Plenty to say...?

Phil: It's been a classic year. I think we can all agree on that. I think I'm right in saying also that never before have four drivers started the last race of the season with a mathematical chance of winning the title. Each driver from each of the top three teams led the championship at some point or other during the season, but the man who led after the last race (and at no other point during the season) was Sebastian Vettel.

We've talked a lot about Alonso lately, but I think we need to give Vettel some blogspace. Some have suggested that he somehow not a deserving champion. I'd agree with Stirling Moss when he said Vettel is undoubtedly the fastest driver at the moment, but pointedly didn't say he was the best. When you consider the raw pace of the Red Bull, they in some respects ought to have walked it (in a previous blog, I mentioned that the only teams to score more poles in a season were McLaren in 1988-9 and Williams in 1992-3, and we know the utter dominance of those teams at those times). Vettel sat on pole ten times out of 19 in 2010, but only converted that into a win five times. Alonso by contrast took the same number of wins from only two poles. It's become a bit of a cliche, but Adrian Newey's cars are fast but fragile, and reliability let Vettel down, probably more so than Mark. But there's also a lack of maturity about Vettel, which his predecessor as youngest driver ever to do anything, Lewis Hamilton, never showed, from day one. It was this that led him to commit the racing driver's cardinal sin - knocking off your team mate when he's in the lead - at Istanbul.

But (and it's a big but) maturity seems to be all he lacks. At 23, he's the youngest champion, race winner, driver to score a point or sit on the podium. To say he has a bright future would be a huge understatement. After the race if he's done well, one of the first to congratulate him is often Michael Schumacher. I can't lipread in German but the body language is warm and there's clearly no rivalry there - in fact, at 41, Schumi is old enough to be Vettel's father. My point is, Vettel is now where Schumacher was in 1993 or 1994, and I think he has the talent to dominate Formula 1 in the same way Schumacher did. If Red Bull continue to have the pace, and if becoming world champion gives Vettel a little more maturity, then we could have witnessed the beginning of a new era in F1.

A couple of other points, specifically about Abu Dhabi. I have very little time for the naysayers (and I note that my co-blogger isn't one of them) who think there is a Renault conspiracy which meant that Petrov deliberately kept Alonso behind him to allow a Renault-powered driver to win the title. Petrov kept Alonso behind him because he was protecting his position (both in the race, and at Renault next year), and Alonso was out of position because Ferrari cocked up his pit strategy. It's as simple as that. And I think it's an exaggeration to say that that cost Alonso the title - this season was so close that any of the mistakes that any of the leading drivers made potentially cost them the title. If, as some predicted, the Korean Grand Prix hadn't happened, Webber may well have won the title.

I think we have plenty to talk about between now and 13 March 2011. Watch this space!