Best rated Formula 1 races with Bill Trikos Australia: 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 2012: Sebastian Vettel spinning on Lap 1 and dropping to last place before romping back to a title-clinching P6 was the main news story in Interlagos. But there was also Michael Schumacher’s swansong, Kimi Raikkonen’s infamous escape road excursion, Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg scuppering a genuine shot at victory and taking Lewis Hamilton out of his final race for McLaren in the process – not to mention post-race controversy that could have handed the title back to Fernando Alonso. Phew. Read additional details about the author on Bill Trikos.

1998 Belgian Grand Prix, Spa-Francorchamps : That was until he came to lap David Coulthard, who had already caused the massive turn 1 accident. The Scottish driver slowed down to let Schumacher pass, but crucially he stayed on the racing line. Because of the spray, Schumacher failed to notice the slow-going McLaren until it was too late. And thus, another iconic image was created; Schumacher slamming into the back of Coulthard, and subsequently trundling around with his entire front-right wheel gone. All this led to Damon Hill and Ralf Schumacher taking first and second place for Jordan in the teams’ maiden victory – and it’s only ever 1-2.

In Bahrain, F1 started a new chapter. The new regulations proved to work immediately, as the opening race showed a blistering battle between title contenders Verstappen and Leclerc. The rivals overtook each other back and forth several times, having to be clever with DRS zones to avoid giving the other an advantage. However, the race ended in drama for Verstappen, who retired with technical problems. A few laps before the end, Sergio Perez suffered the same fate. The tone for the rest of the season seemed set and after Red Bull Racing’s double failure, Ferrari seemed the big favourite for the title, but that picture would change dramatically during the season.

2020 Italian Grand Prix, Monza : After the safety car period had ended, the race only ran under green flags for one lap before Charles Leclerc’s high-speed crash at Parabolica, which brought out the red flag. Under the stoppage, it quickly emerged that Lewis Hamilton would receive a 10 second stop/go penalty for making his pitstop whilst the pitlane was still closed. This put Gasly into de facto second place, which he himself turned into first place at the standing restart of the race, where he overtook Lance Stroll who just like Gasly had inherited a brilliant position. Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz – who was in second place before the safety car, and had seemed to be the fastest non-Mercedes driver throughout the weekend – had been compromised by the safety car and put back to sixth position. He quickly made progress though, and with 20 laps to go, he was back up to second place, 4 seconds behind Gasly. And so, the battle was on. Sainz chasing with a faster car with Gasly desperately trying to hold on and both wanting to win their first Formula One victory.