Ahead of this weekend's Abu Dhabi showdown between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, ESPN goes through the history books to find the most thrilling title battles that went down to the final race.
1950
The inaugural season of the Formula One World Championship went down to the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, the last of six races. Thanks to wins at the previous two grands prix, Juan Manuel Fangio arrived in Italy as the leader, two points clear of Luigi Fagioli and four ahead of Giuseppe 'Nino' Farina, whose early form had fallen away. As only the best four results of the season would count, Fagioli, with four seconds, could only take the title if he won and both his Alfa Romeo team-mates failed to finish. Fangio had three wins, so any points finish would add to his tally, while Farina knew he had to win, and even then hope Fangio finished no better than fifth.
Fangio took pole ahead of Alberto Ascari, with Farina and Fagioli just behind them. The initial laps went the same way, Fangio leading Ascari's brand new Ferrari 375 -- the 4.5-litre car that would break the dominance of the Alfas -- and setting the fastest lap. Ascari briefly took the lead on lap 14 but was soon overhauled by Fangio, and then Ascari's rear axle broke and he limped into the pits and commandeered Dorino Serafina's car. Two laps later Fangio's gearbox seized, forcing him to take over his team-mate Piero Taruffi's vehicle, but ten laps later the engine blew and he was out. That left the field open for Farina who went on to finish a minute-and-a-half clear of Ascari and in so doing become the first Formula One world champion.
1958
A season marred by the death of Peter Collins ended with a gripping final race but another tragedy. Despite Stirling Moss having won three races to Mike Hawthorn's one, the dropped-score system favoured Hawthorn. Moss needed to win the race and set the fastest lap for a vital extra point in the hope things behind him went his way. Moss led all the way and gained the vital point from the fastest lap, but Hawthorn eased into second when team-mate Phil Hill let him past, which was all he required to take the crown. Although Moss' win ensured Vanwall won the inaugural constructors' title, it was of little consequence as his team-mate Stuart Lewis-Evans crashed in a fiery accident and died of his injuries six days later. Hawthorn, 29, retired as champion but was killed in a road crash in January the following year.
1976
A finale to a season worthy of a blockbuster movie. The year's racing had had it all, but ultimately it was decided by appalling weather at the Fuji Speedway in Japan. Niki Lauda and James Hunt had been battling hard all year, but the championship race appeared over when Lauda suffered life-threatening injuries at the Nürburgring in August. Against medical opinion he returned at the Italian Grand Prix September and, with Hunt's win at Brands Hatch invalidated, it all came down to the Japanese Grand Prix.
Lauda had a three-point lead but so bad were the conditions at Fuhi that he withdrew from the race in protest after one lap -- despite his amazing return from horrendous burns and the fact he had one eye which he could not close, some questioned his courage. "There is a limit in any sport of profession," he said. Hunt led until near the end when he had to pit as his tyres were shredded, but he returned to take third and so edge out Lauda by one point.
1981
Formula One arrived in the car park of the Caesar's Palace Hotel in 1981 to decide whether Carlos Reutemann or Nelson Piquet would join the ranks of the sport's greatest drivers. Reutemann held a one-point lead ahead of the final round in Las Vegas and started as the favourite from pole position. However, handling problems during the warm-up soon manifested into a totally undriveable car in the race and he haemorrhaged places, while team-mate Alan Jones, who had reluctantly agreed to help Reutemann if necessary, sped off into the distance.
Piquet passed Reutemann on lap 17 and from that point onwards it became an endurance race with the anti-clockwise and tight circuit playing havoc with the drivers' necks. "I remember seeing there were still 33 laps to go," Piquet recalled. "I couldn't believe it. By then I was already finished. I couldn't keep my head straight. I just kept going because I knew if I was in front of Carlos then I had the championship." He eventually crossed the line fifth but on his returned to the pits he collapsed in the cockpit, vomiting. Nevertheless, he was the new world champion.
1986
With 20 laps of the Australian Grand Prix remaining, Nigel Mansell was on course to become the first British World champion in ten years. One lap later and he was fearing for his life as he tried to prevent his Williams from careering into a concrete wall. Mansell entered the final race leading the title race by six points from Alain Prost and Nelson Piquet.
However, excessive tyre wear led to his almighty blow-out and brought his race and title chances to a dramatic end. "At that speed, self-preservation is all you have in mind," he said afterwards. With Williams fearing team-mate Piquet would suffer a similar or worse fate, it pitted the Brazilian and handed victory, and the title, to Prost and McLaren. Mansell was both resolute and patriotic in defeat: "I promise you I'll bounce back. I'm British."
1994
Michael Schumacher snatched the first of his seven world championships in Adelaide, but did so in a manner that tainted his reputation in the eyes of millions of fans. He arrived in Australia one point ahead of title rival Damon Hill, knowing that if he finished in front of the Williams he would become the first German world champion. However, lingering at the back of his mind was the understanding that if both failed to finish he would still take the title. He started off pursuing Plan A, but on lap 35 it fell apart when he ran wide and slammed against the wall. With his car heavily damaged and Hill closing in, he quickly switched to Plan B by attempting to block the Williams from passing.
The two touched, taking Schumacher out on the spot and forcing Hill to return to the pits with a bent wishbone. The car was checked over by the Williams pit crew but the damage was too severe for Hill to carry on, handing the title to Schumacher. With Ayrton Senna's death earlier in the year still fresh in the mind, Alan Henry of the Guardian wrote: "Perhaps it was inevitable that an already tarnished season should end with what many observers here regarded as more than a hint of disreputable driving."
1997
Three years later and Schumacher found himself in a familiar situation. Once again he led the title battle by a single point ahead of the final round and once again he saw his race lead come under attack from his title rival. This time it was Jacques Villeneuve in the Williams attempting to squeeze up the inside, but Schumacher's tactics were the same. He quite visibly turned his Ferrari into the side of Villeneuve, but was a fraction of a second too late on this attempt and his car bounced off and into the gravel. Schumacher's race was over and, exactly as he had done in Adelaide in 1994, he watched from the behind the Armco to see if the Williams was still running. It was. Villeneuve went on to secure third in the race and take the championship, while Schumacher was later stripped of all his championship points by the FIA.
2008
The closest title battle of all time came down to the final corner of the final lap of the final race. So close was the contest that both challengers, Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa, were celebrating as they crossed the line. Hamilton needed to finish fifth to secure the title but dropped to sixth in wet conditions towards the end of the race. As he exited the final corner before the long slog up Interlagos' pit straight, he came across Timo Glock's Toyota struggling for grip on dry tyres. On his intermediates he powered past it and, unbeknown to the celebrating Ferrari pit crew celebrating Massa's race victory and apparent title success, crossed the line to become world champion at the same circuit where he had failed by a point the year before. "My heart was in my mouth," Hamilton said. "I was almost exploding. I don't know how I did it. I was very fortunate." Massa, meanwhile, was distraught: "I don't cry a lot, but today it was difficult not to."
2010
For the first time in history, four drivers arrived at the final round of the championship with a chance of winning the title. Fernando Alonso was the clear favourite heading into Abu Dhabi and had to fend off his main opposition, Mark Webber, by eight points to take the championship. But by focusing on the battle with Webber, Ferrari lost sight of the challenge from Sebastian Vettel. Vettel went into the race 15 points behind Alonso, but secured pole position ahead of Lewis Hamilton (24 points behind Alonso ahead of the race) and Alonso in third.
If they had finished the race in the same order Alonso would have been crowned champion, but a disastrous call from the Ferrari pit wall shuffled the Spaniard down the order. Webber was the first to pit on lap 12 and, wary of losing position to the Red Bull, Ferrari mirrored the decision five laps later. The decisions dropped both championship protagonists behind other cars and, with overtaking near impossible, out of contention for the title. Vettel went on to win the race ahead of Hamilton and with it took the first of his four world championships.
2012
After just four corners of the final round in Brazil, Sebastian Vettel was facing the wrong way, in last position with a gaping hole in his car's sidepod. The dream of a third consecutive championship was as tattered as his car's bodywork and was almost completely broken when Fernando Alonso manoeuvred his Ferrari to third place -- a title-winning position if the order had remained the same. But Vettel wasn't done. Not by a long shot. Over the course of the next 71 laps he survived rain showers, made four pit stops, lost radio communication with the pit wall but still managed to muscle his way up to sixth.
By contrast Alonso moved just one place forward to second -- courtesy of some generosity from teammate Felipe Massa -- leaving Vettel with a three-point lead in the standings when the chequered flag dropped. "I think that everything that could go wrong went wrong, but as a matter of fact we always kept believing instead of getting angry and frustrated about the situation," Vettel said after the race. "Imagine yourself: You are the wrong way around at turn four; you have a lot of cars coming at you and you are facing the wrong way! I went off the brakes because everyone is going in this direction so to join them I tried to roll downhill and avoid cars by driving backwards! It's very difficult to find the right words, especially after the race today."