![\"Alan](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/alan-jones-williams-fw07-ford-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n1979 \u2013 Alan Jones\u2019 late-season surge<\/p>\n
Race 9: 13th, 25-point deficit
Race 12: 3rd, 10-point deficit
Final standings: 3rd, 11-point deficit<\/p>\n
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Alan Jones, Williams FW07 Ford<\/p>\n
Photo by: Motorsport Images<\/p>\n
The 1979 season, in which ground effect became widespread following Lotus\u2019 success the previous year, was dominated by Ferrari<\/a> \u2013 but Williams<\/a>\u2019 Alan Jones<\/a> still became a dark horse for the title, despite scoring just four points in the first half of the season.<\/p>\n Frank Williams and Patrick Head\u2019s new Williams Grand Prix Engineering venture, which debuted in F1 in 1977 with a customer March car, competed in the next season with its own challenger, the FW06. Results were mixed; Jones was a podium contender on several occasions but clinched just one at Watkins Glen, as reliability issues tended to get the better of him.<\/p>\n Williams started the 1979 campaign with its year-old FW06 \u2013 which was not uncommon at the time \u2013 and Jones scored points just once in four races, taking third place in Long Beach behind the Ferraris of Gilles Villeneuve<\/a> and Jody Scheckter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Williams then launched its FW07, which was inspired by the 1978 title-winning Lotus 79. Its potential was soon obvious, as Jones retired from the lead in Zolder for what was just the car\u2019s second race, then retired with bent steering after thumping a barrier in Monaco, where he was running third.<\/p>\n Jones set his first career pole position at Silverstone, with a comfortable 0.6s gap to Renault\u2019s Jean-Pierre Jabouille<\/a>, and led the first half of the race until a water pump problem caused his retirement. With Jabouille also ruled out of contention by engine issues, Williams team-mate Clay Regazzoni<\/a> inherited the victory.<\/p>\n As a consequence, with six races to go, Jones was just 13th in the standings on seven points. Scheckter led with 32 points, followed by Villeneuve (26) and Ligier\u2019s Jacques Laffite<\/a> (24). In other words, the Australian was all but ruled out of the title race.<\/p>\n Alan Jones, Williams and Gilles Villeneuve, Ferrari<\/p>\n Photo by: David Phipps<\/p>\n Or was he? Jones took three consecutive wins on merit at Hockenheim, Spielberg and Zandvoort, where he outduelled Villeneuve. Over the month of July, the Williams driver vaulted himself to third in the championship, with just a 10-point deficit to Scheckter. He caught up 15 points in three races, at a time when a victory was worth nine, and there were three more rounds to go.<\/p>\n In Monza however, Jones was swallowed up by the field at the start and finished ninth while Scheckter won. Due to the rule according to which only each competitor\u2019s four best results counted for each half of the season, his deficit grew to \u2018only\u2019 17 points. But the rule also meant any further podium finish by Jones was going to lose him the three points scored in France, so he was ruled out of title contention.<\/p>\n He still snatched the victory away from Villeneuve with an audacious move down the inside of the hairpin, at a Circuit de l\u2019Ile Notre-Dame, which would soon bear his opponent\u2019s name\u2026<\/p>\n 1991 \u2013 Mansell gives Senna a hard time<\/p>\n Race 5: 7th, 33-point deficit Ayrton Senna, McLaren Honda, Nigel Mansell, Williams Renault<\/p>\n Photo by: Sutton Images<\/p>\n After a titanic title battle between McLaren<\/a>\u2019s Ayrton Senna<\/a> and Ferrari\u2019s Alain Prost<\/a> in 1990, which ended in an infamously controversial crash at Suzuka, the Brazilian\u2019s 1991 campaign got off to a flying start.<\/p>\n Senna won the first four races of the year from pole position, leading 282 out of 291 racing laps in Phoenix, Sao Paulo, Imola and Monaco.<\/p>\n Having moved back to Williams from Ferrari after calling off his F1 retirement, Mansell retired from third and second due to gearbox issues in the United States and Brazil respectively; in the San Marino race, further gearbox trouble caused a fourth-to-10th drop at the start, before he was rear-ended by Martin Brundle<\/a> at the end of the lap.<\/p>\n \u201cHave you ever had neutral after first gear on a start like that before?\u201d Mansell asked Williams engineers on the pitwall. \u201cI\u2019m ******* pissed off, I really am. I drive slow, I get it together. It\u2019s a ******* nightmare, and then someone stuffs me up in the back for me to retire.\u201d<\/p>\n Mansell was more successful in Monaco, where he took the runner-up spot behind Senna, then led the Canadian Grand Prix from the start until the last lap, when his car got stuck into neutral as he was waving to the crowd.<\/p>\n The Williams driver scored one point in that race while Senna retired, but he was now down in seventh in the standings with seven points to his name, while the Brazilian already had 40.<\/p>\n The Adrian Newey-designed FW14\u2019s potential was, however, clear to see. Williams achieved a one-two in the next race in Mexico, with Senna joining race winner Riccardo Patrese<\/a> and Mansell on the podium.<\/p>\n The Briton then outduelled former Ferrari team-mate Prost for victory on the latter\u2019s Magny-Cours home turf, before taking a comprehensive and popular win in front of his Silverstone home crowd, as Senna ran out of fuel on the last lap \u2013 with Mansell driving his rival, sat on his Williams, back to the pits.<\/p>\n Ayrton Senna, McLaren receives a lift back to the pits from Nigel Mansell, Williams FW14 Renault<\/p>\n Photo by: Motorsport Images<\/p>\n Another one-two followed at Hockenheim; that time, Mansell led Patrese, so he left Germany with 43 points to Senna\u2019s 51\u00a0\u2013 and a real shot at the title.<\/p>\n But the McLaren driver took the upper hand back in Hungary, withstanding pressure from the Williams cars throughout the race after setting pole by 1.232s. He then inherited the victory at Spa-Francorchamps after successive leaders Mansell and Jean Alesi<\/a>\u2019s cars broke down.<\/p>\n Mansell was now 22 points down with five races to go; wins at Monza and Barcelona weren\u2019t enough to mount a real challenge anymore, as he was disqualified from the Portuguese Grand Prix due to his mechanics changing a tyre outside the allowed pit area, then he shunted out of the Suzuka race.<\/p>\n Mansell took the runner-up spot in the championship, 24 points down on Senna, with five victories.<\/p>\n 2000 \u2013 Hakkinen gives it all as Schumacher and Ferrari take over<\/p>\n Race 8: 3rd, 24-point deficit Mika Hakkinen, McLaren<\/p>\n Photo by: Motorsport Images<\/p>\n By 2000, Ferrari had been waiting for a drivers\u2019 title for a long time. Michael Schumacher<\/a> had been denied by his own unsportsmanlike driving in 1997 and a broken leg in 1999, having been beaten to the 1998 crown by Mika Hakkinen<\/a> \u2013 just like interim lead Ferrari driver Eddie Irvine<\/a> the following year.<\/p>\n The new aptly named F1-2000 challenger, designed under Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne, was a step forward compared to the competition, with Schumacher winning five of the first eight grands prix, which brought his midseason lead to more than 20 points over McLaren\u2019s David Coulthard<\/a> and Hakkinen, as well as new Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello<\/a>, whose hopes to be anything more than a number-two driver were quickly dashed.<\/p>\n McLaren\u2019s new MP4-15 was no bad car; Hakkinen actually set pole for the opening three rounds of the season, but mechanical issues took him out of the Melbourne and Sao Paulo races, while he and McLaren were outfoxed by Ferrari\u2019s strategy at Imola. The Finn took his only victory in those first eight grands prix at Barcelona, where Schumacher suffered pitstop trouble.<\/p>\n In other words, it didn\u2019t look like anyone was going to challenge the German for the title, but that was when he suffered three consecutive retirements. An engine failure took him out of the French Grand Prix, in which he was running second; in Austria, he was spun around by BAR\u2019s Ricardo Zonta<\/a>\u00a0at Turn 1 and consequently was hit by Jordan\u2019s Jarno Trulli<\/a>; a poor start in Germany saw him collide with Benetton\u2019s Giancarlo Fisichella<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Hakkinen finished second to team-mate Coulthard in Magny-Cours, before leading the Scot to victory at A1-Ring and taking a solid runner-up spot behind maiden winner Barrichello at Hockenheim. At that stage, both McLaren drivers were two points off Schumacher in the standings, with Barrichello 10 points behind his team-mate.<\/p>\n Michael Schumacher, Ferrari F1-2000, listens to Mika Hakkinen, McLaren MP4\/15<\/p>\n Photo by: Steven Tee \/ Motorsport Images<\/p>\n Hakkinen\u2019s strong form continued in Hungary, where he won as Schumacher only just held on to second place against Coulthard, and in Belgium, where the Finn performed his famous three-wide winning overtake on his Ferrari rival \u2013 with Zonta\u2019s BAR in the middle.<\/p>\n Hakkinen now led the championship by six points, but Schumacher ruthlessly pounced by winning the last four grands prix. Hakkinen\u2019s engine failure in Indianapolis and stop-go penalty for jumping the start at Sepang didn\u2019t help, but even assuming those events had not happened, the McLaren racer\u2019s final 19-point deficit shows the title probably was just out of reach.<\/p>\n 2006 \u2013 Schumacher fails to win eighth title but goes out in style<\/p>\n Race 9: 2nd, 25-point deficit Michael Schumacher, Ferrari 248 F1 leads Fernando Alonso, Renault R26<\/p>\n Photo by: Sutton Images<\/p>\n Fernando Alonso<\/a> was a paragon of consistency in his Renault years, and it showed in the 2006 season, which the reigning world champion started extremely strongly: six victories and three second-place finishes in nine grands prix.<\/p>\n Rival\u00a0Schumacher wasn\u2019t doing so badly himself, having won a couple of races while directly following Alonso home on four occasions, but he lost 21 points to the Spaniard when taking an engine-related grid penalty in Malaysia, crashing out from the Australian Grand Prix, and infamously parking his Ferrari in Monaco qualifying to deny his rival a shot at pole position \u2013 with stewards sending him to the back of the grid.<\/p>\n That\u2019s how Schumacher found himself 25 points down halfway through the season. Yet, over the next seven races, he managed to bridge that gap entirely, thanks to victories at Indianapolis, Magny-Cours, Hockenheim, Monza and Shanghai \u2013 all five with a degree of dominance.<\/p>\n Race winner Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, second place Felipe Massa, Ferrari<\/p>\n Photo by: Ercole Colombo<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Renault lost some pace due to mass dampers \u2013 which the Anglo-French team mastered \u2013 being outlawed, and Alonso dropped some crucial points when a loose wheel nut caused his retirement from the lead of the Hungarian Grand Prix and his engine failed as he was running third at Monza.<\/p>\n Alonso and Schumacher therefore went into the penultimate round tied on points, but the Ferrari\u2019s engine let go as the German led his rival at Suzuka. Alonso took the victory\u2019s 10 points, and a near-decisive edge in the championship.<\/p>\n 2012 \u2013 Vettel denies Alonso in memorable finale<\/p>\n Race 13: 4th, 39-point deficit Fernando Alonso, Ferrari F2012 ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing RB8<\/p>\n Photo by: Sutton Images<\/p>\n Alonso\u2019s 2012 season can easily be considered as one of the best individual campaigns in F1 history.<\/p>\n In a topsy-turvy season that started with seven different winners in the first seven races, Ferrari\u2019s F2012 was far from being the quickest car \u2013 it only got two pole positions to Red Bull\u2019s and McLaren\u2019s eight each. Still, Alonso gave his machinery results it didn\u2019t seem to deserve \u2013 though one wouldn\u2019t dare to say he \u2018outperformed\u2019 it, as a driver cannot drive a car faster than it physically is able to.<\/p>\n The two-time world champion\u2019s consistency as a frontrunner, as well as three race victories at Sepang, Valencia and Hockenheim, meant that he finished the European leg of the season with a 37-point lead on McLaren\u2019s Lewis Hamilton<\/a>, with Lotus\u2019 Kimi Raikkonen<\/a> and Red Bull\u2019s Sebastian Vettel<\/a> just one and two further points in arrears respectively.<\/p>\n Vettel did comprehensively win the Bahrain Grand Prix, but otherwise struggled for consistency like most of his peers, also losing a potential 33 points when he retired from the lead in Valencia and from sixth place at Monza with alternator failures.<\/p>\n But as he often did, the German finished the season extremely strongly, taking four straight victories in Singapore, Japan, Korea and India. At Marina Bay, he did benefit from race leader Hamilton retiring due to early gearbox issues; but he led the next three races from start to finish, setting the fifth-highest number of consecutively-led kilometres (1,111)\u00a0\u2013 still the highest since 1988 to this day.<\/p>\n Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing RB8<\/p>\n Photo by: Motorsport Images<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Alonso salvaged what he could, in a dynamic that is not too dissimilar to what we\u2019re seeing in 2025 \u2013 with the key difference that chaser Vettel then arguably had a faster car. The Spaniard finished on the podium in three of those races, but was taken out of the Japanese GP by a first-corner touch with Raikkonen. That was a costly 25-point swing, and he found himself 13 points down on Vettel coming into the last three races of the season.<\/p>\n Vettel was excluded from the qualifying results in Abu Dhabi due to not having enough fuel in his car but remarkably fought to third in the race, right behind Alonso, then finished second ahead of the Iberian at Austin after narrowly losing the win to Hamilton.<\/p>\n Then, in a famously eventful, mixed-weather season finale at Interlagos, Vettel was involved in a first-lap collision with Bruno Senna<\/a>, with his Red Bull suffering surprisingly minor damage given the violence of the impact; the German sensationally recovered to sixth position, claiming his third straight world title as a decisive race win narrowly eluded Alonso.<\/p>\n Read Also:<\/p>\n We want your opinion!<\/p>\n What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?<\/p>\n![\"Alan](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/alan-jones-williams-and-gilles-1.jpg\")
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Race 9: 2nd, 8-point deficit
Final standings: 2nd, 24-point deficit<\/p>\n![\"Ayrton](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/f1-japanese-gp-1991-ayrton-senna-mclaren-honda-nigel-mansell-williams-renault.jpg\")
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Race 13: 1st, 6-point advantage
Final standings: 2nd, 19-point deficit<\/p>\n![\"Mika](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/f1-hungarian-gp-2000-mika-hakkinen-mclaren.jpg\")
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Race 16: 1st, equal points
Final standings: 2nd, 13-point deficit<\/p>\n![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/f1-hungarian-gp-2006-michael-schumacher-ferrari-248-f1-leads-fernando-alonso-renault-r26.jpg\")
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Race 17: 1st, 13-point advantage
Final standings: 1st, 3-point advantage<\/p>\n![\"Fernando](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/f1-german-gp-2012-fernando-alonso-ferrari-f2012-ahead-of-sebastian-vettel-red-bull-racing.jpg\")
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