F1's earliest title wins: where would Kimi Antonelli rank?

Kimi Antonelli heads to Mexico knowing that just two points will make him the youngest-ever Formula 1 champion.

It’s not just his age that would make it a youthful title: there are still four races scheduled after Mexico, which is a significant proportion of the 23-race calendar.

Whether you look at it by the number of races remaining or by the proportion of the season that’s left after the race (17.4%), if Antonelli is crowned at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Sunday, he would have clinched the title earlier than most of his predecessors.

However, it’s still far from the most dominant seasons in grand prix racing’s history: here’s where Antonelli will fit in among the earliest Formula 1 World Championship title winners.

How did we work it out?

What we didn’t do was to look at the date at which a driver secured the title. It might be an interesting detail, but as it fails to take into account cancelled races, delays, or a schedule that might be earlier or later than usual, it’s no good when it comes to looking at a driver’s dominance during a season.

The number of races remaining is a more useful metric, but is still misleading, given how the calendar has expanded: winning with five races to spare in the 16-grand prix 1992 season is a bigger achievement than five in the current 23 or 24 race calendar.

With that in mind, we’ve ranked the list by the proportion of the season that was completed when the title was decided.

The round in which the championship was clinched counts as complete, but we’ve had to make an allowance for sprint races: when drivers clinch the title after a sprint (like Max Verstappen in 2023), we’ve counted the race weekend as half complete.

However, we didn’t find a way around weighting the scores to take the pre-1990 dropped points system into account, where one drivers’ best results of the season counted.

1. Michael Schumacher
2002 season, 64.7% complete

Schumacher dominated the first half of the 2000s, and was able to bag his third championship in a row in 2002. He did so at the French Grand Prix, round 11 of 17, with only 64.7% of the season complete. It’s a mark nobody has beaten since.

The Ferrari F2002 was relentless in Schumacher’s hands, and he won seven of the first ten races. At Magny-Cours Schumacher took a drive-through penalty for crossing the pit exit line, and Kimi Räikkönen was on course to keep the championship vaguely alive until he ran wide on oil from Allan McNish’s Toyota. Schumacher went through to take the win and his fifth championship with it – equalling Juan Manuel Fangio‘s record.

It’s just one of several stats that show the German’s domination: Schumacher finished every race of the season on the podium.

2. Nigel Mansell
1992 season 68.8% complete

1992 saw Williams produce one of the most dominant cars in Formula 1’s history, and Nigel Mansell put it to good use. His 1992 title came at the Hungarian Grand Prix, round 11 of 16, with 68.8% of the season complete and five races left.

The Williams FW14B and its active suspension were in a class of their own, and Mansell won the first five races of the year on his way to a then-record nine wins and 14 pole positions.

Interestingly, Mansell didn’t clinch it with a win. After a tyre problem he ended up finishing second behind Ayrton Senna, but that was enough. With that, he became the first British champion since James Hunt in 1976. Team-mate Riccardo Patrese finished as runner-up, 52 points behind.

= 3. Jim Clark
1963 season 70% complete

Jim Clark wrapped up the 1963 season and his first title at the Italian Grand Prix. It was round 7 of 10, with 70% of the season complete and three races left. Before Clark, no one had ever won the championship with three races to go.

The car advantage was part of the reason. The Lotus 25 was the class of the field, and Clark’s seven wins from ten races stood as the record until 1988. The season didn’t start off well with a retirement in Monaco, but after that, the Scot won four in a row to take control of the championship.

Only a driver’s best six results counted that year, so Clark finished on the maximum 54 points. BRM‘s Hill was runner-up, level on points with team-mate Richie Ginther.

= 3. Jim Clark
1965 season 70% complete

Two years later, Clark managed to equal his own record at exactly the same stage of the season – round 7 out of 10 with three races left. However, this time the title came at the Nürburgring.

Clark had won every championship race he’d entered so far that year. The only one he’d missed was Monaco, which he skipped because it clashed with the Indy 500 – but he won that instead. Victory in Germany was his sixth of the season, and with only six results counting towards the title, it put the championship out of reach. Graham Hill was runner-up again for BRM.

= 5. Jackie Stewart
1969 season 72.7% complete

The first of Jackie Stewart’s two entries in this list came at the Italian Grand Prix in round 8 of 11. In percentage terms, that’s 72.7% of the season complete, with just three races left. That season he was driving Matra‘s MS80, and had won five of the first seven races.

The championship may have been relatively straightforward, but Monza wasn’t: Stewart beat Jochen Rindt to the line by 0.08sec, with the top four covered by less than two tenths. It’s still one of the closest finishes in F1 history.

Jacky Ickx finished as runner-up that year.

= 5. Jackie Stewart
1971 season 72.7% complete

Much like Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart’s second entry in this list came at the same point in the championship as his first: round 8 of 11, the Austrian Grand Prix.

By now he was racing Tyrrell‘s own car, the 003, and had won five of the first seven races. He didn’t win or even finish the race to clinch the championship. Instead, he was running second when a driveshaft broke and he lost a wheel. However, his main rival Jacky Ickx had already retired from the race, and the only other person with a mathematical chance of beating him, Ronnie Peterson, was also running outside the points.

Peterson finished as runner-up for March that year, despite not winning a race all season.

7. Max Verstappen
2023 season 75% complete

The first entry of the 2020s. Verstappen clinched his third title in the Qatar sprint, which means he did it halfway through round 17 of 22. That puts him at 75% of the season complete, with six Grands Prix still to come – equalling Schumacher’s record by that measure.

The sprint itself wasn’t his. Oscar Piastri took his first F1 win, with Verstappen second, but it was enough. Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Pérez crashed out of the race – and with it went his last mathematical chance of beating the Dutchman. Not that it mattered: Verstappen went on to win 19 of the season’s 22 races, completing one of the most dominant seasons the sport has ever seen.

Pérez finished as a distant runner-up, a record 290 points behind.

= 8. Alberto Ascari
1952 season 75% complete

Alberto Ascari won the 1952 title at the German Grand Prix, round 6 of 8, with 75% of the season complete and two races left. Ascari skipped the opening Swiss Grand Prix to race in the Indianapolis 500, where he retired, but back in Europe he won every round he entered. That was a record of six from six, with fastest lap in every one.

The Nürburgring win was his fourth in a row and confirmed the title, and his Ferrari team-mate Giuseppe Farina was runner-up.

= 8. Juan Manuel Fangio
1957 season 75% complete

Fangio’s fifth and final title came at the same stage, round 6 of 8 – and with the same number of races left as Ascari, the two are joint eighth on this list.

Fangio’s Maserati 250F started the German Grand Prix on pole, but a slow pit stop of more than a minute dropped Fangio almost a minute behind the Ferraris of Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins. He broke the lap record ten times on his way back up the field, passed both – and won the race and the championship in one go.

Stirling Moss finished as runner-up for the third year in a row.

10. Michael Schumacher
2001 season 76.5% complete

Schumacher’s fourth title came at the Hungarian Grand Prix, round 13 of 17, with 76.5% of the season complete and four races left. It was his second title with Ferrari, and the year before his record-breaking 2002.

There was nothing dramatic about it. Schumacher set a new qualifying record at the Hungaroring and led from start to finish – pit stops aside – with Barrichello making it a Ferrari one-two. The win was his 51st, which equalled Alain Prost‘s all-time record.

McLaren‘s David Coulthard finished as runner-up that season, 58 points behind.

Where would Antonelli rank?

If he wins in Mexico, Antonelli would do so with 82.6% of the season complete – and that’s only good enough for 18th, just behind Hamilton’s 2020 title win at the Turkish Grand Prix.

How do races remaining compare?

While misleading, a table that looks at the races remaining is still an interesting study. For this list, races remaining means Grands Prix, so Verstappen’s victory at the 2023 Qatar sprint counts as six.

By this metric Antonelli would place joint fourth, behind only Schumacher, Verstappen and Mansell. The obvious caveat is that every title won with four or more races to spare has come since 1992, due to the lengthening season. Verstappen’s 2022 title, for example, came with four races left but 81.8% of the season gone.