F1's 3-way title fight echoes history of dramatic championship deciders

A thrilling Formula 1 season ends on Sunday in Abu Dhabi with precisely the kind of showdown race fans want to see: three drivers in title contention and the championship leader under mounting pressure.

Over the years, F1 title deciders have seen deliberate crashes, unexpected heartbreak and perhaps the most controversial finish of them all, when Max Verstappen beat Lewis Hamilton on the final lap in 2021.

Final race scenarios

McLaren’s Lando Norris is 12 points ahead of Red Bull driver Verstappen, who is chasing hard for a fifth straight F1 title, and 16 ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri.

Norris will win the title if he finishes on the podium on Saturday, regardless of what Verstappen and Piastri do.

If Verstappen takes the race win, he needs Norris to be fourth or lower. If Piastri wins the Grand Prix, Norris would have to finish sixth or lower.

Three-way fights

Kimi Raikkonen won the 2007 title with Ferrari, despite trailing both Fernando Alonso and rookie Lewis Hamilton two races before the end. The Finnish driver won both to clinch his only F1 title.

Sebastian Vettel won the 2010 title for Red Bull at the last race of the season in Abu Dhabi. Vettel entered the race behind teammate Mark Webber and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who was the heavy favorite.

Vettel won the Abu Dhabi GP from pole and clinched the title along the way, mainly because Alonso was stuck behind another driver following a Ferrari strategy error.

In 1986, a three-way battle ended in heartbreak for a British standings leader. Nigel Mansell was ahead of Alain Prost and Keke Rosberg on points ahead of the final race in Adelaide, Australia, but had to stop with a puncture.

A controversial finish

The 2021 title fight between Hamilton and Verstappen was one of the fiercest ever, with heated incidents between the rivals heading into the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

They entered the race level on points and Hamilton looked certain to secure a record eighth straight F1 title and break the record he shared with F1 great Michael Schumacher. But a controversial one-lap restart gave Verstappen — who was on faster tires — a small window of opportunity and he seized it to win his first title and deny Hamilton a history-defining moment.

A history of close contests

Sunday's finale to F1's 75th anniversary season has memories of the first championship in 1950, when Nino Farina won a three-way title fight at his home Italian Grand Prix.

Seven-time champion Michael Schumacher won one title and lost another in controversial finishes. In 1994, he collided with title rival Damon Hill, knocking them both out of the final race in Adelaide. Hill later alleged it was a deliberate act by his German rival.

Then in 1997, Schumacher rammed Jacques Villeneuve in the final race at Jerez in Spain and was disqualified from the championship as the Canadian took the title.

Even running out of fuel couldn't stop one champion. In 1959, Jack Brabham pushed his car over the line in the U.S. Grand Prix at Sebring as he became the first Australian champion.

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