Lando Norris
McLaren
Mercedes
Red Bull
Ferrari
Williams
Racing Bulls
Aston Martin
Haas
Alpine
Lewis Hamilton finally secured his first long-awaited Formula 1 victory with Scuderia Ferrari at the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, making him one of the oldest drivers to ever win a Grand Prix.
But where does Lewis Hamilton stack up against some of the sport’s oldest winners? Well, he’s up against some stiff competition.
In many ways, older drivers had it easier in Formula 1 than they do today. The specialisation of modern Grand Prix machinery requires drivers to start racing earlier in life, and the high speeds and intense g forces favour drivers in their physical prime. Hamilton, then, is remarkable for his ability to remain so competitive in this particular era.
10. Clay Regazzoni
- F1 debut: 1970 Dutch Grand Prix
- Final win: 1979 British Grand Prix
- Age at final win: 39 years, 10 months, 9 days
- Number of wins: 5
- Championships: 0
Swiss racer Clay Regazzoni had a lengthy F1 career that saw him compete for the likes of Ferrari, BRM, Ensign, Shadow, and Williams over the course of 132 starts. His final win came in his final full season of competition, 1979.
Sadly, in 1980, Regazzoni was involved in an accident that left him paralysed from the waist down, bringing his F1 career to an early end. He was competitive to the last.
9. Graham Hill
- F1 debut: 1958 Monaco Grand Prix
- Final win: 1969 Monaco Grand Prix
- Age at final win: 40 years, 3 months, 3 days
- Number of wins: 14
- Championships: 2
Graham Hill, known as Mr Monaco for his performance at the iconic street circuit, held the record for the most podium finishes at the time of his retirement in 1975 (36). With a career spanning 176 starts, Hill was an omnipresent force on the Grand Prix scene for much of the sport’s golden age.
His final win, fittingly, came at his beloved Monaco in what would be his final season as a Team Lotus works driver. After two uncompetitive seasons with Brabham and two years fielding cars for his Embassy Hill racing team, Hill retired from F1. Sadly, he was killed in a plane crash at the end of the year, preventing any further return.
8. Maurice Trintignant
- F1 debut: 1950 Monaco Grand Prix
- Final win: 1958 Monaco Grand Prix
- Age at final win: 40 years, 6 months, 16 days
- Number of wins: 2
- Championships: 0
Maurice Trintignant’s racing career began at perhaps the worst possible time: just before the start of World War II. He took his first Grand Prix victory in 1939 but wouldn’t be able to race again until 1945, when tensions ended. When the Formula 1 World Championship formed in 1950, he was one of the first drivers to sign up, and he took two wins in the sport, both of them at Monaco.
That final win in 1948 came when Trintignant was 40 years old, though his F1 career stretched well into 1964. He retired to become a wine grower before passing away in 2005.
7. Nigel Mansell
- F1 debut: 1980 Austrian Grand Prix
- Final win: 1994 Australian Grand Prix
- Age at final win: 41 years, 3 months, 5 days
- Number of wins: 31
- Championships: 1
Nigel Mansell, winner of the 1992 Formula 1 World Championship, spent 15 years and 187 starts competing at the top level of the open-wheel racing world (with a brief, championship-worthy stint in America’s Champ Car nestled in there as well).
The British champion’s final victory came in 1994, in the last of four races he contested that year. He’d retire after two more starts in 1995.
6. Lewis Hamilton
- F1 debut: 2007 Australian Grand Prix
- Most recent win: 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix
- Age at most recent win: 41 years, 5 months, 7 days
- Number of wins (so far): 106
- Championships (so far): 7
And that brings us to Lewis Hamilton, the only driver on this list to remain both active and competitive. At the time of his win at the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, the seven-time World Champion’s career has spanned two decades, 387 starts, and 106 wins. He’s the only man to have won races with McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari, and there’s no sign of him slowing down yet.
Hamilton, though, will have to remain at the top of his game for several more years if he wants to move up this list!
Lewis Hamilton wins his first race with Ferrari! 🎉 Where does this rank in Hamilton’s most satisfying wins?
5. Jack Brabham
- F1 debut: 1955 British Grand Prix
- Final win: 1970 South African Grand Prix
- Age at final win: 43 years, 11 months, 5 days
- Number of wins: 14
- Championships: 3
Australia’s Jack Brabham truly changed the name of the game for the folks Down Under. While he wasn’t the first Aussie to compete in F1, he was easily the most successful; his first win came in his rookie year, he racked up 126 starts to take three championships, and he introduced the successful Brabham F1 team in which he won his final title.
Brabham remained competitive throughout the course of his career, with his final win coming in his final F1 season. He retired at the conclusion of the year, much to the delight of his wife.
4. Piero Taruffi
- F1 debut: 1950 Italian Grand Prix
- Final win: 1952 Swiss Grand Prix
- Age at final win: 45 years, 7 months, 6 days
- Number of wins: 1
- Championships: 0
Italian racer Piero Taruffi’s racing career began on two wheels, and he won the 500cc European Championship back in 1932. He remained active after World War II, when he took part in the season finale during the sport’s first year.
Taruffi, who never contested a full year of F1, took his first and only F1 championship victory with Ferrari in 1952 at the now-defunct Swiss Grand Prix. After winning the 1957 Mille Miglia, he retired from racing.
3. Juan Manuel Fangio
- F1 debut: 1950 British Grand Prix
- Final win: 1957 German Grand Prix
- Age at final win: 46 years, 1 month, 11 days
- Number of wins: 24
- Championships: 5
The inimitable Juan Manuel Fangio set the tone for Formula 1 in the sport’s earliest days by debuting at its very first race and becoming its first five-time World Champion. He only made 51 starts, but his win percentage of 46.15% remains unmatched.
Fangio’s final full season in Formula 1 came in 1957, and his last win was his hardest fought. Fangio overcame a slow pit stop that dropped him from his 30-second lead down to third in the standings. Over the subsequent nine laps, the Argentine racer carved up the dangerous Nurburgring circuit to pass the leading Ferraris and win by three seconds. He later said he would never have the courage it took to secure that win, and he retired the following year.
2. Giuseppe “Nino” Farina
- F1 debut: 1950 British Grand Prix
- Final win: 1953 German Grand Prix
- Age at final win: 46 years, 9 months, 3 days
- Number of wins: 5
- Championships: 1
Nino Farina has gone down in history as Formula 1’s first-ever World Champion, with his first win coming at the sport’s first race. Farina was 43 when he made his F1 debut and would be 46 when he took the last Grand Prix win of his career in 1953.
After that point, Farina only contested one or two F1 races per year.
1. Luigi Fagioli
- F1 debut: 1950 British Grand Prix
- Final win: 1951 French Grand Prix
- Age at final win: 55 years, 0 months, 22 days
- Number of wins: 1
- Championships: 0
The oldest driver to ever win a Formula 1 race is Luigi Fagioli. Already 52 years of age when he entered the 1950 British Grand Prix, Fagioli had been competing in Grands Prix since 1926. In fact, he suffered from severe rheumatism in the mid-1930s that looked set to end his career.
Fagioli’s health had improved by the time the Formula 1 World Championship came about, and he secured his first and only victory at the 1951 French Grand Prix. In fact, Fagioli’s Alfa Romeo team ordered him to stop mid-race to hand the car over to teammate Fangio, but Fagioli refused. He won, but he was so disappointed that he’d be asked to hand over the wheel of a car during a race he was leading that he retired from F1 on the spot. He returned to sports car racing and was unfortunately killed as a result of a crash during practice for the 1952 Monaco Grand Prix.
Receive exclusive F1 news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
