The scenarios of the end of the Formula 1 season, that is, the circuits that have hosted the last race, have been changing over time. From the Monza of 1950, the parking lot of the Caesar Palace Casino in Las Vegas , the controversial Jerez of 1997 to the recent Interlagos and Abu Dhabi.
But the essence of the competition has been maintained despite the thousand and one changes in regulations, and even in scoring. Arriving at the last race of the season with the title still in the air is what the owners of the category and the fans would always sign.
In the following 28 photos is the review of the World Cups that were decided with the fall of the last checkered flag of the year. From Farina and his Alfa Romeo in 1950 to the frantic duel in 2016 between teammates Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton . And then the summary of those races.
In 2021 we will experience a heart attack ending between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, once again.
The F1 world championships that were resolved in the last race, in photos
1950: Giuseppe Farina, first F1 world champion
1 / 28
Photo by: LAT Images
1951: Juan Manuel Fangio and the first of five
2 / 28
Photo by: LAT Images
1956: Fangio, his rival lets him win the title
3 / 28
Photo by: LAT Images
1958: Mike Hawthorn, the first title for a British
4 / 28
Photo by: LAT Images
1959: Jack Brabham does it by pushing his Cooper-Climax
5 / 28
Photo by: Hazel PR
1964: John Surtees defeats Hill and Clark
6 / 28
Photo by: LAT Images
1967: Denny Hulme gets his only title with Brabham by beating Brabham
7 / 28
Photo by: LAT Images
1968: Graham Hill is proclaimed champion
8 / 28
Photo by: LAT Images
1974: Fittipaldi’s Second
9 / 28
Photo by: Ford Motor Company
1976: The Legend of Hunt
10 / 28
Photo by: LAT Images
1981: Nelson Piquet by a single point
11 / 28
Photo by: Williams F1
1982: Keke Rosberg, the almost winless champion
12 / 28
Photo by: LAT Images
1983: Piquet scores the second
13 / 28
Photo Credit: BMW AG
1984: McLaren’s first is decided by half a point between teammates
14 / 28
Photo by: LAT Images
1986: Prost, two-time champion with McLaren
15 / 28
Photo by: LAT Images
1994: Three seasons after debuting, Schumacher is already champion
16 / 28
Photo by: XPB Images
1996: Third Time…Hill Gets It
17 / 28
Photo by: Renault
1997: It only took Jacques Villeneuve two seasons to be champion
18 / 28
Photo by: Renault
1998: A Finn wins again 17 years later
19 / 28
Photo by: LAT Images
1999: Mika Hakkinen, two-time champion with McLaren
20 / 28
Photo by: LAT Images
2003: Schumacher overtakes Fangio with six crowns
21 / 28
Photo by: Ferrari Media Center
2006: Fernando Alonso repeats feat with Renault
22 / 28
Photo by: XPB Images
2007: Raikkonen fishes in rough river
23 / 28
Photo by: XPB Images
2008: Hamilton gets revenge
24 / 28
Photo by: XPB Images
2010: Start of the Vettel era
25 / 28
Photo by: XPB Images
2012: Three-time championship for the German from Red Bull
26 / 28
Photo by: XPB Images
2014: Second crown for Hamilton a year after landing at Mercedes
27 / 28
Photo by: XPB Images
2016: Rosberg wins the internal battle against Hamilton at Mercedes
28 / 28
Photo by: Paul Ripke
The F1 world championships that were resolved in the last race, in text:
- 1950: Farina, first champion in history. The first season of F1 was resolved in the seventh and last round of the year. The trio of the almighty Alfa Romeo, Giuseppe Farina (22 points), Fangio (26) and Luigi Fagioli (24), arrived at Monza with chances of being champions. The scoring system was very different from the current one (8,6,4,3,2 and a point for the fastest lap). Farina led 78 of the 80 laps and a gearbox problem for Fangio on lap 23 and Fagioli’s third place gave the Turinese the title.
- 1951: Fangio, the first of five. The Argentine driver’s retirement at Monza left Alberto Ascari two points and José Froilán González six behind Alfa Romeo for the last round of the second F1 world championship in Pedralbes (Spain). Despite Ascari’s pole position, Juan Manuel Fangio would dominate the race to become F1 world champion for the first time, ahead of the Italian from Ferrari and another Argentine, also from Maranello.
- 1956: Fangio, four-time champion due to an enormous gesture from a teammate and rival. The 1956 title has a very special nuance. Fangio, Peter Collins, Stirling Moss and Jean Behra arrived with options to be champions at Monza, the last round of the year. Moss dominated the race from the start in his Maserati 250F. Fangio had mechanical problems on lap 30 (of the 50 total) and was forced to get out of his Ferrari. The team asked Luigi Musso to stop to give him the mount, but the Italian did not accept the orders. Collins was running second and the title was his at the time. 15 laps from the end he went in to change tires and saw Fangio in the box. The Englishman got off his D50 and said to his rival: “Keep going, master, I’m young and I’ll have time to fight for other championships.” Fangio managed to finish second and reach the four-time championship. Collins would never win a world championship before dying two years later at the German GP.
- 1958: Hawthorn, the first title for a Briton. Mike Hawthorn (Ferrari) and Stirling Moss (Vanwall) came into the first and last Moroccan GP separated by 8 points. Moss was leaving at the start and Hawthorn had to put up with pressure from Tony Brooks, Moss’s teammate. The one from Vanwall only had to win and set the fastest lap and that his Ferrari rival was third or worse. But Phill Hill received orders from the team garage to let Hawthorn pass for second with 15 laps to go. The Briton would retire a few days after being world champion at the age of 29 and would die in a traffic accident three months later.
- 1959: Brabham achieves it by pushing his Cooper-Climax. Jack Brabham, Moss and Tony Brooks arrived at the meeting with Sebring with options to win what would be the first title for all three. After overtaking Moss on lap six, Brabham held the lead until the last lap, where he was passed by teammate Bruce McLaren and Maurice Trintignant. The Australian ran out of gas and had to push his Cooper past the finish line, with Brooks overtaking him before crossing the finish line. Even so, he was proclaimed champion by four points of advantage.
- 1964: Surtees defeats Hill and Clark. John Surtees (Ferrari), Graham Hill (BRM) and James Clark (Lotus) disputed that year’s title in Mexico. Clark needed his other two rivals to drop out and win the final race of the season. Clark took the pole and would keep it until two laps from the end. While Surtees and Hill stayed 13th and 10th, with the Ferrari man suffering from engine problems. These were resolved and the British climbed up to fourth position. But with Clark winning, Surtees was left without a title. Clark’s Lotus began to lose oil two laps from the end until it stopped. But the Ferrari driver needed to be second to proclaim himself champion and his teammate Lorenzo Bandini made it easier for him to pass on the last lap.
- 1967: Hulme gets his only title with Brabham by beating… Brabham . The New Zealand driver was second to Jack Brabham that season and arrived at the event in Mexico with a 5-point lead. From 1961 to 1990, the scoring system would be 9, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1. The two Brabhams would start 5th and 6th, with the boss ahead. The Australian would fight back to third but Denny Hulme held his own and came in third to seize what would have been his fourth championship from his leader.
- 1968: Graham Hill is proclaimed champion. Three contenders made it to the 1968 finish: Hill (Lotus, 39 points), Jackie Stewart (Matra, 36) and Hulme (McLaren, 33). Hill started better than anyone, but Stewart passed him on lap five despite starting 7th. But in the 9, Lotus would regain the lead. Hulme retired two laps later after a suspension failure. The thing was between two, but a failure in the Scotsman’s engine relegated him to 7th final position and Hill’s victory meant the second and last title of the Hampstead rider.
- 1974: Fittipaldi’s second. Clay Regazzoni (Ferrari, 52 points), Emerson Fittipaldi (McLaren, 52) and Jody Scheckter (Tyrrell, 45) entered Watkins Glen with title options. All three started from behind the third row of the grid, with Reutemann taking pole. Regazzoni suffered from the opening stages in his Ferrari 312B3-74 and even if Fittipaldi retired, his place outside the points left him with no chance. The McLaren driver lagged behind Scheckter the entire race, until the Tyrrell driver suffered an oil leak on lap 45 and retired. The Brazilian was proclaimed world champion without getting on the podium.
- 1976: the legend of Hunt. It is possibly one of the most remembered endings, and more so after Ron Howard’s ‘Rush’ movie. 1976 was the season of Niki Lauda’s (Ferrari) dramatic accident at the Nurburgring in which he almost lost his life in flames. But the Austrian, despite intense pain, was back on track at Monza, having missed just two races. And he went into the last round with Fuji three points clear of James Hunt (McLaren). The organizers decided to start the grand prix despite the poor conditions due to heavy rain. Hunt took the lead from the start but Lauda, who dropped to 10th after starting 3rd, retired on lap three due to the amount of water on the track. The British had it done, it was enough for him to be fourth. But when the track started to dry out, he was losing the lead with 12 laps to go. Even so, he held third. But the intense wear of the tires made him stop 5 from the checkered flag, falling to fifth position. Everything seemed lost, but Hunt overtook Jones and Regazzoni in the closing laps and became world champion for the first and last time.
- 1981: Piquet, champion by one point. Carlos Reutemann (Williams, 49 points), Nelson Piquet (Brabham, 48) and Jacques Laffite (Ligier, 43) reached the first appointment in history with the circuit in the parking lot of the Caesar Palace Casino in Las Vegas with title options. The Argentine started on pole, while his rivals did so from 5th and 12th place. But Reutemann passed 5th the first lap and continued to lose positions. His two rivals had already overtaken him on lap 18. Reutemann was finally out of the points and Piquet managed to enter 5th in a hectic grand prix to be champion by a single point. With equal points, the Brazilian would also have won his first F1 title.
- 1982: Rosberg Sr. Nearly Winless Champion . Keke Rosberg (Williams, 42 points) arrived in Las Vegas with a points lead over Didier Pironi, but the Frenchman would not contest another F1 race after his accident at the German GP that same year. However, John Watson (McLaren, 33) harbored a slim chance of the title: winning the race and Rosberg not scoring (with equal points, Rosberg had only won one race all year). On lap 56, Watson moved up to 2nd position, but Michele Alboreto’s absolute dominance left him with no options. Rosberg minimized damage and with a fifth place finish he took the title.
- 1983: Piquet scores the second. Alain Prost (Renault, 57 points), Nelson Piquet (Brabham, 55) and René Arnoux (Ferrari, 49) landed in Kyalami (South Africa) with a chance of winning the championship. Tambay (Ferrari) and Piquet escaped in the lead from the first moments. The Brazilian had it all in his face, with Prost riding third. The Frenchman retired on lap 35 due to the turbo, as Arnoux did on lap 9. Renault’s only hope was that Piquet did not finish, but the Brazilian managed a second position that gave him his second title in three years.
- 1984: The first McLaren is decided by half a point between teammates. Lauda (66 points) and Prost (62.5) arrived in Estoril with the title in the air and with the same car, the MP4/2. The Austrian started 11th and Prost second. The Frenchman needed to win and that Lauda would be third or worse or be second if the Austrian did not score. On lap 9, Prost was already in the lead and Lauda was 9th out of the points. Lauda started to climb up the rankings to 3rd on lap 33. But Mansell’s brake problems meant the Austrian passed him. Prost trailed the championship by just 0.5 points to his teammate.
- 1986: Prost, two-time champion with McLaren. Nigel Mansell (Williams, 70 points), Prost (McLaren, 64) and Piquet (Williams, 63) landed in Adelaide with the battle for the title in full swing. That year’s Australian event was possibly one of the best races of the 1980s. The two Williams would start in the front row, with Prost sharing the second row with future teammate Ayrton Senna (Lotus). Piquet passed the first lap first after a series of overtaking with Mansell, Rosberg and Senna as protagonists. But on lap 7, Rosberg overtook the Brazilian and went off alone. Piquet spun and fell to 4th position on lap 23, Prost was second but Mansell was third. The Frenchman punctured a few laps later and fell to 4th position behind the Williams. All three were rolling in a handkerchief when Rosberg blew out his right rear and was out of the race. The lead went to Piquet, but he would lose it two laps later to Prost after Mansell’s tire burst. Williams called Piquet as a precaution to the pits and he cut until the final 4 seconds, but Prost crossed the checkered flag to win his second world title.
- 1994: Three seasons after debuting, Schumacher is already champion. Michael Schumacher (Benetton, 92 points) and Damon Hill (Williams, 91) arrived in Adelaide in one of the closest fights in living memory. The German had won 6 of the first 7 appointments that year, but a disqualification for interpreting the regulations to the limit at Spa and two penalty races for not respecting a black flag at Silverstone made the comeback possible for the Briton. Schumacher started 2nd, ahead of Hill. But on lap 35, the German went off the track and Hill overtook him, but on the way back he hit the British’s Williams, ending up against the barriers. Hill continued but when he reached the pits the mechanics found that his suspension was broken. Schumacher took his first title in tears, having given it up minutes before, but with controversy.
- 1996: Third… Hill gets it. Two years later, and after having been second again in 1995, this time without controversy, Hill arrived at Suzuka with a 9-point advantage over Jacques Villeneuve. The only thing that mattered to the Canadian was to win and that the British did not score, since with equal points, Hill had won more races that year. Although Villeneuve took pole position, he dropped to 6th on the opening lap and was unable to embarrass a Hill who completely dominated the race. The Canadian would leave on lap 36 after losing a wheel. Hill achieved it after three seasons in the top 3 at the end of the year.
- 1997: It only took Jacques Villeneuve two seasons to become champion. Schumacher (Ferrari, 78) and Villeneuve (Williams, 77) arrived at Jerez de la Frontera with the championship in hand. It could be the first for the Canadian after only two years in F1 and the first for the German with Ferrari, who had not won the drivers’ title since 1979 (with Scheckter). Both started in the front row, with Schumacher taking the lead in the early stages. Following tire changes, Villeneuve stuck to the Ferrari’s rear, managing to pass it only to be overtaken two laps later. But on lap 47, the Canadian was gaining position over the German and the latter intentionally collided with Williams’s. Schumacher was out of the race and Villeneuve managed to continue. In the last laps, Williams slowed down before the arrival of the McLaren. The third drawer was worth him to proclaim himself champion in his second year in F1.
- 1998: A Finn wins again 17 years later. Mikka Hakkinen (McLaren, 90 points) and Schumacher (Ferrari, 86) met at Suzuka five weeks after the last Grand Prix, in Luxembourg, and after an intense psychological war. In qualifying, the German led the Finn by just one tenth. After Trulli stalled his engine at the start, Schumacher did the same on the second attempt. Hakkinen had it all in his face. The Finn did not fail and although Schumacher came back to third before one of his tires burst due to the remains of an accident, Hakkinen achieved his first World Championship.
- 1999: Mika Hakkinen, two-time champion with McLaren. The Finn arrived at Suzuka four points behind Eddie Irvine and his Ferrari. With Schumacher starting on pole and the Irishman fifth, Hakkinen needed to win as on equal points Irvine had won one more race than him. And the Finn cemented his second crown since the first lap, setting an unstoppable pace for the Ferraris. Irvine would come within a minute and a half of his rival in third position and would never fight for a title again.
- 2003: Schumacher beats Fangio and makes history. Schumacher arrived in Japan with a 9-point lead over Kimi Raikkonen who was completing his second season with McLaren. In a crazy grid, the Finn would start 8th and the German 14th. Kimi needed to win and that Schumacher did not score, because with equal points the Ferrari driver had more victories. Schumacher tried to overtake Sato in a risky way on lap 5, but the young Japanese was not about to give up easily. The Ferrari’s front wing was flying and the ‘Kaiser’ had to climb from the bottom of the grid again. With Michael 11th, Raikkonen was running 2nd and with Barrichello in sight. But the Brazilian did not fail and Schumacher entered 8th in the last points position. A gray race to overcome the five titles of Juan Manuel Fangio. Michael was already the most successful in F1.
- 2006: Alonso repeats his feat and bitters the withdrawal of Schumacher. Schumacher’s retirement in Japan left Alonso with one hand in his second World Cup. The German from Ferrari had to win and that Alonso did not score in order, with equal points, to achieve his eighth world title on the day of his first goodbye to F1. A problem in the fuel pump of the 248 F1 in Q3 forced the German to start 10th, with Alonso fourth. After moving up to sixth place on lap 8, Fisichella caught him from behind, causing him to puncture Senna’s esses and fall to the back of the grid. The Ferrari man managed to come back to the 4th final position, but said goodbye to F1 for the first time with Fernando Alonso, two-time world champion at Interlagos, celebrating the second place on the podium and the championship.
- 2007: Raikkonen and Ferrari fish in the raging river at McLaren. 2007 will be remembered as the season in which McLaren lost the Drivers’ World Championship in infighting. Hamilton and Alonso squandered the lead they once had on the Finn and, due to internal turmoil at McLaren, saw Raikkonen win three of the last four races. In Brazil, the last round of the year, Hamilton had a three-point lead over Alonso and a seven-point lead over the Finn. Raikkonen needed to win and for Hamilton to be sixth or worse and Alonso third or worse. Or being second and Hamilton being eighth or worse and Alonso fourth or worse. Massa started from pole position with the three contenders occupying the rest of the first two rows of the grid. Hamilton fell to 8th position after the first four corners and the two Ferraris were leading. On lap 8, the Englishman saw his McLaren stall before restarting. He would go back to 7th, but it would not be enough, just as it was not enough for Alonso to get on the podium. Raikkonen won and won an unexpected title just a few months ago.
- 2008: Hamilton takes revenge. After Hamilton’s victory in China, the Englishman arrived in Brazil with a 7-point lead over Felipe Massa. The Brazilian needed to be at least second and for the Englishman to abandon or win his home grand prix and for Hamilton to be 6th or worse (with equal points he would win by having one more victory). The McLaren driver ran 4th for most of the race, but changing conditions and tire changes relegated him to sixth with three to go. With Massa dominating in the lead, Ferrari celebrated the victory and the title by crossing the checkered flag. But Timo Glock hadn’t fitted the wet tires and was struggling to keep his Toyota on track. In the last corner of the world championship, Hamilton managed to place 5th and add that extra point that gave him his first world championship.
- 2010: the start of the Vettel era defeating Ferrari and Alonso. F1 changed its scoring and moved to the top 10 scoring (25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1). Thus, after Sebastian Vettel’s victory in Brazil, the championship came to Abu Dhabi with Alonso (Ferrari, 246), Webber (Red Bull, 238), Vettel (Red Bull, 231) and even Hamilton (McLaren, 222) with options to be champion. Of course, the Englishman was the one who had it worse, needing to win, that Alonso did not score; that Webber was sixth or worse; and that Vettel was third or worse. Vettel, Hamilton and Alonso took the first three positions on the grid. On lap 15, Ferrari made one of the worst mistakes of his career: they stopped Alonso, who returned to the track 12th with cars ahead that were keeping up. The Spaniard needed to be fourth or better if Vettel won. With the German battling Hamilton and strategically gaining the upper hand, Alonso spent 39 laps behind Petrov’s Renault, which proved impossible to overtake. His seventh position and Vettel’s victory made the German the youngest driver to win an F1 world championship.
- 2012: Vettel’s three-time championship with drama in Brazil. 13 points separated Sebastian Vettel from Fernando Alonso when F1 reached the final race of the year in Brazil. Alonso had to win and Vettel had to be 5th or worse, because with equal points the German had more wins after his run of four in a row from Singapore to India. The German fell to the bottom of the table after a contact with Bruno Senna in the first corners of the race, with Alonso 5th. Nine laps later, the Red Bull driver was already sixth, two places behind his Ferrari rival. In a race that changed and changed again, Vettel found himself 7th with 13 laps to go with Alonso 3rd behind Massa. The Brazilian would let him pass three laps later so that he could go on his way to his three-time championship, but Vettel did not give up and it was he who scored the third of his sports career, the youngest to achieve it, after being 6th at the finish line on a crazy Sunday.
- 2014: The start of the smashing hybrid era of Hamilton and Mercedes. Hamilton arrived in Abu Dhabi with a 17-point advantage over teammate Nico Rosberg. But the appointment was worth double (50 points) for the first and only time in the history of F1. With the most dominant car of the season (15 wins from 18 races so far), Rosberg needed to win and his teammate to be 3rd or worse. But Hamilton snatched the lead from Rosberg at the start and only in conservative mode would he be threatened by Massa in the closing laps. The German from Mercedes suffered a problem with his hybrid system in the second half of the race and could not help but drag his car to the finish line to finish 14th. Hamilton achieved his second world title, showing that the change from McLaren to Mercedes for which he was criticized so much had its reason.
- 2016: Rosberg wins the internal war against Hamilton for his only title . Rosberg took advantage of the fact that Hamilton won the 2015 world championship soon and relaxed to win the last three races of that year, and extended his unbeatable streak by winning the first four of 2016. In the fifth, the historic accident in Barcelona between him and his teammate occurred. Hamilton, who has since won six of the next seven tests. That gave the Englishman the lead, but another run of four wins from five races put Rosberg back in front. From there, and until the end, he dedicated himself to swimming and saving clothes, and despite the fact that Hamilton won the last four grand prix (including the last one, in Abu Dhabi), Rosberg was second in all of them to end up being crowned by 5 point difference. Such was the pressure and so worn out from the battle that he and his partner and former friend Hamilton waged psychologically and sportingly, that five days later Rosberg announced his surprising retirement.
