A history of F1’s second-half comebacks

The greatest comeback since Lazarus? Everyone loves a good comeback story, and Formula 1 has enjoyed plenty of them over its nearly 75-year history as a gladiatorial contest of man and machine.

As things stand in the current season, Max Verstappen has a somewhat healthy 78-point lead over Lando Norris, but the seemingly invulnerable Dutchman has now had to accept that he no longer has the outright fastest car in F1; McLaren and Mercedes have shared the most recent quartet of victories heading into the summer break. Red Bull, for its part, has only got a 42-point lead over McLaren in the constructors’ standings.

If Verstappen and Red Bull manage the unthinkable and fail to lock out the championships this year, it’ll be the biggest drivers’ title swing from mid-season in, well, ever.

Many have tried to battle against insurmountable odds and failed; Damon Hill cut Michael Schumacher’s huge lead in the 1994 drivers’ championship down thanks to the German’s indiscretions that year, but the Benetton driver denied him the chance to complete the turnaround with their infamous Adelaide finale collision.

Then there was Sebastian Vettel’s attempt to close down Jenson Button’s considerable lead in 2009 as Red Bull’s development had pushed it beyond Brawn GP, but Button managed to shake off the championship jitters to close out the team’s fairytale story.

But there are plenty of examples of drivers who went beyond considerable odds in the second half of the season to clinch the title. For a full reflection on this year’s title, we’ve picked out the winners who drove for different teams versus the driver leading at the intermediate point of the season. Or, in one case, held a significant lead with only three rounds left…

1964 – Surtees denies Clark successful title defence, helped by Hill’s dropped score

Top three after Round 5: Clark 30, Hill 26, Ginther 11

Top three at end of season: Surtees 40, Hill 39, Clark 32

After the fifth round of the 1964 world championship, at Brands Hatch, John Surtees hadn’t even figured among the top five in the championship. He had just 10 points and tied for sixth with Dan Gurney, behind a trio of drivers – Richie Ginther, Peter Arundell, and Jack Brabham – tied on 11. The stage was set for Lotus driver Jim Clark and BRM’s Graham Hill to engage in a duel for a second world title.

John Surtees, Ferrari 158, battles with Jim Clark, Lotus 25 Climax

Photo by: David Phipps

Surtees had managed just two finishes in the opening five races: a second place at Zandvoort and a third in the aforementioned Brands Hatch race. However, the ex-motorcycling champion got his quest for a title on four wheels back on track with victory at the Nurburgring, despite losing the lead on the first lap to Ferrari team-mate Lorenzo Bandini, who was soon overtaken by Clark. Surtees passed them both to get the lead and controlled a challenge from Dan Gurney to lead the final two-thirds of the 15-lap affair. Hill finished second to move two points ahead of Clark at the head of the standings.

A suspension failure at Zeltweg stalled progress, but the damage was limited as both Hill and Clark also retired from the Austrian race, meaning Surtees was not yet out for the count. He then won Ferrari’s home race at Monza, moving to within four points of Hill, and then took the North American Racing Team entry to second at Watkins Glen, although Hill extended his championship lead to five points with victory.

In the age of dropped scores, Hill already had to lose his fifth place from the Belgian Grand Prix which meant he needed at least third to be guaranteed the title in the Mexico finale. There, Clark led from Gurney, with Hill third over Bandini and Surtees – effectively rendering the last-named’s title chances extinct.

Then came the swing. Bandini tangled with Hill in an attempt to pass at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez hairpin, pitching both into a spin and damaging Hill’s exhaust. The 1962 champion was down on power as a result and slipped to 11th by the race’s climax, ending his chance of another title and boosting Clark’s hopes significantly. The Scotsman’s Lotus 33 then started to leak oil, eventually seizing on the last lap. Aware of the championship ramifications, Bandini then played the dutiful team-mate role and let Surtees through into second, ensuring the Briton clinched an unlikely title that had come down to the wire.

1976 – Hunt beats Lauda in controversial season

Top three after Round 8: Lauda 55, Hunt 26, Depailler 26

Top three at end of season: Hunt 69, Lauda 68, Scheckter 49

Most are au fait with 1976’s title battle between Niki Lauda and James Hunt, although it barely factored in the first half of the year. Hunt was stripped of his win at the Spanish Grand Prix when his McLaren M23 was found to be too wide by 1.8cm. After the French Grand Prix, Lauda was sitting comfortably on 55 points and looked set to successfully defend his title from 1975, Hunt moved up to fourth in the championship standings with victory at Paul Ricard when Lauda retired. This then became second when his Jarama win was reinstated on appeal to edge ahead of Tyrrell duo Patrick Depailler and Jody Scheckter.

James Hunt, McLaren M23 Ford leads the field alongside Mario Andretti, Lotus 77 Ford with Niki Lauda, Ferrari 312T2 and John Watson, Penske PC4 Ford

Photo by: Motorsport Images

The British Grand Prix was also contentious, as Hunt was collected in a first-lap pile-up instigated by Clay Regazzoni’s attempt to pass Lauda into Paddock Hill Bend. The race was red-flagged and, with suspension damage, Hunt pulled off the road. His original car was ultimately repaired, owing to confusion over the validity of using the spare car, and was permitted to take to the restart. He took the lead from Lauda when the Ferrari started to endure gearbox issues, and had seemingly won – but Ferrari successfully protested the result under the reasoning that Hunt had not been running when the race was stopped.

Hunt was thus disqualified, enhancing Lauda’s championship lead, but the Austrian subsequently suffered a horrendous near-fatal incident at the Nurburgring and was rescued from his burning Ferrari. Despite the considerable scarring to his face and inhalation of noxious fumes, Lauda only missed the Austrian and Dutch grands prix – although Ferrari ultimately boycotted the former as a stand against Hunt’s Jarama reinstatement. Hunt, who had won the German race when it restarted, also collected victory at Zandvoort to sit 14 points behind Lauda in the championship.

He retired in Monza while Lauda overcame incredible pain to claim fourth, but hit back to reel off victories in Canada and Watkins Glen. It was finely poised for the Fuji finale, one that began in torrential conditions. Lauda withdrew after two laps, deciding that he did not wish to risk his life racing in dreadful weather for the sake of a title, meaning Hunt just needed to finish fourth. As the circuit dried, Hunt began to lose performance and made a late stop at the end of lap 68 to take new tyres. On fresh rubber, he caught and passed Alan Jones and Regazzoni, giving him third and the 1976 title.

1982 – Rosberg clinches title with just one win

Top three after Round 8: Watson 30, Pironi 20, Patrese 19

Top three at end of season: Rosberg 44, Pironi 39, Watson 39

With 11 different winners and no driver winning more than two races, 1982 was a hugely competitive championship year. It also had desperately sombre notes with the death of Gilles Villeneuve, while Didier Pironi suffered a career-ending incident that changed the complexion of a highly contested championship battle.

Keke Rosberg, Williams FW07C

Photo by: Sutton Images

Alain Prost won the opening two races, but Renault’s reliability (and his own shunt at Monaco) ensured that he tailed off in the title fight. By the mid-season point after the Canadian Grand Prix, John Watson had taken two wins to sit atop the championship order, 10 points clear of Ferrari’s Didier Pironi, but the McLaren driver’s form took a nosedive afterwards and failed to score a point over the next six races.

Pironi took the championship lead at Brands Hatch and extended it to nine points over Watson by the French Grand Prix. He took pole for the next race at Hockenheim, but suffered a heavy shunt later in a wet practice when he assumed Derek Daly was moving off-line to let him pass, instead catching an unsighted Alain Prost in the spray and vaulting over the top of his Renault. The Frenchman’s legs were shattered by the impact, ending his F1 career on the spot. By dint of finishing third, Keke Rosberg had now entered the picture and sat nine points shy of Pironi in the championship.

Rosberg was pipped at the line by Elio de Angelis at the Osterreichring, the two separated by just 0.05s, but the Finn rallied to clinch his only win of the year at Dijon next time out. But the title was not yet done; Rosberg failed to score at Monza, as Watson claimed fourth to sit within nine points at the Caesars Palace finale. The Ulsterman needed to win and for Rosberg to fail to score in the Las Vegas car park venue; despite a brilliant recovery drive, Watson could not eat into Michele Alboreto’s lead and settled for second. Rosberg finished fifth, cementing an unlikely championship victory.

1983 – Piquet benefits from Renault unreliability horror show

Top three after Round 12: Prost 51, Arnoux 43, Piquet 37

Top three at end of season: Piquet 59, Prost 57, Arnoux 49

Unlike the other entries, we’ve taken a snapshot of the 1983 championship with three races to go. Prost was eight points clear of Ferrari’s Rene Arnoux and 14 ahead of Brabham’s Nelson Piquet, but the reliability issues that plagued his 1982 championship hopes had started to rear their ugly heads. Arnoux had won the Dutch Grand Prix to pull himself into title contention as both Prost and Piquet retired, taking it down to the final trio of grands prix.

Nelson Piquet, Brabham BMW

Photo by: BMW AG

In the first of those three, Piquet and Arnoux finished first and second at Monza to make a decisive step towards Prost in the standings, as the Renault’s turbocharger failed halfway through the race. A hastily organised round at Brands Hatch replaced a planned New York race at Flushing Meadows, which Piquet also won thanks to Riccardo Patrese and Elio de Angelis coming to blows at the front of the field.

Prost had finished second to delay Piquet from his precipitous leap into the lead of the championship, while Arnoux suffered a spin to cost points from fifth on the grid. This effectively took the Frenchman out of the reckoning, needing a win to at least have a chance of claiming a title.

It all came down to the Kyalami finale, with Prost just two points ahead of Piquet in the standings, and Arnoux a further six behind. Piquet had been beaten to pole by Patrick Tambay by just under a quarter of a second, but he leapfrogged the Ferrari driver in a bid to complete the turnaround of championship fortunes. Arnoux was soon out of the fight for good after an early engine problem, while Prost needed to make up ground to close in on Piquet to have a shot at preserving his points lead.

After clearing Tambay in the opening laps, Prost took third from a fast-starting Andrea de Cesaris and looked on to challenge the Brabham duo in front – Piquet from Patrese. Instead, Prost’s Renault decided to call it quits when the turbo failed once more. Piquet backed off to ensure he got his BMW-powered BT52 to the end, finishing third to complete the swing and claim a second world title.

2007 – Raikkonen benefits from McLaren’s internecine conflict

Top three after Round 9: Hamilton 70, Alonso 58, Raikkonen 52

Top three at end of season: Raikkonen 110, Hamilton 109, Alonso 109

2007 was expected to be a straight fight between Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, but neither had banked on rookie driver Lewis Hamilton immediately making a seismic impact on F1’s landscape. Although Raikkonen won the Australia season opener, McLaren quickly asserted its dominance and, by the end of the seventh round of the championship, Hamilton led the championship by 10 points from Alonso – Raikkonen having dropped back after missing the podium over the prior four races.

Felipe Massa, Ferrari F2007, leads Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari F2007, Lewis Hamilton, McLaren MP4-22, Fernando Alonso, McLaren MP4-22, Mark Webber, Red Bull Racing RB3 Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber F1.07, Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber F1.07, and the rest of the field at the start

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

But Raikkonen’s fortunes turned, and won both the French and the British grands prix that preceded the mid-way point of the season. Regardless, he was still 18 points behind Hamilton after his Silverstone win, and Alonso drew within two points of his team-mate in a wet German GP when neither Hamilton nor Raikkonen scored.

The laconic Finn then tapped into a brilliant run of form over the final seven races of the season; he finished second to Hamilton at Hungary, a race dominated by the brooding Alonso-Hamilton conflict when the Spaniard stopped his younger team-mate from setting a final lap in qualifying by staying in his pitbox. Ferrari took a 1-2 in Turkey next time out, Felipe Massa winning from Raikkonen to actually move ahead of his team-mate in the championship standings.

McLaren’s 1-2 finish in Monza restored Hamilton’s 18-point advantage over Raikkonen, as Alonso was second overall and three points off the summit. Raikkonen’s Belgium win cut the gap to 13 points, Hamilton won to bring it up to 17, but the Briton’s retirement from China after slipping into the pitlane entry gravel on bald tyres slashed Raikkonen’s deficit to seven points.

Then came the Brazil finale. Massa took pole over Hamilton, Raikkonen, and Alonso, and Ferrari moved into an early 1-2 as Raikkonen passed the championship leader around the outside into the first corner with a rapid start. Alonso followed through at the bottom of the hill, prompting a fightback from Hamilton, who subsequently locked up into Descida do Lago and shipped further positions. On his recovery from eighth, Hamilton’s pace suddenly disappeared with a gearbox issue, and progress was stunted further as McLaren found it needed to three-stop its driver after short-stopping in the first stint.

With Hamilton otherwise encumbered, Raikkonen just needed Massa to keep Alonso at bay – which the Brazilian did – to clinch his only world title. Hamilton, who finished seventh, had a glimmer of hope when the BMWs and Williams were under investigation for fuel irregularities, but this ultimately did not come to anything. Raikkonen, under incredible circumstances, had become champion.

2012 – Vettel makes second-half leap for third successive title

Top three after Round 11: Alonso 164, Webber 124, Vettel 122

Top three at end of season: Vettel 281, Alonso 278, Raikkonen 207

In many ways, 2012 was a spiritual successor to 1982 – although thankfully without the sorrow and the political wrangling. A streak of seven different winners in the first seven races was ended by Alonso’s win in Valencia, a drive in which he assumed the lead from Sebastian Vettel when the Red Bull driver’s alternator packed up. The Spaniard then came second at Silverstone and won at Hockenheim to sit 34 points clear of Mark Webber, and 44 clear of Vettel.

Bruno Senna, Williams FW34 Renault colides with Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull RB8 Renault

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Vettel cut the gap to 42 next time out in Hungary, but Alonso had a very clear lead heading into the summer break. Alonso was then knocked out in Romain Grosjean’s pinball antics at La Source in Belgium, allowing Vettel to slash the arrears to 24 points, but Alonso recouped some of that advantage at Monza when Vettel’s alternator again caused strife. At that juncture, Vettel even dropped out of the championship’s top three, as Hamilton and Raikkonen moved between him and Alonso.

But Vettel returned fire in spectacular fashion, punching in four successive wins in Singapore, Japan, Korea, and India. He was now ahead of Alonso by 13 points, a gap preserved in the Brazil finale as the two shared a second and third apiece over the Abu Dhabi and Austin races.

Alonso qualified poorly for the Interlagos race, starting only eighth, while Vettel clinched fourth on the grid. The two overlapped into the opening array of corners, which put Vettel down to seventh and amid the midfield clutch of cars. He subsequently clashed with Bruno Senna, who pitched Vettel into a spin and thrust the then-two-time champion down the order. Alonso had risen to second, but never in touching distance of leader Jenson Button.

Vettel recovered to sixth, but endured a lengthy pitstop for intermediate tyres as the rain fell later into the race, as Red Bull was not ready for him. Ultimately, it all came down to a pass on Michael Schumacher on lap 64, which put Vettel back into sixth and ensured he – if the order was preserved – would become champion. When Paul di Resta crashed to bring out the safety car, the championship was over – and Alonso’s thousand-yard stare permeated into the memories of everyone who watched a dramatic finale.

2018 – Hamilton reverses arrears to Vettel for second successive year

Top three after Round 10: Vettel 171, Hamilton 163, Raikkonen 116

Top three at end of season: Hamilton 408, Vettel 320, Raikkonen 251

In 2017, Hamilton was behind in the championship against Ferrari’s Vettel in the middle of the season, but he turned the season around to clinch a fourth world title. The formbook repeated itself in 2018, as Vettel once again took Ferrari into a championship battle against the might of Mercedes.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG F1 W09

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

When Vettel won at the British Grand Prix, he was eight points clear of Hamilton – seven points further ahead than he had been at the same point in ’17. And Vettel was set to extend his lead at Hockenheim, leading from pole despite a battle against overheating tyres and struggling with a piece of missing front wing after clipping a kerb. With 15 laps to go, it all changed in the blink of an eye; Vettel dumped his Ferrari into the wall at the Sachs Kurve and handed Hamilton the lead on a silver platter.

Hamilton hoped that this would be the turning point, and his inference proved to be correct; the Mercedes driver had won three of the opening 10 races, but reeled off eight wins in the final 11 as Vettel made a series of mistakes that melted away at his championship aspirations. In the same stretch of races, Vettel won just once – in Belgium.

The two clashed at the Italian Grand Prix and Vettel came off worse, and the German could only finish third in Singapore and Russia. The nail in the coffin came when he dropped down the order in Japan after contact with Max Verstappen, finishing sixth, and Hamilton clinched the title in Mexico with two races to spare.