Last updated on .From the section Formula 1
It has been a battle for the ages and after a dramatic and incident-packed season, the duel between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen for the world championship comes down to this weekend’s finale in Abu Dhabi.
For only the second time in Formula 1 history, the two top drivers head to the final race level on points.
There have, however, been plenty of final-race deciders. Here BBC Sport takes a look at five of the most dramatic.
Hamilton’s joy and Massa’s heartache – Brazil 2008
An overtake at the final corner, on the final lap of the final race of the season to decide the title – it doesn’t come much closer than that.
That is what happened at the memorable 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix, although it will be a race Felipe Massa has probably done his best to forget about over the years.
The Brazilian was on course to win the world championship in front of his home crowd and had done all he could, winning the race from pole position.
But as his family celebrated what they believed was a title-clinching win in the Ferrari garage, McLaren’s Hamilton came round the final corner and overtook Timo Glock’s slowing Toyota to clinch fifth place and the points he needed to pip Massa to the drivers’ championship.
Prost wins as Mansell suffers dramatic blow-out – Australia 1986
The 1986 season saw a Titanic tussle between three Formula 1 heavyweights.
Championship leader Nigel Mansell was the favourite when the drivers arrived in Adelaide for the season-ending Australian Grand Prix but Alain Prost and Nelson Piquet both had aspirations of snatching the title themselves.
Mansell, driving for Williams, started on pole and needed just to finish third to win the title, but he dropped down to fourth after a poor start.
McLaren’s Keke Rosberg flew off into the distance and looked to be on course for a comfortable win until a puncture ended his race with 20 laps to go.
Rosberg’s retirement promoted Mansell into the third position he needed but just one lap later the Briton had a spectacular blow-out of his own, ending his title hopes.
Wary of also becoming victim to a blow-out, Piquet was called in by Williams from a title-winning position for fresh tyres but he then could not catch McLaren’s Prost, who held out to clinch the race and the championship despite practically running on fumes in the final stages of the race.
A Hollywood blockbuster – Japan 1976
Much like this one, the 1976 F1 championship saw two greats battling it out all year before it all came down to the final race. The season was so dramatic it would go on to become the subject of a film – Rush.
That year it was McLaren’s James Hunt and Ferrari’s Niki Lauda who headed to the Japanese Grand Prix looking to clinch the title after a season packed full of incidents and flash points – including a fiery crash which so nearly claimed the life of Lauda.
Lauda went into the race three points ahead of Hunt in the drivers’ standings and just needed to finish in front of his rival to be crowned champion.
However, with heavy rain pounding the track in Fuji, Lauda decided the conditions were too dangerous and retired after just two laps. With his rival out of the picture, fourth would be enough for Hunt to take the title and the win looked a mere formality as he led for much the race.
But as the rain stopped the circuit quickly dried and Hunt struggled as his wet-weather tyres reached the end of their life. All looked lost as he pitted on lap 70 of 73 because of a puncture.
Hunt returned to the track in fifth and with the title going to Lauda, until the Briton passed Alan Jones and Clay Regazzoni in the closing stages to secure the title by a solitary point.
Schumacher takes title after dramatic crash – Australia 1994
The 1994 F1 season was, of course, significant for being the one in which the legendary Ayrton Senna lost his life and while that understandably overshadowed events on the track, the climactic race of the season was a dramatic one.
Just one point separated championship leader Michael Schumacher and Williams’ Damon Hill and the former led for much of the early part of the race after taking the lead from polesitter Nigel Mansell.
But drama was to come on lap 36 when Schumacher went off the track in his Benetton, hitting a wall and damaging his suspension.
Hill was not far behind and came round a corner to find the German rejoining the track. As the Briton attempted to pass, the two collided. Schumacher’s race was ended immediately and although Hill tried to continue, the damage done was too much and he too retired.
With it deemed a racing incident and neither driver finishing the race, Schumacher took his first world title.
Vettel’s stunning recovery to deny Alonso – Brazil 2012
Brazil was the venue once again for one of the more recent final-day championship deciders.
Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel were the two fighting for the world championship at the end of the 2012 season, with the latter looking to become the sport’s youngest triple world champion.
In an incident-packed, rain-affected race, Red Bull’s Vettel dropped to last on lap one following a collision but battled back superbly to finish sixth.
That was enough to pip Alonso, who finished second, by three points to take the title.
