2010
SEASON

Free practice drivers

Four constructors entered free practice only drivers over the course of the season.

New entries process

The FIA announced its intention to open up the grid, aiming for a total of 13 teams, and in July 2009 selected three new teams from 15 new applicants, as well as confirming the entry of all 10 existing teams. The existing F1 teams, under the FOTA organisation, are understood to have agreed a system of technical support to assist new teams. This compromise proposal would involve the supply of parts and design knowledge to the new entrants, but not full customer cars, in return for which th... The three teams on the entry list released in July 2009 included Campos Meta, a Spanish team led by former driver and GP2 team owner Adrian Campos and Madrid-based sports advertising agency Meta Image; Manor Grand Prix, an F3 team run by John Booth and designer Nick Wirth (who was formerly involved in the Simtek Ford team who competed in 1994 and 1995 ); and US F1 , a team created by former designer Ken Anderson and journalist Peter Windsor . Following the withdrawal of BMW Sauber, Lotus ... The FIA also had several entry bids from other racing teams including World Series by Renault and Le Mans entrant Epsilon Euskadi , Dave Richards's highly successful Prodrive outfit and Italian touring car team N.Technology as well as re-imaginings of former teams March , Brabham , Lola Cars and Team Lotus (not to be confused with Lotus Racing). Other expressions of interest came from Team Superfund , an Austrian outfit to be fronted by former dri... Of the most interest to the media was Stefan Grand Prix , created by Zoran Stefanovic and hailed as Serbia's first Formula 1 team. Stefan claimed to have acquired the remains of Toyota's abandoned TF110 chassis and engine and had access to Toyota Motorsport's former headquarters in Cologne, Germany. After being rejected from the grid, Stefanovic filed a complaint with the European Commission over the entry selection process and then announced his intentions to continue development of the ...

Dispute over regulations and breakaway series

The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) had planned to introduce a budget cap, in order to safeguard the sport and reduce the costs. The proposal had an optional budget cap of €30 million ($45 million, £27 million), with greater technical and design freedoms allowed to teams who nominated to use it. The teams objected to what they believed would be a two-tier championship and five of the teams within the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA), Ferrari , BMW Sauber , Renault , Red Bull ... Following negotiations, the FOTA teams unanimously decided to withdraw at the end of the 2009 season unless the budget cap rules were changed. Williams and Force India both submitted their own entries and were temporarily suspended from FOTA, while the remaining teams submitted conditional entries for the 2010 season. The 2010 entry list was published by the FIA on 12 June, which included all 2009 teams and three new teams, Campos Meta , Virgin Racing and US F1 Team . [ 1... During a meeting on 8 July between the FIA and FOTA on future regulations, the teams walked out of the meeting after being informed that they were not entered for the 2010 season and could therefore have no input on regulatory discussions. In response it was announced that plans for a breakaway series were still being pursued. Negotiations on a new Concorde Agreement directly with CVC , the commercial rights holders, led to the eventual end of the dispute with its signing by the ...

Testing

The new season test schedule started on 1 December 2009 with a three-day 'Young Driver Test' (for drivers with fewer than three Formula One race starts to their name) at Spain's Circuito de Jerez . British Formula 3 Champion Daniel Ricciardo was fastest for Red Bull Racing . As with 2009, the teams were allowed a maximum of 15,000 km (9,300 mi) over the course of fifteen days in February. Testing sessions were confirmed for Valencia (1–3 February), Jerez (10–13 February and 17–20 February) and B...

Pre-season

The second session took place at Circuito de Jerez , Spain with heavy downpours throughout the test. This also marked the first public test for new team Virgin Racing who only managed five laps after a shortage of parts became a problem. Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap of the test during a dry Saturday session with 1:19.583. The third test at Jerez for another four-day test was also affected by mixed weather conditions. Lotus Racing started its first public test with the T127 . The penultimate and last days saw sunny weather with Jenson Button setting the fastest time (1:18.871).

Report

The 2010 season saw the debut of three new teams, Virgin , Lotus and Hispania . The teams were often more than three seconds per lap slower than the established teams. After fighting reliability issues early in the season, the three teams soon established themselves with Lotus leading the way, their best result being a twelfth place for Heikki Kovalainen in Japan. Virgin struggled after discovering their fuel tank was too small, forcing them to push their development schedule back five races in ... In stark contrast to 2009 , no one driver emerged as dominant in the early stages of the 2010 season. Fernando Alonso won the opening race of the season in Bahrain after Sebastian Vettel 's engine misfired, with Alonso becoming just the sixth Ferrari driver to win on debut for the Italian team. Reigning World Champion Jenson Button claimed victory in Australia for the second year in succession, whilst Vettel won in Malaysia , setting up a unique situation that would last for the rest of the seas... Button became the first driver to win more than one race with victory in China , but Mark Webber would be the first to take back-to-back victories with wins in Spain and Monaco . Webber was leading the Turkish Grand Prix when teammate Vettel attempted a pass on lap 40 that ended with the two Red Bulls colliding; Vettel retired whilst Webber recovered to finish third behind eventual race winner Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. Hamilton would match Webber's feat of back-to-back victories by claim... The middle of the season saw controversy, starting at the European Grand Prix in Valencia following a disputed safety car ruling. Mark Webber collided with Heikki Kovalainen at the fastest point on the circuit, the collision destroying Webber's front wing and launching Webber into a somersault. The safety car was deployed immediately, joining the circuit behind race leader Vettel, but ahead of then-second placed Hamilton and the Ferraris of Alonso and Felipe Massa . Hamilton overtook the safety ... The British Grand Prix marked the halfway point of the season and saw further tensions within Red Bull. Team principal Christian Horner removed the team's new front wing from Webber's car and placed it on Vettel's for qualifying and the race, after the German driver's wing was damaged in the final practice session. Webber won the race after passing Vettel from second off the start, who then developed a puncture on the first lap and was forced to pit.

Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top 10 classified finishers.

World Drivers' Championship standings

Notes: