F1's thrilling 3-way title fight echoes a history of dramatic championship deciders

A thrilling Formula 1 season ends on Sunday in Abu Dhabi with precisely the kind of showdown race fans want to see: three drivers in title contention and the championship leader under mounting pressure.

Over the years, F1 title deciders have seen deliberate crashes, unexpected heartbreak and perhaps the most controversial finish of them all, when Max Verstappen beat Lewis Hamilton on the final lap in 2021.

McLaren’s Lando Norris is 12 points ahead of Red Bull driver Verstappen, who is chasing hard for a fifth straight F1 title, and 16 ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri.

Norris will win the title if he finishes on the podium on Saturday, regardless of what Verstappen and Piastri do.

If Verstappen takes the race win, he needs Norris to be fourth or lower. If Piastri wins the Grand Prix, Norris would have to finish sixth or lower.

Kimi Raikkonen won the 2007 title with Ferrari, despite trailing both Fernando Alonso and rookie Lewis Hamilton two races before the end. The Finnish driver won both to clinch his only F1 title.

Sebastian Vettel won the 2010 title for Red Bull at the last race of the season in Abu Dhabi. Vettel entered the race behind teammate Mark Webber and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who was the heavy favorite.

Vettel won the Abu Dhabi GP from pole and clinched the title along the way, mainly because Alonso was stuck behind another driver following a Ferrari strategy error.

In 1986, a three-way battle ended in heartbreak for a British standings leader. Nigel Mansell was ahead of Alain Prost and Keke Rosberg on points ahead of the final race in Adelaide, Australia, but had to stop with a puncture.

The 2021 title fight between Hamilton and Verstappen was one of the fiercest ever, with heated incidents between the rivals heading into the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

They entered the race level on points and Hamilton looked certain to secure a record eighth straight F1 title and break the record he shared with F1 great Michael Schumacher. But a controversial one-lap restart gave Verstappen — who was on faster tires — a small window of opportunity and he seized it to win his first title and deny Hamilton a history-defining moment.

Sunday's finale to F1's 75th anniversary season has memories of the first championship in 1950, when Nino Farina won a three-way title fight at his home Italian Grand Prix.

Seven-time champion Michael Schumacher won one title and lost another in controversial finishes. In 1994, he collided with title rival Damon Hill, knocking them both out of the final race in Adelaide. Hill later alleged it was a deliberate act by his German rival.

Then in 1997, Schumacher rammed Jacques Villeneuve in the final race at Jerez in Spain and was disqualified from the championship as the Canadian took the title.

Formula 1: https://apnews.com/hub/formula-one

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia, pole position, center, is flanked by second best time McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain, and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands after the second qualifying session at the Lusail International Circuit ahead of the Qatar Formula One Grand Prix, in Lusail, Qatar, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, of Britain, races past the grand stand followed by Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, of the Netherlands, during for the F1 U.S. Grand Prix auto race at the Circuit of the Americas, Oct. 24, 2021, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, Pool)

FILE - In this Oct. 21, 2007 file photo, Ferrari's driver Kimi Raikkonen of Finland celebrates after winning the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix at the Interlagos race track in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan, File)

FILE - First place Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel, of Germany, celebrates as Red Bull team principal Christian Horner looks on at the podium after winning Brazil's Formula One Grand Prix at the Interlagos race track in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Nov. 7, 2010. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)

President Donald Trump said U.S. forces will keep hitting Iran “very hard” in the next two or three weeks and bring the country “back to the Stone Ages,” even as he touted the success of U.S. operations and argued that all of Washington’s objectives have so far been met or exceeded.

Trump said Iran would continue to face a barrage of attacks in the short term.

“We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks,” Trump said. “We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong.”

Trump didn’t say anything about negotiations with Iran or bring up the April 6 deadline he set for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway for global oil and gas transport. He has threatened to attack Iran's energy infrastructure if the strait was not reopened.

Trump also did not offer a clear path to end the supply disruptions that have sent energy prices soaring. He did not mention the possibility of sending U.S. ground troops into Iran, or NATO, the trans-Atlantic alliance he has railed against for not helping the U.S. secure the waterway.

Oil rose more than 4% and Asian stocks fell after the comments. Oil prices were sharply higher following Trump’s remarks. Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 4.9% to $106.16 per barrel. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 4% to $104.15 a barrel.

U.S. gas prices jumped past an average of $4 a gallon for the first time since 2022 on Tuesday, as the Iran war continues to push fuel prices higher worldwide. Analysts say those high fuel costs will trickle into groceries as businesses’ transportation and packaging costs pile up.

Here is the latest:

A New York-based think tank said Thursday that U.S. President Donald Trump’s speech suggests he “is willing to leave the Strait of Hormuz off the table, leaving other nations to deal with the consequences.”

“Trump’s message was that the United States can sustain its own economic and energy ecosystem, while countries dependent on regional exports will either have to buy from the United States or manage the Strait themselves,” the Soufan Center wrote.

“While Trump explicitly thanked U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf for their cooperation and allyship, an expedited U.S. withdrawal without securing the Strait will leave many of these countries, whose economies are dependent on energy exports, in the lurch.”

Fuel prices in Thailand soared again on Thursday after the government further cut subsidies, sending diesel price to over 44 baht ($1.35) per liter, about 12% increase.

The surge was the second time in a week, after a majority of fuel prices rose by 6 baht ($0.18) per liter last Thursday.

Democrats are criticizing Trump’s primetime address to the American people on the war in Iran as “incoherent” and as doing little to answer “the most basic questions the American people,” according to statements from two Democratic lawmakers released on Wednesday.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., noted that Trump owed Americans more answers about a conflict that has driven up prices on gas “alongside rising prices for diesel, fertilizer, aluminum, and other essentials, with consequences that will continue to ripple through the economy for a long time to come” in his statement.

Meanwhile, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., released a statement that said the “speech was grounded in a reality that only exists in Donald Trump’s mind.”

Murphy went on to add that “no one in America, after listening to that speech, knows whether we are escalating or deescalating.”

Oil rose more than 4% and Asian stocks fell after U.S. President Donald Trump said in his first national address since the Iran war began that the U.S. will keep hitting Iran very hard.

Trump also said the United States will “finish the job” in Iran and that military operations could wrap up soon.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was down 1.4% to 53,004.81 in early Asia trading on Thursday. South Korea’s Kospi lost 3.4% to 5,292.36. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.8% to 25,082.59.

U.S. futures were down more than 0.7%.

Oil prices were sharply higher following Trump’s remarks. Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 5% to $106.22 per barrel. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 4.2% to $104.36 a barrel.

Members of civic groups hold signs against the U.S. and Israel attacks on Iran near the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Israel's rescue teams and residents take shelter as sirens sounds next to a site struck by an Iranian missile in Bnei Brak, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

A family who fled Israeli shelling in southern Lebanon warm themselves by a bonfire next to tents used as shelters in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

People stand near a damaged van beside scattered debris following an Israeli strike in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A firefighter extinguishes a car at the site of Israeli airstrikes, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)