So we’ve established that it’s pretty tricky to determine who, across all championships, was the best driver – or rider – of the year. Luckily, it’s much easier to determine the best championship of the year: just ask me, because I’ve given it a moment’s thought.

The world and his solicitor has been singing the praises of the 2010 Formula 1 season, declaring it the best in many years. And they’re not wrong. But it’s not my Champion of Championships: I reckon it was the 125cc GP MotoGP support class that brought me most sheer enjoyment this year.

It’s a slightly uneasy conclusion to reach, because it wasn’t a season of closely-fought races and last lap dramatics – which have often been the hallmarks of 125s. For pure action this year, it was all about Moto2. But for a fascinating season-long title fight, 125s did the trick – and made the F1 battle look positively predictable.

Going into the season, the obvious bet for the championship was – to my mind at least – Nico Terol: he finished 3rd in 2009, and for 2010 – his sixth season on a 125 – joined the team who won the title in 2009 with Julian Simon. Things started well for Terol, winning in Qatar. He was rarely off the podium for the rest of the season, the only hiccups being a 4th place in Britain, a last lap accident in Catalunya, and missing the following race in Germany as a result.

But really, the season was made by one man: Marc Marquez. In his two previous years in 125s, he’d managed a couple of podiums. He equalled that in the first three races of 2010 (with a crash and arm dislocation between them for good measure), but that was nothing compared to what was to come. He took his first win in the next race, then went on to become the first man since a certain Valentino Rossi to win five 125cc GPs in a row. So from nowhere – literally – he put himself on a level with Rossi. Unbelievable.

But still nothing compared to what was to come. The next few races were a bit tougher: Marquez dislocated his shoulder at Brno; and had a bit of a crash at Indianapolis, and later earned a penalty for cutting the track; won in San Marino; but was taken out in Aragon. Then came the next burst of uncanny consistency: four wins in a row, this time.

The last of those, at Estoril, was perhaps his most astonishing race of the season. Marquez was running strongly when the original race was red-flagged, only to crash on the sighting lap for the wet restart. He came into the pits for repairs against the advice of his team, who wanted to tend to his bike on the grid. The result was that Marquez was too late to take his 2nd place grid slot, and had to start the nine lap sprint from the back of the pack. That wasn’t too much of a problem though: he was 3rd by the end of the first lap, and ultimately the victor in a race-long battle with Terol and Smith – who was, by this point, trying to help Terol win the championship. Incredible.

Marquez claimed the world title at the final race of the year in Valencia, in almost as remarkable fashion: but this time it was his willingness to not win that was remarkable. He let riders pass him to avoid any risk of a non-finish, and took enough points to secure the title.

In short, over the course of the season, Marquez was blisteringly fast, brave, sensible, rash, mature – everything you could want and more. Best of all, no-one saw it coming. Like everyone else, I can’t wait to see what he gets up to in Moto2 next season. He could be something very special, and we witnessed the start of it this year. That’s why it was such a fantastic championship.

The other factor that helped was British interest – chiefly Bradley Smith. Despite being on the same bike as Terol, it never seemed to have the same power. It was interesting – if disappointing – to see Smith and the team struggle to solve the bike’s problems. They were never quite completely eliminated, but enough to take advantage of Marquez cruising in Valencia and take one final 125cc race win – the only non-Spaniard to do so all year.