The youth of today
Nino Farina was 43 when he won the first world championship Grand Prix, at Silverstone in 1950. It would take another 66 years and 2 days for a teenager to stand on the podium’s top step…
The sport’s dynamic has changed beyond recognition since the early days of the world championship for drivers, when neither corpulence nor seniority were barriers to success. Luigi Fagioli was 53 when he shared Juan Manuel Fangio’s winning Alfa Romeo in the 1951 French GP, Fangio 46 when he clinched his fifth and final title in 1957. But there was no high-level karting back then. Even into the 1970s drivers usually learned racecraft in Formula Ford, perhaps in their late teens, before progressing a step at a time towards F1. Reaching the top required several seasons of hard graft, the kind of experience modern drivers have accumulated long before they are permitted to drive legally on the road.
Max Verstappen is one such: karting prodigy at 15, F3 race winner at 16, F1 rookie at 17 and now a winner at the sport’s top table, aged 18 years and 228 days – the ultimate example of how Grand Prix racing success has become ever more the domain of the young.
Here’s how the records have tumbled over time.
Youngest champions
Emerson Fittipaldi
Age: 25 years and 273 days
Year: 1972
Where: Monza, Italy
Emerson Fittipaldi’s victory in the 1970 US GP secured the world title for late team-mate Jochen Rindt, who became the sport’s first posthumous champion and also – at 28 – its youngest. Two years later, it was Fittipaldi who lowered that benchmark.
Fernando Alonso
Age: 24 years, 58 days
Year: 2005
Where: Interlagos, Brazil
Already the youngest driver to have taken an F1 pole position and race victory, Alonso added the distinction of youngest champion when he ended Michael Schumacher’s five-year reign. Third place in Brazil was enough for the Spaniard to undercut Fittipaldi by 18 months.
Lewis Hamilton
Age: 23 years, 301 days
Year: 2008
Where: Interlagos, Brazil
Having missed the title by one point in 2007, Hamilton made amends on a dramatic, showery day in Brazil. He finished only fifth, but that was enough to pip Felipe Massa to the crown… by one point. Fittipaldi’s status as youngest champion lasted 33 years, Alonso’s just three.
Sebastian Vettel
Age: 23 years, 133 days
Year: 2010
Where: Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi
Hamilton’s record didn’t last long, either. Sebastian Vettel already had more than three full seasons of F1 under his belt by the time he secured his first title – and was still only 26 when he clinched his fourth, in 2013.
Counterpoint
Juan Manuel Fangio was 46 years and 41 days old when he guided his Maserati 250F to victory at the Nürburgring in ’57, one of his finest drives securing a fifth world title.
Youngest Grand Prix winners
Bruce McLaren
Age: 22 years, 104 days
Year: 1959
Where: Sebring, USA
Mike Hawthorn had previously been the youngest GP winner (24 years and 86 days, France 1953) when McLaren triumphed by 0.6sec at Sebring, but Troy Ruttman (22 years and 80 days) remained the youngest winner of a race counting for the world championship, following his success in the 1952 Indy 500.
Fernando Alonso
Age: 22 years, 26 days
Year: 2003
Where: Budapest, Hungary
After the first nine laps at Budapest, Alonso was so far ahead that he asked, “Where are the others?” Bruce McLaren’s record was finally beaten, by 78 days. Kimi Räikkönen and Juan Pablo Montoya were second and third, the top three’s average age of 24 years and 7 months creating an F1 record that still stands.
Sebastian Vettel
Age: 21 years, 73 days
Year: 2008
Where: Monza, Italy
On a rainy afternoon, Vettel took Toro Rosso’s first F1 win. Mark Hughes wrote: “No driver made winning seem more straightforward than Alain Prost. If there is genius apparent in anyone who can make something very difficult appear effortless, Prost had it in spades. On this evidence Vettel has that same quality.”
Max Verstappen
Age: 18 years, 228 days
Year: 2016
Where: Barcelona, Spain
The ink is still fresh. With Mercedes duo Hamilton and Rosberg in self-destruct mode on the opening lap, Verstappen became the beneficiary as Red Bull opted to split strategies – and drove beautifully under pressure to become the F1 world championship’s first winning teenager. And on his team debut, too.
Counterpoint
Luigi Fagioli is unlikely ever to be beaten as F1’s oldest race winner – he was 53 years and 22 days when he shared the victorious Alfa Romeo in the 1951 French GP.
Youngest pole qualifiers
Andrea de Cesaris
Age: 22 years, 308 days
Year: 1982
Where: Long Beach, USA
The margin was just 0.012sec, but that was enough to give de Cesaris his sole pole in 208 GPs. The Italian led initially, but lost out to Niki Lauda in lapped traffic and later crashed while lying second. Previously, the youngest pole winner had been Jacky Ickx (23 years and 216 days, Germany 1968).
Rubens Barrichello
Age: 22 years, 97 days
Year: 1994
Where: Spa, Belgium
The Ardennes weather was at its fickle best when Jordan took a punt on dry tyres late in first qualifying. “It’s far too early for slicks,” said multiple GP winner John Watson on Eurosport, but it took Barrichello 2min 21.163sec to prove otherwise. With Saturday’s second session washed out, pole was his.
Fernando Alonso
Age: 21 years, 236 days
Year: 2003
Where: Sepang, Malaysia
After a striking debut season with Minardi in 2001, Alonso spent 2002 on the sidelines, impatiently biding his time as Renault’s test driver. When finally promoted to the race team at Jenson Button’s expense, it took him just two races to set the first in what would be a string of ‘youngest’ records.
Sebastian Vettel
Age: 21 years, 72 days
Year: 2008
Where: Monza, Italy
On a rain-affected day when some drivers made incorrect tyre calls, Vettel’s driving and decision-making were impeccable. It opened the door to a maiden GP success, after which the German was asked whether he’d just had the greatest day of his life. His reply? “You clearly weren’t there when I lost my virginity…”
Counterpoint
Nino Farina was 47 years and 79 days old when he stuck his Ferrari on pole for the 1954 Argentine GP. He would finish second to young upstart Fangio, then 43.
Youngest Grand Prix starters
Ricardo Rodriguez
Age: 19 years, 208 days
Year: 1961
Where: Monza, Italy
The Mexican teenager was no stranger to the spotlight, having been a podium finisher at Le Mans in 1960, and it shone more brightly still when he qualified his Ferrari on the front row at Monza ahead of his GP debut. Fuel pump failure ended his weekend.
Mike Thackwell
Age: 19 years, 182 days
Year: 1980
Where: Montréal, Canada
Some people still aren’t sure this counts, but he definitely took the first start. A pile-up then triggered a race stoppage, after which the young New Zealander ceded his Tyrrell to team-mate Jean-Pierre Jarier (whose own car had been damaged).
Jaime Alguersuari
Age: 19 years, 125 days
Year: 2009
Where: Budapest, Hungary
Promoted mid-season to replace the harshly axed Sébastien Bourdais, then performed capably until himself being harshly axed at the end of 2011. By the time he was 25, he had announced that he was retiring from racing to focus on his other job, as a DJ.
Max Verstappen
Age: 17 years, 166 days
Year: 2015
Where: Melbourne, Australia
Smashed the previous record by almost two years – and led governing body the FIA to impose a rule that no drivers under 18 would in future be granted the necessary F1 superlicence. Hasn’t done too badly since then, mind.
Counterpoint
Louis Chiron was 55 years and 292 days old when he started the 1955 Monaco GP, but failed to qualify for the same race three years later with his 59th birthday approaching.