2010 Formula One World Championship

After several months of deliberation, Pirelli was chosen as the tyre supplier for the 2011 season at the FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting in Geneva, in June 2010.

The 2010 season saw the return of the most successful driver in Formula One history at that point, with seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher coming out of retirement after a three-year absence since 2006.

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 the budget cap idea was dropped.

[32] Following the withdrawal of BMW Sauber, Lotus Racing was accepted to return to the grid for the first time since the 1994 Australian Grand Prix.

Of the most interest to the media was Stefan Grand Prix, created by Zoran Stefanovic and hailed as Serbia's first Formula 1 team.

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 Toyota chassis, re-badged as the Stefan S-01, with the team even going so far as to send equipment to Bahrain, Australia and Malaysia.

After several difficulties including the cancellation of a planned test in Portugal when Bridgestone refused to supply tyres,[47] Stefan attempted to purchase the defunct USF1 entry, but the moves were blocked.

[74] The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) had planned to introduce a budget cap, in order to safeguard the sport and reduce the costs.

[116] Following negotiations, the FOTA teams unanimously decided to withdraw at the end of the 2009 season unless the budget cap rules were changed.

[121] However, following a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council on 24 June, FOTA agreed to remain in Formula One and FIA president Max Mosley confirmed he would not stand for re-election in October.

[124] 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 FIA on 1 August.

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.

Hispania were the slowest of the three, and by mid-season were rotating their drivers on a regular basis, but a pair of fourteenth places by Karun Chandhok in Australia and Monaco put the team ahead of Virgin in the Constructors' Championship for most of the season.

The middle of the season saw controversy, starting at the European Grand Prix in Valencia following a disputed safety car ruling.

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.

It took the race stewards twenty minutes to pass verdict on the infringement, and while Hamilton was issued with a drive-through penalty for his actions, it had little effect as he was already well clear of the rest of the field.

Ferrari were fined US$100,000 for the use of team orders to deliberately alter the outcome of a race and faced further sanctions at a meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in September where they face charges of bringing the sport into disrepute, though the hearing would ultimately acquit Ferrari on the grounds of a lack of evidence.

They were prepared to continue their performance in a rain-delayed Korean Grand Prix, but an early accident eliminated Webber and a late engine failure for Vettel handed the victory to Alonso.

In the week leading up to the final race of the season, Red Bull repeated their intentions not to use team orders, a decision they were widely criticised for as allowing Mark Webber to finish ahead of Sebastian Vettel would have meant he trailed Fernando Alonso by just one point ahead of the race in Abu Dhabi.

Like Webber, Alonso had opted for an early pit stop in his tyre strategy, but emerged behind Russian rookie Vitaly Petrov.

Taking into account the cars ahead of them that had yet to stop, this meant that Alonso would be running sixth on the road when he needed to finish fourth to claim the title.

Bruno Senna made his debut with the new Hispania team.
Michael Schumacher returned to the sport with Mercedes after a 3-year hiatus.
refer to caption
The 2010 cars were 20–22 cm longer than the 2009 versions because of the larger fuel tank. [ 89 ]
The front tyres changed from 270 mm (11 in) to 245 mm (9.6 in)
Testing sessions at Jerez were constantly interrupted by heavy rain.
Virgin Racing had aerodynamic problems during the tests in Jerez and Barcelona .
Michael Schumacher returned to the grid with the Mercedes team after coming out of retirement.
Nico Rosberg consistently out-performed his teammate Michael Schumacher .
Reigning World Champion Jenson Button scored his first victory for McLaren in Australia .
Lewis Hamilton leading Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso at the Canadian Grand Prix . Hamilton won the race to take the Drivers' Championship lead.
Sebastian Vettel won three of the last four races, winning the championship in Abu Dhabi .
There were a record 10 changes of leadership in the title race, variously led by every top-6 finisher except Vettel, who eventually took the championship victory in the last race.