Times That The F1 Championship Has Been Tied

Two drivers last shared the lead of the Drivers’ Championship in 2017, while the Constructors’ Championship was last tied in 2006. We take a look at the times that the leaders in the F1 Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships have been level on points!

THE ONLY TIME BOTH CHAMPIONSHIPS WERE TIED

There has been only one occasion in Formula 1 history that both the Drivers’ Championship and Constructors’ Championship have been tied after a race. It occurred at the 1980 United States Grand Prix West. Four rounds into the 1980 season, Rene Arnoux and Nelson Piquet had each scored eighteen points. Those were also the only points scored by their respective teams – Renault and Brabham – meaning that both championships were tied. Furthermore, after this race, the top four teams in the Constructors’ Championship were separated by only four points.

While that’s the only time that both championships have been tied, it has come close to happening on a number of occasions. The two most recent examples are after the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix, where Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso were tied on points in the Drivers’ Championship, while Renault led the Constructors’ Championship by only a single point, and after the 2017 Chinese Grand Prix, where Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton were tied on points, while Mercedes led Ferrari by a single point.

TIMES THAT THE DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP WAS TIED

There have been 38 occasions on which the lead of the Drivers’ Championship has been tied after a Grand Prix. It most recently happened after the 2017 Chinese Grand Prix, when Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton were level on points.

There have been just two occasions on which the Drivers’ Championship has been tied after consecutive rounds of the championship. It first happened after the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix and the 1950 Indianapolis 500, and most recently happened after the 1979 Spanish and Belgian Grands Prix. The Drivers’ Championship lead was also tied twice in the space of three rounds in the early part of the 2007 season. 1950, 1979, 1981 and 2007 are the only years in which the title race has been tied after multiple races within the season.

The Drivers’ Championship has been tied between more than two drivers on three occasions in 1950. It first happened after the first three rounds of the inaugural season. Guiseppe Farina won the British Grand Prix, Juan Manuel Fangio won the Monaco Grand Prix and Johnnie Parsons won the Indianapolis 500. The three race winners failed to score in either of the other two races, so the title race was tied between the three of them after the Indianapolis 500. It would be 57 years before this feat would repeat itself, at the 2007 Bahrain Grand Prix. After that race, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen were all level at the top of the standings with 22 points each. The third and final time this occurred was after the 2008 British Grand Prix, where Hamilton, Felipe Massa and Robert Kubica were equal on 48 points.

TIMES THAT THE CONSTRUCTORS’ CHAMPIONSHIP WAS TIED

There have been only thirteen occasions in Formula 1 history that the Constructors’ Championship has been tied after a Grand Prix. It has not happened since the opening round of the 2006 season, when Renault and McLaren were tied on ten points apiece. After that race, the top five teams in the standings were separated by only five points.

The 1993 Brazilian and European Grands Prix mark the only time that the Constructors’ Championship has been tied at consecutive races. After the Brazilian Grand Prix, McLaren and Williams were tied on sixteen points. At the European Grand Prix – held at Donington Park – both teams scored ten points, meaning they were now tied on 26 points apiece.

The 1972 Monaco Grand Prix is the only race after which more than two teams were tied at the top of the standings. After that race, Lotus, McLaren, and Ferrari all had sixteen points to their name after the first four rounds of the season. Two years earlier at the Monaco Grand Prix, the championship had been tied between Brabham and McLaren, with the top four teams separated by only two points!

Header Image: Curt Smith Flickr / CC BY 2.0

Nicky Haldenby

After graduating in 2015 with a First Class honours degree in English Language and Literature, Nicky Haldenby, a lifelong fan of Formula 1, founded the Lights Out F1 Blog in 2016. Now in its sixth season, the blog has become a firm fan-favourite, delving deep into the sport’s history books and lifting the cover on unusual F1 statistics. Nicky also writes at F1Destinations and GPDestinations. In 2017 and 2018, he wrote for Badger GP. Nicky is also the host of the F1 Rewind Podcast and can be heard as the resident stats man on the 2 Soft Compounds Podcast.