Winning a race in Formula 1 is hard enough. Doing it before you’ve even figured out how to rent a car or order a glass of wine in some countries? That’s rarified air. Here are the youngest drivers ever to stand on the top step of a Grand Prix.
Top 5 youngest winners
- Max Verstappen — 18 years, 228 days (2016 Spanish GP, Red Bull)
Thrown into the senior team a week earlier, Verstappen held off Kimi Räikkönen to win on debut. Still the youngest race winner in history. - Sebastian Vettel — 21 years, 74 days (2008 Italian GP, Toro Rosso)
The wet-weather masterclass at Monza that put Toro Rosso — and Vettel — in the history books. - Charles Leclerc — 21 years, 320 days (2019 Belgian GP, Ferrari)
Emotional victory at Spa, Ferrari’s first win in over a year, and the start of Leclerc’s role as the team’s standard-bearer. - Fernando Alonso — 22 years, 26 days (2003 Hungarian GP, Renault)
Dominated from pole and lapped everyone except the podium. The beginning of Spain’s first world champion story. - Troy Ruttman — 22 years, 80 days (1952 Indianapolis 500, counted as part of the F1 championship).
A bit of a technicality, since the Indy 500 was on the F1 calendar back then — but he remains one of the youngest winners ever recognised.
The drivertalk take
These names all have one thing in common: their first win wasn’t just a victory, it was a statement. Verstappen’s teenage miracle, Vettel’s “Monza moment,” Leclerc’s emotional Spa breakthrough — each was a line in the sand. If history tells us anything, the next under-22 winner isn’t just going to snag a trophy, they’re going to announce the start of a new era.
