Bearman joins Verstappen and Stroll on list of F1's youngest drivers

Qualifying 12th on debut in Australia was enough to silence those who questioned Verstappen’s ability to compete against the experience of drivers racing beside him, and a points finish at the following round in Malaysia entered his name into the history books for the first time, as F1’s youngest ever point scorer.

Verstappen has subsequently become the youngest F1 driver to reach many other milestones: to lead a racing lap, to set the fastest lap in a grand prix, to finish on the podium, to win a grand prix and to achieve a grand slam. Furthermore, due to the FIA’s new age limit regulations — which state that drivers must be at least 18 years old to enter into F1 — many of these records may never be beaten.

Now just 26 and already a three-time world champion, Verstappen has nine F1 seasons under his belt with seemingly plenty more to come.

 

2. Lance Stroll 

18 years, 4 months, 26 days

It’s no secret that Lance Stroll is a driver well financed, courtesy of the success of his father Lawrence who — before buying a grand prix team of his own in 2018 — invested heavily into Williams, allowing his 18-year-old son to be fast-tracked into a F1 race seat from F3 for 2017.

Unlike Verstappen, Stroll’s first race at the Australian Grand Prix was rather underwhelming, as he qualified 19th and failed reach the chequered flag. But just seven rounds later he scored his first championship points in Canada and at the following round in Azerbaijan, he finished on the podium.

The Canadian has since gone where his father has invested: moving to Racing Point in 2019, which later became Aston Martin in 2021. Stroll has failed to outscore any of his team-mates over the course of a season in that time, leading many to suggest that his seat would be better taken up by someone else.

 

3. Ollie Bearman 

18 years, 10 months, and 1 days old

In light of Red Bull’s tedious domination — and its off-track ‘Horner-based’ drama — Ollie Bearman’s F1 debut at the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was a pleasant breath of fresh air.

The teenager had already impressed throughout his first F2 campaign in 2023, in which he won three feature races and finished sixth in the drivers’ standings. Further eye-catching FP1 appearances for Haas in Mexico City and Abu Dhabi then prompted Ferrari to announce Bearman as its F1 reserve driver for 2024 — a duty he’d fulfil while competing in F2 with Prema for a second season.

After a difficult first round in the 2024 F2 campaign in Bahrain, the Briton bounced back in Jeddah to snatch pole position, while team-mate Kimi Antonelli — a driver many had tipped as a contender for both the F2 title and future F1 seats — finished sixth.

Unfortunately, Bearman was unable to try and convert his pole position into a race victory, as he was soon whisked away to the Ferrari garage following the news of Carlos Sainz’ appendicitis surgery. After just one (interrupted) hour-long practice session, the 18-year-old narrowly missed out on a Q3 appearance to Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton by less than a tenth of a second, but finished a highly impressive seventh the following day.

 

4. Jaime Alguersuari

19 years, 4 months, 3 days

Before Verstappen, Stroll and Bearman, there was Alguersuari — a 19 year old Spaniard who got his big F1 shot at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix and became F1’s youngest ever driver in the process…at the time at least.

The Red Bull junior was tipped by many as an F1 worthy talent, coming off the back of an impressive campaign in the British Formula 3 championship, in which he beat several renowned names such as Sergio Perez, Oliver Turvey, Marcus Ericsson and Brendon Hartley. As a result, he was named as the reserve driver for both Red Bull and Toro Rosso for 2009, but was promoted into the latter team after Sebastien Bourdais was fired mid-season.

Alguersuari qualified 20th — almost four-tenths off the pace of the car ahead — but was able to make up ground in his first race-day appearance: climbing to 15th with only team-mate Sebastien Buemi behind him. In the remaining seven races of the season, the Spaniard failed to finish five of them but managed to retain his seat for 2010 and 2011 — scoring points in Malaysia, Spain, Abu Dhabi, Canada, Valencia, Britain, Hungary, South Korea and India.

Despite his improvement, Alguersuari lost his seat with Toro Rosso for 2012 and would never again return to an F1 grid. He’s now a DJ who tours throughout Europe.

 

5. Lando Norris

19 years, 4 months, 4 days

Lando Norris was the youngest of three notable rookies to make their F1 debut in 2019, as the 19 year old Briton joined the series alongside fellow F2 title contenders George Russell and Alex Albon.

Five years prior to his first race weekend with McLaren in Australia, Norris had accumulated an almost flawless racing resume as a junior: becoming the youngest ever driver to win a world karting championship at 14, before claiming titles in the Toyota Racing Series, Formula Renault and Formula 3.

Although young, he showed no signs of slowing down in Melbourne as he qualified an incredible eighth on the grid, while team-mate Carlos Sainz failed even to reach Q2. He later fell back to 12th on race day, but would score his first F1 points at the following round in Bahrain.

Ever since, Norris has arguably gone from strength to strength — scoring 13 podiums and a pole position across five seasons with McLaren — although a first F1 victory continues to elude him.

 

Honourable mentions

6. Mike Thackwell — 19 years, 5 months, 29 days

Racing in Formula 2 while earning his stripes as a test driver for Tyrrell, Mike Thackwell got his F1 chance at the 1980 Canadian Grand Prix — aged just 19. Unfortunately, a fairytale start to a career in the series wasn’t to be as he qualified last and his race was run before Turn 1 after a multi-car pile-up.

7. Ricardo Rodriguez – 19 years, 6 months, 27 days

F1’s original wunderkind, Ricardo Rodriguez, was given the opportunity to race for Ferrari at the 1961 Italian Grand Prix and certainly made the most of it. The Mexican qualified on the front row, and although he’d later retire due to a fuel pump failure, he showed enough to earn a full-time drive for 1962. Tragically, in the same year, he was killed during practice for his home event.

8. Fernando Alonso – 19 years, 7 months, 4 days

A legendary racing career has to start somewhere, and Fernando Alonso’s epic F1 tale began aged just 19 at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix. Racing for Minardi, he qualified 19th and finished a brilliant 12th. Now 42 and with two drivers’ world championships under his belt, Alonso is still showing little sign of slowing down.

9. Esteban Tuero – 19 years, 10 months, 14 days

Esteban Tuero endured just a solitary season in F1. Qualifying 18th for Minardi on debut at the 1998 Australian Grand Prix, the Argentine lasted just 22 laps before retiring and the following races were little better: failing to finish all but four of them. At 19 years old, his F1 career ended before it really even started.

10. Daniil Kvyat – 19 years, 10 months, 18 days

Following title success in GP3, Daniil Kvyat earned a F1 drive with Toro Rosso for 2014 — aged just 19. He qualified eighth and came home ninth on debut in Melbourne — the start of a promising career, until he was replaced by Max Verstappen just three years later at Red Bull.