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The 2010 Brazilian Grand Prix, officially the Formula 1 Grande Prêmio Petrobras do Brasil 2010, was the eighteenth and penultimate race of the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship, which took place at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo, Brazil, on 7 November 2010.[1][2] The race would see Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber claim a one-two victory and the Constructors Championship for Red Bull-Renault, and set up a four way fight for the Drivers Championship at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.[2]

Qualifying had been held in wet but drying conditions, resulting in Nico Hülkenberg taking a surprise pole position for Williams-Cosworth, the first and only of his career.[2] Behind, the two Red Bull-Renaults of Vettel and Webber would claim second and third ahead of Lewis Hamilton, while Championship leader Fernando Alonso claimed fifth on the grid.[2]

It was dry on raceday with no rain expected, although that was of little consolation for Hülkenberg, who got too much wheelspin and was slow away.[2] That allowed Vettel to blast around the outside to claim the lead into the Senna S, while Webber was too distracted keeping Hamilton at bay to challenge for second.[2]

Webber duly seized second later around the opening lap as Hülkenberg slid wide, while Hamilton was struggling and hence had to defend from Alonso.[2] Behind, Jenson Button, the dark horse in the title fight, would rise to eighth from eleventh, while Michael Schumacher slid down the field after running onto the grass.[2]

The early stages saw the two Red Bulls ease clear at the head of the field, while Alonso scampered ahead of Hamilton before bearing down on Hülkenberg.[2] The German racer would repulse the Spaniard' first few attacks and allowed Hamilton to keep pace, as behind Button was passed by Schumacher and saw his hopes of retaining the title fade away.[2]

Alonso eventually forced his way past Hülkenberg on lap seven, although he faced an eleven second gap to the two Red Bulls and was unable to close.[2] Elsewhere, Hamilton was unable to get past Hülkenberg's Williams, while Button gambled on an early stop, switching to medium compound Bridgestone tyres and rejoined in eighteenth.[2]

The rest of the field slowly trickled in over the following laps, with Hamilton the first of the leaders to stop on lap 21.[2] He rejoined just ahead of Button, who had gained a lot of time using the undercut, while Alonso pitted and rejoined, still in third, on lap 25.[2] The two Red Bulls reacted over the following laps, Vettel in first ahead of Webber, while Hülkenberg dropped between the two McLarens.[2]

The order out front remained stable, although Webber would close onto the back of his teammate as the German was continuously flustered by lapped traffic.[2] Then, on lap 51 Vitantonio Liuzzi suffered a suspected suspension failure and slammed into the barriers at the Senna S, triggering a Safety Car.[2]

Hamilton and Button were the only two in the lead group to stop, with the race resuming on lap 55 with lapped cars between Vettel and his pursuers.[2] That allowed the German racer to break clear at the restart, although Webber and Alonso would quickly clear the traffic and give chase.[2]

With that the race was run, with Vettel easing clear to claim victory ahead of Webber, securing the Constructors Championship for Red Bull-Renault.[2] Alonso completed the podium ahead of Hamilton and Button, while Nico Rosberg beat teammate Schumacher to sixth.[2] Hülkenberg, meanwhile, had slipped to eighth ahead of Robert Kubica, while Kamui Kobayashi completed the scorers.[2]

As a result of the Brazilian Grand Prix the Championship situation was Alonso in first with 246 points, Webber eight behind on 238, while Vettel was on 231. Hamilton, who finished fourth in Brazil, was 24 points behind Alonso with 222 points, and was the last of the quartet capable of winning the title. This was the first time four drivers entered the final race was Championship victory possible.

Background[]

Fernando Alonso had moved to the top of the Championship as the title fight had shuffled once again, leaving the Korean circuit with 231 points to his name. Mark Webber had hence slipped to second, eleven off the lead after his non-score, while Lewis Hamilton had moved back into third on 210. Sebastian Vettel was next having also failed to score, and hence had slipped 25 off the lead, while Jenson Button was still mathematically in the hunt but would have to take two wins and see his rivals all fall by the wayside.

In the Constructors Championship Red Bull-Renault had managed to hold their lead at the head of the field, although their non-score in Korea had left them on 426 points. McLaren-Mercedes had hence closed the gap to 27 points in second, while Ferrari had remained in the hunt in third, moving onto 374 points. Behind, Mercedes had extended their advantage over Renault in the fight for fourth, while the three new teams were running out of time to score points in 2010.

Entry List[]

The full entry list for the 2010 Brazilian Grand Prix is shown below:

No. Driver Entrant Constructor Chassis Engine Model Tyre
1 United Kingdom Jenson Button United Kingdom Vodafone McLaren Mercedes McLaren MP4-25 Mercedes FO 108X 2.4 V8 B
2 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton United Kingdom Vodafone McLaren Mercedes McLaren MP4-25 Mercedes FO 108X 2.4 V8 B
3 Germany Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team Mercedes MGP W01 Mercedes FO 108X 2.4 V8 B
4 Germany Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team Mercedes MGP W01 Mercedes FO 108X 2.4 V8 B
5 Germany Sebastian Vettel Austria Red Bull Racing Red Bull RB6 Renault RS27-2010 2.4 V8 B
6 Australia Mark Webber Austria Red Bull Racing Red Bull RB6 Renault RS27-2010 2.4 V8 B
7 Brazil Felipe Massa Italy Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro Ferrari F10 Ferrari 056 2010 2.4 V8 B
8 Spain Fernando Alonso Italy Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro Ferrari F10 Ferrari 056 2010 2.4 V8 B
9 Brazil Rubens Barrichello United Kingdom AT&T Williams Williams FW32 Cosworth CA2010 2.4 V8 B
10 Germany Nico Hülkenberg United Kingdom AT&T Williams Williams FW32 Cosworth CA2010 2.4 V8 B
11 Poland Robert Kubica France Renault F1 Team Renault R30 Renault RS27-2010 2.4 V8 B
12 Russia Vitaly Petrov France Renault F1 Team Renault R30 Renault RS27-2010 2.4 V8 B
14 Germany Adrian Sutil India Force India F1 Team Force India VJM03 Mercedes FO 108X 2.4 V8 B
15 Italy Vitantonio Liuzzi India Force India F1 Team Force India VJM03 Mercedes FO 108X 2.4 V8 B
16 Switzerland Sébastien Buemi Italy Scuderia Toro Rosso Toro Rosso STR5 Ferrari 056 2010 2.4 V8 B
17 Spain Jaime Alguersuari Italy Scuderia Toro Rosso Toro Rosso STR5 Ferrari 056 2010 2.4 V8 B
18 Italy Jarno Trulli Malaysia Lotus Racing Lotus T127 Cosworth CA2010 2.4 V8 B
19 Finland Heikki Kovalainen Malaysia Lotus Racing Lotus T127 Cosworth CA2010 2.4 V8 B
20 Austria Christian Klien Spain Hispania Racing F1 Team HRT F110 Cosworth CA2010 2.4 V8 B
21 Brazil Bruno Senna Spain Hispania Racing F1 Team HRT F110 Cosworth CA2010 2.4 V8 B
22 Germany Nick Heidfeld Switzerland BMW Sauber F1 Team BMW Sauber C29 Ferrari 056 2010 2.4 V8 B
23 Japan Kamui Kobayashi Switzerland BMW Sauber F1 Team BMW Sauber C29 Ferrari 056 2010 2.4 V8 B
24 Germany Timo Glock United Kingdom Virgin Racing Virgin VR-01 Cosworth CA2010 2.4 V8 B
25 Brazil Lucas di Grassi United Kingdom Virgin Racing Virgin VR-01 Cosworth CA2010 2.4 V8 B
Test Drivers for Practice Sessions Only
25 Belgium Jérôme d'Ambrosio United Kingdom Virgin Racing Virgin VR-01 Cosworth CA2010 2.4 V8 B
Source:[3]

Practice Overview[]

Qualifying[]

Q1[]

Q2[]

Q3[]

Qualifying Results[]

The full qualifying results for the 2010 Brazilian Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos. No. Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Grid
Pos. Time Pos. Time Pos. Time
1 10 Germany Nico Hülkenberg United Kingdom Williams-Cosworth 11 1:20.050 8 1:19.144 1 1:14.470 1
2 5 Germany Sebastian Vettel Austria Red Bull-Renault 3 1:19.025 2 1:18.691 2 1:15.519 2
3 6 Australia Mark Webber Austria Red Bull-Renault 2 1:19.025 1 1:18.516 3 1:15.637 3
4 2 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 10 1:19.931 4 1:18.921 4 1:15.747 4
5 8 Spain Fernando Alonso Italy Ferrari 1 1:18.987 7 1:19.010 5 1:15.989 5
6 9 Brazil Rubens Barrichello United Kingdom Williams-Cosworth 7 1:19.799 6 1:18.925 6 1:16.203 6
7 11 Poland Robert Kubica France Renault 4 1:19.249 3 1:18.877 7 1:16.552 7
8 3 Germany Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes 8 1:19.879 5 1:18.923 8 1:16.925 8
9 7 Brazil Felipe Massa Italy Ferrari 6 1:19.778 10 1:19.200 9 1:17.101 9
10 12 Russia Vitaly Petrov France Renault 16 1:20.189 9 1:19.153 10 1:17.656 10
11 1 United Kingdom Jenson Button United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 9 1:19.905 11 1:19.288 11
12 23 Japan Kamui Kobayashi Switzerland BMW Sauber-Ferrari 5 1:19.741 12 1:19.385 12
13 4 Germany Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes 13 1:20.153 13 1:19.486 13
14 17 Spain Jaime Alguersuari Italy Toro Rosso-Ferrari 14 1:20.158 14 1:19.581 14
15* 16 Switzerland Sébastien Buemi Italy Toro Rosso-Ferrari 12 1:20.096 15 1:19.847 19*
16 22 Germany Nick Heidfeld Switzerland BMW Sauber-Ferrari 15 1:20.174 16 1:19.899 15
17 15 Italy Vitantonio Liuzzi India Force India-Mercedes 17 1:20.592 17 1:20.357 16
18* 14 Germany Adrian Sutil India Force India-Mercedes 18 1:20.830 22*
19 24 Germany Timo Glock United Kingdom Virgin-Cosworth 19 1:22.130 17
20 18 Italy Jarno Trulli Malaysia Lotus-Cosworth 20 1:22.250 18
21 19 Finland Heikki Kovalainen Malaysia Lotus-Cosworth 21 1:22.378 20
22 25 Brazil Lucas di Grassi United Kingdom Virgin-Cosworth 22 1:22.810 21
23 20 Austria Christian Klien Spain HRT-Cosworth 23 1:23.083 23
24 21 Brazil Bruno Senna Spain HRT-Cosworth 24 1:23.796 24
Source:[4]
  • Bold indicates the fastest driver's time in each session.
  • * Sutil and Buemi served five place grid penalties for causing collisions in the 2010 Korean Grand Prix.[4]
  • Senna received a five place grid penalty for changing his gearbox.[4]

Grid[]

Pos. Pos.
Driver Driver
______________
Row 1 ______________ 1
2 Nico Hülkenberg
Sebastian Vettel ______________
Row 2 ______________ 3
4 Mark Webber
Lewis Hamilton ______________
Row 3 ______________ 5
6 Fernando Alonso
Rubens Barrichello ______________
Row 4 ______________ 7
8 Robert Kubica
Michael Schumacher ______________
Row 5 ______________ 9
10 Felipe Massa
Vitaly Petrov ______________
Row 6 ______________ 11
12 Jenson Button
Kamui Kobayashi ______________
Row 7 ______________ 13
14 Nico Rosberg
Jaime Alguersuari ______________
Row 8 ______________ 15
16 Nick Heidfeld
Vitantonio Liuzzi ______________
Row 9 ______________ 17
18 Timo Glock
Jarno Trulli ______________
Row 10 ______________ 19
20 Sébastien Buemi
Heikki Kovalainen ______________
Row 11 ______________ 21
22 Lucas di Grassi
Adrian Sutil ______________
Row 12 ______________ 23
24 Christian Klien*
Bruno Senna ______________
  • * Klien would start the race from the pitlane.[4]

Race[]

Report[]

Results[]

The full results for the 2010 Brazilian Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5 Germany Sebastian Vettel Austria Red Bull-Renault 71 1:33:11.803 2 25
2 6 Australia Mark Webber Austria Red Bull-Renault 71 +4.243s 3 18
3 8 Spain Fernando Alonso Italy Ferrari 71 +6.807s 5 15
4 2 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 71 +14.634s 4 12
5 1 United Kingdom Jenson Button United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 71 +15.593s 11 10
6 4 Germany Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes 71 +35.320s 13 8
7 3 Germany Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes 71 +43.456s 8 6
8 10 Germany Nico Hülkenberg United Kingdom Williams-Cosworth 70 +1 Lap 1 4
9 11 Poland Robert Kubica France Renault 70 +1 Lap 7 2
10 23 Japan Kamui Kobayashi Switzerland BMW Sauber-Ferrari 70 +1 Lap 12 1
11 17 Spain Jaime Alguersuari Italy Toro Rosso-Ferrari 70 +1 Lap 14
12 14 Germany Adrian Sutil India Force India-Mercedes 70 +1 Lap 22
13 16 Switzerland Sébastien Buemi Italy Toro Rosso-Ferrari 70 +1 Lap 19
14 9 Brazil Rubens Barrichello United Kingdom Williams-Cosworth 70 +1 Lap 6
15 7 Brazil Felipe Massa Italy Ferrari 70 +1 Lap 9
16 12 Russia Vitaly Petrov France Renault 70 +1 Lap 10
17 22 Germany Nick Heidfeld Switzerland BMW Sauber-Ferrari 70 +1 Lap 15
18 19 Finland Heikki Kovalainen Malaysia Lotus-Cosworth 69 +2 Laps 20
19 18 Italy Jarno Trulli Malaysia Lotus-Cosworth 69 +2 Laps 18
20 24 Germany Timo Glock United Kingdom Virgin-Cosworth 69 +2 Laps 17
21 21 Brazil Bruno Senna Spain HRT-Cosworth 69 +2 Laps 24
22 20 Austria Christian Klien Spain HRT-Cosworth 65 +6 Laps 23
NC* 25 Brazil Lucas di Grassi United Kingdom Virgin-Cosworth 62 +9 Laps 21
Ret 15 Italy Vitantonio Liuzzi India Force India-Mercedes 49 Accident 16
Source:[5]
  • * di Grassi was unable to be classified as he had completed 90% of the race distance.[5]

Milestones[]

Standings[]

Fernando Alonso had retained his Championship lead heading into the season finale in Abu Dhabi, and would hold an eight point advantage. Mark Webber was the second man in the fight on 238 points, and would have to win with Alonso third or lower to take the title. Sebastian Vettel would arrive in Yas Marina in third, needing to outscore Alonso by sixteen to take the crown, while Lewis Hamilton would have to win and likely see none of the top three score if he was to claim his second World Championship.

In the Constructors Championship the fight was over, for Red Bull-Renault had moved 48 points clear with just 43 points left to fight for Abu Dhabi, handing them their maiden World Championship. McLaren-Mercedes hence had to console themselves with second, although they would have to fend of Ferrari at the finale. However, the Scuderia would have to outscore their Anglo-German rivals by 32 points in the finale to claim the runner-up spot, while Mercedes and Renault completed the top five.

World Championship for Drivers
Pos. Driver Pts. +/-
1 Spain Fernando Alonso 246
2 Australia Mark Webber 238
3 Germany Sebastian Vettel 231 ▲1
4 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton 222 ▼1
5 United Kingdom Jenson Button 199
6 Brazil Felipe Massa 143
7 Germany Nico Rosberg 130 ▲1
8 Poland Robert Kubica 126 ▼1
9 Germany Michael Schumacher 72
10 Brazil Rubens Barrichello 47
11 Germany Adrian Sutil 47
12 Japan Kamui Kobayashi 32
13 Germany Nico Hülkenberg 22 ▲2
14 Italy Vitantonio Liuzzi 21 ▼1
15 Russia Vitaly Petrov 19 ▼1
16 Switzerland Sébastien Buemi 8
17 Spain Pedro de la Rosa 6
18 Germany Nick Heidfeld 6
19 Spain Jaime Alguersuari 3
World Championship for Constructors
Pos. Team Pts. +/-
1 Austria Red Bull-Renault 469
2 United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 421
3 Italy Ferrari 389
4 Germany Mercedes 202
5 France Renault 145
6 United Kingdom Williams-Cosworth 69 ▲1
7 India Force India-Mercedes 68 ▼1
8 Switzerland BMW Sauber-Ferrari 44
9 Italy Toro Rosso-Ferrari 11

Only point scoring drivers and constructors are shown.

References[]

Images and Videos:

References:

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 '18. Brazil 2010', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2014), https://www.statsf1.com/en/2010/bresil.aspx, (Accessed 30/03/2020)
  2. 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 'Vettel victory takes title battle down to the wire', crash.net, (Crash Media Group, 07/11/2010), https://www.crash.net/f1/race-report/164859/1/vettel-victory-takes-f1-title-battle-down-to-the-wire, (Accessed 30/03/2020)
  3. 'Brazil 2010: Entrants', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), https://www.statsf1.com/en/2010/bresil/engages.aspx, (Accessed 30/03/2020)
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 'FORMULA 1 GRANDE PRÊMIO PETROBRAS DO BRASIL 2010 - QUALIFYING', formula1.com, (Formula One World Championship Limited, 2010), https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2010/races/877/brazil/qualifying.html, (Accessed 30/03/2020)
  5. 5.0 5.1 'Brazil 2010: Result', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2016), https://www.statsf1.com/en/2010/bresil/classement.aspx, (Accessed 30/03/2020)
  6. [Archived], '2010 Brazilian GP', chicanef1.com, (Chicane F1, 2014), https://web.archive.org/web/20190409233317/http://chicanef1.com/racetit.pl?year=2010&gp=Brazilian%20GP&r=1, (Accessed 30/03/2020) - Original
V T E Brazil Brazilian Grand Prix
Circuits Interlagos (1972–1977, 1979–1980, 1990–2019), Jacarepaguá (1978, 1981–1989)
Interlagos1990
Races (Brazilian GP) 197319741975197619771978197919801981198219831984198519861987198819891990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020
Non-Championship Race 1972
V T E 2010 Formula One Season
Teams McLaren | Mercedes | Red Bull | Ferrari | Williams | Renault | Force India | Toro Rosso | Lotus | HRT | BMW Sauber | Virgin
Engines Mercedes | Renault | Ferrari | Cosworth
Race Drivers 1 Button | 2 Hamilton | 3 Schumacher | 4 Rosberg | 5 Vettel | 6 Webber | 7 Massa | 8 Alonso | 9 Barrichello | 10 Hülkenberg | 11 Kubica | 12 Petrov | 14 Sutil | 15 Liuzzi | 16 Buemi | 17 Alguersuari | 18 Trulli | 19 Kovalainen | 20 Chandhok | 20 Klien | 20/21 Yamamoto | 21 Senna | 22 de la Rosa | 22 Heidfeld | 23 Kobayashi | 24 Glock | 25 di Grassi
Other Drivers Paffett | Turvey | Bird | Hartley | Ricciardo | Coulthard | Fisichella | Badoer | Gené | Bianchi | Bottas | Stoneman | Maldonado | Tung | d'Ambrosio | Charouz | Aleshin | di Resta | Felix da Costa | Buurman | Vergne | Fauzy | González | Arabadzhiev | Valsecchi | Kral | Gutiérrez | Pérez | Soucek | Razia | Haryanto
Cars MP4-25 | MGP W01 | RB6 | F10 | FW32 | R30 | VJM03 | STR5 | T127 | F110 | C29 | VR-01
Tyres Bridgestone
Races Bahrain | Australia | Malaysia | China | Spain | Monaco | Turkey | Canada | Europe | Great Britain | Germany | Hungary | Belgium | Italy | Singapore | Japan | Korea | Brazil | Abu Dhabi
Team Reports McLaren | Mercedes | Red Bull | Ferrari | Williams | Renault | Force India | Toro Rosso | Lotus | HRT | BMW Sauber | Virgin
Driver Reports Button | Hamilton | Schumacher | Rosberg | Vettel | Webber | Massa | Alonso | Barrichello | Hülkenberg | Kubica | Petrov | Sutil | Liuzzi | Buemi | Alguersuari | Trulli | Kovalainen | Chandhok | Klien | Yamamoto | Senna | de la Rosa | Heidfeld | Kobayashi | Glock | di Grassi
Tests Barcelona 1 | Valencia | Jerez 1 | Jerez 2 | Barcelona 2 | Vairano | Paul Ricard
See also 2009 Formula One Season | 2011 Formula One Season | Category
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