Red Bull Motorsports
F1
Blink and you’ll miss these F1 records
Quickest, youngest, shortest... here are some of Formula One's most incredible records.
Formula 1 has a long and fascinating history. The world championship for car racers has been around since 1950 and over the years, there have been some impressive milestones. Here are some of the most fascinating records in the history of the sport...
- The world of Formula 1: Discover exciting stories, videos and much more.
01
Fastest pit stop – Red Bull Racing, 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix
The record: 1.82 seconds
1.82 seconds. That's all it took for Red Bull Racing to swap all four wheels of Max Verstappen's RB15 at Interlagos in 2019. Even more impressively, the team were breaking their own record, the already-incredible time of 1.88 seconds.
Carrying out pitstops that are out of this world has become a bit of a speciality of Red Bull Racing. With five pitstop speed records in 2019 alone, the team took to the skies for a pitstop in zero gravity, changing all four tyres on a thoroughbred Red Bull Racing F1 car as it floated in mid-air. Yep. Really happened. Watch the video below if you don't believe us...
2 min
Zero-G pit stop
Find out what happened when the mechanics tried to do a pit stop at zero gravity on a cosmonaut training plane.
Be sure to download the free Red Bull TV app and catch the latest F1 action on all your devices! Get the app here
Learn how they did the Zero-G Pit-stop
Record World Champion in Formula 1
02
Most starts: Kimi Räikkönen
No Formula 1 driver has started more times than Kimi Raikkonen
© Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
No one has competed in Formula 1 more often than Kimi Räikkönen. The Finn - world champion in 2007 - made his debut in the Sauber at the Australian Grand Prix on 4 March 2001. With a few breaks, Räikkönen was active in Formula 1 until the end of the 2021 season and started a record 350 races. Spaniard Fernando Alonso currently ranks second with 335 GP starts.
In the 2002 season, the Iceman switched to McLaren and competed alongside Red Bull Racing legend David Coulthard. By the way, have you seen DC race against Red Bull Air Race World Champion Martin Šonka in Red Bull Racing Road Trips? If not, have a watch of the video below...
7 min
Drag race: F1 car vs plane
David Coulthard takes a road trip from the castles of the Czech Republic to the castles of Slovakia.
03
Speed records: Over 230mph
Valtteri Bottas currently holds the speed record
© Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Formula 1 is known for its breathtaking speed. The record for the highest speed ever driven is also held by a Finn.
Valtteri Bottas achieved a top speed of 231.46mph (372.5 kph) at the Mexican GP in 2016. He became the first F1 driver to break the 230mph (370 kph) mark in a Grand Prix.
More F1 speed records
The most successful Formula 1 teams
04
Fastest penalty: Sebastian Vettel - 2006 Turkish GP
Sebastian Vettel
© Red Bull Content Pool
The record: 6 seconds
Sebastian Vettel has broken about every F1 record, from youngest world champion to most consecutive race wins. But there is one record he will probably keep quiet about. On his first appearance in F1 at the 2006 Turkish Grand Prix, Vettel drove out of his garage and accelerated in the pit lane. That meant a penalty just six seconds into his F1 career.
More records from Sebastian Vettel
05
Youngest race winner: Max Verstappen - Spanish GP 2016
The record: 18 years and 227 days old
Max Verstappen became the youngest driver in the history of F1 when he made his debut for Toro Rosso at the Melbourne Grand Prix in 2015. He was aged just 17 years and 166 days. At the next race in Malaysia, he became the youngest driver ever to score points in a race when he finished 7th.
Twenty-four races later, Max celebrated his debut with Red Bull Racing at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona. And what a debut it was! Max became the youngest driver ever to lead a grand prix race and went on to top the podium, becoming the youngest-ever race winner in the history of the sport. He also became the first-ever Dutch F1 race winner and the sport's first winner to have been born in the 1990s.
No one can fool the reigning F1 World Champion on ice either:
2 min
GP Ice Race
Watch Max Verstappen enjoy his first track action of 2022 with ice speedway star Franky Zorn.
More about Max Verstappen
06
The youngest and the oldest drivers
Max Verstappen in the Toro Rosso
© Jarno Schurgers/Red Bull Content Pool
As mentioned already, the record-holder for youngest driver is Max Verstappen. Max was 17 years and 166 days old when driving for Toro Rosso at the Melbourne Grand Prix in 2015. He also became the youngest-ever points-winner at the Malaysian Grand Prix in 2015 at the age of 17 years and 180 days.
Meanwhile, the oldest Grand Prix participant in the history of Formula 1 is Monegasque driver Louis Chiron who was 55 years and 292 days when he retired from the sport in 1955. The oldest driver ever to finish in the points is Frenchman Philippe Étancelin at 53 years and 259 days, who came 5th at the Italian Grand Prix in 1950.
07
Narrowest gap in qualifying: European GP 1997
The record: 0.000 seconds between 1st and 3rd place
The 1997 Drivers' World Championship was a close affair. Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve started the final race of the season – at Jerez in Spain – separated by just one point. The drama was ramped up a level when an extraordinary qualifying session made things even more exciting...
Villeneuve completed his qualifying lap in 1 minute 21.072 seconds, securing pole position for the time. Minutes later, Schumacher finished in exactly the same time. But that was not all! Villeneuve's Williams team-mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen also crossed the finish line in the same time as the other two drivers. A magical moment when three cars had three identical lap times.
08
Fastest race: GP of Italy 2003
The record: Average speed of 153.8mph
The fastest Formula 1 race of all time took place in Monza in 2003. Michael Schumacher won the race with an average speed of 153.8mph in just 1 hour 14 minutes and 19.838 seconds. It was the shortest F1 race of all time because the red flag was not used.
Michael Schumacher wins F1's fastest ever race
© Ferrari
09
Smallest lead: GP of Italy 1971
The record: The top 3 separated by only 0.09 seconds
Unbelievable things have happened at the finish line in Formula 1 and 1971 was no exception. In the slipstream, during the Italian Grand Prix that year, five cars crossed the finished line in a row - making it the closest finish in F1 history.
Peter Gethin won the race by just 0.01 seconds ahead of Ronnie Peterson. François Cevert finished third with only 0.09 seconds separating him from the first position. Next came Mike Hailwood who finished 0.18 seconds behind the winner, and then Howden Ganley in fifth, just 0.61 seconds behind Gethin.
The finish to the 1971 Italian Grand Prix
© Popperfoto
10
Shortest career: Marco Apicella, Italian GP 1993
The record: 800 metres
Many Formula 1 drivers have only taken part in a single GP race. But no appearance was shorter than Marco Apicella's at the 1993 Italian Grand Prix.
The Italian driver impressed Eddie Jordan so much that he gave him a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to compete for the Jordan team at the race in his home country. Unfortunately, after a multi-car accident in the first corner on the first lap, Apicella's career in Formula 1 was over in a few seconds.
