Discover F1 Drivers by Age: Unleash the Power of Experience
In a sport like Formula 1, you’d think that age plays an important part in how reaction times and experience influence performance on the track.
However, that’s not exactly true. The current driver roster in F1 starts at age 22 and ends at age 41, so a 19-year age range. You’ll notice that age is just a number in terms of performance in a race car.
Here’s the complete list:
| Name | Current Age | Birthday | Current Team | Race Debut | Age at Debut |
| Oscar Piastri | 22 | Born on 6 April 2001 | McLaren | 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix | 21 |
| Logan Sargeant | 23 | Born on 31 December 2000 | Williams | 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix | 22 |
| Yuki Tsunoda | 23 | Born on 11 May 2000 | AlphaTauri | 2021 Bahrain Grand Prix | 20 |
| Lando Norris | 24 | Born on 13 November 1999 | McLaren | 2019 Australian Grand Prix | 19 |
| Zhou Guanyu | 24 | Born on 30 May 1999 | Alfa Romeo | 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix | 22 |
| Lance Stroll | 25 | Born on 29 October 1998 | Aston Martin | 2017 Australian Grand Prix | 18 |
| George Russell | 26 | Born on 15 February 1998 | Mercedes | 2019 Australian Grand Prix | 21 |
| Charles Leclerc | 26 | Born on 16 October 1997 | Ferrari | 2018 Australian Grand Prix | 20 |
| Max Verstappen | 26 | Born on 30 September 1997 | Red Bull Racing | 2015 Australian Grand Prix | 17 |
| Esteban Ocon | 27 | Born on 17 September 1996 | Alpine | 2016 Belgian Grand Prix | 19 |
| Alex Albon | 28 | Born on 23 March 1996 | Williams | 2019 Australian Grand Prix | 22 |
| Pierre Gasly | 28 | Born on 7 February 1996 | Alpine | 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix | 21 |
| Nyck de Vries | 29 | Born on 6 February 1995 | AlphaTauri | 2022 Italian Grand Prix | 27 |
| Carlos Sainz | 29 | Born on 1 September 1994 | Ferrari | 2015 Australian Grand Prix | 20 |
| Kevin Magnussen | 31 | Born on 5 October 1992 | Haas F1 Team | 2014 Australian Grand Prix | 21 |
| Sergio Perez | 34 | Born on 26 January 1990 | Red Bull Racing | 2011 Australian Grand Prix | 21 |
| Valtteri Bottas | 34 | Born on 28 August 1989 | Alfa Romeo | 2013 Australian Grand Prix | 23 |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 36 | Born on 19 August 1987 | Haas F1 Team | 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix | 22 |
| Lewis Hamilton | 39 | Born on 7 January 1985 | Mercedes | 2007 Australian Grand Prix | 22 |
| Fernando Alonso | 42 | Born on 29 July 1981 | Aston Martin | 2001 Australian Grand Prix | 19 |
Quite a big age difference between some of the contestants, right?
It seems that the youngest debut belongs to Max Verstappen at 17 years old, while the oldest belongs to Nyck de Vries at 27.
Zhou Guanyu is also the first Chinese driver on the current grid, and it's his second season already. He's one of the exciting talents alongside fellow rookie Logan Sargeant driving for Williams. It's unlikely that either of them will get a first victory but they seem like they'll become great Formula 1 drivers in the future.
We should also mention Daniel Ricciardo who didn't make the roster due to sustaining a broken hand during second practice at the Dutch Grand Prix this year. He was born on July 1st 1989 (34 years old) and he debuted at the 2011 British Grand Prix, when he was 22 years old. An average age for becoming an F1 driver!
Charles Leclerc is also the first Monegasque driver since Olivier Beretta in 1994. At 26 years old, Charles Leclerc is sure to impress alongside teammate Carlos Sainz, even aiming for a win
Who Is the Oldest F1 Driver in 2023?
The oldest driver on the F1 grid is Fernando Alonso, who is 42 years old, a very respectable age to be driving a race car.
Fernando Alonso debuted at a very young age (19) and has amassed 32 race wins and two championship titles (2005 and 2006 seasons).
He’s one of the three active F1 drivers who’ve won any championship titles, the other two being Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.
Alonso is also the sixth driver to achieve 100 podiums in his F1 career. His last one was at the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in March of this year.
According to his metrics, Fernando Alonso is a consistent achiever who doesn’t fail to perform at a competitive level. He’s currently matching Max Verstappen for number of championships won and is considered one of the all-time drivers in F1. He would certainly have more F1 World Championships if he had been given a car capable of doing so.
Who Is the Youngest F1 Driver in 2023?
The youngest driver racing in the 2023 Season is Oscar Piastri at age 22 years old, which you can see below.
The young Australian driver debuted with the Bahrain Grand Prix for McLaren this year and has already received heavy praise, especially during qualifying.
So far, Oscar Piastri hasn’t won any races but he may yet surprise the racing world during the 2023 Season. Plus, he's younger than everyone else, so he has time to prove himself.
He has quite a rich history in Formula 2, Formula 3, and the Formula Renault Eurocup. So, he has what it takes to be out there and compete at the highest levels, even though he's younger than the rest of the F1 drivers.
Who Are the Youngest F1 Championship Winners?
With such a popular sport as F1, it’s natural that there are prodigies who defy all expectations and excel at the sport.
Below, I’ll show you the youngest world champion drivers in F1:
| Driver | Age | Season Won |
| Sebastian Vettel | 23 years, 134 days | 2010 |
| Lewis Hamilton | 23 years, 300 days | 2008 |
| Fernando Alonso | 24 years, 58 days | 2005 |
| Max Verstappen | 24 years, 73 days | 2021 |
| Emerson Fittipaldi | 25 years, 273 days | 1972 |
| Michael Schumacher | 25 years, 314 days | 1994 |
| Niki Lauda | 26 years, 197 days | 1975 |
| Jacques Villeneuve | 26 years, 200 days | 1997 |
| Jim Clark | 27 years, 188 days | 1963 |
| Kimi Räikkönen | 28 years, 4 days | 2007 |
Remember that the table above shows the moment when these drivers won their first F1 championships. Most of them kept winning more championships over the years.
Out of all of them, only Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, and Fernando Alonso still compete in Formula One. Sebastian Vettel retired at the end of the 2022 Season, so another legend is gone from the sport. We should also mention Kimi Raikkonen, who retired in 2021.
And the youngest F1 championship winner currently driving (if we take out Sebastian Vettel) is Lewis Hamilton. He became a world champion at 23 years old in the 2008 Season and he's now a seven time world champion, the only driver on the grid with such a stellar career.
If we include Sebastian Vettel, then he’s the youngest-ever F1 driver to win a championship in the history of the entire sport.
Who Was the Youngest F1 Race Winner?
Max Verstappen was the youngest-ever F1 race winner when he won the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix when was just 18 years and 228 days old.
By comparison, the second-youngest F1 race winner is Sebastian Vettel during the 2008 Italian Grand Prix. But he was 21 years and 73 days old.
Verstappen overtook Vettel by over 3 years, marking him as a spectacular prodigy in the sport.
This means that Verstappen also became the youngest podium-sitter when he won that first race in 2016. Lance Stroll came extremely close to snagging the record from Verstappen after winning the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Sadly, Stroll was 11 days older than Verstappen when he won that race.
Who Was the Youngest Point Scorer in Formula 1?
Coincidentally or not, the youngest point scorer in the history of F1 remains Max Verstappen at 17 years and 180 days.
Only 14 days after his debut in the 2015 Australian Grand Prix, the Belgian-Dutch driver scored his first points with a 7th place finish in Malaysia.
So far, Verstappen holds several industry records and is still the current World Driver’s Champion after winning two years in a row in 2021 and 2022 with Red Bull.
Alright, then. To summarize, the youngest driver on the grid is Oscar Piastri (age 22 in 2023 season) and the oldest driver is Fernando Alonso (age 42 in 2023 season).