He was F1’s youngest championship leader for nearly half a century before Lewis Hamilton broke his record

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Lewis Hamilton was no match for Felipe Massa at the 2007 Spanish Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver took the chequered flag in Barcelona by just under six seconds.

Hamilton was at least able to finish ahead of McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso for second place. Alonso had started on the front row alongside Massa but went off track trying to overtake the Brazilian at turn one.

At that stage, Hamilton still hadn’t won a race. But he did take over the lead of the championship from two-time title-winner Alonso.

Two races later, Hamilton took his first-ever Grand Prix victory at just the sixth attempt, winning in Canada ahead of BMW’s Nick Heidfeld. Kimi Raikkonen mounted one of the great F1 comebacks to win the title, but the McLaren rookie had nonetheless broken multiple records.

Bruce McLaren’s youngest title leader record stood from 1960 to 2007

While best known as the founder of his eponymous team, Bruce McLaren made his Formula 1 debut in 1958 with Cooper. He came closest to winning the world championship in 1960, when he was runner-up to teammate Jack Brabham.

McLaren won the season opener that year, beating Ferrari’s Cliff Allison. With what was then an eight-point haul, he took the lead in the championship.

The New Zealander was only 22 years, five months and six days old at the time. That made him the youngest driver to top the table since the beginning of the world championship a decade earlier.

Remarkably, McLaren held that honour for nearly half a century until Hamilton broke through. He remains in second place, though, ahead of the likes of Sebastian Vettel, Raikkonen and Alonso.

Lewis Hamilton was on an eight-year streak against F1 teammates until the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Oscar Piastri is F1’s newest championship leader after winning the Saudi Arabian GP last weekend. Having turned 24 a couple of weeks ago, he slots into eighth place overall.

Hamilton, meanwhile, hasn’t been led the way since his 2021 title fight with Max Verstappen. And it’s unclear if he’ll ever get back to that level.

In Jeddah, Hamilton finished more than 30 seconds behind Charles Leclerc. It was the first time he’s trailed his teammate by that margin on pure pace since the 2017 Russian GP, 168 races ago.

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur says it’s ‘rude’ to call Hamilton finished. If he manages to become a champion at Maranello despite a deeply underwhelming start, he’d be the first quadrigenarian to lift the trophy since McLaren’s old rival Brabham in 1996.