There have been several close finishes in Formula 1 history involving two cars racing, or as was the case for Ferrari at the 2002 US Grand Prix, putting on a display of ‘racing’ towards the line. The margin of victory for Rubens Barrichello that day, on a botched attempt at creating a dead heat, was just 0.011s in favour of the Brazilian over team-mate Michael Schumacher.

But occasions when the leading three cars are line astern at the finish are altogether rarer. George Russell’s on-the-road win at Spa, later handed to Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton after his car was found to be underweight, was all the more spectacular as Oscar Piastri loomed large in their mirrors.

Here we look over a few instances in F1 history where the top three were even closer still.

5. Monaco GP 2012

Mark Webber, Red Bull RB8 Renault.

Photo by: Rainer W. Schlegelmilch / Motorsport Images

1. Mark Webber, Red Bull
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes (+0.643s)
3. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari (+0.947s)

The 2012 Monaco Grand Prix is mostly remembered for Michael Schumacher’s fastest time in qualifying, which to this day would still make him the oldest polesitter since 1970, hadn’t the 43-year-old served a five-place grid penalty for colliding with Bruno Senna in the previous round.

As a consequence, Red Bull’s Mark Webber started in pole position ahead of Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, while championship leader Fernando Alonso was fifth and title contender Sebastian Vettel down in ninth.

The safety car neutralised the race early on following multiple first-lap contacts ending the races of three drivers including Romain Grosjean, who had started fourth. Webber still led from Rosberg and Hamilton, with Alonso now up to fourth and Vettel sixth.

On lap 26, Webber held a 1.8s gap on Rosberg, with Hamilton, Alonso and Felipe Massa respectively 6.6s, 7.4s and 9.5s away from the lead.

All of them made their only pitstop in the next five laps, with Vettel electing to stay on track to enjoy the clear track and free air while hoping for a rain shower to make his gamble jackpot-worthy. The reigning double world champion eventually changed tyres on lap 46 and rejoined in fourth, now just only 3.5s off first place, behind leader Webber, Rosberg and Alonso; completed by Hamilton and Massa, the top 6 was covered by 5.3s.

Some scarce drops of rain did materialise at last, around ten laps before the end of the race, but only Jean-Eric Vergne gambled on intermediates, which cost him a likely seventh-place finish.

Meanwhile, the fight for victory and podium became closer than it ever was, but the order didn’t change and Webber took the win from Rosberg and Alonso. Vettel’s fourth meant the top four was covered by 1.343s.

4. Abu Dhabi GP 2016

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid, crosses the line and takes the chequered flag to win the race from Nico Rosberg, Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid, Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF16-H, and Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB12

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes (+0.439s)
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari (+0.843s)

The stakes were high at the title-deciding 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg leading team-mate Lewis Hamilton by 12 points but the Briton grabbing pole position ahead of his rival.

Hamilton kept the lead at the start, with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen passing Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo for third. Then a three-time world champion, Hamilton knew winning was not enough: he needed Rosberg to finish fourth at best to claim the title.

Hamilton managed to pull a 5.6s gap on Rosberg by lap 20 as the German was stuck behind Max Verstappen’s Red Bull for some time after his first pitstop, but Rosberg remained a comfortable second, so Hamilton decided to lose a few tenths a lap in order to back his team-mate into the pack.

As a consequence, at the end of lap 49 of 55, Rosberg was 0.9s off Hamilton while leading Verstappen by 1.5s and Vettel by 2.1s. The Ferrari driver had much fresher tyres and quickly overtook the Red Bull for third.

Though Mercedes was urging him to pick up the pace, Hamilton slowed down more dramatically at the end of the race, going from 1m45.9s on lap 53 to 1.46.3s and finally 1.47.2s, but it did not suffice for the title.

The Englishman took the chequered flag four tenths ahead of Rosberg, leading Vettel by eight, while Verstappen was a further eight tenths back. Rosberg won his single world championship and announced his retirement from Formula 1 just five days later.

3. Spanish GP 1981

Villeneuve’s sixth and last GP win came under huge pressure

Photo by: LAT Photographic

1. Gilles Villeneuve, Ferrari
2. Jacques Laffite, Ligier (+0.211s)
3. John Watson, McLaren (+0.571s)

Jacques Laffite may have been only fifth in the drivers’ standings coming into the 1981 Spanish Grand Prix, but he achieved the seventh and last pole position of his career on the twisty Jarama track, with both Williams right behind him – driven by Alan Jones and championship leader Carlos Reutemann.

Due to the late June heat, the race took place at 4pm. Laffite got a dismal getaway and dropped to 11th, with Jones and Reutemann taking the lead while Ferrari’s Gilles Villeneuve jumped from seventh to third before overtaking Reutemann on the next lap.

Jones was in a class of his own and was 10.4s clear of Villeneuve after 13 laps, but the reigning world champion then went off, losing 15 places and nearly 55 seconds in the process.

New leader Villeneuve had a fast car on straights but slow in corners, with Reutemann closely tucked behind the Ferrari but unable to make a move. Now in third, Renault’s Alain Prost brought the gap down from 9.6s to 3.9s in 14 laps, but he misjudged a braking point, went off and had to retire.

At that stage, Villeneuve and Reutemann led John Watson and Laffite by over 12 seconds, with the Frenchman having fought his way back into the top five and overtaking the McLaren driver on lap 49.

Laffite caught up with the leaders on lap 60 and was swift to overtake Reutemann, who dropped to fourth behind Watson. Villeneuve’s Ferrari was unassailable, and the Quebecois took his sixth and last grand prix win from Laffite, Watson, Reutemann and Lotus’ Elio de Angelis: five different constructors in a top five covered by 1.24s.

2. Italian GP 1969

Jackie Stewart, Matra MS80

Photo by: David Phipps

1. Jackie Stewart, Matra
2. Jochen Rindt, Lotus (+0.08s)
3. Jean-Pierre Beltoise, Matra (+0.17s)

Once upon a time, Monza was a track bereft of any chicanes. Just imagine what the temple of speed was like back then, because it really explains why the Italian circuit bags the first two positions here.

The 1969 Italian Grand Prix took place with little suspense remaining in the title race, as Matra’s Jackie Stewart led the way with 51 points – more than twice his closest challenger Jacky Ickx’s 22, with four rounds to go. Stewart had a first opportunity for a maiden crown that weekend in Lombardy.

The Scot was only third on the grid, outqualified by Lotus’s Jochen Rindt and McLaren’s Denny Hulme. Yet, he made his way to the front as early as the first lap, but was not able to pull away.

The slipstream phenomenon, which was much stronger than at any other track, meant that the lead changed hands 15 times in the first 38 laps – the order being recorded at the end of each lap only, so there may have been more switches – with Stewart, Rindt, Hulme and Piers Courage trading first place.

Further on, Stewart mostly kept the lead while Hulme was out of contention due to brake issues, but the Matra driver was still followed closely by another five cars: team-mate Jean-Pierre Beltoise, the Lotuses of Rindt and Graham Hill, Courage’s Brabham and Bruce McLaren driving his own machinery. Stewart would sometimes let Rindt or Hill into the lead in the Lesmos before repassing them on the next straight.

Hill kept pressuring Stewart ahead of third-placed Courage, but the latter’s Brabham suffered a fuel system issue and dropped out of contention. Then Hill retired due to a driveshaft failure on his Lotus, leaving Stewart with just four rivals.

Rindt took the lead again in the Lesmos on the last lap, but Stewart was back in front by what is now known as Variante Ascari, which was then just a kink. Beltoise dived down the inside of the last corner, Parabolica, but ran wide and hindered Rindt. Stewart managed to cross the finish line both a winner and a world champion, leading these two and McLaren… all four covered by fewer than two tenths of a second.

1. Italian GP 1971

Peter Gethin, BRM P160 beats Ronnie Peterson, March 711 Ford across the finish line in the closest finish in an F1 race at 0.01 seconds.

Photo by: LAT Photographic

1. Peter Gethin, BRM
2. Ronnie Peterson, March (+0.01s)
3. Francois Cevert, Tyrrell (+0.09s)

This time around, Tyrrell’s Stewart was already the world champion coming into the Monza round, having been crowned in the preceding race at Osterreichring – an older version of Red Bull Ring.

Matra’s Chris Amon took pole with a remarkable 1m22.40s – over 251km/h on average thanks to the slipstream – ahead of Ickx on Ferrari, followed by BRM’s Siffert and Howden Ganley.

Sunday’s race was even more frantic than two years prior, with at least eight different race leaders – among whom Ferrari’s Clay Regazzoni and Stewart would be struck by engine failures on a hot afternoon, while Siffert would get stuck in fourth gear.

Ten laps before the end of the race, Amon was in the lead, but the New Zealander mistakenly removed his two visors instead of just the dirty one and had to slow down.

It was now a five-way fight involving Peterson, Cevert, Ganley, Mike Hailwood on Surtees, and Peter Gethin, who had started just 11th but had fought his way to the front of the pack. Incredibly, all five of them were yet to win a grand prix.

Gethin took the lead for the first time on lap 52 of 55, before being repassed two tours later by Peterson, who led from Cevert, Hailwood, Gethin and Ganley when starting the last 5.75km of the Monza track.

Cevert had taken the lead before the last corner, where Peterson overtook him on braking, but Gethin had a better exit and went on to win by a hundredth of a second, with the top five covered by 0.061s. This was the last we saw of the chicane-free Monza.

It was an intense Belgian Grand Prix, a strategic race at its core that had the surprise of George Russell perfecting a one-stop strategy to leap to the front of the queue and hold off Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri in a dramatic finish…

…Or so we thought. After a couple of checks with the FIA scrutineering department, Russell was disqualified from the race with a car that was underweight by 1.5kg. Alex Kalinauckas and Ronald Vording join Bryn Lucas on the Autosport podcast to break down just how impressive Russell’s drive was, why he was ultimately DSQ’d from the race and pondering if Piastri missed another chance at a McLaren victory.

In the aftermath of the race, F1’s driver market took some massive steps forward Carlos Sainz announced his contract with Williams for 2025 onwards, whilst Sergio Perez was confirmed to be staying at Red Bull. But is Williams the right, or best, team for Sainz? And should Red Bull have made a different decision, with Daniel Ricciardo, Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson in the wings?

 

George Russell was denied his third Formula 1 victory by an underweight car that resulted in his post-race disqualification from the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver became the sixth driver in F1 history to lose a race win through disqualification. He had claimed a sensational victory on the road from sixth on the grid at Spa-Francorchamps by opting for a risky one-stop strategy, while others pitted twice.

Russell crossed the line just 0.526s ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton, with third-place Oscar Piastri 1.173s behind, yet it all changed approximately 70 minutes after the chequered flag.

The #63 Mercedes was 1.5kg below the designated 798kg minimum weight, as per Article 4.1 of F1’s technical regulations, after it was drained of its fuel post-race.

Russell called it “heartbreaking”, with Hamilton instead claiming his 105th grand prix victory. But who else has had their win taken away because of disqualification in F1?

James Hunt — disqualified from the 1976 British Grand Prix for failing to complete a full lap after a red flag

Official winner of the 1976 British Grand Prix: Niki Lauda, Ferrari

James Hunt celebrates victory on the podium. He would later be disqualified from the results.

Photo by: Motorsport Images

James Hunt’s first disqualification of the 1976 F1 season came in round four at Jarama, when he won by 30.97s. He initially lost that win because his McLaren was 1.5cm too wide and Niki Lauda was declared the winner, but McLaren appealed the decision and two months later Hunt’s victory was reinstated because the difference was minimal.

Hunt received another disqualification approximately two weeks later though, and this time it was for good. His victory at Brands Hatch given to Lauda after a huge first-corner crash where Hunt, and several others, collided with a spinning Clay Regazzoni who had attempted to overtake Lauda for the lead on lap one.

The race was subsequently suspended, so Hunt drove his damaged car back to the pits. But he was soon disqualified as he used the escape road on Cooper Straight, meaning he was not on the circuit when the red flag was waved and stewards said that drivers must have completed the lap in full.

But that decision was reversed amid fears of crowd trouble and Hunt won his restarted home race. That prompted Ferrari, Tyrrell and the Fittipaldi team to all protest his inclusion.

Two months later, Hunt was disqualified from the British GP, handing victory to Lauda, though the Briton eventually won that year’s world championship.

Nelson Piquet — disqualified from the 1982 Brazilian Grand Prix for having an underweight car

Official winner of the 1982 Brazilian Grand Prix: Alain Prost, Renault

Nelson Piquet. Brabham BT49D-Ford Cosworth rests on Keke Rosberg Williams FW07C-Ford Cosworth and Alain Prost, Renault RE30B on the podium

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Nelson Piquet was the first driver to be stripped of a race victory due to an underweight car, after he initially won the 1982 Brazilian GP in Rio de Janeiro. It is known as one of the most gruelling races in F1 history, as several drivers suffered in the soaring temperatures. Riccardo Patrese retired due to heat exhaustion.

Piquet was also struggling as he often propped his head on one hand, but the Brazilian had too much at stake to retire as he was in a back-and-forth battle with Gilles Villeneuve and Keke Rosberg for the lead. Piquet came out on top, as Villeneuve’s spin on lap 29 handed him the lead, while Rosberg eventually dropped back and settled for second.

The Brabham driver then passed out on the podium, yet it was all for nothing as he and Rosberg were both disqualified post-race due to an underweight car. The problem stemmed from the ballast water tank, aimed to cool the brakes. This would gradually empty throughout a grand prix, but then be replenished afterwards to pass post-race scrutineering. Yet both teams were caught in the act.

This resulted in Renault’s Alain Prost becoming the winner of the 1982 Brazilian GP, with the ballast water tanks being permanently banned seven months later.

Alain Prost — disqualified from the 1985 San Marino Grand Prix for having an underweight car

Official winner of the 1985 San Marino Grand Prix: Elio de Angelis, Lotus

Alain Prost, McLaren MP4-2B TAG.

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Although Prost benefitted from disqualifications at the 1982 Brazilian GP, he had his own victory taken away three years later for also having an underweight car — this time at Imola.

Running out of fuel became the predominant theme of the 1985 San Marino GP. Nigel Mansell, Stefan Johansson, Ayrton Senna, Piquet and Martin Brundle all stopped in the closing laps due to that day’s strict fuel limit of 220 litres.

Prost even ran out of fuel on the cooldown lap, with his then engineer Tim Wright telling Autosport that the McLaren was designed to be as light as possible — but the team did not account for any “loss of fluids”.

Prost’s MP4/2B was noted as 2kg below the 580kg minimum weight, resulting in a post-race disqualification. This gave victory to Lotus’ Elio de Angelis, who claimed his second and final grand prix win despite never leading a lap, while three other drivers led at some stage in the final five tours.

Ayrton Senna — disqualified from the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix for rejoining the track illegally via a push start from marshals

Official winner of the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix: Alessandro Nannini, Benetton

Alain Prost, McLaren, Ayrton Senna, McLaren

Photo by: Sutton Images

Senna arguably has the most controversial disqualification in F1 history, as he lost his victory at the 1989 Japanese GP for rejoining the track illegally via a push start from marshals — resulting in Prost clinching a third world championship that day.

The McLaren rivals were etched in a race-long battle for the lead until a collision on lap 47, when Prost turned for the Suzuka chicane just as Senna moved down the inside which forced both to go off.

Although Prost immediately got out of his car, Senna tried to resume knowing his title hopes would otherwise be over. So the reigning world champion asked marshals to push his McLaren down the escape road, allowing Senna to continue and eventually win the race after overtaking the new leader Alessandro Nannini.

But the Benetton driver was awarded victory post-race, as Senna received a disqualification for getting outside help and missing that chicane during the collision.

Senna believed he was disqualified because FISA president Jean-Marie Balestre wanted Prost, a fellow Frenchman, to clinch the title. McLaren later launched an unsuccessful appeal with the team also receiving a $100,000 fine, while a suspended six-month ban was given to Senna.

Michael Schumacher — disqualified from the 1994 Belgian Grand Prix for illegal skid block wear on his car

Official winner of the 1994 Belgian Grand Prix: Damon Hill, Williams

Damon Hill, Williams, won the 1994 Belgian GP after Michael Schumacher, Benetton, was disqualified

Photo by: Sutton Images

Michael Schumacher was the final F1 driver before Russell to be disqualified after winning a race, as he was also denied victory at the Belgian GP because of a worn skid block.

Benetton driver Schumacher delivered a dominant performance to initially win by 13s, but post-race scrutineering checks noted that his skid blocks had worn by over 1mm and resulted in disqualification. A skid block is a wooden plank underneath the car, which increases ride height and reduces ground effect advantages. It had been introduced only two races prior in Germany.

This handed victory to Damon Hill, who reduced his championship deficit to Schumacher to 21 points with five grands prix remaining, yet the German still clinched his maiden title that year following a controversial final-round collision in Adelaide.

Watch: Weight A Minute — The F1 Belgian Grand Prix News From the Paddock

In the immediate aftermath of the Belgian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton questioned why he wasn’t afforded the same one-stop strategy that helped team-mate George Russell win the race.

It wasn’t just Hamilton’s side of the Mercedes garage that was caught out by the one-stopper suddenly being on the table. Of the top 10 finishers, only Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso followed suit.

The Spa-Francorchamps race was F1 at its unpredictable best, with Mercedes turning around a tough weekend to claim a temporary one-two, and the anticipated McLaren versus Max Verstappen battle for the win never materialising.

The race played out very differently to what people up and down the paddock had been expecting. It was thought that on the partially resurfaced layout, tyre degradation would be higher than in previous years, bumping the ideal strategy up to a two-stopper on medium-hard-hard compounds.

That would also help overtaking remain easier than on most circuits, meaning teams weren’t particularly alarmed by getting undercut by the car in front during pitstops because they thought their drivers could re-pass rivals on fresher tyres.

But after rain on Saturday limited dry-weather running, both the teams and tyre manufacturer Pirelli were completely blindsided by the lack of wear on the hard compound, which suddenly brought a one-stopper – which Pirelli predicted would be «off the table» – back into play.

Adding to the small gaps between teams, the shortened DRS zone on the Kemmel Straight and the ever-worsening dirty air effect, minimal tyre degradation made overtaking a lot harder and keeping track position much more crucial than expected.

In the closing stages Hamilton couldn’t get past Russell on much fresher tyres, while Oscar Piastri quickly bridged the gap but got stuck behind both.

Russell won the race on the road with a one-stop strategy, but was later deemed underweight and disqualified

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Piastri’s team-mate Lando Norris also had more pace on his hards than Max Verstappen on the much less durable mediums, but couldn’t find a way past in the battle for what became fourth.

So if clear air was king, as Piastri pointed out to his race engineer, then why didn’t he or other drivers follow Russell’s lead?

«We considered that,» McLaren team principal Andrea Stella explained. «We were not adamant that it was going to work.

«For us it was pretty extreme, because if you commit to this and it doesn’t work, you can probably screw up a race day.

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«It can become very, very painful because then it’s too late to pit and therefore you may lose a lot of positions.»

Stella conceded McLaren is more risk averse as it fights Red Bull in the constructors’ championship, and suggested Russell, who looked set to finish fifth at best, had less to lose.

«In Russell’s position, there was potentially more motivation to take a risky approach, but we want to think slightly more robustly,» he said.

«We need to be a little cautious with adventurous strategies, which in hindsight actually proved to be good. We scored again higher than Red Bull. We are now [42] points behind.

«The plan with Lando was robust [too], it’s just that we were a little surprised that we could not overtake. Verstappen made the mediums last in the final stint like not many other drivers managed to do.»

McLaren admitted to a risk-averse approach in its constructors’ championship fight with Red Bull

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who moved up to third in the final results, was also tempted to go long at the first round of pitstops before settling for a more conventional strategy.

«It was one of our plans,» said Leclerc. «But I knew that it was very, very unlikely for me to do so.

«When you are in front, to get undercut by three, four cars you just lose so many positions if the one-stop doesn’t work. It was just better to align ourselves with the guys behind.

«I think [Mercedes] just had more pace so they made the one-stop work because they were super, super strong.»

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And at the time of Leclerc’s decision, hard-starting team-mate Carlos Sainz hadn’t completed enough laps yet for Ferrari to realise just how durable the hard compound would prove to be.

«The main issue is that you start with medium and you have to take this decision lap 11 when everybody’s pitting and you have no clue about the zero degradation of the hard,» team boss Fred Vasseur added.

«It was very difficult to imagine that you’ll do 35 laps in Spa [on one set of tyres].»

That sentiment was echoed by Verstappen, who could well have used a one-stop to salvage a good result from starting 11th after his grid penalty.

Alonso was the other outlier in the top 10 who kept going on the one-stop

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Verstappen and team-mate Sergio Perez had just one set of hard tyres and two sets of the less desirable mediums available, the opposite of the teams around them.

In theory, that would have made a one-stop more appealing, but the Dutchman felt his RB20 wasn’t kind enough on its tyres to make it work.

«We were on two mediums and a hard; I think [another] hard tyre would have helped,» he said. «Of course, George won the race on a one-stop, but I don’t think we had the tyre wear or tyre life to do that anyway.»

Team boss Christian Horner added: «All the data from Friday pointed towards graining, high degradation and it was actually the complete inverse where a one-stop won the race, so I don’t think anybody could have envisaged that.»

«I don’t think George set off in that race expecting to do a one-stop. But congratulations to him and Mercedes for making it work, because I don’t think even they thought it was potentially going to work at one point.»