Top 10 Greatest Last-Lap Victories in Formula 1 History

Some races end cleanly. The fastest car wins, the podium is predictable, and everyone goes home on time.

Then there are the other ones.

The ones where you’re watching through your fingers. Where a championship flips in the final sector.

Where a driver who looked beaten somehow finds another gear.

Greatest Last-Lap Victories in Formula 1 History

These are the moments that make Formula 1 worth following, and the ten listed here are the best of them.

The Top 10 Greatest Last-Lap Victories in Formula 1

10. Spanish GP, 1986: Senna vs. Mansell – 0.014 Seconds

This one belongs in physics textbooks. Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell crossed the line at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya just 0.014 seconds apart—one of the closest finishes the sport has ever recorded.

Mansell pushed every inch of that final lap, but Senna held the inside line where it counted. A margin thinner than a blink.

---

9. Hungarian GP, 2014: Ricciardo Picks Off Two Champions

Daniel Ricciardo came into the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix as the underdog.

He left having overtaken both Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages on fresher tires, yes, but the moves themselves were surgical.

Two overtakes, two moves on two all-time greats, one win. Red Bull had a quiet season otherwise, which made this result land harder.

---

8. Belgian GP, 2000: Häkkinen’s Double Overtake at Spa

Mika Häkkinen’s move on Michael Schumacher at Spa-Francorchamps is probably the most technically brilliant pass in the sport’s history.

Using a backmarker as a screen, Häkkinen split both cars on the Kemmel Straight—appearing from nowhere, dispatching Schumacher, and disappearing into the distance.

It was planned in half a second and executed perfectly. Schumacher had no answer.

---

7. Monaco GP, 1992: Senna Holds Off Mansell

Monaco, 1992. Mansell pits late, takes on fresh rubber, and closes a five-second gap to Senna in just a handful of laps.

What follows is one of the great defensive drives in racing history. Senna left no gaps. None.

Mansell sat in his mirrors for multiple corners, but the door never opened. Final margin: two seconds. It felt much smaller than that.

---

6. San Marino GP, 2005: Alonso Shuts the Door on Schumacher

Imola, 2005. Michael Schumacher, in a clearly faster Ferrari, hunted Fernando Alonso for the final laps.

Alonso—still in his early twenties managed the gap and the positioning with the calmness of someone who’d been doing it for decades.

Schumacher never found the gap he needed. Alonso crossed the line first, and it felt like a changing of the guard.

---

5. Canadian GP, 2011: Button’s Impossible Comeback

The 2011 Canadian Grand Prix lasted over four hours, featured a record-setting safety car period, and ended with Jenson Button winning from behind after six pit stops and a drive-through penalty.

He caught Sebastian Vettel on the final lap. Vettel, under pressure, ran wide.

Button went through. It’s the kind of result that sounds made up, and it absolutely happened.

---

4. Japanese GP, 1989: Senna vs. Prost, Title Decider

Suzuka, 1989. Senna and Alain Prost collide at the chicane. Senna continues, wins the race, and is then disqualified on a technicality. Prost becomes champion.

The bitterness between the two men—already at its peak—never fully dissolved after this.

Whether you think the stewarding was fair or not, the collision itself was the result of two drivers who wanted the same piece of tarmac, and neither was willing to yield.

Title rivalries don’t get more charged than this.

---

3. Austrian GP, 2002: Barrichello Told to Move Over

This one makes the list for a different reason. Rubens Barrichello dominated the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix and was ordered by Ferrari to let Michael Schumacher through in the final meters.

He complied. Schumacher won. The crowd booed. The FIA later changed the rules on team orders. As a piece of pure racing drama, it’s ugly. As a moment that shaped the sport, it’s significant.

---

2. Abu Dhabi GP, 2021: Verstappen’s Title Lap

The 2021 season finale is one of the most-debated finishes in Formula 1 history.

A late safety car, a controversial decision on which lapped cars could unlap themselves, and a final lap with Verstappen on fresh tires against Hamilton on old ones.

Verstappen passed Hamilton into Turn 5. That was it. First championship.

People are still arguing about what happened in the race director’s headset. The pass itself, though, was clean.

---

1. Brazilian GP, 2008: Hamilton’s Last-Corner Title

This is the one. Lewis Hamilton needed fifth place to become champion.

With two laps to go, he was sixth, stuck behind Sebastian Vettel, watching Felipe Massa celebrate on the pit wall monitors.

Then, in the final sector of the final lap, Hamilton caught Timo Glock—who was on dry tires in wet conditions—and passed him for fifth. It happened at the last corner of the last lap of the season.

Hamilton became the youngest champion in F1 history at the time. Massa had already started celebrating. The photo of Massa realizing it wasn’t over—that one gets shared every year.

What do these moments have in Common?

They’re not just exciting because of the action. They’re exciting because the stakes were real.

A championship decided by a corner. A season’s worth of work hinging on a tire compound choice.

Two drivers who genuinely disliked each other were sharing the same piece of track.

What separates an ordinary overtake from a last-lap battle in F1 history is context—and all ten of these have it in abundance.

FAQs

• What’s the closest finish in Formula 1 history?

The 1971 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, where Peter Gethin won by 0.01 seconds. Five cars crossed the line within 0.61 seconds of each other.

• Has a Formula 1 title ever been decided on the last lap of the season?

Yes. The 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix and 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix are two of the clearest examples—both decided in the closing moments of the final race.

• Which F1 driver is considered best in last-lap battles?

Ayrton Senna and Lewis Hamilton appear most often in these conversations. Senna’s defensive driving at Monaco in 1992 and Hamilton’s title-winning pass in 2008 are the moments most cited.

• Why do last-lap battles happen more in F1 than in other motorsports?

Tire degradation, safety car timing, and pit stop strategies often compress the field late in a race—creating situations where gaps that looked safe at Lap 40 evaporate by Lap 58.

• What was controversial about the 2021 Abu Dhabi finish?

The decision on which lapped cars were allowed to unlap themselves before the final restart left Verstappen on fresh tires directly behind Hamilton, with one lap to race. The FIA later acknowledged the race director had not followed the correct procedure.

Conclusion:

The best last-lap moments in Formula 1 aren’t just about who was fastest.

They’re about decisions made in fractions of a second, strategies that backfired, and drivers who refused to accept the result until the checkered flag fell.

If you’re new to the sport, these ten races are a reasonable starting point.

If you’ve watched them already, they hold up.