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F1
7 times when F1 drivers won from the back of the grid
Everyone loves high-speed overtaking and wheel-to-wheel racing in F1 as drivers battle for the top, so let's look at six times when F1 drivers won from the back.
01
Max Verstappen - São Paulo Grand Prix 2024
Max Verstappen arrived for the 2024 Brazilian Grand Prix leading the title race, but was being hunted down by Lando Norris in the faster McLaren. His luck seemed to be going against him: in the rain-hit chaos of Qualifying, he was eliminated in Q2 when the session was red flagged before he could put in a flying lap. He also took a penalty for an engine change, dropping him back to P17 for the Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen comes through the wet in Sao Paulo
© Getty Image/Red Bull Content Pool
A win for the ages: Max Verstappen triumphs in São Paulo in 2024
© Getty Image/Red Bull Content Pool
However, a motivated Max Verstappen is unstoppable in the wet. The Dutchman had moved up seven places in two laps and, picking off drivers at T1 in the chase down to the Senna Esses, he was sixth by Lap 22. On Lap 28, he jumped past Charles Leclerc, Norris and George Russell by staying out behind a virtual safety car and, when the race was red flagged for a crash on Lap 32, he had a free pit stop. In the closing laps, he passed the Alpines of Esteban Ocon and former team-mate Pierre Gasly to take his eighth win of the season and put one hand on his fourth F1 World Championship title.
02
Max Verstappen – Belgian Grand Prix 2022
The team go wild as Max Verstappen wins the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix
© Getty Image/Red Bull Content Pool
A man of many home races, Spa-Francorchamps is a special place for Max Verstappen. Not only is it a venue where the stands are packed with his fans, it's also arguably the best circuit in F1. He took pole here in 2022, but then took a massive penalty for changing the engine and gearbox on his RB18, putting him P14 on the grid. Within a single lap of the 7km circuit, he had worked his way up to eighth place and after 11 laps he took the lead from team-mate Sergio Pérez. Verstappen was only out front briefly before pitting for fresh rubber, but he emerged from the pits in fourth and resumed his run through the field, picking off the front runners until he slipped past pole sitter Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari.
By the time he saw the chequered flag, he'd set the fastest lap and was more than 17.8 seconds clear of the field. He told The Red Bulletin: "This weekend was incredible! I would have won even if I had started from last place. I started on soft tyres that lasted longer than the medium tyres of my opponents. It was crazy. You don't experience weekends like this very often. Everything was perfect."
03
Daniel Ricciardo – Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2017
"I've never really had a boring win and today was certainly not that,” said Daniel Ricciardo after producing an audacious win, demonstrating his dynamic overtaking skill and ability to manage a race as he worked his way to the front of the pack through the winding streets of Baku. A difficult weekend saw the popular Australian line up P10 after crashing out of qualifying. Then, on the opening lap he had to pit to clear a blocked brake duct, which put him in P17 and well out of touch.
Daniel Ricciardo conquers the streets of Baku in 2017
© Getty Image/Red Bull Content Pool
Shoey time: Daniel triumphs in Azerbaijan in 2017
© Getty Image/Red Bull Content Pool
But Ricciardo was sublime: fast when he needed to be, managing risk precisely and overtaking clinically, including a spectacular triple pass. Then a stroke of luck: a red flag brought the field back together and, at the restart, Ricciardo made short work of passing Nico Hülkenberg, Lance Stroll and Felipe Massa, which put him on the podium behind Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton. Then, two bombshells: first Hamilton had to pit because his cockpit surround had come loose, then Vettel was handed a stop-go penalty for an earlier wheel-banging incident with Hamilton. With 17 laps remaining, Ricciardo was out on front and clear to the chequered flag.
04
John Watson – U.S. Grand Prix West 1983
Watson’s drive from 22nd to victory is a record
© Rainer W. Schlegelmilch / Getty Images
John Watson had some form with winning from the back: in 1982 he won in Detroit from P17 and Belgium from P10. His performance in Long Beach, California, eclipsed all those however, setting the record for a win from the furthest back on the grid.
Watty and McLaren team-mate Niki Lauda qualified P22 and P23, which was largely due to their tyres. The qualifying Michelins used by McLaren weren’t on the pace of the Goodyears and Pirellis of their competitors, leaving Watson and Lauda four seconds off the pace. But while the Michelins left a lot to be desired over one lap, as a race tyre, it was outstanding. The McLarens cut through the field, taking advantage of bad luck and bad judgement from rivals ahead to provide the F1 trivia fans of the future with valuable ammunition.
05
Olivier Panis – Monaco Grand Prix 1996
It was Panis’s only Grand Prix win
© Pascal Rondeau/Getty Images
Winning from 14th on the grid is rare; winning from 14th on the grid on the tight streets of Monaco is rarer still. Taking a debut victory from 14th on the grid in Monaco to give Ligier a first win in 15 years… the stuff of legend. But that’s what Olivier Panis did. The key to victory was he kept his head (and bodywork) when all about were losing theirs. He shared the podium with David Coulthard and Johnny Herbert, who were the only other drivers to finish after the other 18 cars recorded a DNF – the highest percentage of retirements in F1 World Championship history.
06
Rubens Barrichello – German Grand Prix 2000
Barrichello celebrates his maiden win
© Rainer W. Schlegelmilch/Getty Images
Rubens Barrichello’s maiden victory came from 18th on the grid after he was forced to qualify using Michael Schumacher’s car after his developed an oil leak. Fortunately for Rubens, this was the old school and overtaking-friendly Hockenheim, not the emasculated go-kart track that has replaced it. So, back in his own race car, he made short work of cutting through the field. Up to 10th on the first lap, he then picked off rivals to advance to third before diving into the pits – his tyres presumably looking like a melted rubber boot at this point. A lunatic-on-the-track-related Safety Car followed and then another Safety Car for debris removal. A stop-go penalty for race leader Jarno Trulli then left Barrichello in the lead with a real shot at the first victory after eight years of trying. So, of course, it started raining. He made the ballsy decision to stay out and got his reward.
