The biggest surprise of the year was Button racing his way to the driver’s championship. Few had expected him to create more than hardly a ripple, not having bagged a pole position for three years before the start of the season. It was also a year to cherish for Brawn GP, who became the first team to win the constructors’ title in their debut season after Button went on a roll, winning six of the first seven races in 2009.

Red Bull racer Sebastien Vettel also hogged the limelight, finishing the year as the youngest runner-up in the constructors’ table.Last year’s champion, Lewis Hamilton, however was a huge disappointment, finishing fifth with 49 points. The Briton fell from grace after a controversy in Melbourne, where he was accused of deliberately misleading the stewards and race director.

Formula One continued to be dogged by bad publicity when the ghosts of the crash in the Singapore GP from last year revisited. The accident was allegedly planned so that the introduction of a safety car would help Renault team mate Fernando Alonso win the race, which the Spaniard did. Renault F1 driver Nelson Piquet Jnr, at the thick of the incident was offered immunity by the FIA if he agreed to provide full disclosures.

The biggest scare of the year came when Felipe Maasa had a close brush with death after the spring from another driver’s suspension hit him on the face in Hungary. Driving at 170 kmph at the time of impact, Maasa had a miraculous escape and the Brazilian remained in life-threatening but stable condition for sometime. Meanwhile, 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen was all set to call it a day at the end of the year, bringing to an end a successful career behind the wheel.

It has been a year full of thrills in the watched sport in the world. Going through a financial crunch, F-1 has continued to impress with high drama on and off the circuits. The next season is all set to herald with a new points system and four new teams in the grid in the next season.