With the talk of 2011 now the prospect of more overtaking courtesy of adjustable rear wing and KERS, I thought I'd present my top 5 "vanilla" overtakes without the need for gimmicks.

In ascending order:

5. Alonso vs Heidfeld at Magny Cours in 2007. Perfectly judged by both drivers, absolute commitment and jaw dropping to watch.

4. Villeneuve vs Schumacher, Portugal 1996. Needing a win to stay in contention will championship leader Hill, Jacques found himself behind Schumacher in traffic. Taking full advantage of backmarkers, he got a run into the final corner and sat it out around the outside. Later Schuie told Jacques he shouldn’t have even attempted the move, and in an echo of James Hunt vs Mario Andretii at Zolder 2 decades previously, Jacques told him he’d damn well overtake wherever he liked.

3. Mansell vs Piquet, Silverstone 1987. A classic Mansell LAST 10 LAPS NEW TYRES MANSELL CHARGE, he made it all the more special by doing it in front of his home crowd.

2. Senna vs the world, lap 1 Donnington 1993. The embodiment of driver at one with his car, he made everyone else look like they were parked on the track. No matter how much I dislike most of his other “let me through or we’ll crash” overtakes, this was 2 minutes of pure genius.

1. Mansell vs Berger Mexico 1990. On fresh tyres, Berger caught and passed Mansell (himself on very worn tyres) with big lunge at the end of the straight which Nige did well to see coming. Having been woken up from his pretty average pace, our Nige proceeded to put on one of his famous late race charges although uniquely on used tyres. On the penultimate lap he sold two dummies and sold one up *the outside* of the 160mph banked final corner. Total fighting spirit.

Trulli: “Obviously it was very disappointing to end the race like that, especially on the first lap. I had every reason to be extremely furious. I've got all the evidence to show I was there and was next to him, and tomorrow we are going to discuss it.”

Sutil: “There's nothing to discuss; it was quite an obvious incident. In the end it was very disappointing for me, even more because I was the one who was just driving, and he lost control of his car and crashed into my back. It's not my problem – it's his problem. I don't know why he's freaking out like that to be honest.”

Trulli: “I don't know if you're blind, but I can clearly show you my front wing is next to your front wing.”

Trulli then produced photographs to support his argument.

Sutil: “But you're trying to overtake me around the outside on the kerb. There was not a problem.”

Trulli: “So you mean…you didn't move there…”

Sutil: “No, you were just not going off the power. The same happened in Barcelona where you lost control again and crashed again into a Force India car (Sutil). You have to sometimes respect the limits of the car. If you've nowhere to go, you have to back off. That's how racing is. I don't know how long you want to learn this.”

Trulli: “In Barcelona I spun and he hit me because he cut the kerb, cut the circuit completely, and he didn't slow down.”

Sutil: “I didn't hit you; you hit me. I don't know what the problem is; maybe your eyes are a problem.”

Trulli: “I was furious because I said 'didn't you see me?' I mean, I was next to him and he kept pushing me outside until I was obviously on the kerb. I couldn't believe…”

Sutil: “It's not a problem to be on the kerb. Where's the problem?”

Trulli (sarcastically): “Yeah, no problem! As long as we know the rules...”

Sutil: “I know the rules.”