F1: Top 5 Australian Grand Prix' of all time

#1 Three-way Title Scrap

Nigel Mansell missed out on his first title in 1986 in a tight battle.

Three drivers were fighting for the Driver's World Title in the final race of the 1986 season in Adelaide. Williams was the car to beat this year, with their two drivers, Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet the favourites for the title. Defending champion Alain Prost had done brilliantly to remain in the title hunt and was actually ahead of Piquet in the standings coming into Round 16.

Mansell had a 6 point advantage over Prost and a 7 point lead on Piquet. He also had the edge in qualifying, claiming pole ahead of his Brazilian teammate. However, in the race, Mansell gave up the lead and fell back to 4th, behind Keke Rosberg (Prost's teammate), Ayrton Senna and Piquet but he was still in championship position.

After 23 laps of 82, Piquet spun losing a few places in the process and Prost got a puncture which forced him to pit and drop back even further.

Things were looking very good for Mansell with 25 laps to go. The three contenders were running 2nd, 3rd and 4th and when Rosberg retired Nigel was up to 3rd, the place that he needed to win the title. But then disaster struck...

Mansell's tyre had exploded at one of the fastest points of the track and he was out of the race. Now the advantage swung towards Piquet, but the Brazilian pit to prevent the problem that afflicted his teammate reoccurring.

Prost lead and won the Grand Prix despite Piquet's best efforts to catch the Frenchman. Prost now joined an elite group of drivers to become back-to-back world champions, he'd go on to win two more titles before he retired in 1993.

This is why the likes of Bernie Ecclestone consider Alain Prost the greatest ever driver.

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