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Who are the oldest F1 drivers, world champions and winners?

Formula 1 has just a handful of drivers still living who competed in the early days of the sport.

 

The inaugural world championship was run in 1950, and Hermano da Silva Ramos – who first raced an F1 car in 1955 – is its oldest driver still alive at 98. Hans Herrmann, now 95, made his F1 debut two seasons earlier, in 1953.

With just two world champions over the age of 80 still alive, here are the oldest surviving F1 drivers, including world champions and grand prix winners:

Oldest F1 world champions still alive

Jackie Stewart - 84 years old 

Stewart is the oldest F1 world champion alive at the age of 84. He took world championship titles in 1969, 1971 and 1973, and 27 race wins during his career. Making his debut in 1965, the Scottish driver raced with BRM, Matra, March and Tyrrell and is the only living F1 world champion from the 1960s.

Race winner Mario Andretti, Lotus 79, Ronnie Peterson, Lotus 79 (Photo by: David Phipps)

Mario Andretti – 83 years old

Andretti is the second-oldest living F1 world champion at the age of 83. The American driver took the F1 title in 1978 when he raced with Lotus, but across his career he also raced with March, Ferrari, Parnelli, Alfa Romeo and Williams. Andretti is just one of three drivers, including Dan Gurney and Juan Pablo Montoya, to win races in Formula 1, IndyCar, NASCAR and the World Sportscar Championship.

Alan Jones – 77 years old

Jones, 77, took his world championship for Williams in 1980, which was the team's first championship win. In his decade-long career, the Australian raced for Hesketh, Hill, Surtees, Shadow, Williams, Arrows, Haas and Lola and achieved 12 wins from 116 starts. Jones was the last Australian driver to win the Australian Grand Prix in 1980.

Emerson Fittipaldi – 77 years old

Fittipaldi is a two-time world champion, with wins in 1972 and 1974. The 77-year-old’s first world championship with Lotus secured him the title of the youngest driver to win a championship at just 25 years old. He held this record for 33 years before the record was broken by a 24-year-old Fernando Alonso in 2005. The Brazilian driver raced with Lotus, McLaren and then the Brazilian Fittipaldi Automotive team, which was founded by his brother Wilson Fittipaldi.  

Keke Rosberg, Williams FW08 (Photo by: Motorsport Images)

Keke Rosberg – 75 years old

Rosberg, 75, won his world championship in 1982. Driving for Theodore, ATS, Wolf, Fittipaldi, Williams and McLaren, Rosberg had just five wins from 114 starts. The 1982 season was fraught with issues; there was a drivers’ strike at the season opener in South Africa, two drivers died (Gilles Villeneuve was killed during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix while Riccardo Paletti died at the start of the Canadian Grand Prix) and Didier Pironi suffered a career-ending accident at the German Grand Prix. The championship was secured by Rosberg by five points over Pironi, and he became the second driver to win a championship having only won a single race, after Mike Hawthorn in 1958. 

Jody Scheckter – 73 years old

Jody Scheckter, 73, took his world championship in 1979, in the penultimate season of his F1 career. He raced with McLaren, Tyrrell, Wolf and Ferrari during his nine-season career. Scheckter is the first and only driver from Africa to have won an F1 race and a world championship. 

Nelson Piquet – 71 years old

Piquet, 71, is a three-time world champion, taking the title in 1981, 1983 (with Brabham) and 1987 (with Williams). The Brazilian scored 23 wins from 204 starts and raced for Ensign, McLaren, Brabham, Williams, Lotus and Benetton.

Oldest F1 grand prix winners still alive

Jacques Laffite, Ligier JS11 (Photo by: David Phipps)

Jacques Laffite – 80 years old

Jacques Laffite is the oldest living F1 race winner who did not win a championship title. The 80-year-old took six wins in his 12-year career, which included competing for Iso-Marlboro, Ligier and Williams. The French driver competed between 1974 and 1986 and secured 228 career points.  

Jacky Ickx – 79 years old

Ickx spent 13 years competing in Formula 1, racing for Cooper, Ferrari, Brabham, McLaren, Williams, Lotus, Wolf-Williams, Ensign and Ligier. From 116 starts, the Belgian took eight wins and 181 career points. Ickx, 79, has also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans six times, as well as the World Sportscar Championship and the Can-Am championship. 

John Watson, McLaren MP4B Ford (Photo by: Motorsport Images)

John Watson – 77 years old

John Watson, 77, took five F1 wins during his 12-year career. The Northern Irish driver competed with Brabham, Surtees, Lotus, Penske and McLaren. Watson finished third in the 1982 championship but never took the title himself.  

Jochen Mass – 77 years old

Mass, 77, won just one grand prix win in his nine-year career. Mass had 105 starts, which included racing for Surtees, McLaren, ATS, Arrows and March and achieved 71 podium points. However, the German driver is perhaps most known for his tragic on-track incident with Gilles Villeneuve in 1982, which led to the Canadian driver’s death.

 

René Arnoux, Ferrari 126C2B. (Photo by: Ercole Colombo)

Rene Arnoux – 75 years old 

 

Arnoux secured seven race wins during his 12-year career. The 75-year-old French driver participated in 149 races and drove for Martini, Surtees, Renault, Ferrari and Ligier and took 181 career points.  

 


 

F1 drivers in their 90s

Driver Age Race Starts Career Points Years Active Team(s)
Hermano da Silva Ramos 98 7 2 1955-56 Gordini
John Rhodes 96 1 0 1965 Cooper
Hans Herrmann 95 18 10 1953-1955, 1957-1961, 1966-1969 Veritas, Mercedes, Maserati, Cooper, BRM & Porsche
David Piper 93 2 0 1959-1960 Lotus
Bernie Ecclestone 93 2 0 1958 Connaught
Gaetano Starrabba 91 1 0 1961 Lotus
Alex Soler-Roig 91 6 0 1970-1972 Behra-Porsche

F1 drivers in their 80s

Driver Age Race Starts Career Points Years Active Team(s)
Peter Ashdown 89 1 0 1959 Cooper
Giorgio Bassi 89 1 0 1965 Scuderia Centro Sud
Paddy Driver 89 1 0 1963 & 1974 Lotus
Brian Gubby 89 1 0 1965 Lotus
Michael May 89 2 0 1961 Lotus
John Cordts 88 1 0 1969 Brabham
Carlo Facetti 88 1 0 1974 Scuderia Finotto
Jim Hall 88 11 3 1960-1963 Lotus
Skip Barber 87 5 0 1971-1972 March
Bill Brack 87 3 0 1968-1969 & 1972 Lotus & BRM
Bruce Kessler 87 1 0 1958 Connaught
Jackie Lewis 87 9 3 1961-1962 Cooper & BRM
Gus Hutchinson 86 1 0 1970 Brabham
Roger Penske 86 2 0 1961-1962 Cooper & Lotus
Brian Redman 86 12 8 1968 & 1970-1974 Cooper, Williams, Surtees, McLaren, BRM & Shadow
Alan Rees 85 3 0 1966-1967 Cooper & Brabham
David Hobbs 84 7 0 1967-1968, 1971 & 1974 BRM, Honda & McLaren
Brausch Niemann 84 1 0 1963 & 1965 Lotus
Dieter Quester 84 1 0 1969 & 1974 BMW & Surtees 
Kurt Ahrens Jr 83 4 0 1966-1969 Brabham
Conny Andersson 83 1 0 1976-1977 Surtees & BRM
Richard Attwood 83 16 11 1964-1965 & 1967-1969 BRM, Reg Parnell Racing, Cooper & Lotus
Gérard Larrousse 83 1 0 1974 Scuderia Finotto
Andrea de Adamich 82 30 6 1968, 1970-1973 Ferrari, McLaren, March, Surtees & Brabham
Derek Bell 82 9 1

1968-1972 & 1974

Ferrari, McLaren, Surtees & Tecno
Clive Puzey 82 1 0 1965 Lotus
David Walker 82 11 0 1971-1972 Team Lotus
Howden Ganley 81 35 10

1971-1974

BRM, Iso-Marlboro, March & Maki
Chris Irwin 81 10 1 1966-1967 Brabham, Reg Parnell Racing
Gijs van Lennep 81 8 2

1971, 1973-1975

S.A.N, William, Ensign
Jackie Oliver 81 50 13

1967-1973 & 1977

Lotus, BRM, McLaren & Shadow
Henri Pescarolo 81 57 12 1968-1974 & 1976 Matra, March, William, BRM & Surtees
Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi 81 3 0 1976 Tyrrell
Teddy Pilette 81 1 0 1974 & 1977 Brabham & BRM
Jean-Claude Rudaz 81 0 0 1964 Cooper
Jo Vonlanthen 81 1 0 1975 Williams
Robin Widdows 81 1 0 1968 Cooper
Guy Edwards 80 11 0 1974, 1976-1977 Hill, Hesketh & BRM
Mike Fisher 80 1 0 1967 Lotus
Hans Heyer 80 0 0 1977 ATS
Max Jean 80 1 0 1971 Frank Williams Racing Cars
Helmut Marko 80 9 0 1971-1972 BRM, McLaren
François Mazet 80 1 0 1971

March

Arturo Merzario 80 57 11 1972-1979 Ferrari, Iso-Marlboro, Williams, Fittipaldi, March, Wolf-Williams, Shadow & Merzario
Tim Schenken 80 34 7 1970-1974 Williams, Brabham, Surtees, Trojan & Lotus
Vern Schuppan 80 9 0 1972, 1974-1975 & 1977 BRM, Ensign, Hill & Surtees
Tony Trimmer 80 0 0 1975-1978

Maki, Surtees & McLaren

Oldest participant in F1 grand prix

 

The oldest participant of an F1 grand prix is Louis Chiron, who was 55 years and 292 days old when he came sixth in the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix. Chiron is also the oldest person to enter a race at 58 years and 277 days old when he entered the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix, although he did not qualify for the race itself.

 

The Monegasque driver first began his F1 career in 1950 and drove for Maserati, Ecurie Rosier, Lancia and Scuderia Centro Sud before his career ended. Chiron took just one podium during his career and no race wins.  

 

Louis Chiron raced for Bugatti between 1926 and 1932 and won many races for the team, including the 1931 Monaco Grand Prix in a Bugatti T51. His legacy has lived on with the team which, in 2015, named its latest car, the Bugatti Chiron, after him.

* Data correct as of 1 January, 2024.

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