Five of Formula One's biggest heartbreaks

Racing can be a very cruel sport competitively. Thousands of parts, dozens of people are responsible for a drivers ability to compete, and then that driver is responsible to bring the car to the win. Sometimes it only takes one small problem to ruin a great run. 

This list includes drivers who were in position to win the Formula One Championship lose it because of someone elses tire choice, or even a driver a few corners away from bringing a team that has never won a Grand Prix (still to this day) being passed because of a hydralic failure. Here are five of Formula One's biggest heartbreaks.

5. Mika Hakkinen 2001 Spanish Grand Prix

Hakkinen was leading heading into the last lap for his first victory of the season, but it was not to be as he slowed coming out of the second turn and eventually pulled off after the seventh turn.  Michael Schumacher picked up the victory while David Coulthard picked up Hakkinen for a ride back to the pits.

4. Damon Hill 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix

Hill was on fire at the Hungaroring and had a substantial lead before a hydraulic problem with the throttle stunted his charge in the last few laps.  Jacques Villeneuve got around Hill coming out of the third turn on the last lap with two wheels on the grass.  Hill finished second, another result of futility for Arrows, furthering the legend of the team with the most starts in Formula One without a win.

3. Ayrton Senna 1988 Monaco Grand Prix

Senna was running at an insane pace all weekend, qualifying nearly one and a half seconds faster than Alain Prost.  However, it went all for nought, as Senna had an accident coming out of Portier with 12 laps to go, allowing Prost to win and causing Senna to isolate himself from nearly everyone for a while.

2. Felipe Massa 2008 Brazillian Grand Prix

Massa needed to win the race and have Lewis Hamilton finish 6th to win the championship.  On the last lap of the race, Hamilton got around Timo Glock about 15 seconds after Massa won the race to deny the Brazillian the world championship at his home race.

1. Nigel Mansell 1986 Australian Grand Prix

Mansell needed to finish fourth or better in the Australian Grand Prix to win the world championship, but the left rear tire exploded on his car on the fast back straight, causing his car to fishtail wildly, sidelining Mansell and causing the Williams team to call in Nelson Piquet for a cautionary tire change.  The resulting pit stop caused Alain Prost to win the World Championship after Piquet could not close the gap to Prost after his last pitstop.  Had Piquet closed the gap and passed Prost, he would have been crowned the champion.