The 2025 Components 1 drivers’ championship has come all the way down to a three-way struggle going into the ultimate race of the season, with Lando Norris, Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri all in rivalry.
Briton Norris leads Purple Bull’s Verstappen, who’s searching for a fifth consecutive title, by 12 factors with Piastri an additional 4 factors again.
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McLaren drivers Norris and Piastri are each aiming for his or her first F1 title.
It isn’t typically that three drivers go into the ultimate race with an opportunity of successful the championship. BBC Sport appears again at some earlier events when it is occurred…
Farina pips Fangio and Fagioli – 1950
Giuseppe Farina (proper) simply beat Juan Manuel Fangio to the primary Components 1 World Championship [Getty Images]
The primary Components 1 World Championship went all the way down to the ultimate race, in Italy at Monza, with Alfa Romeo’s Juan Manuel Fangio, Giuseppe Farina and Luigi Fagioli all in rivalry.
Going into the grand prix, Argentine Fangio led Italian Fagioli by two factors and Farina, one other Italian, by 4. Mechanical issues ended Fangio’s afternoon and Farina got here via to win the race and safe the inaugural drivers’ championship, with Fagioli in third within the race and the general standings.
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Fangio would go on to win 5 titles between 1951 and 1957 and is taken into account considered one of F1’s all-time greats.
Brabham pushes to the restrict – 1959
An exhausted Jack Brabham takes a drink after pushing his Cooper over the road to win the 1959 title [Getty Images]
Australian Jack Brabham led the championship earlier than the season-ending 1959 United States Grand Prix in Sebring, Florida, with Britons Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks nonetheless in rivalry.
Moss, who was in second, wanted to win or end second with fellow Cooper driver Brabham behind him, whereas Ferrari’s Brooks needed to win to have any probability, and even then might nonetheless be crushed to the title.
Moss led from pole place however retired with a damaged gearbox early on, handing the initiative to Brabham, who had been monitoring his rival a brief distance behind.
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Brabham led nearly to the end, earlier than operating out of gas on the final lap. Brooks handed him for third however Brabham pushed his Cooper throughout the road to take fourth place and the primary of his three world titles. It was additionally the primary achieved in a rear-engined F1 automotive.
Battle of the Britons – 1964
John Surtees, pictured on the Mexican Grand Prix the place he gained the F1 drivers’ championship, took the 500cc motorcycle titles in 1956 and once more from 1958-60 [Getty Images]
John Surtees turned the one man to win world titles on two wheels and 4 together with his F1 championship in 1964.
Surtees trailed fellow Englishman Graham Hill by 5 factors earlier than the decider in Mexico, whereas Scot Jim Clark was in third, an additional 4 factors behind.
BRM’s Hill, the 1962 champion, was delayed by a collision with Surtees’ Ferrari team-mate Lorenzo Bandini. Clark, driving a Lotus, was then on target to win after dominating from the entrance, however was pressured to cease on the final lap with an oil leak.
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Seeing Clark’s issues, Ferrari ordered Bandini to let Surtees by into second place, which gave him the title by one level from Hill.
Piquet takes title in a parking zone – 1981
The beginning of the 1981 Caesars Palace Grand Prix, with Williams’ Alan Jones main into the primary nook [Getty Images]
The Las Vegas Grand Prix, targeted on the Strip, has been typically thought-about an enormous success because it was established on the F1 calendar in 2023, however it isn’t fairly the primary iteration of the occasion.
In 1981 and 1982, a Caesars Palace Grand Prix was staged on a monitor constructed within the parking zone of the Caesars Palace lodge.
Neither the venue nor the circuit are fondly remembered, although it hosted championship deciders in each years.
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In 1981, Williams’ Carlos Reutemann had a one-point lead over Brabham’s Nelson Piquet with Ligier’s Jacques Laffite additionally nonetheless in rivalry.
Frenchman Lafitte wanted to complete first or second to have an opportunity, at a time when solely the highest six drivers scored factors, however Argentine Reutemann appeared nicely set when he certified on pole.
Nonetheless, he dropped again all through the race, finally ending eighth, and was lapped by race winner and team-mate Alan Jones.
Brazilian Piquet struggled with warmth exhaustion within the remaining phases however was in a position to come house fifth, giving him the 2 factors he wanted to overhaul Reutemann, with Laffite in sixth.
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‘And colossally that is Mansell’ – 1986
Nigel Mansell completed second within the 1986, 1987 and 1991 drivers’ championships, earlier than finally successful it in 1992 [Getty Images]
The day when Nigel Mansell’s desires, in addition to his left rear tyre, shattered.
The Briton went into the 1986 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide realizing {that a} third-place end would guarantee he gained the drivers’ championship.
With 9 factors on supply for a race win, McLaren’s Alain Prost, the 1985 champion, was six behind with Mansell’s Williams colleague Nelson Piquet seven again. ‘Workforce-mate’ doesn’t appear acceptable right here,
Mansell was safe in that third place, behind Piquet and Prost, with 19 laps to go when his tyre exploded down the 200mph Brabham Straight. BBC commentator Murray Walker memorably exclaimed: “And have a look at that! And colossally that is Mansell!”
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Williams known as Piquet in to vary his tyres as a precaution towards the identical factor occurring – McLaren’s Keke Rosberg had retired from the lead with a puncture shortly earlier than Mansell’s drama.
That left Frenchman Prost to carry his McLaren house first and safe back-to-back championships, whereas Mansell needed to wait till 1992 earlier than lastly successful the title.
Hamilton’s close to miss in rookie 12 months – 2007
Kimi Raikkonen got here from 17 factors behind with two races to go to win the 2007 title [Getty Images]
Arguably, this could have been Lewis Hamilton’s world title in his beautiful rookie season however it all went fallacious for the Briton within the remaining two races.
After successful the Japanese Grand Prix in excessive moist circumstances, the 22-year-old led McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso by 12 factors with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen 17 behind. This was when drivers acquired 10 factors for a race win.
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In China, Hamilton slid off right into a gravel lure on worn tyres, whereas within the finale in Brazil, a poor begin adopted by an issue with a hydraulic valve, which brought on him to be caught in fourth gear for 25 seconds, left him in the back of the sector.
Though he fought again to seventh, which introduced him two factors, he wanted to complete fifth to make sure of the championship.
Finn Raikkonen took the title by successful the final two races, with Alonso – throughout a tumultuous season – solely managing third within the race and the championship.
Vettel high standings when it issues most – 2010
Sebastian Vettel gained 4 consecutive drivers’ championships between 2010 and 2013 [Getty Images]
This was really a four-way struggle in Abu Dhabi, though Lewis Hamilton solely had the faintest of possibilities, being 24 factors behind chief Fernando Alonso heading into the ultimate race with two different drivers between them within the standings.
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Spaniard Alonso, in his first season at Ferrari, had an eight-point benefit over Purple Bull’s Mark Webber, with Sebastian Vettel in third, 15 factors again.
Though German Vettel gained from pole, the title ought to nonetheless have been Alonso’s.
Nonetheless, a strategic error from Ferrari in bringing Alonso in for an early pit cease, to cowl off Webber, left him caught behind Renault’s Vitaly Petrov for the rest of the race. His seventh-place end, with Webber in eighth, allowed Vettel to pip each of them.
It was the primary time the Purple Bull driver had led the championship all 12 months. And Max Verstappen is now aiming to copy that feat in Abu Dhabi this Sunday…
