These Formula 1 records may never be broken

Formula 1 fans watched with tears in their eyes as Nico Hulkenberg finally picked up his first podium at the British Grand Prix earlier this year, ending a streak that saw him start almost 240 F1 races before stepping onto his first rostrum.

That impressive milestone means Hulkenberg no longer holds the, rather unfortunate, record for the most race starts without making the podium – an unwanted honour that returns to Adrian Sutil for now. Yuki Tsunoda is the only current driver close to taking that title having made more than 100 starts without finishing a grand prix in the top three.

But Formula 1 is a series full of firsts and bests, which means there are all kinds of other records out there just waiting to be broken – both good and bad. And while Max Verstappen’s commitment to Red Bull means he may one day break Lewis Hamilton’s record for most starts with a single constructor, there are some milestones that may never topple.  

Luigi Fagioli, Alfa Romeo 159

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Oldest F1 race winner

F1 is a young man’s game these days. On the current grid, eight out of the 20 drivers were born this millennium and just three current racers are over the age of 30. This hasn’t always been the case, however, and the age of 20-somethings winning everything in F1 is a relatively recent phenomenon. In contrast, racers of yesteryear had often made it into their fourth or even fifth decade still racing in F1.

Fernando Alonso is currently the oldest racer on the grid at 44, but he last won a race when he was 32 – and that’s child’s play compared with F1’s oldest ever race winner.   

Instead, that accolade goes to Luigi Fagioli, who won the 1951 French Grand Prix at the prime age of 53 years and 22 days. The race, which is also the longest grand prix in terms of distance, had a chaotic conclusion after Alfa Romeo ordered Fagioli to swap cars with Juan Manuel Fangio, who was experiencing mechanical issues.

Once Fangio was in a working car, he steamed to the front and won the race – some 50 seconds clear of second place. Fagioli, meanwhile, originally crossed the line in 11th, which meant that the final classification counted Fangio and Fagioli as both joint first and 11th in the grand prix.   

However, Fagioli was outraged by the car swap, and quit grand prix racing on the spot – meaning that the 1951 win remains his one and only victory.

Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / LAT Images via Getty Images

Most points without an F1 race win

Everyone watched with joy as Hulkenberg finally ended his podium-less streak in F1 at the 2025 British Grand Prix. It took the German racer 239 grand prix starts to finally make it onto the podium, taking to the third step at Silverstone.   

But while his hunt for a podium has ended, Hulkenberg is still clamouring for a first race win and this means he is the unfortunate holder of another F1 record: the most world championship points without a race win.   

After more than a decade in the series, Hulkenberg has amassed 608 world championship points but never picked up the maximum 25 that come with a race win. He has more than double the tally of second-place Romain Grosjean, who took 391 win-less points over his F1 career, and could extend his lead at the top depending on how Sauber’s transition to the Audi works team goes over the coming year.

Phil Hill, Ferrari 156

Photo by: Sutton Images

F1 world champions with fewest career points

Over the 75-year history of F1, the series has used five different points scoring systems. In the early days, points were just offered to the top-five finishers, while today it runs all the way down to 10th place.

Because of the expansion of F1’s scoring system, it’s unlikely that a driver will ever break Phil Hill’s record as the world champion with the fewest career points. Hill, who raced in F1 from 1958 until 1966, won the world title in 1961 while driving for Ferrari. To clinch his one and only crown, Hill won two grand prix and finished on the podium at a further three races – amassing 34 points for his effort and beating Wolfgang von Trips to the top by just a single point. Over the rest of his career, Hill amassed a further 64 points to – meaning that his total tally is less than Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton has picked up over the first half of this season.

The record seems safe, as today a driver can collect almost as many points over a sprint weekend as Hill managed in his championship-winning season. If a racer wins the sprint and the grand prix, they’ll earn 33 points.  

Riccardo Patrese, Brabham BT49D Ford

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Total career F1 race retirements  

F1 has come a long way from the time when engines would not last a grand prix, parts would fail mid-race and some drivers would pick up more retirements than points over the course of a season.   

Today’s F1 engines, which can run for well over a thousand miles, are bastions of reliability – unlike the V10 and V12 motors that many fans clamour to see back on the grid. It’s for this reason that the record for most retirements is probably safe with its current holder, Riccardo Patrese.   

The Italian racer drove in F1 between 1977 and 1993, starting 256 grands prix in that time. But while he amassed six race wins and took to the podium a further 37 times, he also retired from an awful lot of races. 147 races to be exact, which accounts for more than half of the grand prix that Patrese entered. As well as a reputation for aggressive driving that often left Patrese in the barriers, he was also stuck with several unreliable cars – like the Alfa Romeo 185T.

Heikki Kovalainen, Caterham

Photo by: XPB Images

Most F1 races started without scoring a point

A record that new entrant Cadillac will be hoping not to break is the crown as the F1 team to start the most races without ever scoring a point. Currently, two struggling teams share this crown: Caterham and HRT.   

HRT was the first to set the record for starting 56 grands prix without scoring a point, running in F1 for three seasons from 2010. In that time, the team fielded drivers including Daniel Ricciardo, Karun Chandhok and Pedro de la Rosa, but still never managed to break the top 10 and pick up a point. The Spanish side’s best result was 13th in the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix with Vitantonio Liuzzi at the wheel.   

Caterham’s point-less streak picked up where HRT left off, with the team in green running from 2012 until 2014 without picking up a world championship point. Caterham did come closer than HRT, with it managing a best finish of 11th in the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix thanks to Vitaly Petrov.