It was Nico Hulkenberg however, who provided the biggest shock during qualifying, by claiming a surprising but well-deserved pole position for the Williams-Cosworth team. The day began with torrential rain, but dried up quickly during Q3 which made the teams scramble for dry-weather tyres in order to set the optimum time.

However, the tricky and drying track conditions caught more than a few teams out, and it was Hulkenberg who managed to take advantage and master the conditions superbly to snatch pole position. It was the first time that pole was not occupied by a Red Bull, Ferrari or McLaren. Sebastian Vettel could only settle for second on the grid, ahead of teammate Mark Webber, with Lewis Hamilton fourth.

Brave as it might be, the Williams' lack of pace was soon exposed during the race, as Hulkenberg was passed at the first corner by Vettel, followed by Webber. But Hulkenberg managed to hold off Alonso in third for a good few laps, thereby allowing the Red Bulls to pull a sizeable gap over the Ferrari.

Eventually though, Alonso managed to find his way past on lap 7, relegating the young German into fourth. The race soon descended into a dull procession, with most drivers consolidating their spots. Things changed slightly though, when Jenson Button, running in 10^th, opted for an early pit stop to switch to the softer tyres.

This sparked a mini frenzy among the others, who quickly called their drivers in for tyre changes in order to maintain their advantage. After the pit stop reshuffle, including a botched one for Felipe Massa which saw the Brazilian pit twice, the top 3 remained as it is, while Button's gamble saw him rise up to sixth.

There was little way of action on track until lap 51, when Force India's Vitantonio Liuzzi crashed his car and brought out the Safety Car. This bunched up the pack, and threatened to boil over into a grandstand finish, with Alonso keen to catch the Red Bulls.

However, a combination of backmarker traffic and the Red Bull's pace meant that the Spaniard had to settle for third, behind Vettel, who drove a controlled race for his fourth victory of the season, and Webber, who second place gave the Red Bull team yet another superb 1-2 finish.

Lewis Hamilton finished in fourth to keep him just about in the Championship running, but his teammate and defending champion Jenson Button is now officially out of it after finishing fifth. The Mercedes GP duo of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher got sixth and seventh respectively, while pole sitter Hulkenberg had to settle for eighth. Renault's Robert Kubica and Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi were the final points scorers in ninth and tenth.

The 1-2 also meant that the Red Bull Racing team were officially crowned the 2010 Formula One Constructors' Champions, with 469 points over their second-placed rivals McLaren-Mercedes' 421 points. Ferrari is in third on 389 points, Mercedes GP fourth on 202, and Renault fifth with 145 points.

The Drivers' Championship meanwhile, will go down to the wire at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso, on 246 points, holds an eight point lead going into the final race, and a second place or better result will see him win the title. Mark Webber is second in the championship with 238 points, and needs a victory and Alonso to finish third or below to clinch the title. Sebastian Vettel is a further 7 points behind Webber, and anything higher than fifth place from Alonso will eliminate the German from the running. Lewis Hamilton has a very narrow shot at the title, but needs to win in Abu Dhabi and all the other three contenders to not score points if he is to be crowned champion by the slimmest of margins.