2010 bought what many think is one of the best F1 seasons. Especially of recent years and one of the drivers that put on a show that year is Lewis Hamilton🇬🇧. He and McLaren just got off a disappointing 2009 with 2 wins and 5 podiums with a slower car compared to his rivals. But 2010 would bring a different story after a rough start to the season at Bahrain🇧🇭 falling to 5th The Brit did well to recover to 3rd. But in Australia🇦🇺 things would be different for him as he'd qualify 11th. But when the lights went out Hamilton was on the move after Fernando Alonso's🇪🇸 Ferrari and Michael Schumacher's🇩🇪 Mercedes was spun around by his teammate Jenson Button🇬🇧. Lewis would climb to 7th. Lap 6 and Lewis gets by his compatriot but 3 laps later he would pit after his teammate was flying on slicks despite going off the road. So now Hamilton needs to get on with it to repeat his Bahrain podium and at lap 11 he passes Rubens Barrichello's 🇧🇷 Williams for 7th and for the next few laps would be following Mark Webber's🇦🇺 Red Bull past Felipe Massa's🇧🇷 Ferrari then tries to get by Webber but after the Red Bull goes wide from locking up and lost the place to Felipe. But Hamilton would hunt the Brazilian back down and get past him for 5th. He would then in a a couple of laps close up to Nico Rosberg's🇩🇪 Mercedes. And lap 26 Hamilton gets by the German and when Sebastian Vettel🇩🇪 retired from a brake faliure put Lewis in the podium places. Now Hamilton is after Robert Kubica's🇵🇱 Renault but at lap 35 his team calles him in for fresh tires and would rejoin 5th lap 44 would bring some annoyance over the radio for the 2008 world champion. After being told the Ferraris were ahead he'd be surprised and ask if the they had to stop again which they didn't so he was annoyed and later asked his engineer why he had to stop twice when his rivals stopped once. The engineer replied that some cars stopped like Mark Webber and think it'll work. He'd charge all the way back to Alonso's rear wing and with 6 laps to go says his tires are done which lead to a slight argument over the radio. Hamilton asked who's idea it was to get him to pit and said it was a terrible idea. When be was told it was a team decision be replied "You could have asked me if my tires were okay! My tires were fine! I'm telling you what guys, you called me in and ruined the race!" And to add salt to the wounds Hamilton would get spun from 5th by Mark Webber. The Brit would survive to finish 6th but it qas a disappointing result after being as high as 3rd place. Next up was Malaysia🇲🇾 where and things were still not going Hamilton's way as poor conditions and bad predictions on the weather meant Lewis qualified in 20th. Well lap 2 in the race and he is already in 12th place, the British driver was on the move as he would get by Vitaly Petrov🇷🇺 in the Renault for 9th but the Russian would fight Lewis back and retake the place but Hamilton's McLaren would eventually win out despite being warned by the stewards for excessive weaving. Hamilton said he did it to keep Petrov from slipstream him not trying to block the Renault. Hamilton would drive all the way up to finish 6th true it was a second straight 6th place but after starting 20th Hamilton and McLaren will take it and run. Especially since Hamilton was only 8 points out of the championship lead. Heading to China🇨🇳 Hamilton would start 6th so it was key to get a good start to maximize his pace. Well Fernando Alonso got too good of a start for Hamilton's liking as he'd complained that his 2007 teammate at McLaren jumped the start. But that wouldn't be the top concern for Lewis as he pits for inters after making a late call to stop under the saftey car for a 3 car wreck involving Vitantonio Liuzzi🇮🇹, Kamui Kobayashi🇯🇵, and Sebastian Buemi🇨🇭. Lewis would restart in 14th. But he would be 16th as he would have to pit again for dry tires cause the track ain't ready for inters. The Brit was on the move as he'd pass Barrichello and Jarno Trulli🇮🇹 at lap 7 putting him 11th. He didn't stop there as he blasted past the Red Bull of Mark Webber a couple of laps later. Then after getting past former teammate Hekki Kovalainen🇫🇮 into turn 1 he'd nake a brilliant move in turn 14 got him past Sebastian Vettel and Adrian Sutil🇩🇪 to propel Hamilton up to 6th much to McLaren's enjoyment. Lap 15 and he up to Michael Schumacher but he would be a tougher cookie to crumble for Hamilton. But after 3 tries in 3 laps The McLaren gets past the team that supplies their engines. Lap 20 and Hamilton pits for intermediates. Well he tried to pit for those tires and the track wasn't wet enough so is it wet enough now? Well the saftey car os out for debris. Lewis would restart 7th but climbs to 5th but not after a little controversy as Webber claims Hamilton smacked him off the track. It turns out he and Webber made contact but Lewis couldn't go anywhere as Vettel was on his left. That didn't slow him down as Hamilton is by Petrov and a lap or two later gets by Kubica for 3rd. Lap 38 Hamilton undercuts Rosberg for a fresh set of intermediates and jumps the German to 2nd place. But it wasn't so straight forward as the British driver thinks it is raining heavier in turn 9 but despite that Hamilton would survive to finish 2nd. Well at Spain🇪🇸 would not be so straight forward. The Red Bulls were in a class of their own and Hamilton from 3rd was unable to do anything with them on the start but managed to hang on to stay close enough to undercut Sebastian Vettel and when the German's Red Bull needed to nurse his car because of his brakes he had no pressure from behind. Lewis even set the FASTEST lap of the race a 1:24.357 at lap 59 and with 2 laps to go Alonso was about 10 seconds behind so things looked good for a small victory for McLaren and Hamilton right? Nope! With 2 laps to go a wheel rim faliure causes a puncture and puts Hamilton into the wall ending his race! So he went from potentially being 1 point behind the lead in 2nd to 6th 21 points back. So Monaco🇮🇩 was somewhat disappointing as he'd finished 5th but hey, on the bright side he gained 2 points on new championship leader Mark Webber. But at Turkey🇹🇷 the pace of McLaren really showed as Hamilton qualified 2nd and Button would get 4th. The start would be like he wanted maintaining 2nd even though he was passed by Vettel got him back before the first lap ended. He'd then spend the next few laps all over Mark Webber trying to get by but couldn't so as they both would pit it would be up to the mechanics to get him ahead of the Red Bull but a delay getting the tires on lost him 2nd to the other Red Bull Sebastian Vettel and Hamilton was a little frustrated but his engineer trying to be the cheerleader is saying a win is still possible as the top 4 is within 2 and a half seconds lap 18 he gets Lewis gets by Seb on the backstretch but locks up into turn 12 and falls back behind Vettel. But rain is coming and Hamilton is skilled in the rain so if it is bad enough for intermediates can Hamilton get by the Red Bulls? Well lap 40 the 2 bulls are going at it and they make contact and Vettel is around! Hamilton through to the lead as Vettel is out of this race! But now a new challenge is approaching but not from the little rain but from his teammate Jenson Button. But both have to save fuel. So Hamilton thinks Button isn't going to try to overtake him but with 10 laps to go the reigning world champion got past Hamilton but into turn 1 Lewis would get by Button and eventually wins the race. Canada🇨🇦 would bring more momentum as he puts his McLaren on pole position. It was the first time this season that a non Red Bull car was on pole so morale was high. He also started on the option(supersofts) tyre in hopes it will help him turn pole to a win while the Red Bulls and Robert Kubica started on the primes (mediums). He'd get away from the others at the start but Vettel would close back in and lap 8 but Hamilton would pit for the prime tire as well as Fernando Alonso. He'd lose out to the Ferrari after a close race off of pit road now they'd race each other while going through the field as at lap 15 into turn 10 Sebastian Buemi has yet to stop and he is all over Fernando Alonso and in the chicane after Buemi pits Hamilton breezes past Alonso to the lead. He'd lose it after pitting at lap 26. But lap 40 he is starting to close in on Mark Webber who stayed out but with 21 laps to go gets past him to eventually win the race and get the championship lead by 3 points over his teammate. Next up was a return to Spain but at Valencia this time for the European🇪🇺 grand prix where Lewis would love to keep up the momentum he'd get off the line well passing Webber and challenging Vettel into turn 2 but would make contact as well as turn 3 he'd continue on with slight front wing damage. A saftey car from a scary wreck from Hekki Kovalainen🇫🇮 and Mark Webber gave Hamilton a chace to replace his front wing and keep 2nd place he'd instantly tried to wrestle the lead away from Vettel at the restart but couldn't pull it off he'd then later at lap 21 Lewis is under investigation. But the question is what did he do? The British driver would get a drive through penalty for passing the saftey car. What happened was he was pushing trying to get by the saftey car before the saftey car line. Sebastian Vettel was able to do so and keep the lead so if Hamilton had any chance of winning he had to get to that saftey car line before it but he just lost out but he went by the saftey car anyway but since it took so long for the penalty to be given he minimized the damage so he stayed 2nd and would finish there 5 seconds behind. He gained about 10 seconds in the last half of the race so you'd have to think if he hadn't received that drive through could he have won the race? But given the circumstances this rave could have been a lot worse as the 2nd half of the season is upon us next up race 10 at Silverstone for the British🇬🇧 grand prix. He'd start 4th and get away well getting by Alonso at the start and makes slight contact again with Vettel giving the Red Bull a puncture. Well that wasn't how he wanted to get 2nd but going in the second to last corner he'd have a go at Webber for the lead but couldn't pull it off. If Lewis is to win this race he needs to do something and that something is pulling an undercut attempt at lap 17. It would not work but he is sometimes a little faster than the Red Bull. Pedro De la Rosa's🇪🇸 Sauber left debris on the backstretch after contact with Vitantonio Liuzzi so a saftey car was needed but even though he showed he might be faster than Mark the Australian was too fast for him as Hamilton would finish 2nd. He'd extend his championship lead to 12 points. Going to Germany🇩🇪 it would be slightly tough for Hamilton who'd start 6th and would finish 4th behind Vettel and both Ferraris. Lewis might have missed out on a podium but his point lead is slowly growing to now 14 points ahead of Jenson Button. He would be hungry for a good result ahead of the summer before the last push to the end of the year. So in qualifying at Hungary🇭🇺 when Lewis starts 5th and would not end turn 1 that wsy because Vitaly Petrov got by him but on the next lap he would get back past into turn 2 and would cruise to the back of Felipe Massa's rear wing. He was minding his time waiting for an opening to get past the Ferrari and when a saftey car came out for debris from Vitantonio Liuzzi gave McLaren the opportunity to jump him in the pitstops and that's exactly what they did. His McLaren car however did not feel the need to continue on. Lap 24 out of turn 2 a suprised Lewis says on the radio "Something is wrong with my car! Something is wrong with my car!" (expletive) driveshaft's gone. Driveshaft's gone." And his lead in the title is gone now 4 points behind Mark Webber. Belgium🇧🇪 comes around after the summer and this begins the final push to finish in the season with 7 races to go. In qualifying he would make it to Q3 like usual and post the 4th fastest time. But when rain came around it appeared that's where the former champion would start but with a brilliant final 2 sectors to get on the front row. He would officially get to the front after the start by taking advantage of a slow starting Mark Webber. He'd pull a lead on his teammate Jenson Button but after Rubens Barrichello wrecked it get evaporated. But it never phased Hamilton when Button along the way got slight front wing damage so Lewis just pulled away from the field. But it wouldn't be so straight forward for him because rain is expected to make an appearance before the checkered flag. With 9 laps to go the rain came and it was treacherous as the lap before it was drizzling and you could see in the final chicane he was struggling for grip. He would alert his team that it is raining harder and needs to pit but he gets told that they want to make sure they didn't jump the gun. And oh boy it nearly cost them big time. He nearly pulled a China 2007 in Belgium but luckily he nursed his McLaren back for intermediates. And after that he was just trying to put laps together and finish this off is all Hamilton and McLaren want. But after a wreck from championship contender Fernando Alonso there will be another restart. But there was nothing to worry about for the 2008 champion who gets his 3rd win of the season at Belgium. Hamilton may not have gotten pole but he led every lap, set the fastest lap and reclaims the lead in the championship by 3 points ahead of Mark Webber. And you'd think it was all going well for McLaren. But it wasn't so hot when Sebastian Vettel lost his car under braking and accidentally took out Jenson Button which really angered the team. So badly the boss Martin Whitmarsh called Sebastian the "crash kid." but Hamilton would say that he is very talented with all the pole positions he claimed this year and said sometimes it's tough to turn poles into wins which is what everyone has to go through in getting results. Lewis also says that Vettel is only 2 years younger than him and the Brit has a championship under his belt when he was 23 and he is now 25. But still Sebastian has a lot to learn which is what they all do. Lewis learned how valuable his F-duct was when for the first time this year he choses not to run with it. And he admitted that it was a bad idea when he qualified 5th for the Italian🇮🇹 grand prix. But Lewis would be ready to go at the start, he got to 4th after the first 2 turns and going to the second chicane he was all over the Ferraris and he goes for it on the inside of Felipe Massa and makes contact and he has to settle for 4th but his car wasn't going to settle for it when his right front suspension gave way putting Hamilton in the gravel and out of the race! It was a setback to his championship aspirations. But however he was only 5 points behind Mark Webber going to the first of 5 races left in the season at Singapore🇸🇬. Knowing that the Red Bulls are going to be tough to beat at this track he will be pushing as hard as he can. He put his McLaren in 3rd place when qualifying is over and would defend brilliantly against Jenson Button by braking late into turn 1. He would quietly run in 3rd but is asked to pick up the pace because of Webber has picked up the pace after pitting on the saftey car despite being behind Rubens Barrichello. The lap times on Hamilton is just slow he is now 2 seconds of the leader lap time wise. Lap 24 and Lewis would even be asked to find 3 tenths to half a second of extra pace but his tires just don't have the grip so 5 laps later he pits and comes out behind Mark Webber. But when a saftey car came out for Kamui Kobayashi and Christian Klien🇦🇹 in turn 18 a chance to strike on fresher tires awaites Lewis Hamilton. Green flag waves at lap 36 and the two Virgins are in the way of Webber and Hamilton and out of turn 6 and Webber is stuck behind a Virgin and here comes Lewis Hamilton side by side with Mark Webber! Hamilton in car number 2 trying to get past the number 1 guy in the championship into turn 7 and he completes the move but contact is made and Hamilton loses the place, Hamilton is losing speed, and Hamilton loses his rear suspension and is now out of this race! His 3rd DNF in the last 4 races dropes him to 3rd in the standings now 20 points behind Mark Webber! I don't know about you but it seems a little ironic that after Martin Whitmarsh took a jab at Sebastian Vettel by calling him the "crash kid" and Hamilton wrecked out of the last 2 races and Lewis is a world champion so.............. onwards to Japan🇯🇵. When asked how his approach has changed before a race he said it's difficult to just look at one part and point out that the one thing wrong. But he is still going to be aggressive and still do everything he can to overtake and win. Well he would have a gearbox penalty for wrecking his car. So he would start 8th after qualifying 3rd. He would make light work of Nico Rosberg and Rubens Barrichello at the start and when the saftey car came out for a multi car wreck at the start another opportunity to gain positions arrived for Lewis Hamilton. But gaining one from Robert Kubica's car losing a wheel isn't what was expected but he Lewis is now 5th. And he would be slightly held up behind Jenson Button who is on a different strategy. Lap 23 Hamilton would pit for the prime tires and all of a sudden he is flying. He cranking up the lap times and he is being to close in on Fernando Alonso. After what has been described as one of if not the worse race weekend of Hamilton's career he is fancying a podium here in a much needed boost to get his championship bid back on track. But his NEW gearbox would go off track because Lewis radioed in with 14 laps to go that he lost 3rd gear. And now his team tells him to use only 4th gear and higher and that slowed him down massively. With 9 laps to go Button just blew past him like he wasn't there. Lewis was just relieved to finish, even though it was a 5th place finish. But this would not be a good finish compared to 3 of his championship challengers ahead of him because he is now 28 points behind. Lewis really is going to need a rebound now because the time on his championship hopes are running out. But it could be on an even playing field going to the inaugural Korean🇰🇷 grand prix. And it can be swinging towards a chance for Hamilton to put the fire back in his championship challenge, RAIN. Even though it would be a little too much to cope with because after 3 laps behind the saftey car the race would be red flagged for an hour and 40 minutes. Lap 10 he is ready to go and he says it's imporving all the time so you can tell he is ready to race. 6 laps later and he would say that the track has dried up so much that it is almost ready for intermediates. And on the radio he'd say "Start the race. Are other people complaining? What's the reason why we're not starting?" His engineer would reply "Lewis, we think other drivers don't have the same enthusiasm that you do for starting the race at the moment." To that Hamilton replied "It's a wet race, what do you expect?" He would get his wish the next lap because the green flag is out in Korea! The irony hit when into turn 3 after the restart Lewis Hamilton loses a spot to Nico Rosberg. And 2 laps later the championship leader Mark Webber is out after hitting the curb out of turn 12 taping the wall and into the path of Nico Rosberg handing him 3rd on a silver plater! For the next few laps towards the middle of the race some of the midfielders would try the intermediate tires but Kamui Kobayashi got very loose on them in sector 1 so not intermediate yet like Lewis originally thought. But lap 32 a chance to take the inters rose when Sebastian Buemi wrecked his Toro Rosso against Timo Glock's🇩🇪 Marrusia. He leaped up to 2nd after Fernando Alonso had a rough pitstop. The chamce of 25 points for the win is there for the taking. Former teammate and foe at McLaren Fernando Alonso would take 2nd after Lewis made a slight mistake into 1. Now he lies in 3rd just behind Alonso's Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull. The season is at it's sunset Lewis would currently still be in 4th place and over a race behind in the title fight. But the fight would also be with the remaining sunlight. It is beginning to get dark out but Lewis says it's fine. Is that because he can taste more points? Or is it that it really is fine? Well with 10 laps to go it's nighttime for Sebastian Vettel when his Renault engine gave up the ghost. This would end up giving Lewis Hamilton a 2nd place finish and crucially back to 3rd in the championship chase 21 points behind Fernando Alonso. Heading to Brazil🇧🇷 another performance like that or even a win can REALLY put him back in the championship fight. He would fight Mark Webber at the start but would ultimately stay behind the Red Bull. But when the 2nd lap began his championship foe pressuring him all the wat through the short first sector and defends brilliantly but goes wide into turn 4 losing the place to Alonso's Ferrari. And at the 9th lap of the race he'd say he is losing grip. That explains how le lost the place to Fernando and he is losing time being held up behind Nico Hulkenburg🇩🇪. Lap 15 and Lewis appeared to be trying to pit but fakes out the Williams car who has held him up for the first 15 laps. It would work like how he would have to work to avoid losing time by being behind Kamui Kobayashi so he passed him into turn 1. He says that he used too much of his tires though at lap 50 but with a saftey car for Vitantonio Liuzzi wrecking the next lap he pits for fresh prime tires. But the extra grip didn't help him gain any positions and Lewis Hamilton is losing grip on the championship now being 24 points behind Fernando Alonso. To become champion he would need Fernando to not score any points, Webber finish 6th or lower, Vettel get 3rd or lower and WIN the season finale race at Abu Dhabi🇦🇪! When asked about how his approach to this he said "For me, I have nothing to lose. The guys in front of me have everything to lose so for me I'm gonna be flat out as always. They've got generally faster cars than me but that doesn't mean that hwe can't fight for a win." He must have a fast car if he can qualify 2nd for the race. All weekend he said that he was going to be aggressive, that he has the freedom To push as hard as he can and potentially force his rivals into spots they don't want to be in. Hamilton wants to be first after the first corner and he tried to get his nose in there but Vettel slammed the door. The McLaren is still perfectly clean and Lewis is free to push and at the restart he qas definitely eager to get the lead from Sebastian Vettel and through the early stages of the race the two of them were both trading fastest lap times and trying to stretch the tires use so they didn't end up in traffic. Lap 24 was all Hamilton could stretch them to but he comes out behind Kamui Kobayashi and Robert Kubica. Traffic he wanted to avoid but Sebastian Vettel would have to deal with it to right? Nope his pace through the pitstops would get him in front of Kobayashi and Kubica which shocked Hamilton. So Lewis would get his foot down and pass the Sauber in turn 10. Now he has to pass Kubica which would not be as easy as he hoped. Kubica was on a long first stint so he would be pushing as hard as he could and the Polish driver isn't someone you can just scare off the road. And Hamilton knows it at lap 30 he is breathing down Kubica's neck with potentially a little bit of frustration knowing that Fernando Alonso Mark Webber are stuck behind the other Renault Vitaly Petrov and Vettel getting away from him that an extreme longshot chance for a title could be a reality, plus a dang win who doesn't want to win? The chance to win would slip out of Hamilton's fingers being behind Petrov for so long and despite his best efforts he just could not pass him. Lewis even locked up his tires and went off twice trying to pass him but he was unable to except when Robert Kubica made his pitstop giving him a 2nd place in the race and a 4th place finish in the championship race 16 points behind what has become his biggest rival in winning championships in this current day Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton and McLaren would never get close to the championship for the next 2 years and then Lewis joined Mercedes Benz and has formed into a legend of Formula 1 while McLaren have failed to win a race since 2012 and not be on a podium since 2014 finishing 5th or lower in the constructors since 2013. It makes many think "What if Hamilton never wrecked at Spain, Italy, or Singapore? What if Hamilton's car was reliable at Hungary? And knowing today that Hamilton is a 6 time world champion this makes many ask what might have been in 2010 for Lewis Hamilton?