What was the best F1 title decider ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix?
The 2021 World Championship will be one of the greatest seasons in history, but with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen vying for the title in Abu Dhabi, what is the best F1 title decider?
After practice at Yas Marina Circuit on Friday, both title contenders practiced separately.
Verstappen was fastest in FP1 and Hamilton was fastest in Dusk/Night FP2.
The pair were separated by zero points before the final, a winner-take-all matchup at sunset in the UAE.
So, when the whereabouts of the championship has been decided, who are the best 5 championship winners in F1 history?
focus Five of the best have been picked – although the one you might have in mind isn’t quite as high as you might think.
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5. 2007 Brazil – Raikkonen vs Hamilton vs Alonso
This position could have taken place in the 1964 Mexican Grand Prix or the 2007 Brazil race.
Both were three-way F1 champion deciders in the final race, which was ultimately decided by team order.
2007 got the nod because, in 1964, a collision between one of the protagonist teammates and a class-champion rival ended a challenge for one of the contenders.
In 2007, Hamilton led with 107 points, Alonso with 103 and Raikkonen with 100 – winning by 10.
Things didn’t go well for rookie Hamilton, who lost his place on the first lap after McLaren was sidelined by “teammate” Alonso.
The Gearbox Pixie also slowed down his challenge, as he slowed down 30 seconds with a box full of neutrals.
Hamilton could only make it to lap seven – and two points.
Raikkonen passed Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa at home to take the lead.
He finished with 110 points, with Hamilton and Alonso tied for 109.
This is the closest three drivers have come in an F1 championship tiebreaker.
McLaren is also likely to protest over the use of illegal frozen fuel by drivers ahead of Hamilton.
They wisely decided not to open that jar of bugs.
Why is this F1 championship decider not remembered as one of the best? Well, the next game might shed some light on this…
Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images
4. 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix – Hamilton vs Massa
A year later, Hamilton returned with two legs against Massa, who had put Raikkonen in the shadows at Maranello.
The winner at the last corner of the final lap of the final race of the season must be the best winner of all F1 titles.
While the 2008 World Cup in Brazil was one of the most dramatic endings in sports history, it was a fairly quiet match before that.
Yes, the rain delayed the start and threw the ultimate curveball to Hamilton and Massa, but for a long time, if Massa won, Hamilton was fourth – and all he needed was fifth .
Photo by Darren Heath/Getty Images
He never looked like he didn’t win a grand prix.
Sebastian Vettel provided late drama with a sweep of Hamilton with three laps left, dropping Hamilton to sixth place as the rain began to fall.
Luckily for him, Timo Glock opted not to use dry tires and his pace on the Toyota dropped dramatically.
We all know what happened.
But this race is the ultimate champion of peak-end theory.
Because of the way Hamilton won the championship, we assume about 13 years from now, it must be a great race.
It was a great game, but not a great one. It certainly isn’t the best F1 championship decider when there are stronger contenders.
Photo by Darren Heath/Getty Images
3. 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix – Vettel vs Alonso
The three-man battle at Interlagos is between Red Bull’s Vettel and Ferrari’s Alonso.
It was a cool, cool, calculating German against a fiery Spaniard who somehow dragged Ferrari’s dog to the cusp of a world championship.
After Vettel was bumped on the first lap, it looked like it was going in Alonso’s direction – dropping him to last place.
Red Bull caused serious damage to the rear bodywork, and the question became whether Vettel could care for the car to maintain the 71-lap distance.
Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images
All of which kept the race and the title on the edge until the very end due to radio glitches, a downpour mid-race and Alonso’s mother to all the oversteer moments at Turn 3 in the rain.
From one champion to another
With a few laps to go, Michael Schumacher passed Vettel past sixth in his final Grand Prix for a third title.
Alonso finished second but was beaten by Vettel two years after losing to him by four points (more on that later…)
Add in the battle for the lead between Hamilton, Jenson Button and Nico Hulkenberg (yes, Nico Hulkenberg), and drama is everywhere.
This is without a doubt the best F1 title finisher in Brazil and one of the most high-profile Grand Prix races in the history of the World Championship.
Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images
2. 1986 Australian Grand Prix – Prost vs Piquet vs Mansell
In the end, Nigel Mansell will win the F1 World Championship he thinks he deserves.
He would win the championship the year his team owner Frank Williams was seriously injured in a car accident.
With only 19 laps to glory, everything went wrong.
No matter what happened elsewhere, second, knowing that third would take the title, Mansell’s left-back Goodyear exploded at over 200 mph.
He threw the car to safety in the tiebreaker, but his game was over.
As a precaution, Williams took teammate Nelson Piquet from the title-winning position to the pits in case the same thing happened to him.
This gave Alain Prost the lead while Piquet tried to chase the McLaren.
He failed by just over four seconds as Prost crossed the finish line and quickly ran out of fuel.
The Frenchman became the fourth defending world champion in World Championship history – and the first since Jack Brabham in 1959-1960.
The best F1 title decider of them all
It’s common for two drivers to fight for the title – in fact, 2021 marks the 30th time in 72 years that the title has been won in the final race.
Three-driver competitions are very rare and only happen a few times.
Four drivers? Well, that’s a unique situation that happened at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Photo by Vladimir Reese/Getty Images
Alonso leads with 246 points, Mark Webber with 238, Vettel with 231 and Hamilton with 222, with only 25 points available for the win.
Ferrari, may rightly think that their main rival for the title is Webber – after all, he is the closest to Alonso.
Under the safety car on the first lap, the likes of Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov all pitted and put on Bridgestone hard tires – which can now run to Finally.
They reunited at the back, with Red Bull blinking strategically and dragging the struggling Webber in.
Ferrari emerges in all F1 title tiebreakers
He is now out of the race, but Ferrari didn’t realise it, ignoring the threat of leader Vettel.
They responded with Alonso, who rejoined behind Renault’s Petrov – who had incredible straight-line speed.
He stayed there. Alonso couldn’t get past Renault.
The top two effectively played snooker against each other and ended each other’s chances.
This allowed Vettel to win and top the drivers’ championship for the first time in his career.
He became the youngest world champion, which he holds to this day.
With the two drivers out of each other, the Turtles, metaphorically, made the race stand out by stealing the championship from the middle.
The 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was the best of any F1 championship final tiebreaker.
so far…
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Jack usually writes or reads anything related to motorsport – from Formula 1 to NASCAR to British truck racing. His work as a motorsport reporter has been published in prestigious media such as Autosport, Motorsport.com and Motorsport News. In addition to racing, he is an avid amateur astronomer, podcast listener, and enjoys walks in the park with his three dogs.
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