the safety car. Six drivers, including Nico Rosberg and Renault’s Vitaly Petrov, used the pause to make their pit stops early.
Webber, struggling for grip on the softer tires, pitted early and rejoined in traffic. Ferrari brought Alonso in a few laps later to cover him. The plan protected Alonso from Webber but dropped both of them behind Petrov, whose Renault was quick on the straights. Alonso spent the rest of the afternoon stuck behind it, unable to find a way past.
Up front, Vettel did not put a wheel wrong. He pitted on lap 24, briefly ran second behind the not-yet-stopped Jenson Button, then took the lead back when Button pitted on lap 39. Hamilton set the fastest lap in the closing stages but could not close the gap. Alonso crossed the line seventh and Webber eighth.
The swing, in numbers
Vettel finished the season on 256 points, Alonso on 252, Webber on 242 and Hamilton on 240. That is a 19-point swing between Vettel and Alonso in a single afternoon, turning a 15-point deficit into a four-point title. He broke Hamilton’s 2008 record for the youngest champion by 166 days, and became the first driver since James Hunt in 1976 to win the title after never leading the standings before the final race.
Vettel later said he had no idea where he stood during the race, because he had avoided looking at the screens. “To be honest I didn’t know anything until I crossed the chequered flag,” he said, describing how his race engineer finally screamed over the radio that they had won the World Championship.
An end-of-era race
The day also closed other chapters. Red Bull, which had already wrapped up its first constructors’ title, now had its first drivers’ crown since buying the old Jaguar team in 2005. It was the last race for tire supplier Bridgestone, replaced by Pirelli for 2011, and Robert Kubica’s last Grand Prix until 2019.
For more from the world of elite sport in the Gulf, follow Rory McIlroy’s chase for an eighth Race to Dubai title, and find more on the Badiyaa Sports page. The full race record is on the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Wikipedia page.
Vettel’s winning time that night: 1 hour, 39 minutes, 36.837 seconds.
Further reading
Image: Jitesh Jagadish, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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