The European season comes to a close in Italy this weekend, as the unique high-speed Monza track welcomes the teams for what is one of the most hotly-anticipated races of the year.
We assess the form of the entire 24-man field as they prepare for a classic grand prix.
1. Jenson Button (GB) - McLaren
Championship position: 4th, 147 points
It's now five months since the reigning champion took a win, he's had a run of low-key races and some poor luck, and the chances of a successful title defence are looking more remote. On the plus side, overall he's had a far better debut season at McLaren than the sceptical majority predicted, and even if he ultimately ends up supporting team-mate Hamilton's title bid, he'll be a pretty fearsome wingman.
Last five race results: R / 5th / 8th / 4th / 3rd
(most recent first)
2. Lewis Hamilton (GB) - McLaren
Championship position: 1st, 182 points
Just when it looked like Hamilton's championship campaign was going off-course - with McLaren wilting and the points lead lost - he pulled it round again with a brilliant win on a very tricky day at Spa, making up for how he was robbed of a deserved win there in 2008. McLaren has to be considered the favourite for Monza this weekend too. It's not over yet though, with Red Bull expected to be pretty invincible in the final races, Lewis has to really capitalise on this weekend.
Last five race results: 1st / R / 4th / 2nd / 2nd
3. Michael Schumacher (D) - Mercedes
Championship position: 10th, 44 points
By the standards of his miserable comeback season, Schumacher's progress from a penalised 21st on the Spa grid to finish seventh (and particularly his dynamic early progress) was good stuff. However judged alongside the rest of his career, you wouldn't have expected the 'old' Schumi to get muscled aside by a team-mate the way he was when Rosberg put on a late charge. Overall though, an encouraging weekend - and might Monza, a track with a special place in Schumacher's history from his Ferrari years and a circuit where nuances of driver/car compatibility can be less important, see another upturn?
Last five race results: 7th / 11th / 9th / 9th / 15th
4. Nico Rosberg (D) - Mercedes
Championship position: 8th, 102 points
Just when it looked like Schumacher might inflict a rare intra-team defeat on Rosberg at Spa, the younger German pulled off a ballsy late pass to ensure he was the top finisher in the silver team once again, although this time there was much less to choose between them than has often been the case. A top six championship position is within sight for Rosberg if the final races go well, and would be a good achievement given that Mercedes' underwhelming year.
Last five race results: 6th / R / 8th / 3rd / 10th
5. Sebastian Vettel (D) - Red Bull
Championship position: 3rd, 151 points
Vettel's worst qualifying result of the year (and it's a tribute to his amazing Saturday form in 2010 that this 'low point' was a fourth!) at Spa was followed by arguably the worst race performance of his Formula 1 career, as he harpooned Button out of the race, and possibly wiped both of them out of true title contention too. It's not too late for Vettel if he can actually turn his speed into solid results, though Red Bull will have its work cut out to shine at Monza, but on present form there's no sign of him delivering consistently.
Last five race results: 15th / 3rd / 3rd / 7th / 1st
6. Mark Webber (AUS) - Red Bull
Championship position: 3rd, 128 points
In the early part of the 2010 season, it looked like (luckless, frustrated) business as usual for Webber. But since then, he's got rather good at churning out devastating victories when the car is quick, and very solid top six results when someone else has a better package. Monza is probably going to be a case of the latter, but there are more Red Bull-friendly venues to follow - and that means right now he has to be title favourite.
Last five race results: 2nd / 1st / 6th / 1st / R
7. Felipe Massa (BRA) - Ferrari
Championship position: 8th, 67 points
Before Massa gets to Monza, he'll find out if the FIA considers him to have been unfairly robbed of victory at Hockenheim, or just slightly unfortunate to have missed out on a win due to his team's sensible pragmatism. Since that Hockenheim loss, he hasn't exactly blitzed the field, although he had a far less messy Spa than Alonso. The most likely outcome for Monza is another solid top five finish.
Last five race results: 4th / 4th / 2nd / 15th / 11th
8. Fernando Alonso (ESP) - Ferrari
Championship position: 5th, 141 points
From the Hockenheim win, through the 'best of the rest behind a rampant Red Bull' second at the Hungaroring, to the domination of Friday practice at Spa, it looked like Alonso's late-season charge towards the championship might just be on. Then an awful qualifying result in Belgium and an even worse race pretty much ended his hopes - and if the FIA takes a hard line in the team orders hearing, things could get even worse before Monza, where he desperately needs a win.
Last five race results: R / 2nd / 1st / 14th / 8th /
9. Rubens Barrichello (BRA) - Williams
Championship position: 11th, 30 points
The romantic script called for Barrichello's 300th race to deliver a sublime performance in the mixed conditions in which he has so often thrived, perhaps even an emotional podium. Instead he ploughed into Alonso on lap one and ripped a wheel off. Bit of an anti-climax. Barrichello's season has lost a little momentum since his early summer brilliance, but he's a three-time Monza winner, so this would be a good venue for a resurgence.
Last five race results: R / 10th / 12th / 5th / 4th
10. Nico Hulkenberg (D) - Williams
Championship position: 15th, 10 points
Hulkenberg's rookie season has calmed a little recently. He's still not producing too many fireworks, but he's making fewer mistakes (though race day at Spa was a bit miserable) and he's been pretty close to team-mate Barrichello most of the time. That could well be enough to keep him on board for 2011, though it wouldn't hurt to produce a few more 'potential superstar' performances to stop his debut year seeming a disappointment when judged alongside his amazing junior career.
Last five race results: 14th / 6th / 13th / 10th / R
11. Robert Kubica (POL) - Renault
Championship position: 7th, 104 points
How much of Renault's brilliant Spa form was down to the arrival of its F-duct and how much due to Kubica being awesome at F1's most demanding circuit is a moot point - either way, the package was quicker in Belgium than it had been in a while. And that bodes pretty well for Monza, even though cars with a little more grunt are likely to fare better.
Last five race results: 3rd / R / 7th / R / 5th
12. Vitaly Petrov (RUS) - Renault
Championship position: 13th, 19 points
When he's throwing his car at the barriers before even setting a time in Q1, as he did at Spa, Petrov doesn't look like a man worth retaining. Then when he then charges from the back to the points on race day, as he also did at Spa, then Renault's decision looks more complicated. And since the team urged him to start being a consistent top 10 finisher, he's reeled off three straight top 10 finishes...
Last five race results: 9th / 5th / 10th / 13th / 14th
14. Adrian Sutil (D) - Force India
Championship position: 9th, 45 points
No repeat of Force India's 2009 Spa podium, but it was right in the thick of the front group and Sutil's fifth place was earned thoroughly on merit. At Monza last year he was fighting for pole and victory, and though that looks unlikely, you wouldn't completely rule it out given his general brilliance so far this year.
Last five race results: 5th / R / 17th / 8th / 6th
15. Tonio Liuzzi (I) - Force India
Championship position: 14th, 13 points
This weekend will mark a year since Liuzzi returned to an F1 race seat - more than enough time to get back into the swing of things. And yet, apart from Montreal qualifying, nothing he has done since his return has been as impressive as his great run in his comeback race at Monza, where a podium was looking likely till his Force India failed. Can he reproduce that form back on home ground again this weekend? And if he can, will it be too late for his 2011 prospects anyway?
Last five race results: 10th / 13th / 16th / 11th / 14th
16. Sebastien Buemi (CH) - Toro Rosso
Championship position: 16th, 7 points
As Toro Rosso returns to the scene of its incredible Monza victory, there's pretty much zero chance of a repeat. It's not stranded at the back as it was this time a year ago (the presence of the new teams has made sure of that), but a low-Q2 qualifying result and an upper midfield race run is a fairly certain bet.
Last five race results: 12th / 12th / R / 12th / 9th
17. Jaime Alguersuari (ESP) - Toro Rosso
Championship position: 18th, 3 points
Points are rare and precious things for Toro Rosso these days, and Alguersuari looked like he was going to pick one up at Spa until his pass on Liuzzi was adjudged to have been illegal. He'll probably need mixed conditions to get near scoring again in the next few races, although Toro Rosso's form has tended to pick up at this end of the year - or at least it did in the days of chassis sharing with Red Bull.
Last five race results: 13th / R / 15th / R / 13th
18. Jarno Trulli (I) - Lotus
Championship position: 22nd, 0 points
Not much chance of any heroics from Trulli in the remaining races, with Lotus firmly focused on hitting the ground running in 2011 rather than trying to add more performance to its perfectly-adequate-in-the-circumstances 2010 chassis. So expect another close battle to be 'best in class' at his home track.
Last five race results: 19th / 15th / R / 16th / 21st
19. Heikki Kovalainen (FIN) - Lotus
Championship position: 19th, 0 points
Kovalainen's Belgian GP was a bit chaotic, yet he still came through and emerged as the best among the new teams, which sums up his quite impressive season. He is likely to end up as both the top new team driver in the points and the man whose reputation has been most enhanced in adversity.
Last five race results: 16th / 14th / R / 17th / R
20. Sakon Yamamoto (J) - Hispania
Championship position: 25th, 0 points
Yamamoto looks like he's going to be a fixture at Hispania for the rest of the year, and he's doing a reasonable enough job - giving Senna more to think about than their relative CVs suggested would be likely. The media's understandable fondness for Karun Chandhok means Yamamoto's presence in the Hispania race seat is less than wildly popular, but on track he's not embarassing himself.
Last five race results: 20th / 19th / R / 20th / -
21. Bruno Senna (BRA) - Hispania
Championship position: 23rd, 0 points
The 2010 season is nearly over and there is zero chance of Hispania improving or achieving anything, or of giving Senna a vehicle with which he can even vaguely impress. With the general uncertainty surrounding the team's next move, there's a danger his F1 career could fizzle out barely before it has begun.
Last five race results: R / 17th / 19th / - / 20th
22. Pedro de la Rosa (ESP) - Sauber
Championship position: 17th, 6 points
Both Sauber drivers blew it in qualifying in Belgium, both charged through the field impressively in the race, but while Kobayashi kept everything together and scored more points, de la Rosa went off the road again. And now Kobayashi has been re-signed for 2011 but there's been silence about de la Rosa's future - and that can't be a good thing. He has work to do to turn things around.
Last five race results: 11th / 7th / 14th / R / 12th
23. Kamui Kobayashi (J) - Sauber
Championship position: 12th, 21 points
Sauber has decided it can live with Kobayashi throwing his car at the scenery on a fairly regular basis because he's so good at making up for it with blistering charges through the field, explosive pace and bold overtaking moves - just what this team needs to get it in the spotlight. That's why he's being kept on for 2011, and there's every chance he'll keep impressing in the remaining races this year too.
Last five race results: 8th / 9th / 11th / 6th / 7th
24. Timo Glock (D) - Virgin
Championship position: 24th, 0 point
Virgin says Glock is staying put for 2011, which is quite a coup for the team, for its first year has generally been less than impressive (though its progress recently has been praiseworthy) but the spectacular German's determined manhandling of his car has proved he's a talent who deserves top-class machinery. The squad is still determined to end 2010 as the best of the new teams, and Glock is its best hope of achieving that.
Last five race results: 18th / 16th / 18th / 18th / 19th
25. Lucas di Grassi (BRA) – Virgin
Championship position: 21st, 0 points
It's difficult to know how to judge di Grassi's rookie season. The Virgin hasn't been quick enough to give him the same shots at occasional giant-killing that the Lotus drivers have been able to enjoy, and he's generally been slower than Glock - but given their relative experience levels, you'd expect that. A few 'class' pole and wins in the last few grands prix would be welcome.
Last five race results: 17th / 18th / R / R / 17th
ITV.com/F1's top tips for Monza
Winner: Hamilton
The McLaren is expected to be the car to beat and Hamilton is a touch quicker than Button, so he's the obvious bet for a second straight win.
Star performer: Sutil
Sensational last year but denied a podium by other cars' KERS. That won't be an issue in 2010...
Disappointment: Ferrari
A victory is desperately, desperately required, but McLaren could be the faster package and there's been a bit too much desperation in Alonso's driving at crucial moments this year.