F1: Top 5 Australian Grand Prix' of all time

Formula 1 and the Australian Grand Prix return this weekend, and fans of the sport will be hoping that Sunday's race will be a suitably eventful affair.

Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton are the two favourites to battle it out for the Driver's World Championship once again, but a change in aerodynamic regulations coupled with some exciting driver transfers has the potential to produce a thrilling season.

They say that in life, you should begin as you mean to go on, and motorsport is no exception, especially Formula 1. Here are 5 of the most exciting Grands Prix that have ever taken place in the Land Down Under.

#5 Rosberg Wins Thriller as Alonso Spectacularly Crashes

Nico Rosberg won the opening round of the 2016 season, he'd go on to win the title that year.

While the previous two years' Grands Prix left much to be desired, the race three years ago, though, was an incredible spectacle.

As we've become accustomed to in the new V6 era, the two Mercedes cars occupied the front row of the 2016 Australian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton, ahead of Nico Rosberg on the grid, but the Ferraris muscled their way past the pair going into Turn 1.

Hamilton had a horror-start, the first of several during this season, and was sixth by the end of the first lap. The order remained largely the same, Sebastian Vettel leading Kimi Raikkonen, until Lap 17 of 57, when Fernando Alonso’s McLaren ploughed into the back of Esteban Gutierrez’s Haas in a spectacular accident to bring the red flags out.

When the race got back underway, a strategic error by Ferrari meant that Vettel had to pit once more compared to Rosberg and Hamilton behind him. To add insult to injury for the Scuderia, Raikkonen had to retire with a turbo failure shortly after the restart.

Despite a late surge by Vettel, it was yet another 1-2 for Mercedes, but Romain Grosjean’s heroics further down the grid also grabbed the headlines. The Frenchman finished sixth and scored points on Haas’ F1 debut, but it was far from the best debut race down under…

#4 Brawn Get off to the Perfect Start

2009 brought a large shakeup in the regulations, not dissimilar to those which we saw in 2014 and 2017, and this always provides teams lower down with an opportunity to close the gap to the fastest outfits.

From the embers of the Honda Racing F1 team came Brawn Grand Prix, and not much was expected of them going into the opening race in Melbourne. That was until qualifying, when they unbelievably got a 1-2, as Jenson Button claimed pole with teammate Rubens Barrichello alongside him.

When the race got underway, Barrichello almost stalled and plummeted down the field into P9 and was lucky not to retire after contact with Mark Webber. The Brazilian driver then set about regaining the places he lost on the first lap, and after a sloppy move on Kimi Raikkonen, he was on his way.

Late on in the race, Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica came together when the Pole was trying to make a move. This meant that both retired and Barrichello snuck into second place behind Jenson Button, who was wheel-perfect all race.

Brawn GP debuted with a 1-2, and Lewis Hamilton got an incredible third in his lacklustre McLaren before he was disqualified in controversial circumstances.

#3 Schumacher and Hill clash in Controversial Circumstances

Michael Schumacher won his first of seven titles down under in '94.

With the tragic passing of Ayrton Senna in San Marino earlier that year, the door was open for a new champion to take their place at the top of the sport. There were two leading candidates; Damon Hill, the late Brazilian's teammate and Michael Schumacher of Benetton.

Schumacher had started the season in incredible form, winning six of the first seven races. However, through a variety of penalties and improved form from Damon the title went to the final round, the Australian Grand Prix at Adelaide. Schumacher had an advantage of just 1 point but started in front of Hill on the grid. He converted his advantage into a lead with Hill not far behind but unable to challenge.

On lap 36 Schumacher made an uncharacteristic mistake and ran wide, hitting the wall on the tight street circuit. This possibly damaged his car, but we'll never know because what happened next has gone down in infamy in F1.

Hill didn't see the accident, he only saw the Benetton coming back onto the track, and attempted to get past the German. But Schumacher wasn't having any of it and collided with Damon, taking himself out of the race (sounds familiar, doesn't it?). Hill tried to continue but his suspension was too damaged and he was in tears.

Some say it was a racing incident, others say that Michael drove into Hill. But the history books will always say that on that day Schumacher won the first of his seven titles and would defend his crown the following year.

#2 Brilliant Battles Set Precedent for a Great Season

The 2003 Australian GP was one of the most eventful around Melbourne

After 3 titles in a row, one could be forgiven for feeling a sense of déjà vu when Michael Schumacher claimed pole around the Albert Park circuit in 2003. However, a jumbled-up grid in qualifying coupled with a damp track from rain earlier in the day produced a fantastic race.

After a hectic start, the Safety Car came out on Lap 7 to stabilise the field, thanks to the offs of Rubens Barrichello and Ralph Firman. Juan Pablo Montoya led the race after that affair, and by Lap 36 of 58, was chased by Kimi Raikkonen's McLaren and M Schumacher’s Ferrari.

Michael was desperate to pass the McLaren and close up to Montoya, but a lunge down the outside of Turn 1 ruined his chances of doing so. The German tried to take Kimi around the outside but was forced off and damaged his car.

With just 8 laps remaining, as Montoya looked set to win the race, David Coulthard was closing, but the Brit was still a few seconds back. The Williams driver then did something completely unexpected, he went into Turn 1 too fast, spun around and gifted the lead to the McLaren.

Coulthard was a hardened veteran of F1 and was never going to make the same mistake. Montoya limped home to get second place but it could’ve so easily been the Colombian’s second win in the sport.

#1 Three-way Title Scrap

Nigel Mansell missed out on his first title in 1986 in a tight battle.

Three drivers were fighting for the Driver's World Title in the final race of the 1986 season in Adelaide. Williams was the car to beat this year, with their two drivers, Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet the favourites for the title. Defending champion Alain Prost had done brilliantly to remain in the title hunt and was actually ahead of Piquet in the standings coming into Round 16.

Mansell had a 6 point advantage over Prost and a 7 point lead on Piquet. He also had the edge in qualifying, claiming pole ahead of his Brazilian teammate. However, in the race, Mansell gave up the lead and fell back to 4th, behind Keke Rosberg (Prost's teammate), Ayrton Senna and Piquet but he was still in championship position.

After 23 laps of 82, Piquet spun losing a few places in the process and Prost got a puncture which forced him to pit and drop back even further.

Things were looking very good for Mansell with 25 laps to go. The three contenders were running 2nd, 3rd and 4th and when Rosberg retired Nigel was up to 3rd, the place that he needed to win the title. But then disaster struck...

Mansell's tyre had exploded at one of the fastest points of the track and he was out of the race. Now the advantage swung towards Piquet, but the Brazilian pit to prevent the problem that afflicted his teammate reoccurring.

Prost lead and won the Grand Prix despite Piquet's best efforts to catch the Frenchman. Prost now joined an elite group of drivers to become back-to-back world champions, he'd go on to win two more titles before he retired in 1993.

This is why the likes of Bernie Ecclestone consider Alain Prost the greatest ever driver.

But what do you think is the best Australian Grand Prix ever? Let us know in the comments below!