Motor racing highlights of the past 10 years

Driver of the decade

With his astonishing seven Formula One championships, Michael Schumacher could be the driver of the century as much as the decade. He could even increase his tally still further after coming out of retirement in December 2009 to drive for Mercedes.

The German does have his rivals for the accolade, however. France's Sébastien Loeb has won six world rally championships in a row while in America Jimmie Johnson has racked up an unprecedented four successive Nascar titles. And that's not counting the irrepressible showman Valentino Rossi in MotoGP.

Defining moment

On 13 September, 2007, then-International Automobile Federation (FIA) president Max Mosley assured reporters that justice had been done after McLaren was fined an unprecedented US$100 million for a spying controversy involving data leaked to them by a Ferrari employee. That fine, and the fact that McLaren could pay it without going out of business, was the high water mark of an era of massive and rampant spending by the major players in Formula One and heralded major changes in attitudes. Just over a year later, Honda kicked off a manufacturer exodus from the sport. When Renault was caught in a race-fixing scandal this season there was no question of such a fine from the FIA.

Race of the decade

The day that Formula One commercial rights-holder Bernie Ecclestone's dream came true with 23-year-old Lewis Hamilton, taking the 2008 title with an overtaking manoeuvre on the last corner of the last lap of the last race in Sao Paulo. The Briton, the sport's youngest and first so-called 'black' champion, had missed out on the crown by a single point the previous year, his rookie season, and was again seconds from failure at Interlagos before he swept past Toyota's Timo Glock for the crucial fifth place that dashed the hopes of Ferrari's Brazilian race winner Felipe Massa.