The last time F1 had a multi-driver title fight: The story of Abu Dhabi 2010
- Maham Mir
- 4 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Written by Maham Mir, Edited by Meghana Sree
Abu Dhabi is no stranger to title showdowns with 2010 being one of the most memorable, as for the first time in F1 history, four drivers were still in contention for motorsport’s most coveted prize. Here’s how the last time F1 had a multi-driver title fight unfolded.
2025’s World Drivers’ Championship is set for a blockbuster showdown at the Yas Marina Circuit between reigning world champion Max Verstappen, current championship leader Lando Norris and third in the standings Oscar Piastri. However, this is not the first time that Formula One has arrived in Abu Dhabi with multiple drivers still in contention for the most coveted title in F1.
In 2010, it was a four-way battle arriving into the final race of the season with Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber trying their luck for a maiden title. Their competition was double world champion Fernando Alonso and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton.
Heading into Abu Dhabi, Ferrari’s Alonso held a clear lead in the standings with 246 points while Webber and Vettel were second and third on 238 and 231 points respectively. Hamilton, fourth in the standings, remained in contention as he was 24 points behind Alonso on 222 points with 25 points available to win in the final event of the season.
The possibility of team orders was the hot topic in the media in the lead-up to the weekend. Ferrari, having already employed them at the German Grand Prix earlier that season, were suspected of using their other driver, Felipe Massa, to help Alonso’s bid. Comparatively, Red Bull repeated their stance that they would not utilise team orders to stop Alonso winning the title.
For the actual running of the weekend, Vettel set the pace in qualifying and put his RB6 on pole, becoming the seventh driver to take 10 pole positions in a single season. Two of his championship rivals, Hamilton and Alonso, qualified directly behind him in P2 and P3 while his teammate Webber qualified behind Jenson Button in P6.
When the five lights went out, the German driver got away well while Button was able to take a position from Alonso and move into third. Abu Dhabi, while a relatively difficult track to overtake on, has continued to provide its excitement through the variety of strategies that can be used by teams. In 2010, the range of strategies were even more pronounced as there was a much larger range of tyres at the disposal of the teams.
Although the start was clean for all the drivers, an incident between Mercedes teammates Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg at Turn 6 saw the seven-time world champion facing the wrong way on track. Schumacher was hit by Vitantonio Liuzzi, the contact then causing both drivers to retire from the race, bringing out the Safety Car.
As predicted, the opportunity for a cheap pit stop was taken by many drivers including Rosberg, however the front-runners chose to stay out to maintain track position. On Lap 5, the Safety Car came back into the pits and green flag racing resumed.
Webber and Alonso both had early pit stops compared to their championship rivals and were unable to match their lap times, even with their newer and more robust tyres. Both the Australian and the Spaniard were released back into traffic and were unable to make an impression behind cars like Vitaly Petrov’s Renault.
The pace that the Australian driver had been known for throughout the season was nowhere to be found in the finale and as Alonso spent more time watching the back of Petrov’s Renault, both drivers undoubtedly felt the championship slip away from them. Alonso got close to overtaking the Renault on Lap 23 but had to back out of the move — it was his last opportunity to overtake for the remainder of the race.
On Lap 24, one lap after Hamilton came in for his stop, Vettel emerged from the pit lane in P2 behind Button — who still had to stop — and comfortably ahead of everyone else.
Behind him, Hamilton, his closest rival, was facing the same issues as Alonso behind the Renault of Robert Kubica. Eventually, on Lap 39, Button came in for a change of tyres that released Vettel back into the lead where he stayed until the end of the race.
From then on, it was smooth sailing for Vettel, even if he wasn’t aware of the situation behind him or how the race results at the time were affecting the championship. Despite Hamilton gaining on race leader Vettel in the closing stages of the race, the McLaren driver never got close enough to overtake and thus deny the German his first title.
After crossing the line, Vettel and his race engineer had an exchange over the radio that has been firmly cemented as one of the best in F1 history.
Guillaume Rocquelin, Vettel’s race engineer, stated: “Okay Sebastian, I need to wait, I need to wait until everyone has crossed the line, but it's looking good. You just wait sunshine, you just wait. Hamilton P2, Button P3. There's another two cars coming around... Rosberg P4... DU BIST WELTMEISTER!"
Vettel won the title despite having not led the championship standings for the entire season, and only took the lead when winning the championship, a feat that was last recorded by James Hunt in 1976.
Additionally, he broke Hamilton's record of being the youngest ever world champion by 166 days, winning his first title at 23 years, 134 days — a record which still stands today.
The parallels between 2010 and 2025 cannot be ignored with two of the same teams still vying for the Drivers’ title in Red Bull and McLaren.
However, in 2025, the positions are reversed with McLaren’s challengers of Norris and Piastri playing the parts of Vettel and Webber in competing for their maiden title.
Only time, and 58 laps of racing, stand between Norris, Verstappen or Piastri winning the World Drivers’ Championship title in 2025. No matter how it ends, it is sure to be a thrilling end to an unpredictable season to close out this era of F1.
