These photo finishes shocked the racing world. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at the overtakes and heartbreaks that led to the most dramatic victories in Formula One, up to and including the 2023 campaign.
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00:00 Verstappen now snatches the championship trophy from Lewis Hamilton, who's trying to fight back!
00:06 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at the overtakes and heartbreaks that led to the most dramatic victories in Formula 1, up to and including the 2023 campaign.
00:14 Never seen anything like it! Enormous bravery by Alonso.
00:18 Number 10. Mercedes Civil War, Austrian GP
00:22 Hamilton wins out! Hamilton takes the Austrian Grand Prix! The 250th Grand Prix win by a British driver!
00:29 By 2016, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were no strangers to getting close on track. As each battled for the championship in a dominant Mercedes, the pair's once-friendly rivalry had turned bitter, to say the least.
00:40 At the Austrian Grand Prix, it was Hamilton's turn to chase down his teammate, and this time the drama came down to the very last lap.
00:46 It's online! They've touched again!
00:48 Hamilton went for a move into Turn 2, and Rosberg defended aggressively. Neither driver gave way, and the resulting contact left Rosberg with a damaged front wing and a 10-second penalty.
00:57 And Lewis Hamilton does manage to overtake his teammate, but the damage has been done to the front wing.
01:03 They say Hamilton's quite slow, too.
01:05 In one corner, Rosberg lost the win and the podium, only managing to recover to fourth place.
01:10 Number 9. Brabham Falls at the final hurdle, Monaco GP
01:14 And on the last lap, it's anybody's win.
01:17 Overtaking at the Monaco Grand Prix is more or less unheard of in modern Formula One, but Jörgen Rind's pressure paid off in 1970, forcing a last-corner mistake from Jack Brabham.
01:27 The Australian Brabham led over half the race in relative comfort, while Rind capitalized on reliability issues to gradually move into contention.
01:35 Brabham's gone straight on. Brabham's run out of road.
01:37 Once in second, Rind upped the pace, clawing back a nine-second gap to the leader.
01:41 And Rind wins the race.
01:43 All Brabham had to do was keep the car on the racing lane, but he went too defensive, taking a dusty inside lane around the final bend.
01:50 Brabham skidded into the barriers, and Rind passed for a grateful victory.
01:54 Number 8. Sainz's Speed of Thought, Singapore GP
01:57 You know what? This is my first smooth operation in Ferrari.
02:03 Smooth operator.
02:06 In the final laps of the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz was just keeping Lando Norris at bay.
02:12 But the McLaren wasn't the only threat. Mercedes risked an extra pit stop, leaving George Russell and Lewis Hamilton to reel in the leaders in the closing stages.
02:19 The gamble paid off, and the silver arrows caught up in plenty of time.
02:22 But Sainz pulled off a masterclass in high-speed strategy, actually slowing down to allow Norris to close the gap.
02:28 Norris, with the slipstream from Sainz's Ferrari, was too fast on the straights for either Mercedes to make a move, and frustration eventually got the better of Russell.
02:36 And into the barrier goes George Russell! Been struggling on his tires, Russell's beard for Singapore glory ends up in the barriers.
02:45 Sainz took the win while Russell could only take to the wall.
02:47 Carlos Sainz wins the Singapore Grand Prix!
02:51 Lando Norris comes home to collect that second place, and it's Lewis Hamilton who completes the 1-2-3!
02:59 Bravo! Take a bow! What a thrilling end to that Grand Prix!
03:04 #7. The race nobody wanted to win. Monaco GP.
03:07 Alan Prost looked set for an anticlimactic win at the 1982 Monaco Grand Prix, but the rain had other ideas.
03:13 As did Arnoux! My goodness, what about Patrese now? That tells you how wet it is!
03:18 The Frenchman stayed out on dry tires only to slide into the barriers with two laps to go.
03:22 Riccardo Patrese took the lead but spun his Brabham down the field.
03:26 Next up, Didier Pironi neared the chequered flag, but not before running out of fuel.
03:30 Is that Pironi stationary? It is! My goodness! The third leader in two laps!
03:37 Fourth in line to inherit the win was Andrea de Cesaris, but by the time the cameras had caught up, they found his Alfa Romeo had also stopped with fuel issues.
03:44 In the chaos, Patrese had got going again and crossed the line to win a race he didn't even know he was leading.
03:49 There is a man who could have said this, he's going to win the Monaco Grand Prix despite having spun off.
03:57 Riccardo Patrese comes up to the line to win his first Grand Prix.
04:02 He takes the chequered flag and wins, certainly the most eventful, exciting, momentous Grand Prix I have ever seen.
04:11 The famous Monza circuit was not as we know it in 1971.
04:17 Longer straights made the slipstream so powerful that cars ran closer together and regularly swapped places.
04:22 The high speeds also meant reliability issues and safety risks, which left some unlikely contenders in the leading pack at the latest Italian Grand Prix.
04:30 Among them, Peter Gethin, who came out of the final corner of the race in third position.
04:34 But you guessed it, Gethin took two places on the line for his only win in the sport's closest ever finish.
04:39 Runner-up Ronnie Peterson lost out by a hundredth of a second, with the top four separated by under two tenths.
04:45 Number 5. Hamilton hangs on. British GP.
04:47 Sir Lewis Hamilton has won 103 races in his Formula One career, but only one on three wheels.
04:53 "I'm staggered they didn't bring that car in to protect against that. It was only going to be a fraction behind the other car."
05:00 The Brit was cruising at his home race in the 2020 season when a late puncture for teammate Valtteri Bottas raised eyebrows on the pit wall.
05:07 Hamilton was told to nurse his Mercedes home, and Max Verstappen, over 30 seconds behind in second, suddenly sniffed a win.
05:13 On the last lap, the unthinkable happened. Hamilton's tire blew out.
05:16 In the final corners, the world champion used all his experience to keep his three remaining tires on the tarmac, crossing the line only just ahead of the flying Dutchman.
05:24 "It's Lewis Hamilton who takes the race! Max Verstappen comes home to take second!"
05:31 Number 4. Hill denied impossible win. Hungarian GP.
05:34 "He's running quite quickly as far as an ordinary motorist is concerned, but paralytically slow as far as Formula One is concerned."
05:42 World champion in 1996, Damon Hill was controversially dropped by Williams for the following season.
05:47 His new team, Arrows, had never won a race in F1, but an upset was on the cards when Hill took a shock lead at the 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix.
05:54 "Great Mario, Damon's just come on the radio to say that he's having a problem with his throttle. It's not backing off properly."
05:59 The reigning champ drove an impeccable race, only extending his on-track lead to title challenger Jacques Villeneuve.
06:05 But it just wasn't to be. Hill slowed with a hydraulic issue just two laps from the finish, and Villeneuve swept past to claim the win.
06:12 "Well, Villeneuve wins the Hungarian Grand Prix. Damon Hill is second, Johnny Herbert is third, Michael Schumacher finishes two-tenths of a second ahead of his brother in fifth position."
06:25 Hill held on for second place, still the joint best result in Team Arrows history.
06:29 3. Jenson's Canada comeback, Canadian GP
06:32 "Surely one of the finest races of his life, and the best Grand Prix of his spectacular career."
06:40 Jenson Button's 2011 Canadian Grand Prix couldn't have got off to a worse start.
06:44 "No question, it's a moment to McLaren's touch!"
06:46 On a wet track, the McLaren driver ran wide to lose early places, collided with both Fernando Alonso and teammate Lewis Hamilton,
06:53 served a drive-through penalty, punctured a tire, and at one point ran dead last.
06:57 After a two-hour rain suspension, Button finally got the hang of the conditions.
07:01 The 2009 world champion called for tire changes at just the right time and picked his way through the field.
07:06 "He's gone wide! He turned in too late, he got the tires, Button leads the Grand Prix!"
07:10 Button started the final lap just a second behind leader Sebastian Vettel, and forced the German wide to claim the most unlikely of victories.
07:17 "He wins a brilliant race, it's a sensational drive for Button, what a victory!"
07:23 2. Kimi Risks It All, Japanese GP
07:26 "Kimi Raikkonen sweeps through to take the lead of the Japanese Grand Prix!"
07:31 In 2005, a wet qualifying saw Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen start the Japanese Grand Prix back in '16 and '17.
07:39 The two championship protagonists lived up to their reputations, lighting up the timing screens and putting on a show for the fans at Suzuka.
07:45 Alonso shot past Mark Webber to finish on the podium, but up ahead, Raikkonen was chasing the top step.
07:50 "I've never seen anything like it!"
07:52 A late pit stop gave him work to do, but Kimi pushed his McLaren to the limit, taking over a second a lap out of Giancarlo Fisichella's lead.
07:59 "Yes! What a brilliant move! Side by side down the straight!"
08:05 The Iceman pulled off a last gasp swoop around the outside to mark one of the all-time recovery drives.
08:10 "Kimi Raikkonen, the winner! Absolutely sensational performance in second place!"
08:18 Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
08:21 Michael closes on Mika, Spanish GP, taken in denied first win of season by faulty engine and closing Schumacher.
08:27 "And on the very last lap of the Spanish Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher looks as though he's going to go through and take another win!
08:36 What an incredible situation! It would be his third, and Mika Hakkinen has pulled off!"
08:42 Alonso pounces on McLaren mistake, European GP. Raikkonen gambles on used tires, spectacularly crashes out from the lead.
08:49 "The tire lets go! He just misses the VAR! I said he should have pitted! I told you he would have got a podium if he pitted, instead of which he's going to get absolutely nothing!"
08:58 Clark twice denied victory, Italian GP. Sertiis wins after Clark suffers tire and fuel issues 48 laps apart.
09:05 "Clark missing, and Brabham leads Sertiis. Wrong! Sertiis takes Brabham. Photo finish."
09:12 Okan holds off two world champions, Hungarian GP. Esteban Okan takes maiden win from charging Vettel and Hamilton.
09:19 "Esteban Okan is going to be a Grand Prix winner in Formula 1! Okan wins the Hungarian Grand Prix!"
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09:42 #1. Yas Marina Showdown, Abu Dhabi GP
09:46 "Is it going to be a first world championship for Verstappen? Is it going to be an eighth world championship for Lewis Hamilton?"
09:52 It was winner takes all in the 2021 season finale, with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen level on points heading to Abu Dhabi.
09:59 Hamilton built a comfortable lead and looked set for a record eighth world title, until a crash for Nicolas Latifi completely tore up the script.
10:06 Verstappen took advantage of the safety car to pit for new tires, but lapped cars stood between himself and Hamilton.
10:11 In a first for the sport, only the five drivers between the Brit and the Dutchman were allowed to unlap themselves, leaving a single lap for the top two to battle it out.
10:20 "It's Verstappen, far enough back, he's going to make the lunge down the inside! Hamilton sees him coming! It's a late lunge by Verstappen, who takes the lead of the race!"
10:28 Verstappen had the pace on new rubber and passed Hamilton in the final seconds to take his first of many championships.
10:34 "And it's going Dutch in 2021! Max Verstappen, for the first time ever, is champion of the world!"
10:43 Which one of our picks kept you on the edge of your single seater? Did we miss any nail-biting moments? Let us know in the comments.
10:48 "Oh my lord, Max! Oh my god! Yes! Yes! Oh my god!"
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11:03 [Music]