Five one-time F1 podium finishers from the 2000s you may have forgotten including Kevin Magnussen

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Over 200 drivers have stood on the Grand Prix podium in Formula 1 history, but more than a quarter of those names only ever reached the rostrum one time in their careers.

No driver has more Grand Prix podium finishes to their name to date than Lewis Hamilton, who became the first pilot in F1 history to break the 200 threshold in 2024. He reached the rostrum for the 200th time with third place in the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix for Mercedes.

Hamilton also surpassed Michael Schumacher atop the stat charts in 2020 when the Briton secured the 156th podium of his F1 career with victory for Mercedes in that year’s Spanish Grand Prix. In total, Hamilton scored 153 podiums for Mercedes from 2013 to 2024, after taking 49 with McLaren.

Schumacher achieved his 155th and final podium with his sole rostrum for Mercedes during his comeback stint from 2010 to 2012, with P3 in the 2012 European Grand Prix in Valencia. It marked his first podium in six years after initially retiring two rounds after winning the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix for Ferrari.

But most drivers never have a sniff at the levels of success that Hamilton and fellow seven-time F1 champion Schumacher enjoyed during their storied careers. With that in mind, F1 Oversteer takes a look at five drivers from the 21st century who only scored one podium during their Formula 1 careers that you may have forgotten…

Tiago Monteiro – 2005 United States Grand Prix (P3)

Tiago Monteiro only ever scored one podium in F1, but it marked a historic feat as the first – and to date only – rostrum finish by a Portuguese driver. The native of Porto’s sole podium also marked the last of the 19 rostrums that Jordan Grand Prix ever secured.

But Monteiro’s sole podium came at arguably the most controversial race of all time, the 2005 United States Grand Prix, when he was one of just six drivers to start the race. He even finished a lap behind Schumacher, who led a Ferrari one-two with Rubens Barrichello at Indianapolis.

Back at a time when teams either ran Bridgestone or Michelin tyres, the new surface on the oval part of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Grand Prix circuit saw Michelin-shod Toyota driver Ralf Schumacher and his replacement Ricardo Zonta suffer extreme tyre failures in practice.

After an investigation, Michelin was not confident that its tyres could last the full race distance. So, the French brand suggested having a temporary chicane at the final corner to slow cars down. But as no solution was found, every Michelin-running driver withdrew after the formation lap.

Only the Bridgestone runners in Ferrari, Jordan and Minardi would contest a six-car 2005 United States GP, much to the fury of the thousands of fans in the grandstands.

Unsurprisingly, Ferrari’s Schumacher and Barrichello stormed to a one-two finish, while Monteiro finished as the best of the rest to claim third place ahead of teammate Narain Karthikeyan.

In an event that threatened the existence of the sport in the US, the Portuguese driver was probably the only happy man around the paddock that day.

Nelson Piquet Jr – 2008 German Grand Prix (P2)

Nelson Piquet Sr is one of F1’s most legendary drivers, after winning three titles (1981, 1983 and 1987) and scoring 60 podiums over his 207 races. But his son, Nelson Piquet Jr, did not achieve anywhere near the same success.

After joining Renault in 2008, Piquet Jr proved to be incredibly accident-prone and retired from 11 of his 28 Grand Prix starts before he was released midway through the 2009 campaign.

Piquet Jr’s only highlight in F1 came in the 2008 German Grand Prix at Hockenheim when the Brazilian rose from 17th on the grid to finish P2, just 5.586 seconds behind race-winner Hamilton.

Renault pitted Piquet Jr at what proved to be the perfect time, as he rose from P14 to P3 thanks to a safety car.

And having fuelled his car through to the finish, the West Germany-born racer even led the 2008 German GP until Hamilton regained the lead on Lap 60 of 67 after making his final pit stop.

Piquet Jr’s only podium in F1 was one of just five points finishes in his career, which came to an abrupt end midway through 2009 in the wake of the Crashgate scandal.

Renault boss Flavio Briatore ordered him to deliberately crash to give teammate Fernando Alonso a chance to win the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

After he was dropped by Renault, Piquet Jr went on to become the first ever Formula E champion in 2014/15.

Vitaly Petrov – 2011 Australian Grand Prix (P3)

Vitaly Petrov marks the second Renault driver on this list of drivers to only score one podium in their F1 careers, after he secured P3 in the 2011 season-opening Australian Grand Prix with Renault.

The Russian joined the Enstone-based outfit in 2010 to partner Robert Kubica. Petrov retired from his first three races, as he struggled with inconsistency as a rookie and scored just 27 points all season.

But at the 2011 season opener in Melbourne, Petrov qualified a career-best sixth and then finished the Australian GP in third place behind race-winner Sebastian Vettel and runner-up Hamilton.

Petrov’s solitary podium in F1 was his first of eight points finishes in the 2011 season, as he also finished in the top 10 of the F1 drivers’ standings with 37 points.

The Russian ended his career with Caterham in 2012, scoring no points alongside teammate – and another former Renault driver to score one podium with the Enstone team – Heikki Kovalainen.

Kamui Kobayashi – 2012 Japanese Grand Prix (P3)

Those who remember Kamui Kobayashi may find it unfathomable that the Japanese driver only grabbed one podium in F1 due to his brilliant speed and overtaking ability.

Kobayashi made his debut with Toyota in the final two races of 2009, and he scored points in Abu Dhabi before moving to Sauber, where he spent the next three seasons.

The Japanese driver finished 12th in the standings in all three of his seasons at Sauber, with 2012 being his best year in F1. While points finishes were irregular, he was up near the front when he did score points. And he could not have picked a better race to score his only podium.

Kobayashi finished third at his home event at Suzuka, becoming only the second Japanese driver to finish in the top three during a Japanese Grand Prix after Aguri Suzuki in 1990. He had even qualified P3 for Sauber at the 2011 Japanese GP.

Yet Kobayashi left Sauber at the end of the 2012 season and failed to secure another seat on the grid until 2014, when he returned with Caterham. But driving for a backmarker team ensured he did not score a point, let alone a podium, in 2014.

Kevin Magnussen – 2014 F1 Australian Grand Prix (P2)

McLaren turned to their driver academy in 2014 and handed Kevin Magnussen his debut, as F1 also entered the 1.6L V6 turbo-hybrid era, having moved on from Sergio Perez after just one season.

Magnussen and McLaren could not have dreamt for a better debut, too, as the Dane scored a podium finish in his first Formula 1 race at the 2014 Australian GP. Yet it would ultimately prove to be the only rostrum that Magnussen ever reached.

Magnussen qualified P4 for his debut at Albert Park as McLaren profited from running the dominant Mercedes engine of the time. But the power units were still rather unreliable at the time, and Mercedes star and polesitter Hamilton suffered an engine failure on Lap 2.

Hamilton’s demise promoted Magnussen into the podium places, and the Dane held on to take the chequered flag in P3. His joy reached another level after the race, as well, as home hero Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull was disqualified from his P2 finish.

Ricciardo lost his P2 finish on home soil on his Red Bull debut after post-race checks found the Perth native’s RB10 had exceeded the 100kg/h fuel flow mass limit. The verdict came in five hours after the race and promoted Magnussen to P2 and McLaren teammate Jenson Button to P3.

McLaren dropped Magnussen after his rookie F1 season, despite his podium on debut, as they welcomed Alonso back to Woking to partner Button from 2015.

The Dane returned to the grid in 2016 with Renault, before enjoying two spells at Haas from 2017 to 2020 and 2022 to 2024. Magnussen also scored the sole pole position of his F1 career with Haas in Brazil in 2022.