F1 Hits 1000 World Championship Races: Top 10 Races in the 21st Century

It is very hard to choose just 10 races that stand out after what will be 1000 world championship races after this Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix. To help me out a little, I’ve limited my scope to just the ten best races of this century.

Moreover, like many younger fans, I have only seen replays of classic F1 races from the 1990s, 80s, 70s etc. and coverage of Grand Prix in those days did not always do justice as to how good a battle or race may have been so it is sometimes hard to rate how good a race was in the 20th century.

Nevertheless, cutting out 50 years of F1 history does not make things that much easier so do feel entitled to disagree with the list below.

10) Chinese GP 2011 – A ‘Good Old Strategy’ Race

The first race with proper Pirelli tyre degradation created a brilliant strategy race with many drivers opting for a 3-stop race as only a handful chose the 2-stop. With 15-20 laps to go, at least five drivers still had a chance of winning.

It was Lewis Hamilton on the three stop strategy who came through to overtake Sebastian Vettel for the lead with just four laps to go with a stunning overtake into turn seven (not where you would expect) after the two battled prior to the move.

Mark Webber also came through the field after starting 18th to get onto the podium with a stunning drive. The race saw plenty of overtaking  and racing with action in abundance.

9) German GP 2011 – Three Team Fight For The Win

Mark Webber started from pole position but had a bad start which gave Hamilton the lead. Alonso was running third with Vettel 4th, but Vettel spun at turn 10 which put him out of contention for the race win. This set up a Hamilton-Webber-Alonso duel for the win.

At the first round of pitstops, Webber undercut Hamilton to take the lead. The first three drivers stayed within a handful of seconds each other throughout the race and it was a proper duel with three different teams battling it out for the win.

During the second pitstop phase, Webber pitted first so that Alonso or Hamilton would not undercut him. It did not work as slow tyre warm up meant Hamilton emerged ahead after he pitted. Alonso pitted last and then he came out of the pits ahead.

With Alonso on cold tyres, Hamilton pounced and went around the outside of the double world champion at turn two. The Brit held on to take a great win.

8) Brazilian GP 2003 – Carnage In Sao Paulo

A chaotic race to say the least on and off the track. It started under the safety car due to heavy rain. The track dried out but a river was running across turn three which caught out many drivers, including Michael Schumacher, as the drivers lost grip and just aquaplaned into the barriers.

Rubens Barichello led much of the race only for a heartbreaking retirement as he stopped in front of a partisan home crowd.

Then, on lap 54 Mark Webber had a big crash through the high-speed sweeping final turns, which are not even corners in the dry. Fernando Alonso did not slow down despite the yellow flags and smashed into one of Webber’s tyres and the tyre wall which caused a huge mess across the circuit.

The race was red flagged and not restarted so Kimi Raikkonen was given the race win. Confusion over whether the race result should be taken on lap 53 or lap 54 meant confusion over the Grand Prix winner as Giancarlo Fisichella took the lead on lap 54.

It was only until 5-6 days after the official scoring evidence showed that Fisichella had just started his 56th lap before the red flag signal was given; this meant that the race results should not have been determined as of the end of the 53rd lap, but the end of the 54th lap, at which point Fisichella was leading. Thus, Fisichella won his maiden race.

7) Hungarian GP 2014 – Ricciardo Emerges

A heavy thunderstorm meant the 2014 Hungarian GP started in damp conditions. A safety car was deployed after a big crash for Marcus Ericsson and the timing of the safety car meant that the top four runners (Rosberg, Bottas, Vettel and Alonso) missed the pit entry and had to do the entire lap behind the safety car before they could pit, costing them a considerable amount of time to the cars behind. Following the pit stops, Rosberg had moved down from 1st to 4th with the others now outside the top 10.

Daniel Ricciardo now led the race but he and second place Felipe Massa opted to pit after another safety car following a crash from Sergio Perez at the final turn.

The order was now Alonso, Vergne, Rosberg, Vettel, Hamilton, Ricciardo and Massa. In a year which saw utter dominance from Mercedes this was just staggering.

Ricciardo inherited the lead later in the race after the cars in front pitted for a second time. Hamilton also jumped Rosberg in the pitstop phase. Having started from the pitlane, Hamilton was having a strong race – but he was ordered to let Rosberg by when Rosberg caught back up to his teammate. Hamilton refused.

Race-leader Ricciardo and Rosberg pitted for soft tyres so they would be fast again at the end. With just eight laps to go Alonso, Hamilton and Ricciardo were in a three way fight for the lead, running nose to tail. Meanwhile, Rosberg was 2-3 seconds faster than all of them on fresher tyres in 4th but 20 seconds back.

Ricciardo made his move with four laps to go, overtaking Hamilton around the outside at turn two. On the following lap he overtook Alonso into turn one. This was the race which showed Ricciardo’s overtaking prowess. On the last lap, the Mercedes drivers got close again with Rosberg attempting to overtake Hamilton on the outside into turn two. Hamilton got his elbows out and held onto the podium position.

6) Hungarian GP 2006 – Amazing Alonso, Brilliant Button

Michael Schumacher and Alonso both started down the order after receiving penalties in qualifying but they quickly made their way through the order. Alonso was just amazing, especially his first lap as he carved his way through the field in the wet. He went on to pass Schumacher on the outside of turn 5 after a straight fight for several laps and reached 3rd place.

Alonso found himself in the lead but disaster struck after a loose-wheel nut from his final pitstop caused the Spaniard to spin out of the race. Jenson Button took the lead in the Honda and went on to take an astonishing maiden win.

Pedro de La Rosa took a surprising 2nd whilst Nick Heidfeld scored BMW Sauber’s first ever podium. An entertaining race gave a crazy result.

5) Brazilian GP 2008 – Simply Astonishing

The final few laps of the 2008 Brazilian GP produced arguably the most dramatic moments in F1 history.

Felipe Massa was out in front and took the win doing all he could do to potentially take the world championship.

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton had an incredible race. Hamilton was running in a championship winning position until rain started to fall with half a dozen laps remaining. Everyone came into the pits to change to intermediate tyres, apart from one Timo Glock. Glock moved from 7th into 4th, pushing Hamilton down to 5th place.

Hamilton had a young Sebastian Vettel right behind him and needed to keep the German behind to win the championship. Robert Kubica was unlapping himself as Hamilton went wide which prompted Vettel to overtake him. Hamilton was now 6th, needing to gain a place to become the champion.

It looked like Hamilton could not overtake Vettel so when Massa crossed the line he was the champion.

Unbelievable drama struck though as a struggling Glock (on slicks) was overtaken by Vettel and more crucially Hamilton just before the final corner of the final lap of the final race of the season. That was the place Hamilton needed and it gave him the drivers’ championship.

Ferrari thought they had it but things turned quickly in what was simply an absurd moment of mayhem in sport.

I think we all remember where we were on that mesmerising day.

4) Canadian GP 2011 – The Four Hour Thriller

Jenson Button was dead last with half of the race remaining. He clashed with teammate Lewis Hamilton, received a drive through penalty for speeding behind the safety car and had clashed with Fernando Alonso.

As the track dried the 2009 world champion came through the field. His pace was superior to anyone else. With six laps to go, he found himself in 4th after taking advantage of the carnage in the midfield. Button overtook Webber and Schumacher on the same lap and immediately began chasing down Vettel who had been in the lead all day.

Button was lighting up the timing screen and was less than a second behind Vettel going onto the last lap. Vettel ran wide at turn six, went off line and onto the wet stuff allowing Button to overtake him. The comeback drive was complete.

Yes, the 2 hour red flag and the six safety car periods were annoying but when there was green flag running, the Canadian GP produced something special.

3) Bahrain GP 2014 – The Duel Of The Silver Arrows

Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton went toe to toe in the third round of the season. This race was also the 900th Formula One World Championship event.

Hamilton got the better start and beat Rosberg down to turn one from second place. Rosberg decided to attack Hamilton just before the first round of pitstops twice. Neither time could the German make it stick.

The two battled all the way through turns one, two, three, four and towards turn five every time as Hamilton either fended off Rosberg or immediately re-overtook Rosberg. It was top notch racecraft from Hamilton to remain in the lead every time Rosberg went on the offensive.

Hamilton built up a lead after the first pitstops with Rosberg on a harder tyre. But, his lead went away after a safety car was called when Pastor Maldonado and Esteban Gutierrez collided; a collision which saw Gutierrez go flipping.

With Rosberg on the soft tyre and Hamilton on the medium, an attack from Rosberg was inevitable. Rosberg applied the pressure but every time Hamilton simply brilliantly defended. The two pulled over 20 seconds clear in just 10 laps, showing the Mercedes dominance.

We were treated to a truly spectacular race five years ago, I rate it as one of the greatest inter-team battles in motorsport ever.

2) San Marino GP 2005 – A Battle Of The Generations

Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso put on a show when they duelled for the lead in the final 12 laps of the race.

Schumacher started down in 13th but supreme pace and a good strategy helped him move up the order. Schumacher overtook Jenson Button to move into 2nd place and set about chasing down Alonso.

The 7-time champion had the superior pace but a masterclass in defending from Alonso meant the Spaniard held off the German. Despite no overtake, the pressure Schumacher applied and the intensity of the battle was as good as it gets.

Those against DRS use this battle as an argument as it was pure, pressure racing. It’s a great argument as the final dozen laps of this Grand Prix meant it was a classic.

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1) Japanese GP 2005 – King Kimi In Stunning Suzuka

A wet qualifying session set up the prospect of a classic Grand Prix. It delivered exactly that, and more. The typical frontrunners qualified further down the grid with Schumacher, Alonso, Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya all starting outside the top 10.

All four of them made progress on the first lap until Montoya crashed at the end of lap one, bringing out the one and only safety car.

One of the race’s moments of magic was when Alonso overtook Schumacher around the outside of the spectacular 130R (back in the days when it had a tighter entry and exit). A truly breathtaking manoeuvre.

A good strategy and great pace allowed Raikkonen and Alonso to challenge the podium. Webber and Button both held up the Finn but once they pitted, Raikkonen set a blistering pace setting the fastest lap of the race multiple times.

Raikkonen closed down Fisichella and was with him on the last lap. Going into turn one, he darted right and left before going around the outside of Fisichella to take the lead, a move he had previously made on Schumacher.

Alonso also managed to overtake Button and Webber to take an equally impressive podium finish.

Suzuka is not the easiest circuit to overtake on but it is a real drivers’ circuit, that’s why Raikkonen’s drive was so incredible. He was right on the limit and setting qualifying-esque laps.

The right ingredients and a historic venue cooked up a tremendous Grand Prix.