The best moments of the Drive to Survive F1 Era

(1) 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Perhaps one of the greatest championship battles in F1 history, the 2021 season came down to the last race. When they entered the season finale race, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were tied heads-up in the driver's championship. 

Lewis started on the pole, and Max began to second; Lewis took the lead in the race after an intense first-lap battle. Lewis and Max had different pit stop strategies, leading to a fierce fight between Hamilton and Sergio Perez, who led the race after an extended stint on his tires. Hamilton would eventually get past Sergio; meanwhile, Max would have cut the undercut gap by a few seconds, leaving him right behind current race leader Lewis Hamilton. While this was the closest gap between Hamilton and Verstappen, Lewis would extend a ten-second gap until a yellow flag from Nicholas Latifi with only five laps remaining.

Hamilton would stay out thinking the race would end under yellow or with a group of lapped cars seperating himself from Verstappen. A bizarre series of events would happen with race regulators; Max Verstappen would end up with a fresh set of tires from a pit stop directly behind race leader Lewis Hamilton. The safety car would dive off into the pits with only one lap remaining, leaving Max, with the faster fresh tires, would pass Lewis with only a few corners remaining and go on to win his first Drivers Championship.

The late series of events leading to the shifting of cars during the safety car would go into litigation after the season, as Mercedes appealed the season results. It was a wild and crazy few months following the season, creating one of the sport's greatest controversies for decades, leading to the resignation of the F1 race director, Michael Massi. The racing was incredible, and the drama was next level; the 2021 season was among the most exciting seasons ever to watch F1.  (S4:10)

(2) Charles Leclerc's Win at Monza (2019): There are few things in sports that are as unique as a Ferrari victory at Monza. Charles Leclerc secured his first-ever back-to-back Formula 1 victory at the Italian Grand Prix following his maiden victory at Spa two weeks before, driving for Ferrari. This was an emotional win for the team and fans at their home race, Ferrari's first win at the Italian Grand Prix since Fernando Alonso in 2010. The podium celebration on the front straight after the race looked like a movie scene. The home crowd, the Tifosi, had their moment, leaving some of the most iconic podium images with the waves of red fans as far as you could see.  (S2:E7)

(3) 2021 Italian Grand Prix: A chaotic race with multiple crashes and red flags led to a surprise victory for Daniel Ricciardo and McLaren amid the mayhem. After a second-place start on the grid, Daniel Ricciardo took the lead from Max Verstappen into turn 1. Ricciardo held Verstappen behind for 21 laps until he boxed for hard tires. Verstappen entered the pits on the next lap but was held for over ten seconds due to an issue with the tire change. Verstappen and Hamilton would later collide when entering turn 1, resulting in the iconic footage of Max's car rolling on top of Lewis Hamilton's car. Ricciardo held onto the lead for 40 laps, winning his first race since the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix and taking the first win for McLaren since Jenson Button's victory at the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix. Norris finished second, making it a one-two finish for McLaren, their first since the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix with Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. The podium celebration was one for the ages, with the famous shoey pic of Daniel on the podium and the Zak Brown bet that ended with a tattoo, which were epic moments of the 2021 season. (S4:E5)

(4) Pierre Gasly's Victory at Monza (2020): Pierre Gasly, driving for AlphaTauri, unexpectedly won the Italian Grand Prix after an early pit stop that dropped Gasly to the end of the field. After a yellow flag shifted Gasly towards the front of the grid, leader Lewis Hamilton would be served a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for boxing the car while the pit lane was closed during the yellow. After Lewis pulled off to serve the penalty, Gasly took over the race lead just after halfway through the 53 laps. Gasly pulled off a stunning upset against top teams like Mercedes, Ferrari, and parent team Red Bull, becoming the first French driver to win a race in 25 years. (S3:E6)

(5) 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix: Driving the "Pink Mercedes" of the BWT Racing Point RP20, Sergio shocked the F1 world, winning the race after a first-lap incident resulting in an early pit stop and dropping to dead last in the racing order, forcing the team to alter tire strategies. This was Sergio Perez's first career win after 190 F1 starts. Another memorable moment of this race was George Russell's substitution in the Mercedes for a sick Lewis Hamilton; Russell would have had a solid race but had a late race puncture, resulting in Sergio holding onto the lead. This performance by Sergio caught the eye of Red Bull's management and helped secure his future ride with Red Bull. (S4:E10)

(6) 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix: A chaotic race starting in wet conditions, the first lap carnage resulted in a red flag. Every team besides race leader Lewis Hamilton dove into the pits before the restart to change into slick tires and start from the pit lane. This situation led to the iconic image of a single car (Lewis Hamilton) taking the restart as the only car on the grid. Escaping multiple crashes at the start unscathed and diving into the pits early, Ocon found himself in the top three as the race restarted. Hamilton would pit the following lap of the restart, and Esteban took the lead on lap five and held off Sebastian Vettel for a 60+ laps battle. Alpine teammate Fernando Alonso held off a charging Lewis Hamilton late in the race for an epic defense masterclass that resulted in a time gap, helping Esteban Ocon hang on to clinch his maiden victory for Alpine. (S4:E7)

(7) Alonso's podium run of 2023. While Alonso did have one third-place podium in 2021 during his time with Alpine, it was not a frequent occurrence for a driver who had experienced so much success in the past. After nearly a decade of absence from the podium since the 2014 Hungarian GP with Ferrari, all race fans loved to see Alonso frequent the podium with Aston Martin during the 2023 season. Alonso fans got quite the treat with a stretch of six podiums in eight races and a total of eight podiums during the season. With three second-place finishes, all of F1 were anticipating an Alonso win. Despite not getting the win everyone wanted to see, Alonso made the most of these iconic podium celebrations.  (S6:E1)

 (8) Lewis wins with a flat tire—What appeared to be a somewhat dull race led mainly by Lewis Hamilton. With multiple drivers having punctures during the race, Lewis would have the same fate, having a tire puncture during his last lap. With a 20-second gap to Max Verstappen in second place, Lewis drove a car with three tires for nearly three-quarters of a lap to hold on for the victory. (S3:E3)

(9) Canadian Grand Prix 2019. During an epic season-long battle between the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas and the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel. Going into round 7 in Canada, Lewis had a commanding lead in the drivers championship, having four wins in the first six races. Lewis would start the race second on the grid in a Ferrari sandwich behind pole sitter Sebastian Vettel and third place Charles Leclerc. Vettel led the race for nearly 50 laps before going wide through a corner, which resulted in him impeding Hamilton while rejoining the track. The race director would penalize Vettel with a five-second penalty for an unsafe re-entry, giving Hamilton enough of a margin behind to clinch the victory from a two-second gap. After the controversial call by race stewards, Vettel showed signs of revolt, replacing the 2nd place marker from his car with the first place marker in front of Hamilton's car in Parc Ferme. (S2:E7)