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Winning races is a daunting task in the competitive sport of Formula One, and a tiny bit of misfortune could turn the race on its head and rob drivers of their deserved victory. At times, the race leaders failed to win the race because they ran out of fuel on the final lap of the Grand Prix.
The other set of unfortunate few were forced to relinquish the race lead after getting into a tussle with the backmarkers while trying to get past them as quickly as possible.
Without further ado, let us take a trip down the memory lane, and look closer at the five race leaders who were taken out by backmarkers in Formula One.
#5 Max Verstappen (Esteban Ocon - Brazil 2018)
At number five, we have the most recent incident involving Max Verstappen and Esteban Ocon at the 2018 Brazilian Grand Prix.
After playing second-best to both the Mercedes and Ferrari machines for most of the 2018 season, Red Bull's Verstappen had an opportunity to secure a memorable race win at the penultimate Grand Prix in Brazil.
The Dutchman started the race from the fifth spot but quickly made his way to the top of the grid and held onto that position until the scuffle with Force India's driver.
Verstappen lapped Ocon, but the German driver continued to push, which led to a collision between the two drivers, costing Verstappen crucial championship points. He went on to finish the race in the second place, some 1.4 seconds behind the five-time champion Lewis Hamilton.
Naturally, the Dutchman was not very pleased with the German post-race, and one was even able to see a heated exchange between the two drivers.
Max Verstappen finished the 2018 Formula One season in the fourth place with 249 points.
#4 Nelson Piquet (Eliseo Salazar - Germany 1982)
Nelson Piquet, driving for Brabham-BMW, started the race from the fourth place but quickly moved up the order, ahead of Alain Prost and Rene Arnoux, to take the race lead.
The Brazilian driver led the race until lap 18, but his fortunes changed when he tried to overtake the slow-moving car of Eliseo Salazar. The Chilean driver in his ATS-Ford didn't leave enough room and collided with Piquet at the Hockenheimring chicane, effectively ending the latter's race the very moment.
Right after the incident, a furious Piquet got out of his car and landed a couple of blows on Salazar right there, on the side of the track before being separated by the marshals.
Nelson Piquet finished the 1982 Formula One season in the eleventh place with 20 championship points.
Video: Piquet and Salazar fight
#3 Juan Pablo Montoya (Jos Verstappen - Brazil 2001)
Jos Verstappen - Max Verstappen's father was on the other end of the spectrum at the 2001 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Juan Pablo Montoya, only a rookie that season, stunned the crowd by taking the lead and building a gap of over 30 seconds over second-placed Michael Schumacher by lap 30. All this happened despite the Williams' driver starting the race from the fourth place.
However, fortunes took a turn for the worse when the Columbian overtook the lapped car of Verstappen. After letting the Colombian through, the Dutchman, driving for Arrows, plunged into the back of the Williams' violently, forcing Montoya's immediate retirement.
Verstappen felt sorry of Montoya after the race and claimed that the Columbian had braked early, leaving the Dutch driver almost no room to avoid the incident.
Jean Pablo Montoya finished the 2001 Formula One season in the sixth place with 31 points.
#2 Ayrton Senna (Jean-Louis Schlesser - Italy 1988)
Ayrton Senna, driving a strong McLaren machine, dominated the entire season by securing eight wins. However, his controversial incident came during the Italian Grand Prix, which interestingly, was the only race when the McLaren car failed to claim the top spot of the podium.
The duo of Senna and Prost locked the front row of the grid, but the Frenchman retired from the Grand Prix in the opening laps due to engine trouble. His teammate, on the other hand, had a fantastic start and led most of the race.
Two laps from the finish, the prolific Brazilian driver tried to get past Jean-Louis Schlesser's slow-moving Williams machine at a chicane, but contact between the two drivers handed the lead to Ferrari's Gerhard Berger.
Senna only managed to finish tenth at Monza that year. Interestingly, the commentator called the tussle between the two as a 'fantastic situation.'
Despite that incident, Ayrton Senna finished the 1988 Formula One season in the first place with 90 points, securing his first drivers' championship in the process.
#1 Michael Schumacher (David Coulthard - Belgium 1998)
The 1998 Belgium Grand Prix, drenched in the rain, was one of those races when less than half the cars that started the race managed to cross the chequered flag.
The drivers involved in the incident David Coulthard and Michael Schumacher started the race the second spot and the fourth spot respectively.
The collision between the two happened on lap 24 when a charging Schumacher was blinded by the water spray of Coulthard, who dropped to the back of the grid due to a mistake earlier. Schumacher plunged into the back of the McLaren, which forced the German to retire from the race effective immediately.
David Coulthard went on to finish the race in the seventh place, two laps down on the winner Damon Hill.
Michael Schumacher was visibly upset with Coulthard and barged into the British drivers' pit post-retirement. Fortunately, both the drivers put the issue to bed after having a lengthy discussion a week after the event at Spa Francorchamps.
Michael Schumacher finished the 1998 Formula One season in the second place with 86 points.
Video: Schumacher Coulthard Bust-Up
