The Autocourse annual is now in its 60th year, and as ever offers the ultimate review of the past F1 season. As 2010 was generally and correctly considered a classic, the latest edition is well worth considering for the library.
Unconvinced? Here's a taster: a 20-page gallery featuring some of our favourite pictures from the book's 360 glossy pages.
At £49.95 Autocourse isn't exactly cheap, but if you need to justify the expense to someone (or even yourself), then think of it as an investment: back copies from the 70s regularly trade hands on eBay for £250 and more. So if not for yourself, just think of the grandchildren...
(You can also save a few quid by ordering direct from the publishers at http://www.autocourse.com/ for £42.46 with free P&P.)
Lewis opened the season with a solid third place behind the Ferraris in the Bahrain desert with Vettel fourth and Webber eighth. Not much of a indication of how the season would turn out at that point…
Photo: Peter J Foxwww.peterjfox.com
Broadside across the track, staring into the eyes of the 19 other drivers in the field bearing down on you - it can’t be a good feeling. Alonso pays the price for touching Button on the damp opening lap in Australia. Unexpected mistakes like this ultimately cost him the championship.
Photo: Studio Colombo/WRi2www.wri2.net
Vettel won his first of the year in Malaysia. We’ve liked him since his Toro Rosso days and he makes a worthy champion. He just needs to stop doing that stupid thing with his finger to say ‘number one’ after every pole or win...
Photo: Peter J Foxwww.peterjfox.com
Webber peers into a McLaren cockpit after qualifying in China. It’s not often a driver gets the chance to scrutinise a rival's car. He needn’t have bothered – his Red Bull was the class of the pack.
Photo: Jean-Francois Galeron/WRi2www.wri2.net
\He’s the only person to have beaten The Stig’s time around the Top Gear track – and here, the most experienced GP driver ever, Rubens Barrichello demonstrates his ability as he comes within inches of the Monaco barrier.
Photo: Paul-Henri Cahierwww.f1-photo.com
Webber celebrates winning round six at Monaco with a dip in the Red Bull pool. He would hold on to this championship lead for the bulk of the season.
Photo: Peter J Foxwww.peterjfox.com
Massa tears towards Tabac in qualifying at Monaco. Considering the relentless grief Silverstone gets from Bernie about its facilities, you have to wonder how Monaco still has a race. We’re glad that it does though…
Photo: Paul-Henri Cahierwww.f1-photo.com
They might have ultimately won both championships, but they made hard work of it. In Turkey Vettel went for the inside, Webber held his line, and off they both went. Meanwhile, Lewis snuck through for the win.
Photo: Studio Colombo/WRi2www.wri2.net
Great portrait shot of Webber in the garage at Montreal. Most expected Vettel to wipe the floor with him in 2010, but the Aussie showed he is fast, consistent and has big balls. Until his late-season wobble we were starting to believe that he might actually have the measure one of the most competitive fields ever.
Photo: Paul-Henri Cahierwww.f1-photo.com
Lewis might have only managed fourth in the Championship but he never stopped trying. Here he dials in a touch of opposite lock in Valencia. He finished second in the race despite a drive-through penalty.
Photo: Peter J Fox
www.peterjfox.com
Vettel uses all the road – and then a bit more – en route to third at Hockenheim.
Photo Jad Sherif/WRi2www.wri2.net
One of the talking points of the season came as Schumacher nearly put Barrichello into the pit wall in Hungary. After the race he responded with one of his classic ‘What, me?’ looks. But based on this picture, he's looking directly at Rubens... Fair play to the Brazilian for keeping his foot in.
Photo: Sutton Photographicwww.suttonimages.com
Vettel made a major error at Spa, taking out an innocent Button in the process while they were running second and third. We suspect he’s simply taking his hands off the wheel rather than apologising to Jenson in this shot.
Photo Studio Colombo/WRi2www.wri2.net
Alonso is arguably the most complete driver in F1, but another accident at Spa cost him dear come the end of the season. We’d have had a little more sympathy if it weren’t for this ridiculously groomed beard and eyebrows combo...
Photo: Peter J Foxwww.peterjfox.com
Nice profile shot of Lewis in front of a Vodafone logo. Still the most exciting driver in F1.
Photo: Peter J Foxwww.peterjfox.com
Ouch. Liuzzi’s Force India gets comprehensively taken out by Massa in Japan.
Photo: Peter Nygaard/Grand Prix Photowww.grandprixphoto.com
Schumacher and Rosberg go at it in Japan. Schuey finished sixth in this one while Nico retired, but over the course of the season Rosberg had his team-mate well and truly beaten. How these two compare next season is one of the big questions for 2011...
Photo Peter Nygaard/Grand Prix Photowww.grandprixphoto.com
Webber finally relinquished his lead in Korea when a mistake in the wet saw him collect Rosberg, with pair ending up in the mud. His luck wasn’t to improve in the final two rounds and his championship was lost...
Photo: Peter J Foxwww.peterjfox.com
Lewis and Jenson on the Abu Dhabi podium not really looking like they’d just lost a World Championship – but good sports nonetheless.
Photo: Peter J Foxhttp://www.peterjfox.com/
Jubilant scenes in the darkness on the Abu Dhabi podium. By the end of the year all of the top five had made major mistakes, perhaps none more so than Sebastian Vettel. But following a late-season spurt that saw him win three of the last four races, no one could claim that he didn’t deserve it.
A fantastic season.
Photo Paul-Henri Cahierwww.f1-photo.com
