Formula 1 has had thousands of races. Most are forgotten after a few days. Then there are races that fans still talk about years later. These five are hard to forget.
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2008 Brazilian Grand Prix
Felipe Massa won his home race at Interlagos in 2008. He had done what he needed to do. But Lewis Hamilton still led the championship by seven points.
Massa needed Hamilton to finish sixth or worse. Late in the race, it looked like that might happen. Sebastian Vettel passed Hamilton and dropped him to sixth.
For a few seconds, Massa was the champion. Then Hamilton caught Timo Glock. Glock was struggling on dry tires as the rain got heavier. Hamilton passed him at the final corner and took fifth.
Massa crossed the line thinking he had won the title. He hadn’t. Hamilton won the championship by one point, making the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix one of the best formula 1 races of all time!
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2019 German Grand Prix
The 2019 German Grand Prix was not a normal race. Rain had made Hockenheim slippery before the start. Things only got worse once the cars hit the track.
Sergio Perez crashed early. Charles Leclerc went off at the slippery drag strip on Lap 29. Hamilton crashed a lap later. Then Nico Hulkenberg lost fourth place after going off.
There were six Safety Cars. Teams kept gambling on tires and pit stops. The running order kept changing. Max Verstappen won, but almost everyone had a moment where things could have gone very differently.
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2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen arrived at Abu Dhabi tied on points. One race would decide everything.
Hamilton looked in control for most of the afternoon. Then a late Safety Car changed the race. Verstappen suddenly had a chance.
He took the lead when racing resumed and won his first championship. The result should have ended the season. Instead, the decisions around those final laps became a huge talking point. Fans are still arguing about it today.
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1976 Japanese Grand Prix
Niki Lauda and James Hunt went to Fuji in 1976 with the championship on the line. Heavy rain hit the circuit. Visibility was poor, and the track was dangerous. Lauda retired after just two laps. He decided there was no point taking that risk.
Hunt stayed out. He had tire problems, but kept going and finished third. That was enough to win the championship by one point. Lauda stopped. Hunt didn’t. That decided the title.
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2012 Brazilian Grand Prix
Sebastian Vettel arrived in Brazil in 2012 with Fernando Alonso still chasing him for the championship. Then things went wrong on the opening lap.
Contact sent Vettel into a spin. He dropped to last place. Alonso was running second, so Vettel had plenty of work to do.
There were still 70 laps left. Vettel started moving through the field and eventually finished sixth. Alonso stayed second, but it wasn’t enough. Vettel won the championship by three points.
These races were all different. One came down to the final corner, another was shaped by rain, and others were decided by a single choice or a huge recovery. Years later, fans still remember exactly how they ended.
