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F1 is the epitome of racing in so many respects. Simultaneously, it is a source of entertainment for its viewers as well. Throughout the years, F1 has tried to endear itself to its viewers by focusing on bringing more action to the races — like the initiative to introduce DRS and the new regulations in 2022.
Yet, nothing sells like drama. And nothing causes more drama than an F1 championship getting decided under controversial circumstances. There have been moments in the history of the sport where we have seen the championship getting decided in a less than straightforward manner.
Ironically, it is these specific phases in the sport where popularity would peak and bring in more eyeballs. In this piece, we take a look at the top 3 championships that had controversial endings.
#3 1990 F1 Championship — Ayrton Senna crashes into Alain Prost to win the title
The legendary battle between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost was surely going to make this list. In this particular case, the two rivals battled it out for the championship for the third year in succession.
Senna had a nine-point advantage over Prost going into the race — a win yielded 9 points in those days. Should both rivals fail to score any points in the penultimate race of the season in Japan, Ayrton Senna would be the champion.
On Saturday, Senna would duly clinch pole position while Prost would line up second on the grid. At the start of the race, with Prost getting a better start, it did appear that Senna would find himself in second at the first turn.
Surprisingly, Senna did not lift off the throttle at the first turn and caused a huge crash between himself and Prost. Both drivers would retire on the spot and Senna would become the 1990 F1 world champion. The move came under scrutiny and criticism all around the paddock but when the dust settled, Senna was still the champion, winning the title in one of the more contentious ways.
#2 1994 F1 Championship — Michael Schumacher collides with Damon Hill and wins the title
The 1994 F1 championship was the first of seven titles won by Michael Schumacher during his career. Like many other things the German did, this one also had a lot of controversies attached to it. After having his championship lead cut to just one point in the previous race following a late surge by Damon Hill, Michael Schumacher was under immense pressure. The Briton, driving a quicker car at the moment, just needed to finish ahead of the German to win the championship.
Things took a turn for the worse when Schumacher was leading the race with Hill following him. On lap 35 of the race in Australia, Schumacher ran wide and off the track. Seeing an opportunity to make the pass, Hill would dive down the inside only to have the German run into the side of his Williams.
Both drivers would retire from the race and Michael Schumacher would win his first title in what was a less than satisfactory manner.
#1 2021 F1 Championship — Last lap shootout decides the title)
At the top, we have the most recent championship battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. This one takes the cake because the championship did not involve anything contentious done by either of the two drivers. The controversial moment, however, came on the second to last lap of the season when Michael Masi, the race director, would overrule the standard operating procedures followed for a safety car restart.
Instead of letting every driver unlap themselves, the race director only allowed the cars between Verstappen and Hamilton to unlap themselves. The race, which was seemingly going to finish under a safety car, was turned upside down as it left Hamilton exposed to Verstappen, who was on fresh soft tires, while the Mercedes driver was on worn-out hard tires.
The championship was already hanging in the balance between Hamilton and Verstappen. With the winner being decided based on who finished in front of the other, the Briton would lose out to the Dutchman, in turn, losing the title.
The way the restart was handled was dubious at best as proper procedures were not followed. The outrage caused by what happened at the last race of the 2021 season has still not died down with the FIA investigating what happened and how they will prevent such a scenario in the future.
