If you’re an F1 driver who hasn’t got a silver car underneath you, chances are you haven’t done much winning for a while.
With so few race-winning opportunities available it’s easy to forget most F1 drivers arrive in the sport as serial winners.
The 20-strong field will take to the track next month with the singular goal of winning races and championships. But some of them have endured much longer waits than others.
F1 drivers’ last wins
Gallery: F1 drivers’ last wins
While just 72 days have passed since F1’s most recent winner, Lewis Hamilton, took the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi, Felipe Massa has been waiting rather longer for another win. It’s been over three thousand days since his most recent victory, at Interlagos in 2008. Coincidentally, both drivers won races but lost championships in those races.
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In between them a roster of new talent has come into the sport. The first among which is Massa’s new team mate Lance Stroll, the only driver on the grid never to have started an F1 race before. He arrives fresh from a dominant European Formula Three campaign which he signed off with five wins on the trot.
Also returning for his first full season of F1 is Esteban Ocon. His most recent victory came in the season-opening GP3 race of 2015. Remarkably he went on to win the championship despite not winning another race all year long, though he did string together nine consecutive second place finishes.
One of Ocon’s predecessors as GP3 champion is Hamilton’s new team mate Valtteri Bottas. Given Mercedes’ form over the last few seasons it is surely a question of when, not if, he will become F1’s next race winner.
Along with Hamilton and Stroll, McLaren newcomer Stoffel Vandoorne also has the distinction of having won his most recent start, in Japan’s spectacular Super Formula series. But unless the Honda-powered package is a leap forward in competitiveness this year, the 2015 GP2 champion may have to wait a while for a follow-up success.
NB. Sebastian Vettel and Romain Grosjean have also enjoyed recent success in the Race of Champions. Grosjean won the event in 2012 and Vettel single-handedly won the Nations’ Cup for Germany earlier this year. As this isn’t a ‘race’ in the traditional sense it hasn’t been included.
Over to you
Will Bottas join the F1 winners’ club this year? If so, when? And who are you tipping for victories in 2017?
Have your say in the comments.
F1 statistics
- McLaren score their most emphatic win since Hamilton’s 2008 Silverstone triumph
- Both McLaren drivers’ ideal laps were quicker than Verstappen’s: Lap time data
- Doohan’s final corner pass on Bortoleto was F1’s closest fight for last place in seven years
- Aston Martin lapping slower than last year at Jeddah: Lap time data
- McLaren makes best start to a season since before its drivers were born
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
7th February 2017, 12:06
I remember you did an article similar to this long time ago and Heidfeld had not won a race since 1999! Since then he’s only won 1 race, according to Wikipedia, in 2014. 15 years for good ol’ Quick Nick !
GeeMac (@geemac)
7th February 2017, 13:00
Less “Quick Nick” and more “Tidy Heidy”…
Unicron (@unicron2002)
7th February 2017, 14:42
I’m a fan of Hulkenberg but I have a mate who always refers to him as ‘the new Heidfeld’ whenever I mention him. Unfortunately he’s not even that because Heidfeld actually had quite a good record of reaching the podium which Hulkenberg unbelievably has yet to achieve. Come on Nico, sort it out!
JackySteeg (@jackysteeg)
7th February 2017, 23:18
If we include class wins, Nick actually won quite a few races in the WEC in 2014 (including Le Mans) when the LMP1 category was split into a hybrid class and a privateer class, for some reason. Other than that, his only overall win since 1999 (as far as I can see) would be when Rebellion won Petit Le Mans in 2013.
Nick Wyatt (@nickwyatt)
7th February 2017, 12:26
Next week? Is it tyre testing next week?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
7th February 2017, 12:53
Apologies, of course that should have said “month”.
Nick Wyatt (@nickwyatt)
7th February 2017, 20:59
Phew. I thought I had missed something. Roll on next month!
Shimks (@shimks)
7th February 2017, 12:57
Wow, that heart-breaking day was Massa’s last win? That must hurt so much.
A fascinating insight. Really quite surprising stats.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
7th February 2017, 13:16
Nerd point: On Friday 20th January it was 3,000 days since Massa’s last win and 2,000 days since Grosjean’s last win. Kicking myself for missing that one!
Better pencil October 16th, 2019 in the diary…
Joao (@johnmilk)
7th February 2017, 14:32
waiting for the stars to align I see @keithcollantine
If you do post this one the page, tag me in with a note “@johnmilk today is your wife birthday”
Unless Grosjean wins again and this is ruined
Excuse me :D (@square-route)
11th April 2017, 5:24
@johnmilk
Massa might win too, not beyond possibilities!
Joao (@johnmilk)
11th April 2017, 7:31
@square-route ah! nice catch, he tricked us. Quite a lot of comments were made redundant after his return
Leo B
8th February 2017, 11:24
Massa won the Granja Viana 500 miles kart race on december 5, 2009, beating Barrichello, Kanaan, Zonta, Piquet Jr, Marco Andretti and many, many more
Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
8th February 2017, 19:59
@keithcollantine Grosjean won in Trophee Andros in 2016
Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
8th February 2017, 20:02
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/127523
ColinChapman (@colinchapman)
7th February 2017, 13:16
Interesting to see Perez so much further down the list than Hulkenberg.
Mashiat (@mashiat)
7th February 2017, 13:50
@colinchapman Doesn’t count for anything as it was a Le Mans win.
Hugh (@hugh11)
7th February 2017, 14:42
Implying Le Mans is irrelevant?
Mashiat (@mashiat)
8th February 2017, 1:47
@hugh11 Considering that both are competing against each other in FORMULA 1, I would say Hulk winning Le Mans is irrelevant in their comparison.
Optimaximal (@optimaximal)
8th February 2017, 9:55
@mashiat given that neither have won in F1 (nor have half the list) the entire list is pointless unless you consider other series.
The WEC, especially Le Mans, is highly relevant for a driver’s career.
Hugh (@hugh11)
8th February 2017, 14:55
So in that case, Perez winning in GP2 is pointless? As well as everyone else who hasn’t won in formula 1? WEC and Le Mans in particular is incredibly competitive and tough to win.
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
7th February 2017, 18:38
@mashiat yeah, he only won the biggest race on earth.
Locky (@lockwste)
7th February 2017, 13:52
Why? The Hulk won Le Mans
Mike Dee (@mike-dee)
7th February 2017, 13:49
Didn’t Vettel win the ROC just a few weeks ago? :)
OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
7th February 2017, 14:33
@mike-dee excluded as mentioned in the note. Why? Maybe because the cars don’t share the same piece of track simultaneously, so there’s no need (or almost no possibility) to overtake.
If that’s the criteria, many of Seb’s wins in 2011 (especially 2013), Rosberg and Hamilton in Mercs’ days shouldn’t count as victories, since they didn’t need to overtake.
Arggggg, angry blurting. My apologies.
Optimaximal (@optimaximal)
8th February 2017, 10:00
@omarr-pepper @mike-dee doesn’t the ROC essentially use the WRC SSS format? It’s basically a head-to-head knockout format so winning it, whilst good, isn’t really comparable to track racing.
HUHHII (@huhhii)
7th February 2017, 14:06
I’m pretty sure Grosjean didn’t win GP2 race at Hungaroring in 2014 @keithcollantine
Joao (@johnmilk)
7th February 2017, 14:25
it was in 2011
Hugh (@hugh11)
7th February 2017, 15:11
Wow, didn’t realise before this that Ocon actually only won once in GP3 in 2015, and that was the first race. Somehow he managed 9 2nd placed finished in a row from the sprint race in Silverstone to the sprint race in Sochi without getting a victory. In only 4 races he didn’t finish on the podium, 1 of which being a DSQ, but still just one win.
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
7th February 2017, 21:01
@hugh11 He also won the Spa GP3 feature race, but got a penalty for his VSC restart, which in the GP3 cars relied on track signage
Robbie (@robbie)
7th February 2017, 19:59
I think F1’s most recent winner is Bottas for getting Nico’s seat.
Evan DiPaula
7th February 2017, 20:06
COTD
Ian Bond (@ianbond001)
7th February 2017, 20:35
+1
Strontium (@strontium)
7th February 2017, 20:05
There’s a part of me that wants Massa to win a race so much this year. Changing his retirement plans to win a race is such a lovely story. But most of me knows that it’s very very unlikely, especially with the aero regulations being so important this year (Williams’ biggest weak point).
Also, hearing that Stroll is the only driver to not have raced before (and Vandoorne having done one race), makes me think this must be one of F1’s most experienced grids ever (at least for the start of a season). Does anyone know the stats on that?
eXtr3m0
7th February 2017, 20:31
Coincidentally I just watched the Brazil 2008 Race. I couldn’t agree more. I cannot believe that this was his last win. It really must have broken him. (plus bad Ferrari in 2009 and his accident)
I am so sad for him and wish him so much that he’ll win in Brazil 2017 in the rain! :|
Or let’s say in case Hülkenberg is going to win it, he’ll win Mexico! ;)
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
7th February 2017, 21:02
Germany 2010 says hi
F1Junky
8th February 2017, 8:20
Alonso won 2010 Germany. Massa second.
Hugh (@hugh11)
8th February 2017, 15:01
Apparently you don’t get his joke, Germany was Massa’s win, if the team hadn’t ordered him to let Alonso through.
Strontium (@strontium)
8th February 2017, 22:02
Unfortunately, my brain was slower than that joke
Optimaximal (@optimaximal)
8th February 2017, 10:27
Surely that would have been 2011(?) when Schumacher and Rubens were still racing? That would have pushed the average experience up so far as to make 5 noobs irrelevant. :)
Strontium (@strontium)
8th February 2017, 22:32
@optimaximal
So I have decided to run the figures for the experience of the 2011 and 2017 grids, at the start of the respective seasons. To keep things simple, I will round drivers who have previously competed in parts of a season to either count the entire season, if they competed in half or more races, or none of it if they competed in less than half. I will then divide the total years of experience by 24 for 2011, and 20 for 2017, as this will give the average experience per driver.
In 2011 the grid at the opening round had a total of 127 years of combined experience, making an average of 5.29 years of experience per driver.
In 2017 the grid at the opening round will have, assuming no changes in the lineup from now until the first race, 103 years of combined experience, making an average of 5.15 years of experience per driver.
So 2011 was marginally more experienced. This is incredibly close, and in all likelihood the rounding methodology I used could have potentially been enough to skew the result.
But all in all, 2017, along with 2011, is definitely one of the most experienced grids for a long while.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
7th February 2017, 21:44
We can only hope that the front of the pack will have more contenders this year. Not long till we find out although I expect a little more sandbagging than usual for the first testing sessions.
jmlabareda
7th February 2017, 23:11
Rosberg didn’t win a race between 2005 (GP2) and 2012 (F1)… good things happen to those that persist :) and are lucky enough to get a winning car
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
8th February 2017, 7:32
Can’t believe Marcus Ericsson was a race winner more recently than Fernando Alonso. Clearly the Swede is a far more complete driver than the two time world champion! :P
Nunu
8th February 2017, 13:23
Think ERI is more lucky than a racewinner still having his sponsors from IKEA and Tetrapak behind him after so many years – many far more talented drivers should have such a opportunity…
Hugh (@hugh11)
8th February 2017, 15:02
If they want a talented Swedish driver they should ditch him and go for someone like Joel Eriksson
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
5th March 2017, 16:25
Have corrected an error in the graph: Bottas actually had a more recent victory than the GP3 race mentioned above, he won a British F3 race at Donginton Park 15 days afterwards.