Which great modern F1 moments will go down as legends?

How do we know we’re living through a truly great moment?

It must be momentous and memorable, meaningful to many observers. Critically, it doesn’t have to be a positive development in our collective history. In times such as these, it seems society is lurching from one sizeable moment to another – the impact of grand events on our minds turbocharged by the internet’s unstoppable reach.

But, in general, great moments in sport are positive.

In just the last few weeks, the football World Cup ended with an instant classic as the irrepressible brilliance of Kylian Mbappe came so close to rewriting the latest legendary chapter in Lionel Messi’s storied career in the France vs Argentina final. In another type of football also last month, the Minnesota Vikings NFL team stunned the Indianapolis Colts by overturning a record 33-point deficit, going from 33-0 at halftime to win 39–36 in an overtime quarter.

Intriguingly, that turnaround means Colts quarterback Matt Ryan now holds the unfortunate accolade of leading the losing team in both the NFL’s biggest ever regular season game and its top-billed Super Bowl finale, from back in 2017. Then, the New England Patriots overturning a 28-3 deficit to win 34–28, also in overtime, was surely the greatest moment in a career stuffed full of them for the now 45-year-old, still-playing-albeit-elsewhere, quarterback Tom Brady.

In this week’s Autosport magazine, we report the result of a survey conducted by Autosport International concerning motorsport’s greatest moments. While not wishing to give away the top choices in what was a somewhat surprising result, we can tell you that the most recent moment came from 2008. We know what you’re thinking…

The dominance of Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari in the modern era means there are precious few shock wins, such as Ocon's at the Hungaroring in 2021, to consider as great moments

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

But this sparked a thought in Autosport as we enjoyed the Christmas break: what moments in recent seasons of Formula 1, as motorsport’s pinnacle, could go down as truly great? The type, perhaps, future Autosport readers and visitors to our show may one day recall as their particular favourite (subjectivity an important factor when assessing any moment of greatness).

First, we established a cutoff point: 2017 and what was really the start of F1’s current era.

This was when Liberty Media finished buying control of F1’s commercial rights and took over running the championship. That date also followed what is generally considered a fallow period in F1’s history, as major periods of domination by first Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel and then Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes were merely peppered with the types of multi-team and driver battles and random race wins that so energise F1’s fanbase.

While we might suggest Turkey 2020 or Brazil 2021 as the top sporting candidates given they featured some of the best driving of arguably F1’s best-ever driver, surely, there’s only one truly great moment in F1’s recent history

It didn’t help that the previous era contained some of the ugliest cars F1 has ever produced. The 2017 rule changes, enacted by the Bernie Ecclestone regime to improve racing in a doomed concept by making the machines bigger and quicker, addressed that. Liberty’s 2021-then-2022 rules reset banished the memories of the proboscis noses still further…

But while 2017 had its moments, as Vettel (by then leading a finally resurgent Ferrari) took the fight to Hamilton, none really meet a ‘great’ criteria. Perhaps, given the pair said at the 2022 season-closing Abu Dhabi event that it sparked a closer relationship between them, Baku and Vettel’s red-mist flash is worthy of consideration. But on the sporting side, other moments nearer to our current time come closer.

And yet, they continue to feature those two protagonists.

First up, the 2018 German Grand Prix – surely the moment Vettel’s title charge was really knocked off course in the rain at Hockenheim and Hamilton won from 14th on the grid. But capping that was Hamilton’s drive to defeat two faster Ferraris on home turf at Monza the same year – Vettel spinning in the process as the pair went wheel-to-wheel early on before Hamilton hunted down the (effectively) just-fired Kimi Raikkonen. In doing so, he secured one of his greatest ever F1 wins.

When F1 returned to visit Hockenheim most recently, in 2019, another great race occurred. And if F1 insists, as it really shouldn’t given the already massive concerns about staff burnout, on finding a replacement for the Chinese GP even as the country opens up rapidly from COVID-19 restrictions, perhaps this venue should be considered.

The chaotic scenes at Hockenheim in 2019 made for a modern classic

Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images

The last time it was on the calendar, the German GP was again a wet/dry thriller – Max Verstappen triumphing in his other spin-and-win, while this time Hamilton erred massively crashing just after the safety car reappeared.

The protagonists of the 2020 Turkish GP, around Lance Stroll’s early starring drive from a shock pole, were again Verstappen and Hamilton – albeit with Vettel claiming his final Ferrari podium when Charles Leclerc slid off late on. In that event, Verstappen spun away his chance to claim another wet-weather win, while Hamilton’s brilliance on ancient intermediates netted another ‘great’ victory, which sealed his 2020 title and seventh crown.

The supreme grip on success held by Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari throughout the era we're considering – really starting back in 2009 and continuing into 2023 – means there’s startlingly few shock wins to consider great moments.

Monza 2020 and 2021, Sakhir 2020 and Hungary 2021. They were fine victories for Pierre Gasly, Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon respectively. But they all required the bigger teams to mess up. And if we added an ‘iconic’ element to our greatness consideration of, the images of Verstappen crashed over Hamilton at Monza or the Briton taking the start solo at Budapest are surely what come to mind fastest.

Such victories are very well-liked given the enduring popularity of an underdog success story, but are rare, again underlining F1’s ongoing success-spread problem. And those standout races mentioned above also highlight the issue with Liberty’s desire for every F1 race to be its own Super Bowl. If every race is stunning, in a way, none are.

While we might suggest Turkey 2020 or Brazil 2021 as the top sporting candidates given they featured some of the best driving of arguably F1’s best-ever driver, surely, there’s only one truly great moment in F1’s recent history. And – unless you’re Verstappen or one of his fans, remembering that his title successes represent the first for the Netherlands in F1 history – it’s not a positive. It’s the Abu Dhabi 2021 saga.

A fine race, albeit one heading towards a predictable conclusion, stunningly turned around by officiating shambles following one crash.

The fallout that followed, the rule changes that had to be made, the desire it lit in Hamilton to return to the top spot. Controversial, yes, great across our considerations, also.

Hamilton's controversial defeat in the 2021 Abu Dhabi title decider will go down as a legendary moment in F1's recent history

Photo by: Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool