From controversial collisions and last lap overtakes, to dramatic tyre blow-ups and reliability gremlins, there have been plenty of dramatic championship deciding races over the course of F1's 75 year history.
With three drivers still in with a realistic chance of winning the 2025 F1 World Championship, we thought now would be a good time to highlight what we consider to be the best F1 title deciders of all time to help give a few insights into the kind of scenarios that we can expect to see as we head towards the finale of the 2025 season.
1. "Colossally that's Mansell!" - 1986
Nigel Mansell headed to the final race of the 1986 season with a six point lead over McLaren's Alain Prost and a further one point ahead of his Williams Honda team-mate Nelson Piquet. With just nine points available for a win at the time, the Brit was the overwhelming favourite to clinch the crown in a year where internal tensions had led to a civil war erupting between the Williams stablemates.
Williams team boss Frank Williams had been paralysed in a road car accident prior to the start season which left him hospitalised for much of 1986. This created a vacuum at the top of the team, with no-one willing to fulfill the promise that Piquet claimed Williams had made to make him the unquestioned number one driver in the team. Throughout the year, the Williams pair took points off one another which allowed reigning world champion Alain Prost to remain in the fight heading into the last race despite having a serious car disadvantage.
Mansell did everything he had to do at the Australian Grand Prix, qualifying on pole and then playing it safe in the race cruising along in 3rd place behind his two title rivals until his left rear tyre dramatically exploded at over 180mph on lap 64 of the 82 lap race. This led to commentator Murray Walker yelping the now famous phrase "colossally that's Mansell!".
With tyre wear proving to have been far higher than expected, Williams elected to pit Piquet from the lead rather than risk a serious accident. This cost Piquet any chance of claiming the title, promoting Prost into the lead which was enough to ensure that he won his second consecutive world championship. The Williams team was left shellshocked.
2. The Inevitable Collisions - 1989 & 1990
McLaren was the dominant team of the late 1980s after stealing Honda engines from under the nose of their main rivals Williams. Not only did they have the best car and engine, they also had the best drivers. During their first year together in 1988, Ayrton Senna had proven that he was the fastest driver in the sport, outpacing double World Champion Prost over the course of the season on his way to his first title.
However, the already tense relationship between the pair dramatically soured in 1989 to the point where Prost decided he would join Ferrari for 1990. The Frenchman entered the final races of 1989 with a points advantage and warned Senna that he would no longer leave space for the Brazilian if he attempted any risky overtaking manoeuvres. So, when Senna dived down the inside of his team-mate into the chicane at Suzuka, Prost turned in early and brought about a collision. Prost retired on the spot and Senna was controversially later disqualified for having taken a shortcut to return to the track by French FISA President Jean-Marie Balestre who was responsible for governing the sport.
Senna still felt rightly aggrieved as the F1 circus arrived back at Suzuka 12 months later. By this point, the shoe was on the other foot with Senna holding a points advantage over new Ferrari recruit Prost. However, the Brazilian was still furious about what had happened in 1989, so when Prost out accelerated pole sitter Senna off the line at the start, the McLaren driver simply opted not to break for the first corner, driving directly into his championship rival. With both drivers out on the spot, Prost would be unable to secure enough points to claim the title.
For Senna, this was retribution for all that had happened in 1989. However, for many the risks Senna had taken to remove his rival from championship contention had been beyond comprehension, with Prost angrily stating "Ayrton has a small problem. He thinks that he can't kill himself because he believes in God and I think that's very dangerous for the other drivers".
3. The True Colours of Benetton - 1994
1994 had been a dark year for F1, with the sport's most successful driver Ayrton Senna having lost his life in an accident at the third round of the season in Imola. This came just one day after rookie Roland Ratzenberger had suffered a fatal crash in qualifying for the event.
Senna had joined Williams for the 1994 season after six seasons at McLaren. After two years of domination from the Grove based team, the Brazilian was hot favourite for the title. However, the banning of a number of driver aids handed the early season advantage to the Benetton team and their young hotshot Michael Schumacher. With Senna gone, the prospect of the German facing any serious competition in the race for the title seemed remote.
However, a two race suspension for ignoring a black flag at the British Grand Prix combined with a disqualification from the Belgian Grand Prix significantly reduced Schumacher's points advantage and allowed Williams new leading man Damon Hill to close to within just one point of the German heading into the final race in Adelaide.
The race was all about Schumacher and Hill who doggedly battled it out at the front, in a league of their own. That was until lap 36 when the Benetton driver made an error at the East Terrace corner, going off the track and hitting the wall. Quickly returning to the track and unsure whether or not his car had suffered race ending damage, Schumacher frantically looked for Hill who had decided to seize the opportunity by diving up the inside of the German into the next right hander. In a panic, Schumacher turned straight into Hill, launching his Benetton into the barriers. Hill tried to continue but damage to his suspension from the collision led to his retirement from the race, handing Schumacher his first world title in controversial circumstances.
4. "Is That Glock?" - 2008
Lewis Hamilton made his debut in F1 in 2007, coming within a point of winning the championship at his first attempt after an unusual sensor glitch in the final race in Brazil handed Ferrari rival Kimi Raikkonen an unlikely championship triumph.
The British driver was all geared up to make amends for this in 2008, entering the final race with a 7 point lead over Felipe Massa's Ferrari. This meant that he only needed a 5th place finish even if Massa won the race. Given the form of the McLaren over the season, this seemed easy despite a disappointing qualifying saw him lining up 4th on the grid, half a second behind his rival Massa who was on pole.
Uncertain weather conditions made tyre choices tricky during the race. Hamilton was still running 4th on lap 63 of 71 when light rain started to fall. Along with the majority of the other leading drivers, Hamilton elected to pit for intermediate tyres. However, a number of drivers behind the McLaren driver opted to take the risk of remaining on dry tyres under the assumption that the rain would stop. This included the Toyota of Timo Glock who overtook Hamilton while the McLaren driver was in the pits.
Hamilton struggled in the changeable conditions, making a vital error on lap 69 which allowed Sebastian Vettel to overtake him and claim that all important 5th position as Massa continued in an unassailable lead.
History seemed to be repeating itself until the rain began to intensify in the final laps. Glock had held on valiantly in 4th place on his dry tyres, but Vettel and Hamilton were closing. Then on the final corner of the very last lap of the race, a disbelieving commentator Martin Brundle shouted "is that Glock?" as Hamilton closed in on the Toyota, diving up the inside into the final corner of the last lap to take 5th place which was enough to secure his first championship. It was the kind of storyline that would have been deemed unbelievable had it been in a movie and unquestionably one of the most memorable moments in F1 history.
5. "Michael, this is so not right." - 2021
Thirteen years later, Hamilton was once again in the fight for a championship, this time with 7 titles already to his name as he battled to achieve an 8th against young Red Bull driver Max Verstappen.
2021 had already been one of the most controversial in the sports history, with both drivers suffering a series of collisions and employing dubious driving tactics in their battles for supremacy. It all came down to the final F1 race of the year in Abu Dhabi with both drivers unbelievably equal on points.
Despite Verstappen taking a brilliant pole position, it was Hamilton who had the jump off the line, leading the field into turn one. Verstappen attempted to wrestle the lead back heading into the turn 6-7 chicane, only for Hamilton to cut the corner, claiming that his rival had forced him off the track. The stewards sided with Hamilton on this, much to Verstappen's consternation, allowing the Brit to keep his lead and begin to build an advantage as drove off into an unchallenged lead.
It had all been plain sailing for Hamilton until lap 53 of 58 when Williams driver Nicholas Latifi crashed out of 19th position. This brought out the safety car, with Red Bull immediately pitting Verstappen to change onto new tyres. Mercedes had passed up on the opportunity, knowing that they would have lost the lead to Verstappen if they had adopted the same strategy as the Dutchman was still within a pitstops distance of taking the lead.
F1 rules state that all lapped cars are permitted to unlap themselves once the track has been cleared and join the back of the pack before the restart. With so few racing laps remaining, race steward Michael Masi elected to allow just 5 of the lapped cars to pass the leaders before restarting the race with just one lap remaining. These happened to be just the 5 cars which separated Verstappen from Hamilton.
Knowing that Hamilton would be unable to defend his position on old tyres, Mercedes team boss protested to Massi stating "Michael, this is so not right", highlighting that these actions contradicted normal racing procedures and appeared to have been made up on a whim. His protestations mattered little though as the racing resumed, with Verstappen wasting no time in overtaking Hamilton who was absolutely powerless to defend his position.
Abu Dhabi 2021 has subsequently become something of a taboo topic in F1 circles, with Massi later being removed from his position on account of his actions. For months after the incident, question marks remained as to whether Hamilton would return to the sport at all. While he did eventually line-up for Mercedes at the season opening 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix, he has subsequently not been provided with a car capable of challenging for that elusive 8th crown. Verstappen meanwhile has gone on to become a four times world champion with performances which have led to him challenging Lewis Hamilton's right to the honour of being considered the greatest F1 driver in history.
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