With the racing season in the books, it's time to review 2010 and take stock of the best performers of the year.

The look back starts with Formula One, which had its longest season in history where five drivers fought for the title, with four taking the battle to the final race of the year. Picking the best of the 2010 F1 class isn't a simple task, especially since a couple of drivers who weren't in the championship fight brought their "A" game to the track every weekend.

So, in order, is a suggested list of the top F1 performers in 2010:

Robert Kubica, Renault

One of the top talents in F1, Kubica lifted his Renault to heights it should never have reached, scoring three podiums in a car that had no business being in the top six. Along the way, he almost single handedly delivered fifth overall in the constructors' standings to his team and ended the year eighth in driver points, just eight behind Felipe Massa who finished sixth for Ferrari. The likable Pole was linked Ferrari until the Scuderia re-signed Massa and after Kubica squeezed similar results overall in 2010 from his relative jalopy as the Brazilian could from his top flight Ferrari, it's clear that the Italian team made the wrong choice.

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes

Rosberg didn't challenge for the championship but the young German flawlessly drove the wheels off his Mercedes all year long. In addition, Rosberg humbled teammate and seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher. Not only did he out-qualify Schumacher 16-3 on the season, he also scored almost double the points of his legendary teammate, 142-72. Schumacher has never had a teammate dominate him the way Rosberg did this year – not bad for a guy who many thought would be completely outmatched by the veteran racer.

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull

While the massively talented German became F1's youngest champion, he should have driven 2010's best car to the title much earlier than the November finale in Abu Dhabi. While Vettel certainly cannot be faulted for several mechanical retirements that robbed him of precious points, he almost blew it due to colossal brain failures in Turkey, Britain, and Belgium. He crashed into his teammate Mark Webber trying to pass in Turkey, taking himself out of the race and costing his Red Bull teammate a certain victory. In Britain, he started on pole but tangled with Webber and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton in the first corner, ended up with a flat tire and finished seventh. At Spa, he created a carbon copy of the Turkish flub, this time torpedoing an unsuspecting Jenson Button of McLaren.

Fernando Alonso, Ferrari

Yes, he made some uncharacteristic mistakes but Alonso came ever so close to taking the title in a car that didn't have the speed to keep up with the front-running Red Bulls. He won four times in the second half — albeit one win was due to the team asking teammate Massa to let him take the victory — and took an unlikely championship lead going into the final race. In the end, Ferrari's enormous strategy blunder in the Abu Dhabi finale robbed Alonso of a third world title.

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren

There's no doubt that Hamilton got the most from his car this season, but preventable back-to-back brain cramps in Italy and Singapore cost him the title. At Monza, he broke his suspension trying in an incredibly ambitious first lap overtaking attempt on Massa. In the next outing in Singapore, an ill-fated move on Red Bull's Mark Webber resulted in another broken suspension. Had Hamilton resisted the urge to pass and instead finished behind the guys he ran into, the 2008 F1 champion would have earned 24 more points and won a second world title.

Mark Webber, Red Bull

The Australian wasn't supposed to be a title contender in 2010 but against the odds, Webber almost pulled off a championship. A late season crash in the rain in Korea was a low point, but early in the year, his sublime and dominant drives in Spain and Monaco were things of beauty. His pièce de résistance came in the British Grand Prix after the team pulled the only remaining new spec front wing from Webber's car and gave it to Vettel, whose broke in practice. Webber put in a flawless performance and his words after the win were priceless: "Not bad for a No. 2 driver."

2010 Indy Lights runner-up James Hinchcliffe, of Toronto, will drive an IndyCar for the first time later this month after landing a two-day test with Newman-Haas Racing. The Newman-Haas outfit is one of the most successful in North American open wheel racing, with 105 wins and eight championships in Champ Car, formerly Championship Auto racing Teams (CART). It joined the IndyCar season in 2008 after Champ Car folded. It has two victories in IndyCar.

"I'm incredibly excited — it's my first chance actually testing an IndyCar," the 23-year-old from Toronto said after the Newman-Haas announced Wednesday that he'd test with the team Dec. 14-15 at Florida's Sebring International Raceway.

"This is obviously only a test and just the first step towards a full-time ride, but it's a big step. We've said all year that the IZOD IndyCar series is where we want to be for 2011 and we are working harder than ever to make that happen."

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