10 moments that decided the 2019 F1 title

Lewis Hamilton's sixth world championship title is now in the Formula 1 history books, but, despite the inevitable focus on the moment he sealed the deal, this success is built on months of effort.

Inevitably, there have been twists and turns along with the way in 2019 with Valtteri Bottas determined to keep the title fight alive for as long as possible.

We've picked the 10 moments that shaped the title battle, both in Hamilton's favour and against him, to tell the story of triumph number six.

1 Last day of testing breakthrough - Edd Straw

Mercedes always knew it was going to look uncompetitive in the first pre-season test because it ran a package that was signed off very early in the process to allow development of the 'real' car to be pushed as late as possible.

But when it turned up to the second and final test, the expected extra performance didn't materialise.

For the first three days, Mercedes continued to struggle. Then on the final day, set-up breakthroughs unlocked improved performance.

While Hamilton's fastest time was just 0.003 seconds off Sebastian Vettel's quickest, Mercedes still knew it was on the back foot and didn't expect to have the fastest car at the first round in Australia. But it had nevertheless unlocked huge performance potential with its 2019 car, which meant it headed into the season as a whole expecting to come on strong.

Without the set-up gains on that final day, Mercedes would have been behind in terms of understanding how to get the best out of its car.

2 Bottas strikes in Australia - ES

Despite the testing breakthrough, Mercedes still headed Down Under expecting to be chasing Ferrari - just not to be as far back as analysis of testing had suggested.

In the event, Mercedes finished first and second after Hamilton outpaced Vettel's leading Ferrari by 0.704s in qualifying.

But in the race, it was Bottas who prevailed by making a perfect start from second on the grid after challenging Hamilton for pole. He took the lead and never looking back.

Bottas crossed the line 20.866s clear of Hamilton and bagged the first new bonus point for fastest lap to banish the memories of a dismal end to 2018 and establish an eight-point championship lead.

Hamilton's race was compromised by damage to his floor - caused by a kerb strike early in the race. The damage was in front of the left-rear wheel in the 'tyre seal' area, which cost him downforce and destabilised the rear end and ensured he couldn't threaten Bottas.

Standings after Australia:

3 Vettel - and Ferrari - crumble in Bahrain heat - Scott Mitchell

After Mercedes' surprise domination in Australia, Ferrari came out swinging in Bahrain and had a commanding pace advantage. It locked out the front row and the ease with which slow-starting polesitter Charles Leclerc held off Hamilton, repassed Bottas and took back the lead from team-mate Vettel was indicative of the superiority of the SF90.

But what should have been the beginning of Ferrari's title challenge and an immediate interruption of Mercedes' form turned into the first Maranello implosion of the season. While an unprecedented short circuit within the control systems of his engine denied Leclerc a clear win, Hamilton deserves credit for the part he played in stopping a Ferrari victory in any case.

Vettel should have been in position to pick up the pieces. But he wasn't, because Hamilton had come out on top in wheel-to-wheel combat between the two yet again. Identifying a headwind on the run up to the tight Turn 4, Hamilton braked later than his rival on the outside and took the place as Vettel lost control on the inside and spun.

So, when Leclerc lost power and slumped to third, it was the two Mercedes - led by Hamilton, who scored his first win of the season - that benefited.

Standings after Bahrain:

4 Bottas takes the lead in Baku - ES

Bottas lost out on victory in the third race of the season thanks to wheelspin off the line in China after starting from pole position, letting Hamilton beat him. That story looked to be repeating itself in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix when Hamilton surged ahead off the line. But Bottas wasn't giving up.

He dived up the inside of Hamilton in the first corner to retake the lead, which was key to earning not only his second win in four races, but also to move back into the title lead by one point on a weekend where Ferrari had looked threatening before its challenge started to unravel when Leclerc crashed in Q2.

But Hamilton did mark Bottas's card by warning that he had been generous with the space given at the first corner and that he might not be so compliant next time. A hint, perhaps, that he was taking the revitalised Finn's title bid very seriously.

Standings after Azerbaijan:

5 Mercedes smashes it with Spain upgrade - ES

A significant aerodynamic upgrade ensured that Mercedes continued its run of 1-2 finishes in the Spanish GP, with Hamilton taking a points advantage he would never lose by leading home Bottas by four seconds.

This was the point when hopes of Ferrari mounting a challenge by unlocking the performance of its car suffered a major blow. Of all the races in 2019, this was the biggest pace advantage Mercedes had, with third-placed Vettel 0.866s slower - 1.148% overall in relative terms.

It left Ferrari 96 points behind in the constructors' championship and Hamilton 46 points ahead of third-placed Max Verstappen in the drivers' standings.

This ensured Mercedes would continue its run of victories throughout the first eight races, all the way up to the French GP, and started a series during which Hamilton started to eke out his championship lead. The Spain upgrade was key to Mercedes utterly dominating the first third of the season.

Standings after Spain:

6 Vettel cracks in Canada - SM

Ferrari's shock failure to win a race during the first half of the season and the apparent fall from grace suffered by Vettel cannot be captured better than the Canadian GP.

Vettel was the fastest driver in Montreal. He literally crossed the finish line first. Yet somehow his and his team's first win of the year went missing, and Hamilton inherited the triumph instead.

Vettel's weakness in battle with Hamilton was exposed again as he soaked up more than 40 laps of pressure without error, only to throw it all away with one mistake.

When he erred under braking for the first chicane, and ran across the grass with Hamilton just a second adrift behind, Vettel's win was at risk.

He rejoined as Hamilton tried to pass on the outside and, in the eyes of the stewards, pinned his rival to the concrete wall to hold onto the lead.

A five-second penalty was handed out, which meant Vettel won the race on the road but was immediately demoted to second. Hamilton was promoted to victory, giving him a 12-point swing: the biggest in a normal race all season.

Standings after Canada:

7 Bottas crashes out in Germany - SM

Very few drivers avoided blotting their copybooks in the chaotic rain-hit German GP. Hamilton was among those to blunder in a costly manner, sliding off the road and breaking his front wing.

He also had a major moment at the first corner late-one, putting a wheel on the damp part of the track and spinning aggressively but fortunately going full circle before continuing. His errors cost him a potential win, a probable podium, and meant he was lucky to score points at all.

They gave Bottas his best chance to carve a massive chunk out of Hamilton's advantage, but it actually turned into Hamilton extending his championship lead.

Bottas was running fourth in the final stages of the race and should have earned a comfortable second, but struggled to clear the Racing Point of Lance Stroll and Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat.

As he pursued Stroll, Bottas made the same error as Hamilton going into the first corner, running wide and losing the rear of his car on the damp surface.

Unfortunately for Bottas he could not recover it as Hamilton had done, and he slid across the run-off and the gravel and into the barrier. Race over, and a major chance to change the title picture missed.

Standings after Germany:

8 Hamilton's Hungary late-show after Bottas's first-lap disaster - ES

Verstappen looked destined to take his third win in four races at the Hungaroring as he lead from pole position after a qualifying session during which Mercedes had struggled to nail the capricious Pirelli tyres to perfection.

Hamilton was unable to attack him during the first stint and was still behind after what was expected to be the first and only round of pitstops.

But Mercedes pulled a brilliant strategy move by bringing Hamilton in on lap 48 of the 70-lap race for fresh rubber. He was close enough to potentially undercut his way past Verstappen, meaning the Red Bull driver had to stay out. The chase was on.

Initially, Hamilton didn't make rapid progress but then Verstappen's pace dropped off. The Mercedes driver took the lead at the start of the fourth lap from home.

Bottas, meanwhile, lost 21 points in the title fight after finishing eighth. He tried to be aggressive at the start but lost out to Hamilton at Turn 3, then drifted across on Leclerc on the run to Turn 4 in an incident that initially looked to be the Ferrari driver's fault and picked up a puncture.

Standings after Hungary:

9 Ferrari self-destructs at Sochi - SM

When team principal Mattia Binotto picks through the rubble of Ferrari's 2019 title challenge, there will be plenty of evidence of an avoidable collapse.

Perhaps none of Ferrari's implosions were as spectacular as in Russia, where, after a team orders spat for the second race in a row, an MGU-K failure robbed Vettel of second but also triggered a safety car that took the win away from Leclerc and handed it to... Hamilton.

Unlike in Bahrain, where Hamilton had to force his way into position to pick up a win, Russia was a slightly different kind of inheritance. But Hamilton and Mercedes still had a part to play.

Mercedes was no match for Ferrari in qualifying but Hamilton was able to extend his opening stint for long enough to be in the perfect position to make his pitstop under the virtual safety car that Vettel caused and emerge ahead of Leclerc, who had already pitted.

It ended an unexpected winless run at the start of the second half of the season for Mercedes and again it was Hamilton who was the driver in position to benefit. Victory also extended his lead over Bottas by seven points (not including his point for fastest lap), instead of just three had they finished third and fourth.

Standings after Russia:

10 Defeated in the US battle but victorious in the war

Hamilton had his first chance to seal the title in Mexico at the end of October, but despite pulling off a hard-fought victory Bottas's presence in third meant the championship would have to wait.

That did make a title clincher in America almost a foregone conclusion, though, with Hamilton needing only an eighth place to put things beyond doubt at Austin.

He was out of sorts in qualifying and started only fifth as Bottas narrowly pipped Vettel to pole.

The race was another example of the late-season Bottas resurgence also witnessed at the Japanese GP and unfolded in much the same way - the Mercedes team-mates diverging on strategy and Bottas emerging victorious.

Unlike at Suzuka, Hamilton stayed on a one-stop strategy but Bottas was able to hunt him down and pass him on track in the closing stages. The determination with which Hamilton debated strategy options on the radio and then tried to fight his team-mate off showed how much he wanted to become champion with a race win, and even after losing the lead he made sure he didn't relinquish second to the flying Verstappen too.

But any frustration at defeat on the day instantly dissipated - he was world champion for the fifth time in six years, the sixth time in his career, and a big step closer to equalling Michael Schumacher atop the all-time records.

Standings after USA: