From glory with one race win to triumphing by a single point – The most dramatic Drivers’ title comebacks in F1 history

Another layer has been added to the battle for the 2025 F1 Drivers’ Championship after Red Bull’s Max Verstappen slashed the points gap to McLaren pair Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri on a dramatic weekend in Azerbaijan.

It means, with seven Grands Prix and three Sprint weekends still to come, 69 points cover Piastri in first, Norris in second and Verstappen in third – plenty of paddock figures feeling there is now a three-horse race for the crown.

So, could an unlikely comeback be on the cards? While we wait for the answer to that question, F1.com runs through some other dramatic title-winning campaigns from years gone by…

1976 – James Hunt

The 1976 season is perhaps one of the most well-known in F1 history, with it marking the famous championship battle that played out between James Hunt and Niki Lauda.

While Lauda had looked to be the favourite during the early stages of the campaign – entering Round 10 of 16, the German Grand Prix, with a 23-point lead over Hunt – the picture changed when the Austrian suffered serious burns in a horrifying fiery accident at the Nurburgring.

After making a remarkable recovery that saw him return only two months later with four races remaining, Lauda remained ahead of Hunt by three points entering into the season finale in Japan.

But when the arrival of torrential rain at Fuji resulted in Lauda opting to withdraw from the event, Hunt’s third place finish was enough for him to clinch his first and only World Championship.

1982 – Keke Rosberg

With just over two thirds of the 1982 Formula 1 season complete, Keke Rosberg was back in fifth place in the championship on 23 points, while Didier Pironi led with a tally of 39. Pironi and his closest challengers – John Watson, Alain Prost and Lauda – had each scored two victories, but Rosberg had not yet claimed a win.

However, when Pironi sustained injuries in a crash at the German Grand Prix that ultimately brought his F1 career to an end, Rosberg found himself closing in on the title battle. Having broken his duck by winning at Dijon, he entered the season finale with a nine-point advantage over closest challenger Watson.

While Watson finished the Caesars Palace Grand Prix in second place, Rosberg’s fifth was all the Finn needed to earn him his sole drivers’ title.

2007 – Kimi Raikkonen

One of the most memorable championship turnarounds came in 2007, a campaign known for the tense intra-team fight that unfolded at McLaren between rookie Lewis Hamilton and two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso.

Hamilton was at the head of the standings with five rounds remaining on 84 points, five clear of Alonso and 15 ahead of third-placed Felipe Massa. Back in fourth was Kimi Raikkonen on 68 points, the Finn having so far claimed three victories in his debut season for Ferrari.

While another win in Belgium helped Raikkonen to close in, Hamilton and Alonso were still ahead with two races to go. But when Hamilton suffered his first F1 retirement at the penultimate round in China – having become beached in the gravel at the pit entrance in wet conditions – Raikkonen took victory and put himself only seven points behind Hamilton in the title race.

The driver known as ‘The Iceman’ went on to win again at the season-closing Brazilian Grand Prix, with Alonso and Hamilton back in third and seventh respectively. This enabled Raikkonen to take the championship by just one point from the McLaren pair.

2012 – Sebastian Vettel

A man who knows all about title comebacks is Sebastian Vettel, whose first championship in 2010 – a year that also witnessed a change in the points-scoring system, with 25 now awarded for a win – saw him overturn Hamilton’s earlier advantage and take his debut title by just four points from Alonso.

But in terms of bouncing back in particularly dramatic style, the 2012 season was especially memorable. An eventful start to the campaign saw a different driver take victory at each of the opening seven races, with one of these claimed by Vettel.

Alonso, meanwhile, went on to build a lead in the championship and, with eight races remaining, held 164 points to Vettel’s 140. The German then bolstered his challenge by embarking on a run of four consecutive wins in the latter part of the season, meaning that he led Alonso by 13 points entering into the finale in Brazil.

That advantage looked to have evaporated just a few moments into the race, with Vettel dropping to the back of the field following a first-lap incident with Bruno Senna. Despite sustaining damage to his car – and enduring a lengthy pit stop amid the arrival of rain – the Red Bull driver ultimately crossed the line in sixth, enough to beat second-placed Alonso to the title by three points.

2014 – Lewis Hamilton

While it may not be the biggest comeback numbers-wise, the battle for the 2014 championship was a noteworthy one; as well as witnessing a dramatic turnaround from Hamilton, it also marked the first year of what would become a fierce intra-team rivalry between the Briton and Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg.

Hamilton had initially enjoyed the better start of the Mercedes duo, winning four of the five opening races, but Rosberg took momentum – and the championship lead – with victory in Monaco. From there Hamilton slipped behind his team mate and, when the season entered its summer break, Rosberg held an 11-point advantage.

While Daniel Ricciardo won when the campaign resumed at Spa-Francorchamps, Hamilton embarked on an impressive resurgence that saw him win six of the seven remaining Grands Prix.

Rosberg remained in contention for the title right up until the season-closer in Abu Dhabi, but problems with his car saw him drop down the order to a final position of 14th, while Hamilton cemented his second World Championship by taking victory.