Traffic problems deny Alonso his third championship title

Throughout the 2010 Formula 1 season, Fernando Alonso has been the master statistician, always with the championship points in his head and with a firm grasp of exactly what he needed to do to seal his third drivers' title. But the Spaniard could never have predicted just how a spin by Michael Schumacher and a feisty defense from his former team, Renault, would see his hopes for victory come to nothing.

Ahead of Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the last of the season and the race that would decide the championship, Alonso was at the top of the table, needing to finish in second place to ensure victory but with myriad permutations of how he could come out on top even by finishing lower down the field. But on the first lap of the race, Michael Schumacher spun his Mercedes around, only to see the Force India of Vitantonio Liuzzi smash into him head on. That brought out the safety car, and prompted several teams - including Renault and Mercedes - to bring in their cars for the obligatory pit stop.

This meant that the strategies prepared for the race were all up in the air, and the end result was that Ferrari took their eye off the ball. The mistake that sealed the fate of Ferrari - and Alonso - came when they followed Red Bull's lead, and sent the Spaniard into the pit on lap 13 to mimic the strategy of Webber, who had pitted moments before.

While Alonso managed to emerge from his stop ahead of Webber, the pair were now stuck in heavy midfield traffic, with the Ferrari driver wedged behind Renault's Vitaly Petrov, who, crucially, had already made his one and only visit to the pitlane. As the race progressed, with Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel firmly in the lead, and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button dicing for second and third, respectively, the team urged Alonso to "use all of your talent" to get past the driver from his former team.

But there was nothing Alonso could do, although he was at least able to slowly regain some positions, eventually finishing in seventh, as some of those ahead of him finally took their pit stops.

In the end, Vettel took the checkered flag, followed by Hamilton in second and Button in third. That sealed the championship for the young Red Bull driver, aged just 23, and meant that for yet another year, Alonso had failed to regain the championship crown that he took in 2005 and 2006 in his first stint with Renault before a stormy season at McLaren and two more sterile years on the French team.

His frustrations were clear for all to see at the end of the race, as he shook his fist angrily across the tarmac at the Renault roadblock that had been Petrov. Although, as the Russian rightly pointed out at the end of the race, he had no reason to cut Alonso any slack given that they were fairly fighting for position and valuable championship points.

Speaking after the race, Alonso defended the team's pit calls. "After the race it is always very easy to see the best strategy," he told the press. "As I said, now you need to cover from someone and if we didn't stop, I think Webber probably would have overtaken us. If we stopped we cover from Webber but let Petrov and Rosberg in front so it was a very difficult call, I think."

Asked about his angry gesture toward Petrov, Alonso had this to say: "I tried to pass him once and he protected like it was the last lap, in the last race in the championship, fighting both for the championship, so he was very aggressive. But he drove very well, he made no mistakes."

The Spaniard's disappointment was visible, but he remained positive, pointing out the successes of this year, which include second place in the championship, five wins from 19 races, and the forging of a strong partnership with his new team. On the strength of this year, the expectations for a Fernando-Ferrari victory will be higher than ever come next season.