Formula 1 is celebrating its 75th Anniversary, with the global sporting phenomenon having begun at Silverstone with the first race in 1950.

It has seen some action-packed and controversial races over the years, crowning 34 different world champions since Giuseppe Farina first won the title.

The cars have also evolved, going from the front-engined cars of the 50s, to mid-engined in the 60s, then introducing wings and downforce in the 70s and 80s. By the time F1 reached the millennium, the cars morphed into the shape that we associate with them today.

The changes to the cars also brought closer racing, so F1 Oversteer has taken a look at the top five races of the 21st century, including a battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen and a record-breaking victory from 2009 world champion Jenson Button.

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5. 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix – Lewis Hamilton takes a dramatic first title victory

Who can forget the commentary line “Is that Glock? Is that Glock going slowly!?” uttered by Martin Brundle in the dying moments of the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix?

Heading into the race, Hamilton was on 94 points ahead of Felipe Massa who had 87 points, which meant that simply finishing as high as fifth place would secure the title for the Briton if Massa was to win.

The race began well for Hamilton, who made his way into the top five, but in the closing stages of the race, rain started to hit the track. Hamilton decided to pit for dry tyres while everyone else gambled, which caused him to lose position to Sebastian Vettel and crucially, outside of the top five.

In the dying moments of the race, the Briton battled Vettel for the point needed to win the title. Massa crossed the line to win the race, while Hamilton cruised up behind Toyota’s Timo Glock, who struggled for grip on his dry tyres.

Joy in the Ferrari garage soon turned into disappointment as Hamilton finished the race in fifth, securing his first world championship and becoming F1’s youngest title winner until Vettel in 2010.

4. 2022 British Grand Prix – Carlos Sainz wins first race in a three-way battle

Carlos Sainz took his first win at F1’s most dramatic race of the 2022 season. The Grand Prix began with a frightening first-lap crash for Zhou Guanyu, after he collided with George Russell on the run to Turn 1.

The race would go on to produce some intense wheel-to-wheel battles, with Sainz fending off teammate Charles Leclerc and Hamilton in the Mercedes during the closing stages.

After a late Safety Car enabled Sainz to pit for fresh tyres, at the restart he passed Leclerc who was then under pressure from Hamilton and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.

As Leclerc and Perez duelled for second, they reached Club Corner and both overshot their braking points, enabling Hamilton to overtake both in front of his home crowd.

At the front, Sainz has opened up a gap and went on to win his first race in F1 ahead of Perez and Hamilton.

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3. 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix – Lewis Hamilton comes from the back of the pack

The 2021 season will forever be known for the controversial end, but leading up to it there was some brilliant comeback drives from Hamilton.

After being outscored by title rival Verstappen in the preceding races, the Mercedes driver knew he needed to win each of the final races to take the title.

Despite qualifying on the front row for the Sprint race, Hamilton was disqualified due to a technical infringement on his rear wing. Mercedes used it as an opportunity to fit a brand new power unit into his car, enabling him to produce one of the all-time comeback drives.

Recovering to P5 in the Sprint, Hamilton went on to battle Verstappen in the race. Over the course of the 71 laps, Verstappen put up a stern defence, but Hamilton was able to make his way past and win the race.

The victory enabled him to score crucial points and cut Verstappen’s title lead down to 14.5 points heading into the final two rounds of the season.

2. 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix – Sebastian Vettel’s comeback drive to third title

Sao Paulo has always produced classics and the 2012 race was no exception. Vettel was in a title battle with Fernando Alonso and needed to finish ahead of the Spaniard to take his third in a row with Red Bull.

Disaster struck at the start of the race when Vettel spun exiting Turn 4, causing him to collide with the Williams of Bruno Senna, which inflicted significant damage to his car. Red Bull engineers checked it and gave him the all-clear to continue, but by this stage he was out of the points.

Vettel came back through in the sodden wet conditions to sixth place, which was enough to outscore Alonso by three points and take the title.

Elsewhere, Button would take McLaren’s final win for nearly 10 years, while teammate Hamilton retired in what would be his last race for McLaren before moving to Mercedes in 2013, after a collision fighting for the lead with Nico Hulkenberg.

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1. 2011 Canadian Grand Prix – Jenson Button’s wet weather masterclass

The Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve played host to one of F1’s most memorable races and also one of the longest, clocking in at four hours and four minutes.

Button was battling with teammate Hamilton in the opening stages, after the latter had collided with Webber in the wet conditions. When the pair went side-by-side on the start/finish straight, Button and Hamilton banged wheels and collided after the former was unsighted in the rain.’

Hamilton retired on the spot, and Button was issued with a drive-thru penalty, dropping him down to last place. Button became the first driver to ditch the full wet tyres and move to intermediates, but rain hit the track again and he was forced to pit and lose more time.

The race was eventually red flagged, but when it restarted, Button produced one of F1’s finest comeback drives. In the final 20 laps, Button managed to cruise his way onto the back of Webber and Michael Schumacher who both made up the top three positions.

On the final lap of the race, he closed the gap to within a second of Vettel. Under pressure on the damp track, Vettel made a mistake by putting his slick tyres on the wet section and allowed Button to come through into the lead.

The McLaren driver crossed the line 2.7s ahead of Vettel having made six pit stops and won with an official average speed of 46mph.