THE result of yesterday’s Brazilian Grand Prix means that we have a four way showdown for the driver’s world championship for the first time in the sport’s sixty year history. Come Sunday afternoon in the twilight of Abu Dhabi, Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber or Sebastian Vettel will be celebrating world championship glory.
Here are ten fantastic finales from years gone by. . .
1976 – Fuji (Japan)
TITLE CONTENDERS: James Hunt (CHAMPION), Niki Lauda
NIKI Lauda was lucky to survive a near-death experience when he crashed on the classic Nurburgring track and the Austrian was badly burned. As the season went on, his advantage had been whittled down to nothing, and in the final event at the Fuji Speedway, he pulled off early on, refusing to risk his life in such dangerous conditions. McLaren’s charismatic Brit James Hunt, now only needed 3rd to wrap up the title, but suffered a puncture whilst leading. A late fightback saw Hunt charge back up into the 3rd spot that he required to snatch the title from Lauda and become 1976 champion.
1981 – Las Vegas
TITLE CONTENDERS: Carlos Reutemann, Nelson Piquet (CHAMPION), Jacques Laffite
HELD at Caesars Palace, a car park decided this 1981 title battle, which in an unremarkable setting saw a thrilling finish. Williams Carlos Reutemann held a one point lead over Brazilian Nelson Piquet, with Ligier’s Jacques Laffite a further five points adrift. Reutemann started on pole, but his general inconsistency shone through at the crucial point. Unhappy with the handling of his car, the Argentine – who is now a leading politician in his home country slipped out of the points. Piquet scrambled across the line in 5th place, just ahead of Laffite to snatch his first championship.
1984 – Estoril (Portugal)
TITLE CONTENDERS: Alain Prost, Niki Lauda (CHAMPION)
ALAIN Prost had narrowly missed out on the world championship with Renault in 1983, and heartbreak struck him the following year, by the narrowest of margins. Prost, now driving for McLaren dominated the Portuguese Grand Prix and won easily. However, his canny and very experienced team-mate Niki Lauda, leading Prost by three and a half points going into the race only needed a second place to clinch his third championship. Despite starting only 11th, Lauda fought through to second place to deny Prost of his maiden title by half a point, still the closest margin ever.
1986 – Adelaide (Australia)
TITLE CONTENDERS: Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet, Alain Prost (CHAMPION)
NIGEL Mansell looked set to button up his first world championship Down Under in 1986, but grave misfortune was to strike the plucky Brit. A dramatic tyre explosion down the long backstraight finished his chances of winning his maiden title. Concerned about whether the same plight might happen to the other car, Williams went cautious and pitted Nelson Piquet for fresh tyres. This handed Alain Prost’s McLaren the lead, the race and as the unlikely outsider – the championship in the most dramatic of all showdowns.
1994 – Adelaide (Australia)
TITLE CONTENDERS: Michael Schumacher (CHAMPION), Damon Hill
1994 was a season full of triumph and tragedy. The shocking death of Brazilian legend Ayrton Senna at the San Marino Grand Prix put a cloud over the whole season, as did allegations of cheating by the Benetton team. Going into the final event, German supremo Michael Schumacher led Damon Hill by a solitary point, and in the Adelaide race, they went wheel-to-wheel. On Lap 36, Schumacher made an unforced driving error and smashed into a wall at Wakefield Bend. An unsighted Hill came around the corner and dived for the inside. Schumacher turned in and the pair collided. The Benetton was launched into the air and out of the proceedings, but his actions left Damon with a damaged wishbone and out of the race in the pits. Schumacher was champion in bitter circumstances.
1996 – Suzuka (Japan)
TITLE CONTENDERS: Damon Hill (CHAMPION), Jacques Villeneuve
DAMON Hill was the overwhelming favourite for the 1996 championship, but a catalogue of late-season nightmares gave his rookie Williams team-mate Jacques Villeneuve a sniff at the title. Nine points behind, it was always going to be a tough ask for Villeneuve, and although he took top spot in qualifying, a dreadful start saw the Canadian relegated to 7th. A right-rear wheel flew off on Lap 36 and left Jacques buried in the gravel. Hill led from start-to-finish to claim an emotional championship success in his last race for the team, which also left BBC commentator Murray Walker “with a lump in his throat!”
1997 – Jerez (Spain)
TITLE CONTENDERS: Michael Schumacher, Jacques Villeneuve (CHAMPION)
JEREZ was the setting for the final race in 1997, with Michael Schumacher holding a one point lead over Jacques Villeneuve. It started with an amazing qualifying session, when the two title contenders and Heinz-Harald Frentzen set the same exact time of 1.21.072. In the race, Schumacher got away better and led Villeneuve until Lap 47, when the Canadian pulled off a brave lunge down the inside of the Ferrari at Dry Sac corner. Schumacher repeated his 1994 actions and deliberately turned in, but it was his car that ended in the gravel and out of the event. Villeneuve limped around to finish 3rd and clinch the championship in only his second season in the sport. Schumacher was excluded from the final standings for his actions.
1999 – Suzuka (Japan)
TITLE CONTENDERS: Mika Hakkinen (CHAMPION), Eddie Irvine
EDDIE Irvine’s big chance to win the drivers’ championship was in 1999, when Michael Schumacher broke his leg at the British Grand Prix. Schumacher returned for the final two races, and helped Irvine win in Malaysia to take the title battle to the wire, with the Ulsterman four points clear of Mika Hakkinen. At Suzuka though, previously an Irvine expert track, he struggled – crashing heavily in qualifying and finishing a distant 3rd in the race, over a minute off the winner. Schumacher took pole position, but Hakkinen beat him off the grid and dominated from there to win and become a back-to-back champion. Irvine went to Jaguar for 2000 and his career dithered into oblivion.
2007 – Interlagos (Brazil)
TITLE CONTENDERS: Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen (CHAMPION), Fernando Alonso
THE 2007 season was a sensational season, as McLaren and Ferrari battled for supremacy. In his rookie season, Lewis Hamilton looked set to complete the incredible story, as he was four points ahead of his team-mate Fernando Alonso going into the final round. Sadly, it all went wrong in Brazil for Lewis, who went off on the first lap trying to pass Alonso, then lost nearly 45 seconds when his gearbox got stuck in neutral. Seventh place was all he could manage, whilst his tempestuous team-mate Alonso was third. However, the outsider, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen – who had been 17 points behind Hamilton with two races to go, won the race after Felipe Massa backed off and let him through at the final round of stops. It was enough to give the flying Finn a very unlikely title success.
2008 – Interlagos (Brazil)
TITLE CONTENDERS: Lewis Hamilton (CHAMPION), Felipe Massa
FOR the second successive year, Lewis Hamilton went to Sao Paulo seven points clear of a Ferrari driver. This time, it was the local driver Felipe Massa. Massa went into the weekend with nothing to lose and was in total command, taking pole position and surviving a variable condition race to win. Hamilton ran a secure 4th for most of the afternoon, only requiring 5th for the title. A late rain shower saw Lewis drop behind the Toro Rosso of Sebastian Vettel and down into sixth spot. Luckily, Timo Glock’s Toyota (on dry tyres) was left stranded by the late downpour and the McLaren was able to pass on the last corner of the last lap to clinch the championship in the most unbelievable manner.
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