Top five disappointments of the year. Feel free to add your own suggestions.
5. ART Grand Prix
The junior series giants suffered a triple whammy this year. The GP2 team (former champions including Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Hülkenberg) could only muster a single win and finished third in the championship. The F3 team lost the Euroseries title they had held continuously since 2004 to Edoardo Mortara and VW. An F1 entry application also had to be withdrawn when expected support was not forthcoming. There was some compensation with the inaugural GP3 crown, however. For 2011 things are looking up, with Lotus sponsoring the GP2 team and a proposed sportscar programme to replace the F3 team.
4. Mikko Hirvonen
In 2009 Hirvonen ran Sébastien Loeb close for the World Rally Championship, scoring 11 podiums in 12 events and finishing just a point behind the Frenchman in the final standings. 2010 started well with a win in Sweden, but the remainder of the season yielded only one other podium, in Turkey, and from mid-season his Ford team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala had comprehensively gained the upper hand. Mikko will have to improve on his sixth place in the championship (150pts behind champion Loeb) in 2011 if he wants to keep his much coveted drive.
3. Michael Schumacher
Enough said about him already. His fitness was not a problem, we were told. His motivation as high as ever. So other than the tyres not really being his cup of tea, what was the problem, Michael? Very disappointing on track - slow and often wild - and strangely subdued off it.
2. Peugeot Sport
They won the Le Mans Series, but there was little opposition and in years to come nobody will remember that. The big one, particularly for a French team, is the 24 Hours, and again there was a massive national marketing effort put behind the quartet of 908 HDIs. Qualifying went well, but qualifying usually does, and everyone expected the rival Audis to be closer in the race. As it turned out, however, that wasn't the case, and the home team were able to disappear into the distance with surprising ease, building an advantage of nearly two laps as the lead Audi, for once, tripped up. Come the morning, however, and the light was not coming from the rising sun, but the succession of frazzled turbos and roasted bodywork. A comfortable victory was transformed into a total defeat, with none of the Peugeots running at the flag. Zut alors!
1. The new F1 teams
It wasn't all their fault, of course. They didn't have much time to prepare. There wasn't much money going around in the world economy at the exact moment they needed it. And they were lumbered with an engine and transmission setup that they had had little (or no?) control over.
Still when Lotus, Virgin and HRT turned up at Bahrain, the lack of performance of their cars was a shock. Not only, one suspected, to fans, but to the teams themselves. At HRT, an early falling-out with technical partner Dallara did not help matters, while chronic budget problems contributed to a revolving door policy on drivers in the latter part of the season, and zero developments coming on to the car. The chassis is likely to be retained as the baseline for their 2011 car...yikes. Virgin's Nick Wirth was more than a little embarassed at the start of the season when it emerged their car lacked the fuel capacity to complete the race distance. It didn't help that he had been the one doing the most to talk up his team's chances in pre-season. Lotus largely avoided such episodes, and their drivers did a good job with what they were given, but the team's own target - to be on the pace of Toro Rosso by the end of the year - was missed by a very wide margin. Truly they were the "first of the losers".
They should all get a second chance to get things right next year and I very much hope their time as tail-end cannon fodder is over. After last season, however, I'm not placing any bets.
5. ART Grand Prix
The junior series giants suffered a triple whammy this year. The GP2 team (former champions including Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Hülkenberg) could only muster a single win and finished third in the championship. The F3 team lost the Euroseries title they had held continuously since 2004 to Edoardo Mortara and VW. An F1 entry application also had to be withdrawn when expected support was not forthcoming. There was some compensation with the inaugural GP3 crown, however. For 2011 things are looking up, with Lotus sponsoring the GP2 team and a proposed sportscar programme to replace the F3 team.
4. Mikko Hirvonen
In 2009 Hirvonen ran Sébastien Loeb close for the World Rally Championship, scoring 11 podiums in 12 events and finishing just a point behind the Frenchman in the final standings. 2010 started well with a win in Sweden, but the remainder of the season yielded only one other podium, in Turkey, and from mid-season his Ford team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala had comprehensively gained the upper hand. Mikko will have to improve on his sixth place in the championship (150pts behind champion Loeb) in 2011 if he wants to keep his much coveted drive.
3. Michael Schumacher
Enough said about him already. His fitness was not a problem, we were told. His motivation as high as ever. So other than the tyres not really being his cup of tea, what was the problem, Michael? Very disappointing on track - slow and often wild - and strangely subdued off it.
2. Peugeot Sport
They won the Le Mans Series, but there was little opposition and in years to come nobody will remember that. The big one, particularly for a French team, is the 24 Hours, and again there was a massive national marketing effort put behind the quartet of 908 HDIs. Qualifying went well, but qualifying usually does, and everyone expected the rival Audis to be closer in the race. As it turned out, however, that wasn't the case, and the home team were able to disappear into the distance with surprising ease, building an advantage of nearly two laps as the lead Audi, for once, tripped up. Come the morning, however, and the light was not coming from the rising sun, but the succession of frazzled turbos and roasted bodywork. A comfortable victory was transformed into a total defeat, with none of the Peugeots running at the flag. Zut alors!
1. The new F1 teams
It wasn't all their fault, of course. They didn't have much time to prepare. There wasn't much money going around in the world economy at the exact moment they needed it. And they were lumbered with an engine and transmission setup that they had had little (or no?) control over.
Still when Lotus, Virgin and HRT turned up at Bahrain, the lack of performance of their cars was a shock. Not only, one suspected, to fans, but to the teams themselves. At HRT, an early falling-out with technical partner Dallara did not help matters, while chronic budget problems contributed to a revolving door policy on drivers in the latter part of the season, and zero developments coming on to the car. The chassis is likely to be retained as the baseline for their 2011 car...yikes. Virgin's Nick Wirth was more than a little embarassed at the start of the season when it emerged their car lacked the fuel capacity to complete the race distance. It didn't help that he had been the one doing the most to talk up his team's chances in pre-season. Lotus largely avoided such episodes, and their drivers did a good job with what they were given, but the team's own target - to be on the pace of Toro Rosso by the end of the year - was missed by a very wide margin. Truly they were the "first of the losers".
They should all get a second chance to get things right next year and I very much hope their time as tail-end cannon fodder is over. After last season, however, I'm not placing any bets.