Formula One news
Three drivers fighting for the title again
21 October 2007In the history of Formula 1 it's been a rare thing for three drivers to be fighting for the Formula 1 championship at the final round of the season. At the moment Lewis Hamilton is leading the championship, but the last two times a championship was decided like this, the second placed driver took the spoils.
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| Prost won the race and the championship (1986) |
The last time Formula 1 saw three drivers fighting for the championship in the final race was back in 1986 when Nigel Mansell was leading the championship, seven points ahead of Alain Prost and Nelson Piquet. Back then a race win would bring you nine points and a second place only six. Prost would only be able to win the title if Mansell did not score any points. Unfortunately for the Briton he had to retire with only 19 laps to go.
Three years before that, Prost wasn't that lucky. In the final race of the 1983 championship, the title fight was between Alain Prost (leading with two points), Nelson Piquet and Rene Arnoux. The race in South Africa saw championship leader Prost retire half-way into the race due to a problem with his turbo engine. Nelson Piquet finished in third and clinched four points, enough to win the title.
A championship fight between three drivers in the final race of the season has happened eight times in the history of Formula 1. On the most recent two occasions, the championship leader failed to finish, but in other years the championship leader did clinch the title. In 1959 Jack Brabham won the title even though he failed to score points, his biggest rival Stirling Moss though also failed to score any points.
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| Ferrari driver John Surtees (1964) |
In 1964 Graham Hill led the championship in the last race, but as he failed to score any points while John Surtees won six points it was Surtees who won the title. In 1968 Graham Hill also led the championship. He managed to win the last race, while his biggest rival (Jackie Stewart) failed to score points.
In 1974 Emerson Fittipaldi won the championship. Going into the final round of the championship at Watkins Glen (USA) he and Clay Regazzoni had both scored 52 points so far and Jody Scheckter seven points behind on them. At Watkins Glen though Fittipaldi finished fourth, while Regazzoni finished in eleventh, four laps behind on Fittipaldi.
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| Piquet celebrates in Vegas (1981) |
Back in 1981 the championship leader was less fortunate. Carlos Reutemann led the championship with just one point over Nelson Piquet and six points over Jacques Laffite. Formula 1 travelled to Las Vegas where Nelson Piquet would spray the champagne for his championship title. Piquet finished the race in fifth, but Reutemann did not score any points as he finished in eighth place.
But in 1982 the championship leader in the final race, Keke Rosberg, stayed calm. Rosberg was only three points ahead of Didier Pironi and nine points ahead of John Watson. Even though Watson had the best result in the last race of the season in Las Vegas it was Rosberg who won the title with a fifth place finish.
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