The top 10 youngest ever race winners in Formula 1: Verstappen, Hamilton and more

The F1 grid has become increasingly youthful in recent years. No, not just because we’re getting older, but the youngest race winners ever are perhaps also a reflection of how the best young drivers can find themselves in Formula 1 sooner.

The current grid is very healthily represented among the top 10, with recent retirees also featuring as we look back at the youngest drivers to have taken to the top step in a race at the highest level.

F1 youngest ever race winners: Who makes the top 10?

1: Max Verstappen

Age: 18 years, 7 months, 15 days
Race: 2016 Spanish Grand Prix
Team: Red Bull

There had been a surprise at the incredibly sudden seat swap early in the 2016 season at Red Bull, with Max Verstappen in for Daniil Kvyat, who was demoted back to junior team Toro Rosso.

But there was little doubt about the Dutch teenager’s credentials after his first race as a Red Bull driver.

Qualifying 4th, Verstappen took advantage of a frantic start and strategy in which both Mercedes drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, had a high-profile collision.

Staying out longer than Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel, it became clear that Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen would be going head-to-head for victory.

The Finn heaped pressure all the way to the chequered flag, but Verstappen kept his cool to cross the line first and win what would become the first of many.

Just a few of the Formula 1 records he broke and created in the process:

• Youngest race winner
• Youngest race leader
• Youngest podium scorer
• First Dutch driver to win in Formula 1

Not bad.

2: Kimi Antonelli

Age: 19 years, 6 months, 18 days
Race: 2026 Chinese Grand Prix
Team: Mercedes

Early in the 2026 season, it became clear Mercedes held an early lead on the rest of the field as Formula 1 underwent radical regulatory changes.

While George Russell had been expected to lead the team’s efforts, Kimi Antonelli came to the fore for the first time at the second round of the season in Shanghai.

Starting from pole, Antonelli lost the lead to Lewis Hamilton but, by the second lap, he’d regained position and looked comfortable in free air from there.

As Russell jostled with both Ferraris, the young Italian was able to build a healthy lead which he would sustain to the line, becoming the first Italian race winner in Formula 1 for almost 20 years in the process.

Not content with just one win, he then went on to win the next four races in succession.

3: Sebastian Vettel

Age: 21 years, 2 months, 11 days
Race: 2008 Italian Grand Prix
Team: Toro Rosso

Rain is the great leveller in Formula 1, and so it proved once again as Sebastian Vettel led a thriller of an Italian Grand Prix.

Driving an unfancied Toro Rosso, with a previous-spec Ferrari engine, the German appeared peerless in the wet as he took a first career pole position in unlikely circumstances.

The Sunday did not faze him either, as he went on and brought home a first ever win for the Red Bull junior team – which had not long changed hands from the popular Minardi outfit, meaning the Italian national anthem sounded out at Monza after the race.

He was rarely troubled in the race either, not just narrowly crossing the line first but doing so 12 seconds clear of McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen.

4: Charles Leclerc

Age: 21 years, 10 months, 16 days
Race: 2019 Belgian Grand Prix
Team: Ferrari

Charles Leclerc became the first driver to win the GP3 and GP2 [now Formula 3 and 2] titles in back-to-back seasons, earning a swift promotion to Formula 1 with Sauber in 2018. He was catapulted into Ferrari the following season, where he immediately proved a problem for incumbent driver, Sebastian Vettel.

Formula 1 lined up on the grid for 2019 Belgian Grand Prix in somber fashion after Formula 2 driver Anthoine Hubert having been killed in an awful accident on the Saturday.

Leclerc was on pole position for the first time in his career and fended off early challenges from Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas to maintain the lead.

He stretched his advantage and, despite a late charge from Hamilton to get to within a second of the Ferrari driver, he crossed the line to take his maiden victory in Formula 1, in emotional circumstances.

Carrying the message ‘RIP Tonio’ on the back of his steering wheel and his helmet, Leclerc said somberly on team radio: “This one is for Anthoine. Feels good, but difficult to enjoy on a weekend like this.”

5: Fernando Alonso

Age: 22 years, 26 days
Race: 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix
Team: Renault

Having had a year as Renault’s test driver after a season on the grid with Minardi, Fernando Alonso was able to show what he could do in a competitive car for the first time in 2003.

His dominant victory at the Hungaroring meant he became the youngest ever race winner in Formula 1 at that point, breaking an incredibly long-standing record in the process by taking to the top step.

Alonso rarely looked troubled during the race either, eventually crossing the line 16 seconds ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in his first of 32 race victories to date.

Alonso would have to go through the remainder of 2003 and the whole of 2004 before getting the chance to win again, eventually taking victory in Malaysia at the start of what would become his first title-winning season in 2005.

He’s still on the grid as of 2026, giving all he has to win more races in Formula 1.

6: Troy Ruttman

Age: 22 years, 2 months, 19 days
Race: 1952 Indianapolis 500
Team: Kuzma

Ruttman had officially held the title of youngest ever race winner in Formula 1 for over 50 years, with his Indianapolis 500 win having come in the period when the race was also held as part of the Formula 1 calendar.

While a significant portion of the field would enter solely for the Indy 500, already being AAA Championship Car drivers, some Formula 1 drivers did make the journey to compete as well – with double World Champion, Alberto Ascari, having also been in the field for this event.

Ruttman still holds the title to this day of the youngest ever winner of one of motorsport’s most fabled races, moving from seventh on the grid to victory in a test of both speed and endurance.

He did take part in another Formula 1 event besides the 500, finishing 10th in the 1958 French Grand Prix at Reims.

7: Bruce McLaren

Age: 22 years, 3 months, 12 days
Race: 1959 United States Grand Prix
Team: Cooper

Bruce McLaren faced the daunting prospect of driving alongside fellow Antipodean, Jack Brabham, at Cooper in 1959 and, while the Australian would go on to take the title, New Zealander McLaren did get off the mark for race victories at Sebring.

It was Brabham who had looked set for the win that day, too, with McLaren in close quarters as they navigated the final laps at the famously difficult circuit.

Not far from the finish on a day filled with mechanical issues, Brabham’s car started to falter and slow. McLaren had initially slowed as well to hold position, but Brabham waved him on as their Cooper teammate, Maurice Trintignant, closed in behind.

Less than a second separated McLaren and Trintignant at the line, with the New Zealander becoming the youngest ever non-Indy 500 racer to win in Formula 1 – a record which would stand until Alonso’s victory in Hungary, 43 years later.

8: Lewis Hamilton

Age: 22 years, 5 months, 3 days
Race: 2007 Canadian Grand Prix
Team: McLaren

Former McLaren junior, Lewis Hamilton, was promoted to Formula 1 with the Woking-based team for 2007 after completing extensive testing in 2006, alongside impressing by winning the GP2 crown that year.

Hamilton’s debut season was unprecedented, too – with each of his first nine races ending in podium finishes.

Third place in Australia turned into four consecutive P2 finishes, before standing on the top step in Montréal.

Starting from pole, his first in Formula 1, Hamilton fended off Fernando Alonso and Nick Heidfeld at the start – with Alonso taking to the run-off at Turns 1 and 2, losing out in the process.

He built up an advantage in the first stint before multiple Safety Cars brought the field together again, including an infamous shunt for Robert Kubica heading towards the Turn 11 hairpin, the BMW Sauber driver hitting the wall hard after getting too close to the grass.

Hamilton kept his composure throughout, and the commentary line from James Allen as he headed up to the line ended up being quite prescient: “If he can do this after six races, what might he achieve in the future?”

Quite a bit, as it turns out.

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9: Oscar Piastri

Age: 23 years, 3 months, 15 days
Race: 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix
Team: McLaren

Oscar Piastri’s first victory in Formula 1 was one of late cat-and-mouse, but not the sort that we’re used to seeing.

The McLaren driver had led much of the race at the Hungaroring in 2024, having taken the lead from teammate Lando Norris at the start, though Norris kept in touch as the team looked set for a comfortable victory.

With Norris’ strategy requiring an earlier stop to defend from behind, he used his fresher tyres to undercut the leader and, once Piastri pitted for the final time, the order between the two had reversed.

As the leader of the two drivers often gets priority in race strategy, McLaren asked Norris to hand the position back – but the Briton was, let’s say, not very keen to do so.

After lengthy back-and-forth on team radio, Norris finally relented on the pit straight with three laps to go to allow Piastri back into the lead.

McLaren kept hold of a 1-2 finish, with Piastri adding his name to the sport’s roll of honour in the process.

10: Kimi Raikkonen

Age: 23 years, 5 months, 6 days
Race: 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix
Team: McLaren

Kimi Raikkonen arrived in Formula 1 and quickly established his ‘Iceman’ reputation, delivering his first victory in a tough race in Malaysia.

Starting seventh, he avoided damage at the start as Michael Schumacher collided with Jarno Trulli into Turn 2, with Juan Pablo Montoya lost his rear wing after contact with Jaguar’s Antonio Pizzonia.

A drive-through penalty for Schumacher and retirement for David Coulthard ahead would have seen Raikkonen move up, as did slow stops for Trulli and Nick Heidfeld, but the Finn’s pace was so impressive that, when he pitted for a second time, he emerged a full 20 seconds of Rubens Barrichello’s Ferrari.

Rather than being content with that gap, Raikkonen kept putting in competitive lap times, ending up a whopping 39.2 seconds clear of the field by the time the race finished.

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