Formula 1 is already motorsport’s peak but there’s an even smaller class of drivers skilled enough to cross the chequered flag first.
Many racers consider simply being on the F1 grid as the pinnacle of their career but one in nearly every seven have topped the podium.
Verstappen is over 15 younger than Hamilton as he guns down his recordsGetty
As of the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix, 115 drivers out of the 777 who have started a GP have crossed the line first.
That number is cut by another third for the legends of the sport that have racked up double-digit victories.
74 seasons of F1 have yielded 34 different world drivers’ champions, but less than half have ever managed to do it more than once.
Who has most F1 wins ever?
Whether the question is most race wins or world championships, the answer to both is – Sir Lewis Hamilton.
The 39-year-old, who is among talkSPORT.com’s picks for greatest ever British sportsman, holds a library of records in F1.
The most coveted is his status as a seven-time world champion, which is a joint record he shares with the legendary Michael Schumacher.
Hamilton looked to have claimed his eighth in the 2021 finale before an infamous late safety car call on the final lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix decided the race and thus the title in Max Verstappen’s favour.
Regardless, the current Mercedes and future Ferrari star had already overtaken Schumacher’s race-win record with 105 victories.
Hamilton equalled the 91 Grand Prix wins held by the German icon in the latter’s native country at the Eifel Grand Prix in 2020 at the tail end of his dominance in the turbo-hybrid era.
The Silver Arrows’ struggles with the new aerodynamic regulations introduced in 2022, which led to the team suffering their first winless season since 2011 last year, also had disastrous consequences for Hamilton.
Alonso and Lauda share the rest of the top 10 with three Brits
The Stevenage-born driver endured a 945-day wait for a win between Saudi Arabia 2021 and Silverstone this summer.
His record-extending ninth British GP triumph overtook another of Schumacher’s records for most wins on a single circuit in F1 history.
Hamilton has since broken his own feat as the oldest driver to win a Grand Prix in the 21st century with his 105th and most recent victory in Belgium in July.
However, his prized accomplishment as leading race winner is in the sights of Verstappen, who has moved clear of Sebastian Vettel in third.
Fernando Alonso is the only other active driver in the top 10, with the Spaniard still waiting for win number 33 having not won since the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix.
The Aston Martin veteran is in seventh, ahead of Nigel Mansell (31) and Jackie Stewart (27), with the duo’s fellow Brit Jim Clark level in tenth on 25 wins with Niki Lauda.
Most F1 World Drivers’ Championships won
* – Still active
Seven
*Lewis Hamilton – 2008, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
Michael Schumacher – 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
Five
Juan Manuel Fangio – 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957
Four
Alain Prost – 1985, 1986, 1989, 1993
Sebastian Vettel – 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013
Three
*Max Verstappen – 2021, 2022, 2023
Jack Brabham – 1959, 1960, 1966
Jackie Stewart – 1969, 1971, 1973
Niki Lauda – 1975, 1977, 1984
Nelson Piquet – 1981, 1983, 1987
Ayrton Senna – 1988, 1990, 1991
Schumacher changed the game in F1 before Hamilton’s arrivalGetty
Who has the most points?
Point scoring has changed in F1 since the championship’s debut in 1950, where there were only seven races contested.
Back then, Grand Prix drivers competed on a scale of 8-6-4-3-2, with winners claiming nine points per race victory in 1961 and 10 in 1991.
F1’s calendar has since been upped to a record 24-event haul this year, with first place worth 25 points since 2010.
Up until 1990, the open-wheel single-seater competition also used a format that only counted a drivers’ best finishes towards the title.
Prost and Senna’s rivalry was one for the ages
The introduction of sprint races in 2021, and subsequent points overhaul the following year, has meant more opportunity to score is on offer for current drivers compared to some titans of the past.
For example, Verstappen claimed a record-breaking 19 wins in 2023 to end the year 290 points clear of teammate Perez and a further 51 clear of his nearest non-Red Bull challenger, Hamilton in third.
His overall haul of 575 across the season is unlikely to ever be beaten, with Giuseppe Farina needing just 30 points for glory in 1950.
Adjusted for current point scoring, Schumacher would be second in an all-time list, with Prost, Senna, and Piquet also in the top ten.
Ricciardo is just 10 points ahead of Charles Leclerc but may never race againGetty
As it is, the current top ten is as follows…
10. Daniel Ricciardo – 1329
9. Michael Schumacher – 1566 (4,660.2 in modern system)
8. Nico Rosberg – 1594.5
7. Sergio Perez – 1630
6. Valtteri Bottas – 1797
5. Kimi Raikkonen – 1873
4. Fernando Alonso – 2329
3. Max Verstappen – 2917.5
2. Sebastian Vettel – 3098
1. Lewis Hamilton – 4813.5
