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Though it always seems like one driver dominates the others throughout a season, the championship title winner always has a close battle to win it. Formula One 2017 season seemed like Sebastian Vettel's midway through the season. However, started turning around later, as Hamilton went on to win that title after winning seven races out of last nine, finishing with a 46-point lead ahead of Vettel.
The ongoing 2018 season also seems to be open for the title winner spot, as Vettel is behind Hamilton by just 30 points with 7 races left. Title turnaround is very much possible.
The ending stage of a season brings out the best from every driver, as they upheave their potential not just to win the race, but also to outmaneuver their competitors. Formula One history has seen a lot of these title turnarounds, right from Lauda-Hunt times to Vettel-Hamilton times.
Let's see the top 5 title turnarounds in F1.
#5 Nelson Piquet, 1981
Rising from anonymity in the 1980 Formula One season by coming second in the drivers' championship with his Brabham BT49C, raised many eyebrows. However, the hard-fought vibe of the previous season took time to catch up for the Brazilian driver as he failed to score points in four out of the first seven races. With only 2 wins in his belt, Piquet was 22 points behind the Argentine driver, Reutemann.
The second half of the season seemed as if it was perfectly scripted for Piquet as he had a run of six point-finishes from the closing six rounds, which included 3 podiums, while Reutemann managed to score only thrice during the same time, paving way for Nelson Piquet to claim his first championship.
#4 Sebastian Vettel, 2012
Out of the 4 consecutive championships of Vettel, the most hard-fought one would definitely be the championship of the 2012 season where the German completed his hat-trick. In the first 13 races of the season, Vettel could manage only one win, which left him 39 points behind Alonso, who was initially destined to win that season's title comfortably.
Pirelli's inconsistency was established through their degrading tire range as Red Bull struggled quite evidently. Vettel revived his form in the Asian leg of the calendar, and streaked 4 wins consecutively at Singapore, Japan, Korean and Indian Grands Prix. Then, he finished sixth in the last round at Interlagos, thereby stealing the title off Alonso, with a 3 point lead. Despite 13 podium finishes that season, Alonso finished the season as the second best.
#3 John Surtees, 1964
Surtees, driving with Ferrari for the second year during the 1964 ten race calendar, started off the campaign pretty slow. With three mechanical failures in the first four rounds, the Brit seemed far away from the points leader Jim Clark.
The remaining six races of the season just swapped the scenarios for the Brit and Scotsman. Jim Clark finished at 7th at USA and 5th at Mexico, after retiring off the races at German, Austrian and Italian Grands Prix.
Surtees reversed his fate by winning at German and Italian races, finishing second in the USA and Mexican races. He thereby turned around the title standings, won the championship, being ahead of Damon Hill by 1 point and Jim Clark by 8 points.
#2 Kimi Raikkonen, 2007
Despite starting off the season with a win followed by two more podium finishes in first three races, Raikkonen was 20 points behind Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton was a rookie back then, driving in his first F1 season, replacing Juan Pablo Montoya for McLaren, while it was Raikkonen's debut season with Ferrari, replacing the legendary Michael Schumacher.
The Finn's consistency increased furthermore, with three more wins and three more podium finishes. Still, it wasn't enough to surpass Hamilton's unbelievable accumulation of points, who was 17 points in the lead with 2 rounds left. Raikkonen made the impossible title triumph possible by winning both the races in China and Brazil, aided by Hamilton's woes. Hamilton could manage only 2 points in those last two races.
#1 James Hunt, 1976
The Brit seemed far away from the title fight midway in the 1976 Formula One season, as he retired from four races in the first 6 due to driver errors. Niki Lauda was leading the table with 55 points, while James Hunt was with 17 points, 4th at the standings.
The two races Lauda opted out of after the fiery crash at Nurburgring during the German Grand Prix gave Hunt the compensation time to collect those points he missed during the start of the season. Lauda, who retired during the German Grand Prix after a nasty crash, rejoined the battle for the title only at the Italian Grand Prix.
Lauda was absent for the Austrian and Dutch Grands Prix, as he needed healing time for the severe burns and damaged lungs, which he incurred from one of the scariest accidents in F1 history.
In the meantime, Hunt revamped his form, won three times in the last 5 rounds, and swept away all the points. He went on to win the title by a single point.
