Formula One Features — January 2012

If it was last gasp for Sebastian Vettel in 2010 at Abu Dhabi, it was a walk in the park for the likeable young German in 2011. Things went so well that Red Bull Racing will have its work cut out to improve upon their performance next season.

If you had told McLaren in February that Jenson Button would finish runner-up in the drivers' championship and that they would score six victories, they would probably have taken that.

When Ferrari and Fernando Alonso finished 2010 so strongly many assumed that the combination would take the fight to Red Bull in 2011. It's probably fair to say that Ferrari started the new season joint championship favourites. It wasn't to be.

Mercedes, like Renault, came up with a car concept that was overtaken by events. In Mercedes' case it was a failure to anticipate the evolution and power of the developing exhaust technology.

One way and another Renault, or Lotus Renault GP to be precise, was very much in the pre-season news. There was the row over the Lotus naming rights, the ground-breaking front exit exhaust, and Robert Kubica's rallying accident.

Force India turned in a fine 2011 performance to finish sixth in the constructors' championship, just four points adrift of Lotus Renault GP.

Sauber started the year in fine style with a double points finish from rookie Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi at the opening race in Melbourne. Unfortunately, a rear wing infringement led to the disqualification of both cars and technical director James Key was left to contemplate how much that might cost them in the final analysis.

Toro Rosso finished the 2010 season ninth in the final championship classification. Matter-of-fact technical director Giorgio Ascanelli thought that was about right. If they'd been tenth, he said, they should have been shot, and if they'd been eighth it would have been a miracle.

For a team that has nine constructors' championships to its credit, ninth place and just three point-scoring finishes in 2011 - in Monte Carlo, Montreal and Spa - was not what the doctor ordered at Williams.

The 2011 season was not Team Lotus's first season, but in many ways it might have been. The team had a new, young design team and it had a change of engine/gearbox.

After its hand-to-mouth opening season, HRT continued in similar vein although there was the luxury of a gearbox/hydraulics deal with Williams that addressed a number of reliability issues that had plagued 2010.

Statistically, Marussia Virgin Racing finished below HRT in the final championship classification, but in reality, although hamstrung by a disappointing lack of performance from the MVR02 on track, the team made strides operationally.