Abu Dhabi Grand Prix preview
This is it. After 1074 laps, 18 races and thousands of miles travelled all over the world, the 2010 Formula One season is drawing to a close.
Five drivers have been swapping places at the top of the drivers’ standings all season, and four of them are still in the hunt to be crowned world champion, the first time this has happened heading into the title decider at Abu Dhabi.
Though four are still mathematically in with a chance, it’s one of the top two drivers who should ultimately win the championship. Fernando Alonso is on the brink of winning his third world crown, and has an eight-point lead over the Red Bull of Mark Webber, 15 over the other Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel and 24 over McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton. The title battle is between Alonso and Webber, with Alonso needing to finish second if Webber wins the race.
Should Red Bull find themselves in a position where they are one and two in the race, might we see Vettel move aside to let Webber through if he is out in front? This has been the hot topic since the Brazilian Grand Prix last week, where Red Bull showed their class to take another one-two finish, with Vettel taking his fourth win of the season and in doing so helping Red Bull become constructors’ champions.
Alonso has done extremely well, winning four of the last eight races to take the fight to Red Bull, who by now should have wrapped up the drivers’ championship. Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz has already said he would rather lose the title to Alonso than impose team orders, like Ferrari did in Germany in July, but surely he would be happy if the drivers decided between themselves?
Although he didn’t quite say he would let Webber through, Vettel has hinted he would help him if he needed to during Sunday’s race. “I think it is pretty clear,” he said. “There are lots of things that are going to happen, and more important things before we get to that stage - as we have to focus [on practice] to get the car ready, and then have a smooth qualifying as last year it was quite tricky.
“If the situation occurs on Sunday then we know we are driving for the team. We have had some occasions where we got close and it didn't get too good, so the main target is not to repeat that. And the rest, we will see,” added Vettel, who was referring to when he and Webber collided with one another in Turkey earlier during the season. “I said last Sunday when I was asked the question and I said that I was going to tease you and if we find ourselves in that situation, you will see what happens on Sunday.”
Alonso has his eyes on the prize, and following Jenson Button’s comments about wanting him to win by more than seven points because of the extra points he gained in Germany, Alonso is only focussed on winning the title.
“Winning by seven, one or 25 points is not the most important thing in my mind right now,” said the Spaniard, who also added he wasn’t worried about what Red Bull could potentially do on Sunday to win the championship. “I will not use one second of my energy this weekend thinking what is going to happen [during the race]. There is nothing we can do, as I've said, other than to try to finish first or second.”
To see Alonso emerge as the champion at the spectacular Yas Marina circuit would not have seemed likely given the strengths of Red Bull this season, but like they did last year, Red Bull will look back on this season with regret if it doesn’t go their way.
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