There was a time when almost all the posts on my blog used to be F1 related, but I guess priorities changed, and I realized that my friends were not exactly as enthusiastic about F1 as I was! I guess I only posted one F1 post this year,  just after the start of the season,   and so,  I guess it’s fitting that this post comes,  just after the conclusion of the season.

It has been a very interesting season,  right through.  Michael’s comeback did not exactly go as his countless fans would have hoped for,  but one had to be practical:  he was coming out of a two year retirement  and two years of progress in Formula One is not something you can afford to lose touch with.  It’s the greatness of the man that enabled him to manage to come close to matching and on occasions, surpassing the pace of his vastly younger teammate.   Knowing Michael,  I guess he will be back much stronger next year.   As his bosses at Mercedes have not so subtly indicated,  it could be curtains for Michael’s career,  if he does not up his ante,  but Michael enjoys challenges and I hence look forward to a great season from him,  win,  lose or retire.  

Sebastian Vettel emerged the champion this year,  at the end of a truly outstanding season.   The fact that Sebastian never led the championship table,  until the last race clearly indicates that it was a topsy-turvy season which saw as many as five contenders to the title. 
The Redbull team,  with almost equally matched teammates in Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber and the McLaren team,  with former champ Lewis Hamilton and reigning champion Jenson Button seemed to have it all between themselves,  till Alonso decided to throw his own hat into the ring,  with a few incredible race victories,  and a controversial one,  in which his teammate,  at the insistence of his team,  gave away the race victory to Alonso,  by slowing down and allowing the latter to pass him.  

Controversy or not,  Alonso was back in the contention and the fact that Redbull was not indulging in Ferrari-like team-orders (giving preference to one driver over the other) meant that they ran the serious risk of handing over the driver’s championship over to Alonso,  something that very nearly happened,  but fate had to intervene again,  and the luck that Redbull and Sebastian Vettel did not seem to possess came to their aid,  when it mattered the most.   Vettel had done his own cause immense good by taking pole position (first place) in qualifying,  a feat that finally led to him winning the title.  A freak accident involving Michael Schumacher,  which ended his largely lacklustre season, and Vitantonio Liuzzi meant that the safety car was deployed,  an event which triggered off a slew of pit-stops by drivers who would have an indelible impact on the title aspirations of Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso.  

At the end of the race,  Vettel finished first and Alonso,  who could never get past the Renault of Vitaly Petrov ended up making some obscene gestures at the latter,  but it must be said that  Petrov,  a rookie,  did an incredible job and produced a faultless race.  The fact that he managed to hold back a two-time world champion in a faster car behind him for the better part of the race indicates the skill of this young Russian.   I expect to see a lot more of this guy in the years to come.
The season has ended.  It saw a lot of controversy over allowing back-markers who ran several seconds off the pace of the leaders to compete,  it saw the end of fuel pit-stops,  it saw a new points system,  it saw controversial moments,  moments of heart-pounding action,  incredible anxiety and ended on a wonderful note,  giving the world the youngest ever Formula One champ, in Sebastian Vettel.
I certainly look forward to the next season  which even includes  an Indian Grand Prix  which is going to take place in the newly constructed circuit at Delhi.