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was crowned the youngest world champion in history after a memorable final twist at the , but was he the best driver of the year?

It's a subjective question, and so difficult after such a momentous season that I have been wrestling with it for some weeks.

Does Vettel's pace in the dominant mean he was Formula 1's top driver? How does that rank alongside the performances of and in inferior cars?

What about 's ability to mix it with the title contenders in the ? Or 's attacking verve in the ?

Vettel is centre-stage among the class of 2010 - but is he number one in our list? Photo: AFP

Here is my list of the top 10 drivers of 2010:

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was choking back tears as he tried to respond to his team's congratulations after he to clinch an unlikely first world drivers' title. They were tears of disbelief as much as joy.

The German and his car have been the fastest combination on the Formula 1 grid all year but a mixture of driver errors, mechanical failures and pure bad luck had meant that Vettel - who replaces as the youngest world champion in history - had never led the title chase heading into the final race of the season.

Starting from pole position but 15 points adrift of Ferrari's , who was directly behind him on the grid in third place, the title looked a long way away for the 23-year-old.

But Vettel did everything he needed to do by driving a race of cool maturity as things began to unravel for Alonso and almost from the start.

A lost place to off the line was a minor inconvenience for the Spaniard, but the title was lost with a catastrophic strategic call to mirror the decision of another championship protagonist, Vettel's team-mate , to stop early for fresh tyres.

It put Alonso back in the pack of midfield runners, breaking the cardinal rule of all F1 strategy moves - keep track position and if you don't make sure you have clear air in which to run at your maximum pace. Stuck behind 's , Alonso had neither, and the Ferrari driver was at the mercy of Vettel's result.

Vettel did what he has proved more than capable of all year - made no mistakes when running in the lead, reeling off the laps to the chequered flag.

It was an incredible final twist to end an astonishing season, one that will go down as one of the greatest in F1 history.

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appear to be having a bit of fun with the watching world ahead of the deciding race of the 2010 Formula 1 world championship.

With their drivers and both trying to chase down the championship leader, 's , the big question heading into the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend is whether Vettel will help Webber win the championship if the German cannot do it himself.

This is quite a likely scenario, given the positions of the three drivers in the championship standings.

Alonso leads Webber by eight points and Vettel by 15. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton is still mathematically in contention 24 points behind the Spaniard but is realistically out of the running, with only 25 points available on Sunday.

There are any number of potential permutations and if you want to explore them all fully, Spain's Marca newspaper has produced .

On pure performance, Vettel, Webber and Alonso are likely to occupy the top three positions in Abu Dhabi, just as they did in Brazil last Sunday. If that happens, the permutations are relatively simple.

If Webber wins the race, Alonso must be second to win the championship; if Vettel does, the Ferrari man need only finish fourth.

But what if Vettel is leading going into the last lap and Webber is behind him and Alonso third or fourth? Would Vettel hand the lead to the Australian?

Given the , it would not be an easy thing for Vettel to do. But both he and team principal Christian Horner hinted after the Brazilian Grand Prix that he would.

Horner added:

Since then, though, Red Bull team owner Dietrich Mateschitz, the man who founded the drinks company and has since made billions from it, has thrown in a curve ball.

The Austrian told Gerhard Kuntschick, a reporter from the Salzburger Nachtrichten to whom he is close, that .

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The 1993 Portuguese Grand Prix is our chosen race for the final edition of our classic Formula 1 series this year.

That means we will broadcast the full 'Grand Prix' highlights programme shown on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two at the time, as well as the shorter highlights edit that we have cut for all our choices.

That 'Grand Prix' programme is embedded below, with the shorter highlights clips linked underneath. There are also short and long versions of last year's inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The classic races will be available on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ red button in the UK on satellite and cable from 2200 GMT on Wednesday 10 November until 1300 GMT on Friday 12 November. On Freeview, they will be available between first and second practice on Friday (approximately 1040-1240 GMT).

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Welcome to the final classic grand prix selection of the 2010 Formula 1 season.

We have an eclectic but hopefully fascinating mix of races with which to whet your appetites for the potentially explosive showdown between , , and in this weekend.

In their way, our choices collectively sum up everything that is on the table at the on Sunday - there is a title decider, a last race of a classic season, a twist in a battle between two of the greatest drivers in the history of the sport and a showdown between two drivers in one of history's defining cars.

Your job is the same as ever - tell us which is your favourite and we will use the responses on this blog to help us choose from which race to show you the full 'Grand Prix' highlights programme broadcast on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ at the time, as well as the shorter highlights edits we cut for all the races.

We will also make available short and long highlights of last year's inaugural race at Abu Dhabi.

The classic races will be available on this website on Wednesday.

I'll run through the choices chronologically.

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Sao Paulo

Once the euphoria of victory, in both and wears off, Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel has six days to prepare for the most agonising decision of his 23 years.

On pure performance, the German must be considered the favourite to win the final race of a brilliant, marathon Formula 1 season in Abu Dhabi next Sunday, but he knows that is not enough on its own for him to win the world title and become the youngest champion in history.

Vettel also needs the results of the other title contenders to go his way. The championship leader, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, remains in a very strong position despite finishing third behind Vettel and team-mate Mark Webber here at Interlagos.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, a distant fourth, but at 24 points adrift of the Spaniard with only 25 available, his chances are almost over, just as his team-mate Jenson Button's were before arriving in Brazil.

Despite an excellent drive from 11th on the grid to fifth, Button is now too far back to retain his crown.

The maths are relatively simple - if Vettel wins in Abu Dhabi, Alonso needs only to finish fourth to win the title, a relatively simple task on paper in the second fastest car; but if Webber wins, Alonso needs to be second. And that is where it starts to get interesting - and where the heartache potentially starts for Vettel.

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In Sao Paulo

The 2010 world champion will be crowned either in Brazil on Sunday or in seven days later as one of the most thrilling Formula 1 seasons in history reaches an intense climax.

The F1 teams gather in this weekend with five drivers still in with a chance of clinching the title at the end of a contest that, before it , was billed as potentially one of the greatest there had ever been. It has fully lived up to those expectations.

The battles between , , , and have made this an all-time classic season, arguably the closest between the highest number of world-class drivers in the history of the sport.

It is astonishing in many ways that so many drivers have remained in contention until now. But, inevitably, with only two races left, it is increasingly unlikely that this will remain the case by Sunday evening.

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The 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix is the selected race in the latest edition of our classic Formula 1 series.

It was clear from your responses on last week's blog that you approved of all our four choices, which also included the 1980, 2003 and 2007 races, but ultimately the draw of seeing one of the late 's greatest wins proved decisive.

The 1991 race was chosen by more than double the number of people who went for the next most popular option, 's maiden victory in the turbo on the original layout of Sao Paulo's Interlagos track in 1980.

That was the last race before the Brazilian Grand Prix switched to Rio de Janeiro for 10 years and Senna's landmark victory in 1991 came in only the second race after it returned to the city where he was born and where he is now buried, in cemetery, not far from Interlagos.

It was his first victory in his home race and as such it cemented a relationship between Senna and his nation that went far deeper than is normal for a leading sportsman.

A combination of Senna's incredible skills, force of personality and deep love for Brazil touched a nerve at home to the extent that he was revered, and afforded almost god-like status.

This victory played a large part in his legend.

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