2010 Formula One season

Sebastian Vettel, the 2010 World Champion

Fernando Alonso came in second behind Vettel by four points

Mark Webber, Vettel's teammate, finished third in the championship

The 2010 Formula One season was the 61st Formula One season. The technical and sporting regulations applicable for the season were the subject of much debate. Before the start of the season, 2009 Drivers' Champion Jenson Button joined McLaren, while the 2009 Constructors' Champion, Brawn GP, was bought by Mercedes-Benz and renamed Mercedes GP. The 2010 season also saw the return of the most successful driver in Formula One history, with Michael Schumacher coming out of retirement after a three-year absence. The season's first race was held on March 14 in Bahrain.

Red Bull won its maiden Constructors' Championship with a one-two finish in Brazil, while Sebastian Vettel won the Drivers' Championship with a win at the final race of the season. In doing so, Vettel became the youngest World Drivers' Champion in the sport's sixty-year history.

This was the last year that the Bridgestone tires were the tire supplier in Formula One.

Pre-season

Dispute over regulations and breakaway series

Main article: FIA–FOTA dispute

The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) had planned to introduce a budget cap, in order to safeguard the sport during the current economic downturn. The proposal had an optional budget cap of €30 million ($45 million, £27 million), with greater technical and design freedoms allowed to teams who nominated to use it. The teams objected to what they believed would be a two-tier championship and five of the teams within the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA), Ferrari, BMW Sauber, Renault, Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso announced their intentions to withdraw from the 2010 championship. BMW Sauber later announced on their withdrawal from Formula One at the end of the 2009 season, due to economic problems.

Following negotiations, the FOTA teams unanimously decided to withdraw at the end of the 2009 season unless the budget cap rules were changed. Williams and Force India both submitted their own entries and were temporarily suspended from FOTA,while the remaining teams submitted conditional entries for the 2010 season. The 2010 entry list was published by the FIA on 12 June, which included all 2009 teams and three new teams, Campos Meta, Virgin Racing and US F1 Team. Discussions between the FIA and FOTA failed to find a resolution to the budget cap issues and the eight FOTA teams announced intentions to form a breakaway series for 2010. 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.

During a meeting on 8 July between the FIA and FOTA on future regulations, the teams walked out of the meeting after being informed that they were not entered for the 2010 season and could therefore have no input on regulatory discussions. In response it was announced that plans for a breakaway series were still being pursued.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. The new Concorde Agreement will secure the sports future until its expiration in 2012.

Testing

The new season test schedule started on 1 December 2009 with a three-day 'Young Driver Test' (for drivers with fewer than three Formula One race starts to their name) at Spain's Circuito de Jerez. British Formula Three Champion Daniel Ricciardo was fastest for Red Bull Racing. As with 2009, the teams were allowed a maximum of 15,000 km (9,300 mi) over the course of fifteen days in February. Testing sessions were confirmed for Valencia (1–3 February), Jerez (10–13 February and 17–20 February), and Barcelona (25–28 February).All but Campos/Hispania and US F1 took part in the pre-season tests.

Testing sessions at Jerez were constantly interrupted by heavy rain.

Pre-season testing started at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia with seven teams. Ferrari dominated the test session, with Felipe Massa setting the fastest lap times on days one and two. In his first appearance for the team, Fernando Alonso set the fastest overall time on the third day of the test with 1:11.470

Virgin Racing had aerodynamic problems during the tests in Jerez and Barcelona.

The second session took place at Circuito de Jerez, Spain with heavy downpours throughout the test. This also marked the first public test for new team Virgin Racing who only managed five laps after a shortage of parts became a problem. Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap of the test during a dry Saturday session with 1:19.583.

The third test at Jerez for another four-day test was also affected by mixed weather conditions. Lotus Racing started its first public test with the T127. The penultimate and last days saw sunny weather with Jenson Button setting the fastest time (1:18.871).

The last pre-season test took place at Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona. The test started in sunny weather with rain showers scattered through the weekend. Virgin's testing misery carried on with Lucas di Grassi crashing and more mechanical issues.Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap of the week (1:20.472) with most teams doing low fuel runs on Sunday.