These are F1’s youngest record breakers in history

Formula 1 rookies have increasingly shown that the kids are alright, as new drivers, race winners and even world champions seem to get younger with each passing season. In 2025, drivers like Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli are continuing this tradition, but how do they stack up against with F1’s youngest record breakers out there?

The 18-year-old may have kicked the conversation off with his stunning lap ahead of the Miami Grand Prix sprint, but as he set the pace in sprint qualifying instead of the session to determine the starting order for the grand prix, he sadly doesn’t officially count as F1’s youngest polesitter. So, who does?

Who was the youngest ever F1 driver?

Franz Tost, Team Principal, Toro Rosso, and Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Back in the 1980s, the average age of an F1 driver was around 32, now it’s closer to 27 – despite drivers like Fernando Alonso hanging around into their 40s. The average age is brought down by the likes of Haas driver Oliver Bearman, who raced his first grand prix aged 18 years 306 days.

Bearman doesn’t take the record for F1’s youngest driver, however, as he’s beaten to that crown by more than a year. Instead, it was Max Verstappen who set the record as F1’s youngest ever driver when he entered the 2015 Australian Grand Prix for Torro Rosso. When Verstappen lined up in 12th on the grid in Australia, he was just 17 years and 166 days old.

Who was the youngest ever F1 polesitter?

Franz Tost, Team Principal, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Dietrich Mateschitz and Sebastian Vettel, Toro Rosso STR03 Ferrari, 1st position, celebrate

Because Antonelli topped a sprint qualifying session, he doesn’t get to claim this title… yet. Instead, the record is currently held by a driver who is more than two years his senior.

The record was set by Sebastian Vettel after his incredible lap in a wet qualifying for the 2008 Italian Grand Prix. While driving for Torro Rosso, the German lapped the track at Monza in 1m37.555s, which isn’t really a time for the record books. Vettel set the lap when he was just 21 years and 72 days, which makes him officially F1’s youngest ever polesitter.

Who was the youngest ever F1 race leader?

Andrea Kimi Antoneli, Mercedes

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Another record held by a driver on the current grid is the prestigious title of F1’s youngest ever race leader – and it was actually set earlier this year. During the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix, Antonelli led 10 laps during his first stint on the medium tyres.

At the age of just 18 years and 224 days, the Italian set the new record for F1’s youngest race leader. In the process, he also picked up the crown of F1’s youngest driver to set a fastest lap in a grand prix after he clocked a lap of 1m30.965s around the 3.6-mile circuit.

Who was the youngest ever F1 race winner?

Christian Horner, Team Principal, Red Bull Racing, Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 1st Position, and the Red Bull team celebrate his first and record breaking F1 win

Photo by: Andrew Hone / Motorsport Images

If Vettel was the youngest F1 polesitter in F1 history and Antonelli the youngest race leader, you might expect one of them to be the youngest race winner as well, right?  Well, they aren’t.

Instead, it’s another familiar name on this list: Verstappen. Just a year after making his debut for Toro Rosso, Verstappen was promoted to the Red Bull senior team at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix. A collision between the leading pair of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg paved the way for Verstappen’s first win at just 18 years and 228 days old. He’s since gone on to win a further 63 grands prix.

Who was the youngest ever F1 world champion?

FIA President Jean Todt presents Formula One World Champion Sebastian Vettel with the Drivers’ trophy

Photo by: FIA

It’s one thing to win a race at 18 years old, but it’s another to beat the entire F1 field to the world title. Maybe that’s why it took the drivers on this list a few years to clinch a world title after claiming their first race win?  
With this in mind, it’s Vettel who claims the crown for youngest F1 world champion. The German claimed his first crown with Red Bull back in 2010, two years on from his inaugural race win.

At the time, Vettel was just 23 years and 134 days old, which meant he beat the previous record set by Hamilton by just 166 days.

Photos from Miami GP – Sprint & Qualifying