2010 F1 Season Review Part 6- Where There's a Will(iams), There's a Way | Thebigtip

The 2010 Formula One season was one of the most exciting to date, with a heady mixture of new teams, new regs and a four-way title battle to keep even the least enthusiastic petrol-head glued to their telly screen. In my extensive season review, I'll be taking you through each of the 12 teams' performances, who was hot and who most certainly was not and I'll be giving my raw and unsolicited opinion on whether each team deserved their final finishing place. Sixth in line, Big Frank's blue-and-white Williams outfit...

Drivers: Rubens Barrichello / Nico Hulkenberg

Team principal: Frank Williams /Patrick Head

Car spec: FW32

Engine: Cosworth

It's always sad to see the downfall of a team who, back in the day, everybody was afraid of. Call it Karma, call it Sod's law, call it what you will. All that's apparent is that it shouldn't be happening to Williams.

For a team who dominated the 1980s right through to the mid-nineties, and continued to challenge for championships right up to 2003, finishing in the lower half of the constructors' for the last three seasons has become a bitter pill to swallow. There hasn't been a race win since Juan Pablo Montoya's stellar effort in the 2004 season finale at Interlagos; and they've been longing for a world championship since Jacques Villeneuve powered the FW19 to the top in 1997. Life just isn't fair sometimes.

Rubens Barrichello came the closest he's ever been to becoming world champion in 2009, where he partnered eventual champion Jenson Button at the astounding Brawn GP outfit. So a switch to Williams for 2010 might not have been the ideal plan if grabbing the ultimate prize was still on the cards. At 37 (now 38), time was starting to turn against Barrichello, a veteran of almost 300 grands prix starts. Most drivers start to think about retirement at this age, and there was little argument when anyone suggested that his heyday was well behind him. Ever the bridesmaid and never the bride, one couldn't help but feel that the amiable Brazilian was merely there to make up grid numbers.

His sparring partner for his 17th F1 season was rookie Nico Hulkenberg, fresh out of GP2 as series champion and raring to go on the big field. Williams have a penchant for signing fresh GP2 blood, having done the same with Nico Rosberg following his championship year in the underclass, and Kazuki Nakajima in 2007. The two aforementioned drivers' careers didn't really explode into life with Williams, so one can only hope that young German Hulkenberg was optimistic as he entered into his first F1 season.

It wasn't a great start for the Cosworth-powered squad, with Barrichello scraping a point for 10th and rookie Hulkenberg crawling home in 14th at Sakhir. A handful of points ensued at five of the next nine rounds, which firmly cemented Williams' status as 'best of the rest' behind the championship challengers. Fourth and fifth followed for the experienced Barrichello at Valencia and Silverstone, the older driver more capable of squeezing the optimum out of the uncompetitive package he'd been given. Things got hairy at the Hungaroring when old friend Michael Schumacher almost rammed him against the pit wall, but the Brazilian kept his head to keep his blue and white car on the straight and narrow. Some people never change, especially returning multiple champions...

Hulkenberg was lacklustre in comparison, lacking the raw pace needed to keep his seat safe for coming seasons.Where he had once dominated fields such as A1GP, Formula 3 Euro Series and GP2, Formula One wasn't proving so easy a beast to tame. His shining moment came at the Brazilian Grand Prix, where a stunning pole position ended a run of five barren years for the Grove-based squad. All fingers were crossed for him in the race, praying that finally a Williams driver would return to the top step of the podium. But, Williams being the shadow of its former self, the race lead was lost within moments and the best Hulkenberg could produce was 8th. He's been replaced for 2011 by Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado, yet another GP2 star but one with sufficient financial backing to line Frank Williams' pockets. Barrichello stays with the British giants for a second season, the revised line-up being the first in 30 years to not include a European driver.
Barrichello finished: 10th

Hulkenberg finished: 14th

Bev's verdict: Barrichello was a useful character for Williams to have in 2010, suggesting amendments where they were due all season long. Hulkenberg disappointingly failed to shine, save his stellar pole in Brazil, which was a crying shame for the youngster who came into F1 with so much to offer. High time Williams shook off this uncharacteristic sluggishness and built themselves a new championship challenger. 2011 may not be that pivotal year, but a revival has to come soon.