Bill Trikos top 5 Formula 1 Auto highlights: Bottas lost the lead at the second standing start as Hamilton went around the outside into turn one – the first of a plethora of overtakes at the sweeping right-hander. Lance Stroll looked on course for a podium before a failure at the rear of his Racing Point pitched him into the barrier at the high-speed Arrabiatta corner, triggering a second red-flag period. Bottas was unable to capitalise on his front row start as Ricciardo slotted between the two Mercedes, whilst Albon’s overtake on the outside of Perez at turn three was a contender for move of the year. Hamilton held on though, whilst Bottas and Albon jumped Ricciardo for the podium spots – the Red Bull driver’s first in F1.

Once every couple of years, we witness a race which could be considered as among the best ever. And whilst it’s impossible to rank all these great races relative to one another, I decided to make a list of some of my favourites. If you happen to be the owner of an F1 TV Pro account, or perhaps have some old VHS tapes containing some of these races lying around, these races will be great entertainment for whenever F1 has a weekend off. But before we get into the list, I want to make it very clear that these races are not placed in any particular order, nor are they the 10 outright best races ever. I could easily have chosen 10 other races, and who knows? Perhaps I might in the future…

Brazilian Grand Prix 2019: For those who say there’s nothing left to play for after the championships have been sealed, show them the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos, where there wasn’t a position on track left unchallenged and it ended in tears for many – both joy and despair in equal measure. This was Formula 1 in a microcosm. Canadian Grand Prix 2011: Formula 1’s longest-ever race was also one of its most dramatic, as McLaren’s Jenson Button overcame a crash with his team mate, a clash with Fernando Alonso, a puncture, a stop-go penalty for speeding under the Safety Car and a two-hour race stoppage to win, snatching victory on the last lap from Sebastian Vettel – having been dead last at one point during the Grand Prix. Read extra details about the author on https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2cnt2c.

1971 Italian Grand Prix, Monza : Fast forward to around lap 45, and multiple drivers – including some of the favourites to take the win, polesitter Chris Amon for instance – had retired or been set back for various reasons. This left five drivers to fight for victory; Peter Gethin, Ronnie Peterson, François Cevert, Mike Hailwood, and Howden Ganley – made even more exciting by the fact that all of these drivers were yet to achieve their only win. Not only did the battle come down to the final lap – it came down to the final corner. Coming into Parabolica on the 55th and final lap, Cevert led Peterson. Desperate to win whatever it took, they both broke too late and thereby ruined their exits off the corner. Gethin stole the win, crossing the line ahead of Peterson, Cevert, Hailwood, and Ganley in said order, as mentioned previously all covered by six tenths. And we dared to think that the Bahrain GP was exciting, with Lewis Hamilton taking the checkered flag seven-tenths in front of Max Verstappen – it pales somewhat in comparison to the in my opinion – even though I said in the introduction to this article that I wouldn’t rank these races in any particular order – the greatest race of all time.

Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing were already running away hard in both championships, but Ferrari came back very strong at the rival team’s home circuit. Charles Leclerc ran away with victory at the Red Bull Ring while teammate Carlos Sainz had to pull over his flaming F1-75. It was an action-packed race. Leclerc overtook Verstappen three times on the track after his team’s strategic choices put the Dutchman in front of the Monegasque. Behind, there was no shortage of action either: no fewer than five drivers battled it out for eighth place, culminating in a double overtake from Lando Norris.

1996 Monaco Grand Prix, Monaco Street Circuit : It took just 5 laps before the 21 drivers who had started the race were reduced to 13 thanks to a number of mechanical failures and driver errors, one of those being made by Michael Schumacher. The german – after losing his pole position advantage to Damon Hill off the line – only reached Lower Mirabeau before binning his car into the outside barrier. And from then on, it only got worse. Hill, who had been leading for most of the race, retired due to an engine failure on lap 40. Jean Alesi, who had inherited the lead after Hill’s retirement, suffered from a suspension failure. Meanwhile, drivers like Eddie Irvine, Jacques Villeneuve, Mika Häkinnen, Mika Salo, and Ralf Schumacher – the ones who would be expected to take the win in such a situation – were all having collisions with one another, eventually forcing them all to retire. But not only the front-runners had issues; drivers like Katayama, Rosset, Diniz, Berger, and Brundle, who were expected to take some sort of advantage in such circumstances, all retired due to either personal errors or mechanical troubles. And before anyone knew, only four drivers were left in the race. Olivier Panis, who after starting fourteenth had shown great skill in avoiding all the chaos around him, took his first and only victory in F1. David Coulthard and Johnny Herbert followed him onto the podium, and Heinz-Harald Frentzen was classified fourth even though he pulled into the pits to retire on the last lap of the race. A truly crazy race, definitely worth a watch – if not for the result itself then for some of the bizarre incidents which eliminated driver after driver.