Like you can see, I haven’t talked about a lot of records, like the most laps in the lead, most f1 Grand Prix raced, the most number of wins, of pole position. The only reason is because those records can be break next week, those are records that are subject to be broken as Lewis and Kimi are still in the competition.
The records I put here, are more complicated to be broken, so I hope you understand why there isn’t Lewis here and his 100 pole, or his 98 wins, or Kimi’s 337 GP starts, and hope you still like it 🥰
Putting things into perspective - the table above shows 2021 drivers in a grid by their birth year (top) and debut year (left)
We will have three rookies - The youngest driver on the grid Yuki will be 20 years, 10 months, 10 days (or 20 years, 314 days) old + Mick with one day shy of 22 years and Nikita, 22 years and 19 days. Lando will actually be younger than Mick and Nikita at the Australian GP 2021 at 21 years, 129 days (4 months, 8 days).
The oldest driver on the grid will be Kimi. He will be 41 years, 5 months and 4 days at the Australian GP start. Fernando will be 39 years, 7 months, 20 days; he is actually 1 year, 9 months younger than Kimi and is 3 years, 5 months older than Lewis.
The difference between the oldest (Kimi) and youngest (Yuki) driver is 20 years, 207 days (6 months, 24 days).
Interesting note that back in 2001 when Kimi and Fernando debuted, there were also Mick’s father Michael and Max’s father Jos on the grid.
*I know Lewis is still not confirmed, but does anyone really expect him not to be on the grid?
More playing with numbers/records stats for 2021 drivers after the jump...
The youngest driver at their debut from the current grid is Max. He was 17 years, 166 days (or 5 months, 13 days) at the start of Australian GP in 2015. Contrary to popular belief, Lando wasn’t the second youngest one, but it was Lance, who was 18 years, 148 days (4 months, 25 days). Lando comes next with 19 years, 125 days (4 months, 4 days). To be noted, from the current grid, the next one would be Fernando with 19 years, 218 days (7 months, 3 days). You might be surprised Sebastian is not on this list, but he didn’t debut on the first race of 2007, so he was 19 years, 350 days on his debut at US GP 2007 (but he’d still be older than Fernando if he debuted in Australia, he’d be 19 years, 259 days)
The oldest driver at their debut was Nicholas. He was 25 years and 6 days at the start of Austrian (no, that’s not a typo) GP in 2020. If the season started properly in Australian GP, he’d had been 24 years, 260 days (or 8 months, 15 days) at his debut. Runner ups here are Valtteri who was 23 years, 201 days (6 months, 17 days) and Gio who was 23 years, 102 days (3 months, 12 days).
The youngest winner was also Max - he achieved this at Spanish GP in 2016, he was 18 years, 227 days (7 months, 15 days) old. Runner-ups here are Sebastian with 21 years, 73 days (2 months, 11 days) at Italian GP in 2008 and Charles with 21 years, 320 days (10 months, 16 days) in Belgian GP in 2019.
Max doesn’t hold the record of having pole position as a youngest driver though. This one is Sebastian’s who’s achieved it at Italian GP in 2008 at 21 years, 72 days (see above) and followed by Charles at Bahrain GP in 2019 at 21 years 166 days (5 months, 15 days). The third one is Fernando who was 21 years, 237 days (7 months, 22 days) when he’s got pole at Malaysian GP in 2003.
The oldest pole-sitter from the current grid is Kimi, who’s got his last pole at Italian GP in 2018 at the age of 38 years, 321 days (10 months, 16 days).
When it comes to youngest podium finishers in general, it’s interesting to note that Max’s first win was also his first podium finish. The second youngest one was Lance at Azerbaijan GP in 2017 at third place when he was 18 years 239 days and third was Lando at Austrian GP in 2020 also at third place when he was 20 years 235 days.
Max, Lance and Lando also hold records of youngest driver to score points. Max got his first point for 7th place at Malaysian GP in 2015 at 17 years, 180 days, Lance for 9th place in Canadian GP in 2017 at 18 years, 225 days and Lando for 6th place in Bahrain GP in 2019 at 19 years, 138 days.
