Today’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will decide the Formula One title, with Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg fighting for the crown. Since 1950 there have been 27 last-race deciders. The following looks at 10 of the best in chronological order.
1950 – Italian Grand Prix, Monza
The seventh round of the season was a three-way title battle among Alfa Romeo teammates Juan Manuel Fangio of Argentina and Italians Luigi Fagioli and Nino Farina. Fangio had led the standings but suffered two retirements and failed to score, while Farina won the race and first F1 title.
1959 – US Grand Prix, Sebring (Florida)
Jack Brabham ran out of fuel and pushed his car across the line to finish fourth and become Australia’s first world champion. Three drivers started with a chance of taking the title: Brabham and Britons Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks. The race was won by New Zealander Bruce McLaren, his first.
1964 – Mexican Grand Prix
Another three-way battle, this time all-British and among motorcycle champion John Surtees, Jim Clark and Graham Hill. Hill had led the championship but his hopes disappeared in a collision, Clark retired with a seized engine and Surtees, let through by teammate Lorenzo Bandini, finished second to become the first man to win titles on two wheels and four.
1976 – Japanese Grand Prix, Fuji
One of the most famous showdowns. Ferrari’s Niki Lauda led McLaren’s James Hunt by three points after an astonishingly brave comeback by the Austrian from a fiery near-fatal crash at the Nuerburgring. Torrential rain made conditions treacherous, with Lauda saying they were too dangerous and withdrawing on the second lap. Hunt finished third and took the title by a point.
1984 – Portuguese Grand Prix
The smallest winning margin in Formula One history, with Lauda beating McLaren teammate Alain Prost by half a point (the result of the Monaco Grand Prix being stopped early). The Frenchman won the race but Lauda, like Hamilton now, needed only to finish second, which he did. It was his third title.
1986 – Australian Grand Prix, Adelaide
Britain’s Nigel Mansell was the favourite to win a three-way battle with McLaren’s Prost and Williams teammate Nelson Piquet. Mansell was on course for the title until a blown tyre ended his hopes spectacularly 19 laps from the end. Williams pitted Piquet as a precaution and Prost took his second title.
1994 – Australian Grand Prix, Adelaide
Michael Schumacher won the first of his seven championships in hugely controversial style after turning into title rival Damon Hill as the Briton tried to pass. Both had to retire, handing Schumacher the title by a single point.
1997 – European Grand Prix, Jerez
Another major controversy involving Schumacher, then with Ferrari, who was excluded from the championship classification after trying to take out Canadian Jacques Villeneuve while fighting for the lead. The German had led by a point but retired while his rival finished third to clinch the title.
2008 – Brazilian Grand Prix, Sao Paulo
Hamilton clinched a dramatic first title by a single point after the then-McLaren driver secured fifth place in the race with an overtake at the last corner of the last lap just when all seemed lost. Brazilian Felipe Massa, race winner for Ferrari, missed out by a single point.
2010 – Abu Dhabi
The first four-way finale, with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso leading Australian Mark Webber by eight points while Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and McLaren’s Hamilton were also in the reckoning. A strategy error cost Alonso the race while Vettel won to become the youngest champion at 23 years old.