Driver of the Year
I could give this award to pretty much any of the four drivers that headed to Abu Dhabi with a shot at the title. All made a daft mistake or two, but all were superb for the most part. In the end, I'd rank Alonso and Vettel ahead of Hamilton and Webber, and probably give the award to Sebastian Vettel, because he did in the end win the title. And that's the whole point, after all.
Team of the Year
I will give to Lotus Racing, who may not have actually achieved anything in particular (least of all scoring a point), but took on the almost insurmountable odds of creating an F1 team from scratch on today's grid and managed to not disgrace themselves too much, at the same time making the most positive steps for 2011 with their new technical deals. They should be dark horses for points in 2011, whatever they end up being called.
Surprise of the Year
Nico Hulkenberg in general. Both for his crazy pole position out of nowhere in Brazil which proved that there is plenty of talent lurking within him despite a few predictable rookie season problems, and his lamentable departure from the team at the end of the year. If he ends up without a drive for 2011, it will be a sad indictment of the current state of F1 away from the 'big four' teams.
Flop of the Year
Hard to look past Michael Schumacher for this one. I don't think even the most rabid of Schumacher fanboys were expecting a title challenge from the great man in 2010, but they must certainly have been expecting him to at least eventually assert some authority over his team mate. He didn't, and now his chances of success seemingly revolve around the new Pirelli tyres.
Race of the Year
Surely the Turkish Grand Prix takes this one. Not only for the spectacular Red Bull collision, but also for the McLaren men's fight for the lead following the Webber/Vettel collision. The Button v Hamilton dice into turn one which saw the team mates rub wheels but somehow sort it out without a crash was arguably the only 'jump out of your seat' moment in a year of largely poor on-track racing.
Drive of the Year
Goes to Mark Webber at Silverstone. With the admittedly-overhyped Wing-gate furore in full swing after the RBR switcharoo for qualifying, he could easily have just wiped his team mate out into turn one. But instead he firmly but fairly elbowed him out of the way, and then dominated the rest of the race to take a win that seemed to prove more to himself than it did to anyone else that he was very much in the title hunt this year.
Fail of the Year
I'll give this one to Jonathan Legard. Not for any specific 'fail' moment, but just generally.
Quote of the Year
"Not bad for a number two driver" by Mark Webber. A predictable choice, yes. But it's not often in today's ultra-slick, closely-controlled F1 paddock that you get the chance to hear a driver express honest opinions. So hearing this snide little remark from the RBR man was infinitely more fun than the usual "Thank you guys, great result," platitudes you get from the post-race pit radio soundbite.
Memory of the Year
Aside from the obvious overplayed incidents on the BBC's coverage (i.e. the Ferrari team orders and Webber's Valencia flip), the abiding memory for me will be Boregate in Bahrain, and the slow dawning realisation after a pre-season of unprecedented hype and anticipation that perhaps 2010 wouldn't quite be the most incredible thing ever after all.
Hope for the Future
My hope for the future would be for better racing. Close though the championship fight was in 2010, there are still some major issues with the actual racing action itself, highlighted in Abu Dhabi with the infamous Petrov Train. Hopefully the banning of double diffusers and F-ducts, coupled with the return of KERS and adjustable rear wings will improve the spectacle. But I remain unconvinced that the issue requires gimmicks more than a fundamental rewriting of the regulations.
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