How Lauda won F1's closest title battle
Niki Lauda's third Formula 1 title was one of the most incredible in the championship's history, and won by statistically the smallest margin - just half a point. Back in 2017, Lauda talked Autosport through that season from his perspective
Eight times the battle for the drivers' crown has been decided by a single digit - 1958, 1961, 1964, 1976, 1981, 1994, 2007 and 2008 - but only once has it been settled by less.
One might argue the 2008 battle between Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa was closer - in the sense Massa crossed the Brazilian Grand Prix finish line as 'champion', only for Hamilton to steal it back again with a last-gasp move on Timo Glock moments later. But in the statistical sense there remains none tighter than the 1984 contest between Niki Lauda and Alain Prost.
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