The dynamic F1 has been missing for a decade

There's something special about a title fight going down to the wire in any league or points-gathering-based sport. It piles on the drama, the pressure, the climactic imagery. Such scenarios speak to our urge for things to be as good as they possibly can.

Some sports - American leagues especially - cap their regular seasons with playoff competitions to guarantee finale drama, something NASCAR adopted in 2004 with 'The Chase', which became its own playoffs in 2016.

Formula 1 doesn't do all that - and the closest twist it has added, the double points ending to 2014, was rightly cast off immediately. But F1 hasn't had that ultimate climax all that much lately.

Since the start of the last decade, only four times - 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016 - has the title been decided at the final round. Taking it back to the start of the century for a recent cut-off, four more seasons - 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2008 - went down to the wire. So, that's eight in the last 20 campaigns, which helps keep the nail-biting years all that more special.

But the current run of three campaigns matches the longest streak (2000-2003) that contemporary F1 has had without a final race decider.

As the current campaign is on its unfortunate coronavirus hiatus, there is at least time to pause and reflect on what has gone before - even if the usual, busy-but-less-tragic, alternative would be much better for F1 and humanity in general - and what made certain seasons so good. And looking back on those title deciders of recent times, there's one celebrating a big anniversary this year that really stands out.

The 2010 season was one for the ages given that that year's title winner, Sebastian Vettel, ended up making plenty of history, but the main reason to consider it a standout campaign was the number of teams that still had drivers in contention at that final round.

A title decider fight between more than two teams is relatively rare and F1 hasn't got anywhere near that scenario since the start of Mercedes' domination of the V6 turbo hybrid era in 2014

Although Lewis Hamilton arrived at the 2010 season finale in Abu Dhabi in the hunt by just one point, 24 points shy of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, the McLaren man nevertheless made it a four-way, three-team battle along with Red Bull team-mates Vettel and Mark Webber.

No season since then can compare in terms of a year-long scrap between two or more teams. Other seasons - 2012 (which had a relatively-massive six different teams win races) and 2013 (four) - had more squads take home victories, but those campaigns respectively ended with a decider between two teams (Vettel's Red Bull and Alonso's Ferrari in 2012) and Vettel waltzing off to wrap up the championship with three rounds to spare (2013).

A title decider fight between more than two teams is relatively rare. Even in 2003, when Williams and Juan Pablo Montoya battled Ferrari's Michael Schumacher and McLaren driver Kimi Raikkonen, the Colombian was already out of contention at the final race on victory countback.

And F1 hasn't got anywhere near that scenario since the start of Mercedes' domination of the V6 turbo hybrid era in 2014. The 2017 and particularly the 2018 campaigns came close - with debate raging over which car from Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull (with engine performance taken out of the equation) in the latter was the best.

They shared the early wins that year too, and given the close battle between Vettel and Hamilton by the 2018 summer break it could easily have been the season that ended Mercedes' title hegemony.

But after victory at Spa closed the gap to 17 points, Vettel's run of errors in the second half let Hamilton escape to clinch the title with two rounds to spare, while Red Bull was even further adrift in third place - largely thanks to its reliability woes.

There was hope that 2019 would finally be the three-way scrap F1 had been missing for so long, but, as we know, Red Bull's early struggles with the front wing rule change and Ferrari's knack for turning favourable positions into defeats allowed Hamilton and Mercedes to once again clean up early.

Hope remains that the delayed 2020 season could yet return the rare element that has been missing in F1 for 10 years, but the signs from winter testing suggest the current limitations of Ferrari's SF1000 may hinder a three-way fight for supremacy - even if the team does eventually turn things around, as it reckons it can.

And with the current cars now set to be used in 2021, there's no guarantees that such problems can be overcome for next season either.

But in any case, such speculation cannot be replaced with real racing-based evidence due to the coronavirus crisis. So, while many of us wish to escape the horrors of the current pandemic with a few moments of distraction and relief, there are worse ways than to remember F1's last proper multi-team championship fight.

Hamilton was back to the front in 2010 after a tricky '09, but still prone to the wheel-to-wheel errors he has largely eradicated since his move to Mercedes

The 2010 season will stay etched in many memories because of the storylines it produced, as well as the ending it created. There was Jenson Button's successful debut in 'Hamilton's' team at McLaren, Alonso winning on his debut for Ferrari in Bahrain and so nearly taking a famous title with the Scuderia - had it not been for a strategy blunder in the Abu Dhabi decider that trapped him behind Vitaly Petrov's Renault.

Vettel was fast, fresh, but wild - as his tangles with Webber in Turkey and Button at Spa showed - while Hamilton was back to the front after a tricky 2009, but still prone to the wheel-to-wheel errors he has largely eradicated since his move to Mercedes.

Michael Schumacher made his comeback, Mercedes returned to F1 as a works team and Red Bull advanced from regular winners in 2009 to become a championship-winning squad.

Then there was Ferrari's famous team orders debacle in Germany, and of course that cagey (Abu Dhabi really wasn't a great race!) finale, which delivered a new champion.

In a time of uncertainty, let's savour the magic we have had and enjoyed, and look forward to the moment when it will finally return.