7 standout races that proved pivotal in F1 title battles

Brazil played host to another Formula 1 classic last weekend, with Max Verstappen’s masterful performance at a soaking wet Interlagos also moving him comfortably clear of Lando Norris in the drivers’ standings. Will it prove to be the 2024 season’s decisive race? We look back at some other examples from the turn of the millennium that changed the course of title battles…

USA 2003 – Montoya’s costly penalty

Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher, Williams racer Juan Pablo Montoya and McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen were in close contention for the 2003 world title heading to the penultimate round of the season at Indianapolis, which delivered mixed weather conditions and a chaotic affair.

On a day dictated by running the right tyre at the right time and not making any mistakes, Montoya dramatically dropped out of the championship conversation via a drive-through penalty for clashing with Rubens Barrichello and a trip over the grass in the rain.

EXCLUSIVE: Montoya on Verstappen vs Norris, more title race ‘fireworks’ and F1’s ‘million-dollar question’

Pole-sitter Raikkonen led early on but was overhauled by Schumacher at one-third distance, when the Bridgestone intermediates held the edge over the Michelin wets, setting the German up for his sixth crown – achieved in another dramatic race – at the Suzuka finale.

Montoya was penalised for a collision with Barrichello in the rain-hit Indianapolis race

Europe 2005 – Raikkonen’s last-lap nightmare

Raikkonen fought for the title again a couple of years later when his rapid but unreliable McLaren took on Fernando Alonso and Renault, the two drivers and teams trading blows throughout the season as reigning world champions Ferrari struggled under new race-long tyre rules.

Alonso was quick out of the blocks with five podiums – and three wins – on the bounce, before Raikkonen brushed off the disappointment of his driveshaft-related retirement while leading at Imola to claim statement pole positions and race victories in both Spain and Monaco.

EXCLUSIVE: Kimi Raikkonen on returning to the F1 paddock, son Robin’s karting skills and his namesake Antonelli

However, just as he looked set to make it three in a row himself, Raikkonen’s car suffered a heartbreaking last-lap suspension failure at the Nurburgring. It meant the Spaniard emerged triumphant and with a 32-point advantage that was too much to overturn thereafter.

All the Angles: Raikkonen's last lap heartbreak at Europe 2005

Japan 2006 – Engine woe for Schumacher

Having secured a dominant seventh title in 2004, and with Ferrari fighting back from their relative 2005 troubles, Schumacher emerged as Alonso’s nearest challenger when the 2006 campaign got under way – serving up a fascinating fight between the veteran racer and the rising star.

Following Schumacher’s victory at the Chinese Grand Prix, the 16th of 18 rounds, there was quite literally nothing to separate the two contenders in the drivers’ standings – the pair tied on 116 points with a hatful of wins and podium finishes under their respective belts.

BEYOND THE GRID: Inside Michael Schumacher’s final, and most dominant, World Championship

At Suzuka, where he won his first Ferrari title in 2000, Schumacher was poised to put a couple of valuable points between himself and Alonso and enter the Brazil showdown with the upper hand, only for his engine to fail and, cruelly, for that eighth championship to remain elusive.

Schumacher was left to ponder what might have been after his Suzuka retirement

China 2007 – Hamilton beaches his car

There was similar championship drama when the 2007 season – and Lewis Hamilton’s first year in the sport – reached its climax, the Briton involved in a three-way scrap for the title involving reigning double world champion team mate Alonso and Ferrari driver Raikkonen.

Hamilton was the clear favourite for overall honours with two races to go, leading the way on 107 points to Alonso’s 95 and Raikkonen’s 90, but F1’s visit to the Shanghai International Circuit – and another dose of wet-weather action – flipped the situation on its head.

MUST-SEE: Ride along with Hamilton as he drives Senna’s title-winning McLaren

Eventually pitting to ditch his ageing intermediate tyres on a drying track, Hamilton missed the entry, slid into the gravel trap and ended up beached – Raikkonen taking full advantage to win before doubling up in Brazil and snatching the title from under the McLaren drivers’ noses.

Moments from the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix

Korea 2010 – Webber’s agonising spin

When it comes to multi-driver, multi-team battles for the championship, the 2010 campaign is hard to beat, with Red Bull duo Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari’s Alonso and McLaren’s Hamilton and Jenson Button all in the mix during the closing stages.

It was Webber who held the upper hand with three races to run – his 220-point tally 14 clear of Alonso and Vettel – until a disastrous race-ending spin amid treacherous weather conditions in Korea took some crucial momentum out of the Australian’s challenge.

After the penultimate round in Brazil, Alonso led Webber by a handful of points, but with both drivers losing out on strategy and getting stuck behind rival cars at the Abu Dhabi finale, Vettel romped into the distance to take the win and an unlikely title trophy.

The remains of Webber's heavily damaged Red Bull, which also took Nico Rosberg out of the race

Malaysia 2016 – Hamilton’s fiery exit

Hamilton entered 2016 as a three-time world champion, having won his first for McLaren in 2008 and added two more with Mercedes in 2014 and 2015 – timing that 2013 switch to the Silver Arrows perfectly given their impressive start to the turbo-hybrid era.

But while he managed to see off the threat from team mate Nico Rosberg during those aforementioned seasons, the German had other ideas for their fourth term together and put up a sustained challenge throughout the 2016 season with some extreme sacrifices.

It was at the Malaysian Grand Prix that Hamilton’s hopes of making it three in a row were dealt a hammer blow with a fiery engine failure. While he bounced back to win the last four races, the points lost at Sepang – in Mercedes’s only technical DNF of the year – could not be overturned.

Race: Sepang hopes go up in flames for Hamilton

Singapore 2017 – Vettel’s sandwich moment

Just three points separated Hamilton and Vettel at the top of the standings as F1’s ‘European season’ came to an end in 2017, prompting plenty of excitement and expectations from fans over a fierce Mercedes versus Ferrari battle across the final flyaway leg.

But that was pushed to one side almost immediately when pole-sitter Vettel, Red Bull’s up-and-coming Max Verstappen and the other Ferrari of Raikkonen spectacularly clashed on the run down to the first corner – sending all three into an early retirement.

EXCLUSIVE: Sebastian Vettel on his return to the F1 paddock at Interlagos for another special Senna tribute

Hamilton picked up the pieces to win the Marina Bay race and move 28 points clear, which he only added to amid further problems for Vettel at the subsequent Malaysia and Japan races, and ultimately cruised to the championship with a couple of rounds to spare.