Dec.2 (GMM) According to the bare statistics, Sebastian Vettel is the deserving world champion of 2010.

Whilst some have said the German made too many mistakes and inherited the title due to Ferrari's strategy blunder in Abu Dhabi, an analysis by Germany's Auto Motor und Sport shows he was the standout performer of the season.

Not only did he end the year with the most points, he tied with Fernando Alonso for the most race victories (5).

And Vettel was easily the standout qualifier of 2010, with 10 poles in the Red Bull compared with teammate Mark Webber's 5.

Team boss Christian Horner insisted: "If Sebastian had not had so much bad luck, he would have won nine races."

Moreover, 23-year-old Vettel's average grid position in 2010 was 1.95, compared with Webber's 2.79.

Alonso's average starting position in the Ferrari was just 5.79, behind McLaren's Lewis Hamilton.

A painstaking analysis of Vettel's practice times over the 19-event season shows a 0.051 second per lap advantage over Webber.

The young German was in the lead during races for more than 2000 kilometres, compared with less than 1500km for Australian Webber. Alonso ranked only fourth in this category, splitting the two McLarens.

As for fastest race laps, Vettel was just third with three triumphs, compared with Alonso and Lewis Hamilton's 5 apiece.

He was also just third in the reliability stakes, with Ferrari's F10 completing the most laps in 2010.

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