Best of the Noughties

As the decade comes to a close Andrew Davies asks who was the best driver, what was the best car, who was the best team boss, and what was the saddest loss in the first decade of the 21st Century?

Driver - Michael Schumacher

Not the toughest decision in the world, this. Schumacher was at his consumate best in the Noughties. The only person who came close is Fernando Alonso and it's appropriate that he should be the new talismanic figure to take Ferrari forward into the new era of resource restriction. Who would win in a head-to-head? Schumacher of course. You can't imagine Michael letting a rookie beat him in 2007.

Car - The Ferrari F2002 of 2002

The Ferrari F2002 of 2002 was the car of the decade and in the hands of Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher totally eclipsed the opposition. It mustered 221 points against the nearest challenger Williams' 92 points. A decade earlier Williams had produced the all-conquering FW14B for Nigel Mansell and the season became as boring as a post-race interview with Our Noige/ Il Leone. But still the greatest moustache-wearing F1 driver of all time.

Team Boss - Christian Horner

This is not an entirely results-based review. To borrow the parlance of every TV talent show; it's about the journey. Horner has emerged from being the boss of a F3000 team (that he formed and drove for at the age of 24) to a GP2 team, to the boss of Red Bull in 2006. He has steered the shell of the old Stewart/Jaguar team to becoming regular winners and potential World Championship winners. Adrian Newey's preference to work for Red Bull over McLaren can be partly put down to Horner's relaxed leadership style. No tight-lipped pitlane utterances from Horner who is refreshingly upbeat even when he loses.

Scandal - Singapore Crashgate

It happened in 2008, but the full consequences have yet to be played out. We're still waiting to hear the verdict on Flavio Briatore's appeal and there might be a couple of chapters to write after that. Though McLaren spygate was big in terms of the cash fine, we've had spying scandals throughout F1 history. Nobody has ever tried so blatantly - and you have to say, so expertly - at manipulating a race result.

Survivor - Frank Williams

In one of F1's most tumultuous decades, Frank Williams has kept his independent F1 team together. You have to wonder if BMW might still be in the sport if they had stuck with Williams all the way, but hey, they knew best. Last season, Williams almost beat both Renault and BMW on what would have been half the budget. We have lost Giancarlo Minardi, Paul Stoddart, Eddie Jordan and we almost lost Peter Sauber, so to lose Frank and Patrick would not be good. He has stuck rigidly to the rulebook and may not have made too many friends in Maranello or Place de la Concorde over the last ten years, but he's still there.

Race - 2008 Brazil GP

The season-ending Brazilian GP of 2008 will probably go down as the nerve-jangling F1 race of all time, let alone the last decade. We had bucket loads of drama that played out in an almost Hollywood-scripted finale where Lewis Hamilton looked like winning, then losing his World Championship and then gaining it back with two corners to go. In fact because America knows so little about F1 they could still run it and few would know the ending of the cliffhanger that was Massa vs Hamilton. Denzel Washington would play Lewis Hamilton, Antonio Banderas could play Massa and the part of Ron Dennis would be played by Graham Norton.

Crash - Robert Kubica at the Canadian GP in June 2007

Jarno Trulli was busy pushing Kubica out wide as they approached the best part on the circuit to overtake, the casino hairpin. The only problem was that Kubica was already out there and had no place left to go except the grass verge - then FLIP! There is a fantastic image of the car airborn with only one wheel visible looking like a BMW-Sauber flying saucer hovering over the track - albeit a flying saucer that's been very badly built and is shedding a lot of parts. Kubica was lucky to walk away from the accident uninjured, it was a spectacular crash. The following year he won the race.

Saddest loss - Imola

Not a person, this time, but a circuit. Imola was never suited to overtaking in the modern era and sadly there was no money or political will to update it. As a child growing up and watching open-mouthed at the Villeneuve vs Pironi battle, the rolling Italian landscape seemed the perfect home for F1 racing. Now we have to put up with Tilke-designed clones run through ports, deserts, barren hillsides and reclaimed marshland.

Best New Track - Istanbul

Given that F1 only had one circuit designer to call on the choice isn't huge. Hermann Tilke did his best work in Turkey, unsurprisingly where there is a lot of rise and fall to the track. The first turn is tricky (supposedly Bernie inspired, though you'd think he'd want a turn in the shape of a $), the final chicane complex has seen some great overtaking, but it is the quadruple apex Turn 8 that has challenged all the F1 drivers who've tackled it.

Best Decision - Qualifying changes

To get rid of single lap qualifying and introduce the new three-session format. The hurly burly of Qualy 1 is only going to get even more hurly and even more burly in 2010 with 26 cars on track and eight being eliminated.

Worst Decision - Honda's exit

Honda quit F1 when they were on the brink of greatness. They were also on the brink of punting their great rivals Toyota into the long grass. Hindsight's a wonderful thing. There was no tapping progress on the shoulder and saying "more forward please".

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