Formula One’s most heated rivalries

Lauda vs Hunt

The 1976 season was the apex of the longrunning battle between James Hunt and Niki Lauda that was later turned into the film ‘Rush’ by director Ron Howard. The fire of the Briton contrasted with against the ice of the Austrian. Lauda, the reigning champion, led comfortably with seven races to go, but almost died in an August accident at the Nurburgring. In his absence, Hunt had closed the gap and trailed by three points going into the final race at Fuji in Japan. As torrential rain fell, Lauda decided to retire after two laps considering the conditions too dangerous. Hunt kept racing in his McLaren and grabbed a brilliant third to take the only title of his career by one point.

Mansell vs Piquet

In 1986, Brazilian Nelson Piquet joined Williams in search of a faster car and a world title. The other seat was occupied by Briton Nigel Mansell. The problems started at once, with Piquet calling his younger teammate “an uneducated fool”. The relationship deteriorated at the British Grand Prix where Mansell broke his drive-shaft but a massive crash allowed him to return to the pits and take a back up car, configured for Piquet, before outracing the Brazilian to win. “From now on, I will act as if we belong to two different teams,” said Piquet. Both won four races but Alain Prost, who had a much less competitive McLaren, took advantage of the Williams feud to clinch a second straight title by winning the season-ending Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide. The Frenchman finished two points ahead of Mansell and three clear of Piquet.

Prost vs Senna

The rivalry between the Frenchman and the Brazilian is the most celebrated in F1 history. As teammates at dominant McLaren in 1988 and 1989, they engaged in a thrilling mano-a-mano battle for the title, which team boss Ron Dennis tried to referee. In 1989, Prost clinched the title at Suzuka when the governing body, the FIA, disqualified Senna, who had finished first. Senna said the FIA (FISA at the time), chaired by another Frenchman, Jean-Marie Balestre was helping Prost. “He doesn’t want to beat me, he wants to destroy me,” Prost replied. In 1990, Senna clinched the title in Suzuka after driving into Prost’s Ferrari at the start, taking both cars out of the race.

Villeneuve vs Schumacher

In 1997, Michael Schumacher entered the season-ending European GP in Jerez, Spain, one point ahead of Canadian Jacques Villeneuve of Williams-Renault. Three years earlier, Schumacher, in a Benetton had clinched his first title after hitting Damon Hill, who was trying to overtake, during the final race in Australia. In Jerez, a similar incident turned out less well for the German, now with Ferrari. With 12 laps to go and Schumacher leading, Villeneuve tried to overtake on the inside. Schumacher turned into him, but suffered the more serious damage. Schumacher retired while Villeneuve limped home third to claim his sole world title.

Hamilton vs Rosberg

The domination of Mercedes at the start of the hybrid era bred another internal feud. After Hamilton won the title in 2014 and 2015 ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg, the German decided to go for it in 2016. The result was a poisonous atmosphere which split the team into enemy clans. The confrontation reached its climax at the Spanish GP, when Rosberg overtook Hamilton at the start. The Briton fought back, spun going into turn 4 and took out Rosberg. Both Silver Arrows retired. Rosberg went on to edge Hamilton by five points to become world champion like his Finnish father Keke