F1’s Most Epic Rivalries

Perhaps the most iconic F1 rivalry Hunt and Lauda battled straight from the off in 1976. Hunt was initially disqualified from his winning drive in Spain, to hand the victory to Lauda, before being reinstated months later. At Brands Hatch Hunt was disqualified in an appeal from Ferrari against the British driver for using an access road to return to the pits after a first-lap pile-up – which resulted in Lauda winning.

Then Lauda escaped death in his fiery crash at the Nurburgring where Hunt claimed a tinged victory. A miraculous return saw Lauda hold the championship lead by three points heading to the final race in Japan but in hazardous conditions the Austrian withdrew which let Hunt take the title by a point.

From the off in 1986 the driving pairing was never a fairytale of camaraderie with the duo failing to get on both personally and professionally. Partnered at Williams for 1986 Mansell upset his experienced team-mate with Piquet famously refusing a post-race handshake and denying him technical information.

The disruption in the Williams fold continued for 1987 until the Brazilian driver left for Lotus when the pair were kept well apart on the F1 grid.

Arguably the F1 rivalry measured against all others, this one started fairly gently in 1988 with Senna clinching the title by three points in the year when McLaren-Honda utterly dominated by winning 15 out of 16 races.

The famous duel played out a year later in the 1989 title decider at Suzuka. Prost had a five-point lead heading into the race and fighting for the lead both drivers locked up and ground to a halt. The incident saw Prost exit the race but with Senna able to continue to the finish he would have gone on to claim the title. However, the Brazilian was judged to have been given an illegal push by the marshals and was disqualified to hand Prost the title.

The year after the French driver left for Ferrari but on the return to Suzuka for the 1990 title, Senna collided with Prost at the first turn to take both cars out of the race and duly wrap up the title. Despite their fierce rivalry both drivers put the anger behind them before Senna’s death in 1994.

One of the most tragic rivalry stories is a relatively fleeting one when the pair clashed at the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix. As the pair of Ferrari drivers battled for the lead Villeneuve, who was ahead, slowed under instruction from the pitwall which he thought meant hold position. It was a message Pironi didn’t receive or didn't understand and continued their battle before passing the Canadian on the final lap to win.

Villeneuve vowed never to speak to the French driver again and despite outpacing Pironi at Zolder two weeks later in qualifying he collided with Jochen Mass which sent him tumbling into the barriers. Villeneuve was thrown from the cockpit and died of his injuries the same day in hospital.

The 1997 season came to a climactic head at the final race showdown at Jerez. Villeneuve was catching Schumacher and 22 laps for the finish went for the overtake on the German but what happened next came as déjà vu.

Schumacher turned in sharply and hit Villeneuve, which sent the Ferrari driver out of the race but the Williams was able to continued and scramble to the chequered flag in third to win the title. Upon review F1 stewards saw the German driver had purposely crashed into Villeneuve and disqualified him from the whole year’s championship, sending it down as one of the darker deeds in the sport.

Echoes of Senna and Prost at McLaren were hard to ignore when a young driver comes in and upsets the assumed dominance Alonso would have as reigning F1 world champion.

The unexpected rivalry had a relatively low-key beginning with the British rookie finding his feet, albeit very quickly in F1, but as Hamilton began to record wins in Canada and the USA Alonso’s anger and frustration started to show.

Things came to a head in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix when Hamilton ignored the agreement to let Alonso lead out. The Spaniard, riled by the decision, then blocked the British driver at pit lane exit to deny him time to set his final qualifying lap. Alonso was duly slapped with a five-place grid penalty but events tumbled into almost untenable when Alonso threatened to expose emails in McLaren’s ‘Spygate’ scandal unless he gained more preference over Hamilton.

A five-year partnership sparked into rivalry in its second season as Red Bull’s control in F1 began to grow. A dramatic wheel-to-wheel clash at the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix introduced Webber’s belief Vettel was getting preferential treatment. Three races later Vettel was handed the faster new front wing but Webber battled back to win the race and say over the radio ‘not bad for a number two driver’.

Underlying tensions continued throughout their time as team-mates, which again came to a head in the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix when Vettel ignored pre-race calls to hold station after the final round of pit stops to overtake Webber and win, a la ‘Multi 21’. The decision ultimately signalled the end of Webber’s time in F1 as he left at the end of the season for WEC.

Childhood friends and competitors they may be but when two drivers are striving for the F1 world titles bonds are likely to be broken. Tensions arose back in 2013 when Rosberg obeyed team orders to remain behind Hamilton despite having the pace to pass (unlike another German driver that year).

When the V6 Hybrid era began and marked Mercedes out as the dominant team, Rosberg and Hamilton found their simmering rivalry framed by a title challenge for the first time. Flashpoints occurred on numerous occasions during an ill-tempered three years, with Rosberg's off in qualifying at Monaco and a collision at Spa raising tensions, before their dramatic lap one coming together in Spain in 2016 led to a dressing down from the team.

Relations soured for good in Austria when a final lap collision almost took both out of the race, leading to serious behind-the-scenes discussions and the implementation of Rules of Engagement to prevent any more incidents. In the end, Rosberg went on to win the title and retired straight away, those Rules of Engagement no longer needed...

The re-emergence of Ferrari as a threat to Mercedes for this year's title battle has certainly been warmly received, not least for the fact it sees Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel for the first time properly go up against one another in relatively equal machinery. However, for all of the close on track battles, it was all just a little bit pally for our tastes... until now, that is!

The fall-out from their 'road rage' incident in Baku has set us up with a tantalisingly bitter feud that gives a new dimension to this enticing rivalry. Unlike most others on this list, there are no team-mate rules to adhere to, this burgeoning battle could be the start of something very entertaining...

Get your popcorn!

Michael Schumacher became the man everyone loved to 'hate' in the UK as a result of his bitter battle with Damon Hill during 1994 and 1995. The pair came together more than once, most famously in the final race of the season in Adelaide (above) a collision that lives on in the memory of many a sport's fan and to this day is considered one of F1's greatest travesties. Silverstone 95 and Monza 95 have also stood the test of time as controversial flashpoints between the two rivals... Relations thawed over time as Hill's fortunes dwindled beyond his 1996 title and Schumacher's star resumed its ascendancy with Ferrari, but it did its bit to give F1 a bright outlook in the wake of Ayrton Senna's shocking death in 1994.