F1 Brazilian GP: Top 5 title turnarounds at Interlagos

3 - 2007, The Iceman Cometh

Kimi Raikkonen won his first title in the most unlikely of circumstances

Lewis Hamilton appeared to have the drivers' world title sewn up after winning the Japanese Grand Prix in superb style. However, a rookie error at the Chinese Grand Prix had put Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and his teammate Fernando Alonso in with an outside shot of snatching the title in Brazil. Hamilton had qualified second, good enough for the title, but was sandwiched by the Ferraris of home hero Felipe Massa (1st) and Raikkonen (3rd), Alonso started 4th.

The Ferraris got a much better getaway off the line and led 1-2 into Turn 1, before Alonso compounded Hamilton's misery by getting down the inside of his teammate into the second corner, thanks to Raikkonen blocking the Brit. Lewis then made another poor mistake, out-braking himself at the end of the back-straight and dropping to eighth.

Hamilton had been making ground back up, but he seemed to be out of the race on Lap 7, his car crawling to almost a halt. Lewis' gearbox had almost failed him, but thanks to the pit wall, he rebooted his car and was on his way again. He had a mountain to climb, though, now running down in eighteenth. If the race ended at that moment, Raikkonen would be champion, but Hamilton wasn't going down without a fight.

Hamilton slashed his way through the field and was in the points by Lap 55, but he had to reach fifth by the finish. Ferrari conducted their pre-planned switch, as Raikkonen emerged from the pits ahead of Massa. Hamilton had a fast car but soon found himself a lap down and seventh was as far as he could recover to.

Alonso finished third, almost a minute behind the Ferraris, who excelled in the searingly hot weather. Raikkonen, though, was on could nine, he'd won the championship despite being 17 points behind Hamilton with 20 to play for.