The top five last-lap battles in F1 history including Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg collision

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Some dramatic duels on the last lap of Formula 1 races have changed the outcome of a Grand Prix and the championship, so F1 Oversteer looks at five of the most unforgettable battles.

Battling on the last lap can often lead to frantic action across the field with an extra sense of desperation when drivers are racing for the lead. This can lead to dramatic moments and controversial episodes that live long in the memory.

There have been some particular races throughout history since the world championship began in 1950 that left drivers and teams with contrasting emotions at the chequered flag.

Kimi Raikkonen won the 2005 Japanese Grand Prix from 17th place on the grid

Kimi Raikkonen drove superbly throughout the 2005 season and had the potential to win his first world championship in the last year of the V10 engine era. The Finnish driver finished second in the championship standings after taking seven wins for McLaren.

Fernando Alonso had already clinched the drivers title at the Brazilian Grand Prix so there was less pressure on the frontrunners heading into the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. Qualifying in 2005 was done over two one-lap runs. The first on Saturday afternoon and the second on Sunday morning.

The unique qualifying format meant cars ran in reverse championship order, which meant Raikkonen was one of the last drivers to run, and he couldn’t set a competitive time as rain got heavier over the session.

McLaren’s lead driver wasn’t the only one to be caught out with Michael Schumacher in P14 and Raikkonen himself splitting Alonso and Juan Pablo Montoya.

Alonso moved up to seventh place on the opening lap with a storming drive with home hero Takuma Sato’s race suffered a difficult beginning after contact with Rubens Barrichello.

Ralf Schumacher led from pole position, but his Toyota was short-fuelled in qualifying, which meant he had to stop earlier than most other cars.

Both Raikkonen and Alonso closed in on Schumacher 19 laps into the race, and the newly crowned champion swept around the outside at 130R without lifting off the throttle.

The Finn eventually followed and had tremendous pace to gain on Giancarlo Fischella, who led the race for Renault in the closing stages.

Raikkonen was much faster than the Italian, who defended unnecessarily into the Casio chicane, which allowed Raikkonen to gain on the pit straight but couldn’t get past.

The McLaren driver squared the corner off on the 53rd and final lap and went around the outside into Turn 1 as Fisichella desperately defended after letting a comfortable lead go.

Jenson Button won Formula 1’s longest-ever race at the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel dominated the opening rounds of the 2011 world championship, winning five of the first six races to defend his crown from the previous year.

Red Bull were the class of the field in the first year that, as well as the KERS system, combined DRS to improve overtaking, which returned after some teams used it in 2009.

Vettel led the world championship heading into Canada and the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and took pole position with a 1:13.014 ahead of Ferrari’s Alonso.

McLaren struggled by their lofty standards, with neither Lewis Hamilton nor Jenson Button on the front two rows of the grid. Button was even fractionally outqualified by Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg.

The race started behind the Safety Car amid heavy rain before the field was released after five laps and Hamilton immediately collided with Mark Webber at Turn 1.

Hamilton and Button made contact on the pit straight three laps later as the former looked to pass his teammate on the inside. Button moved across and the 2008 world champion hit the pit wall which ended his race.

This brought out a Safety Car, and Button received a penalty for speeding while the race was neutralised, which meant he rejoined in 15th place.

The rain worsened, and the race was suspended 26 laps into the event despite attempts to keep the cars out on the track behind the Safety Car.

After a two-hour delay, the Canadian Grand Prix resumed with Vettel holding the lead ahead of Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi and Ferrari’s Felipe Massa in third place behind the Safety Car.

Vettel pulled away once more under green flag conditions, and Button pitted 36 laps into the race for intermediates as conditions improved.

The 2009 world champion’s chaotic day continued the following lap as he collided with Alonso at Turn 3. This forced the Spaniard to retire from the race, and Button limped to the pits with a puncture, causing another Safety Car on Lap 37.

When the race resumed, Button was floundering in 21st place but found himself in P14 44 laps into the race, as he had excellent pace on the drying track.

The British driver continued to stay out of trouble and, on the last lap, sat in second place behind the race leader, Vettel, who had a relatively trouble-free day.

Button’s race engineer encouraged his driving in the closing stages and said over the radio: “We can have him; we can win this race, Jenson!”

Vettel may have been feeling the pressure as he locked up at Turn 3 before running wide on the entry to Turn 5 and catching oversteer on dry tyres on the damp part of the track.

This allowed Button to sneak through and take a very unlikely victory after being in last place twice and colliding with both Hamilton and Alonso.

Fernando Alonso won the 2005 European Grand Prix after Kimi Raikkonen’s suspension broke

Alonso had driven superbly in the opening stages of the 2005 World Championship, winning three of the opening four rounds, taking advantage of Raikkonen’s unreliable McLaren-Mercedes.

Despite the Finn’s unreliability, which would result in engine penalties later in the year, Raikkonen took two superb victories in a row in Spain and the Monaco Grand Prix.

This meant he headed to the Nurburgring with confidence, as Raikkonen looked to build momentum for the middle part of the European season.

The weekend started well in the Eifel Mountains as he qualified second behind Nick Heildfeld’s Williams-BMW, and Alonso struggled to sixth place.

Raikkonen critically led into Turn 1 ahead of the German, and carnage ensued further down the field, sparked by Montoya clattering into Webber.

The Finn was unchallenged in the opening stint and remained ahead of Heidfeld after the first round of pit stops, while David Coulthard was given a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

Halfway through the 59-lap race, Raikkonen made a couple of critical errors, which contributed significantly to him not scoring any points at the Nurburgring.

He ran wide at the Ford chicane, damaging his barge board and locking up his front-right tyre while attempting to lap Jacques Villeneuve. This caused a flat spot during a season when tyre changes weren’t allowed.

The tyre affected the McLaren’s braking ability, which allowed Alonso to close the gap. The Spaniard kept the pressure on, but the tyre let go when the race leader hit the brake pedal heading into Turn 1 for the final time.

Raikkonen spun into the gravel and ended up with no points, while Alonso took 10 points out of him in the championship battle. The debate rumbled on over whether or not he should’ve pitted to try and return to the points.

Alonso snatched the win and celebrated his fourth win of the year with Heidfeld in second place and Barrichello in third which gave the floundering Ferrari team something to smile about.

Max Verstappen snatched the world championship from Lewis Hamilton at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Can you think of a more controversial moment in F1 history than Abu Dhabi 2021?

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The 2021 season was a dramatic battle for the world championship. Hamilton looked for a record-breaking eighth world championship, while Max Verstappen pushed for his first.

There were major flashpoints over the year, including a first-lap collision at the British Grand Prix before Hamilton went on to win his home race after Verstappen retired.

Verstappen was also uncompromising in combat and aggressively took the lead at Turn 1 at Imola and the Spanish Grand Prix.

In the closing stages of the season, Hamilton created an inspiring WhatsApp group to motivate his team with a few rounds to go in the title fight.

The pair were level on points heading into Abu Dhabi after a chaotic inaugural event in Saudi Arabia, which Hamilton won.

Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit had undergone major changes to improve its flow, and Turn 5 had been critically opened up as an overtaking spot.

The old Turn 5-6 chicane had been removed, and the triple chicane following the second DRS zone was now a sweeping, banked left-hander. Some turns had also been opened up in the twisty final sector.

Verstappen took pole position, but Hamilton led into Turn 1 before being pushed off the track by the Red Bull driver at Turn 6, the first of many controversies.

Hamilton began to pull away from Verstappen and built up a significant nine-second advantage over his title rival at the start of the second stint.

Just 20 laps into the 58-lap, even Hamilton closed in on Verstappen’s teammate Perez, who had yet to make his pit stop. The Mexican held up Hamilton, which allowed Verstappen to close the gap.

Antonio Giovinazzi retired 35 laps into the race, bringing out a Virtual Safety Car. Red Bull pitted Verstappen for hard tyres, and he closed in on the race leader once more.

The critical moment arrived with five laps to go as Nicholas Latifi crashed with Mick Schumacher at Turn 14, causing a Safety Car.

Verstappen pitted for soft tyres as Hamilton stayed out on ageing hard compound Pirellis. The Dutchman kept second place but had five lapped cars between himself and Hamilton.

Lapped cars were told they couldn’t overtake as race director Michael Masi decided on the penultimate lap to allow on the five cars between the leading pair were allowed to unlap themselves.

Mercedes and team principal Toto Wolff were furious, and Verstappen lunged down the inside at Turn 5 to take the lead amid a pulsating final lap and went on to clinch his first world championship.

Lewis Hamilton took victory after colliding with Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg at the 2016 Austrian Grand Prix

The 2016 season was the peak of Mercedes’s dominance in Formula 1, as Hamilton won two consecutive world championships in 2014 and 2015.

Mercedes was once more in the class of the field in 2016, but Rosberg won the opening four rounds and benefitted from Hamilton’s unreliability and a series of costly starts.

Rosberg led the standings heading into the Austrian Grand Prix and was looking for his third win in a row at the Red Bull Ring.

Despite the German’s good form in the Styrian hills, Hamilton took pole position by half a second ahead of Rosberg, who started sixth after a gearbox penalty.

This promoted Nico Hulkenberg onto the front row of the grid, but Hamilton still remained in front as the Force India driver dropped behind Button’s McLaren-Honda at Turn 1.

Rosberg sat in fourth place after passing Hulkenberg six laps into the race as he looked to clear the traffic and close the gap to Hamilton.

The German took the lead after undercutting his teammate, while Hamilton also endured the agony of a slow pit stop, which cost him the lead.

Vettel retired 27 laps into the event as his rear tyre let go on the main straight, allowing Hamilton and the rest of the field to close the gap to Rosberg.

Hamilton couldn’t find a way past his teammate but eventually got a run on him up the hill out of Turn 1 as Rosberg began to struggle with a brake-by-wire problem on the last lap.

The pair collided with Hamilton on the outside as Rosberg turned the wheel very late and beyond the apex of the hairpin.

They touched again on the exit as Hamilton rejoined while Rosberg limped home with a damaged front wing. He dropped to fourth place behind Verstappen and Raikkonen before being given a 10-second time penalty for the last-lap crash.