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Sebastian Vettel will retire from F1 to spend more time with family
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Who are F1’s 10 youngest world champions?
F1
- Last updated: September 10th 2026
Vettel's youngest-champion record has stood for 16 years – Kimi Antonelli is on course to smash it by three. Who makes the top ten of F1's youngest ever champions?
A still-baby-faced Max Verstappen stood on the podium in Abu Dhabi having won the 2021 title. But despite his youthful appearance, the Red Bull driver wasn’t the youngest Formula 1 world champion in history. He wasn’t even the second- or third youngest.
Vettel’s youngest-champion record has stood since 2010, eclipsing some of the sport’s brightest young talents – Verstappen, Alonso and Hamilton included – who all won older. For the last few year’s it’s a record that has looked relatively permanent.
Vettel recorded the achievement at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, beating Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button to the title at 23 years and 134 days old. Formula 1’s first ever champion, Giuseppe Farina, was 44 when he won in 1950; whilst its oldest, Juan Manuel Fangio, was 46.
Between those two points sits eight decades of increasingly youthful champions, but Kimi Antonelli is poised to sit at the sharp end of that list, breaking Formula 1’s record of most youthful title winner all over again.
The Mercedes driver made his F1 debut in Melbourne aged 18, and inside two seasons he’s gone from rookie to championship leader – and if the form book holds for the rest of the year, crowned champion.
If the young Italian wraps up the title up at the season finale in Abu Dhabi, he’ll be 20 years and 103 days old. Do it earlier – which is by no means off the cards with his current points lead – and that number only gets smaller. Either way, he’s going to sit comfortably at the top of this list: he’ll be over three years younger than Vettel, the previous record-holder, and not far off half Fangio’s age when the Argentine claimed his first title.
It’s a big change to a record which has been reducing incrementally thus far. The record has crept down in months, not years, for decades – Fittipaldi to Alonso was about a year and a half, and Alonso to Vettel barely a year. Antonelli lowers the bar by three years in one go.
Verstappen looked precociously young at 24 years and 73 days but next to Mercedes’ new prodigy, he looks like more of a veteran.
See where he – and soon Antonelli, probably – slots into the list of F1’s ten youngest world champions below, in descending order.
The top ten youngest Formula 1 world champions
10. Jim Clark, Lotus
1963 champion
Age: 27 years, 174 days
Jim Clark in his Lotus at Silverstone in 1963 – the Scot won 70% of championship races that year
Bernard Cahier/Getty Images
Lotus’s greatest driver and the standard-bearer of his generation, Jim Clark won the first of his first of two titles in dominant style. Despite retiring in the opening round that year, the Scot would go on to win four of the next five grands prix to build an almost unassailable 20-point gap over John Surtees with four rounds remaining.
Heading into Monza, Clark knew another race win would be enough to clinch the championship. He delivered in style, winning with a 1min 35sec margin to runner-up Richie Ginther. In his fourth season in F1, Clark had given Lotus its first championship victory and won 70% of the races that year, highlighting his and his car’s sheer superiority. Imperious — and the youngest-ever to win a title at that point.
9. Jacques Villeneuve, Williams
1997 F1 champion
Age: 26 years, 200 days
Villeneuve clinches 1997 title
Villeneuve arrived in F1 as IndyCar champion and didn’t wait a moment to make an impression; he would have likely won his debut grand prix had it not been for an oil leak in his Williams. He finished that maiden 1996 season as runner-up to Williams team-mate — and world champion — Damon Hill.
The following year, with Hill out of the picture, the Canadian was just a point behind Ferrari‘s Michael Schumacher in the championship standings at the final round, the European Grand Prix at Jerez. Villeneuve started on pole then lost out to his rival, but stayed with the leader and made his move on lap 48. Braking later at the sharp, right-handed Dry Sac corner, he held the inside line and was ahead — in a title-winning position — when Schumacher turned into him.
It was undoubtedly deliberate but the calculated act was more damaging to Schumacher, who was forced to retire his Ferrari. Villeneuve limped on in a now-wounded Williams, ceding the lead to the McLarens of Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard but finishing third, which was more than enough to secure the F1 title. Two weeks later, Schumacher was disqualified from the 1997 championship for his part in the incident.
8. Niki Lauda, Ferrari
1975 F1 champion
Age: 26 years, 197 days
Lauda came into F1 on a wing, a prayer and a bank loan – and was champion by ’75
Grand Prix Photo
Four years after Lauda bought his way into Formula 1 with a bank loan in 1971, he was world champion. Following a poor start to ‘75, the Austrian won his first race in the fifth round and from then on, nobody could really match the Ferrari driver. He won three of the next four races to open up his championship lead to 22 points over Carlos Reutemann, meaning it was simply a matter of time before he clinched his maiden title at the age of 26. He did so with a third in Monza, before finishing the season with a win at Watkins Glen and a 19-point gap to eventual runner-up Emerson Fittipaldi.
7. Lando Norris, McLaren
2025 F1 champion
Age: 26 years, 24 days
Norris’ 2025 title has kicked Raikkonen off the top 10 list
Grand Prix Photo
Lando Norris etched his name into Formula 1 history in 2025, becoming one of the championship’s youngest world champions at just 26. After years of steady progress with McLaren, his breakthrough season combined raw pace with newfound consistency.
The Briton had to fend off the challenge from Max Verstappen, who stayed took the title fight to the wire after a sensational recovery.
Norris won seven races on the way to the title, becoming the first McLaren world champion since Hamilton in 2008.
6. Michael Schumacher, Benetton
1994 F1 champion
Age: 25 years, 314 days
The title contenders: Hill (left) and Schumacher
Grand Prix Photo
1994 was a traumatic year for F1, as Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna both suffered fatal crashes. It was also Schumacher’s third year in the sport and at first, it looked a foregone conclusion that he would become champion.
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He won six of the opening seven races but was then disqualified from the British Grand Prix for overtaking Damon Hill on the formation lap with a two-race ban to follow.
Hill capitalised on the Benetton driver’s absence, meaning he was just one point behind his rival heading into the final round at the Australian GP. Schumacher looked to be in control — leading with a small but commanding gap. It proved just enough to stay ahead of Hill when the German made a mistake at Adelaide’s Turn 5, running wide and clonking the concrete wall.
He rejoined the track with a terminally damaged car — not that Hill was to know — and only one course of action that could still secure the title. So as Hill immediately took advantage of Schumacher’s stalled momentum, diving down the inside of the Benetton at the next corner, Schumacher turned in on the Williams to make forceful contact.
Initially, the Benetton then ground to a halt as Hill disappeared into the distance. But reality dawned as the Williams driver pulled into the pits and remained there. Terminal suspension damage forced his retirement too and with neither scoring points, Schumacher was crowned champion for the first time.
5. Emerson Fittipaldi, Lotus
1972 F1 champion
Age: 25 years, 273 days
Fittipaldi en route to his first title – seen here at the Nürburgring
Hoch Zwei/Ronco via Getty Images
As well as winning his first world championship, Fittipaldi became the youngest driver to ever do so at the time. It was a record that wouldn’t be beaten for another 33 years, even though the title win appeared fairly straightforward for the Brazilian who won almost half of the races and clinched the title with two races to spare ahead of his nearest rivals, Denny Hulme and Jackie Stewart. In only his third season in the sport, Fittipaldi hadn’t previously come close to winning the championship, with just one race win to his name before 1972. However, following five victories and a podium in all but four races, there’s no doubt who set the bar that year.
4. Max Verstappen, Red Bull
2021 F1 champion
Age: 24 years, 73 days
Verstappen: champion in his seventh season of F1
Florent Gooden/DPPI
His baby-faced features shone out from the podium as he celebrated his first Formula 1 title, but Verstappen was already in his seventh F1 season in 2021. As the very youngest driver to race in Formula 1 — a record that looks unlikely to ever be beaten — he made his debut aged 17 for Toro Rosso before winning his first race at just 18 for Red Bull.
His talent was obvious, but it wasn’t until 2021 that he had a car with which he could challenge Lewis Hamilton for the championship.
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Following an intense battle, which included the two colliding at several points during the year, they were equal on points for the final race at Abu Dhabi. Until the final stages of the Grand Prix, it looked like it’d be a straightforward victory and eighth world title for Hamilton.
That all changed when the race was turned on its head by Nicholas Latifi crashing with five laps to go, causing a safety car. Verstappen was able to pit for a fresh set of tyres without losing position, but Hamilton didn’t have the same freedom.
It shouldn’t have mattered because there weren’t enough laps to clear the debris and restart the race under normal procedures but, in a bid to finish the grand prix and decide the championship under full racing conditions, the race director Michael Masi decided to accelerate the restart procedure, allowing only some of the lapped cars to unlap themselves and then resuming the race almost immediately, rather than allowing those cars to go round to the back of the field.
The result was inevitable: Hamilton, on old tyres, was a sitting duck for Verstappen, who duly took the lead and won his first world championship. The controversy continues to this day but the Dutchman has rarely looked back since, adding three more drivers’ titles alongside 43 race victories and 27 pole positions.
3. Fernando Alonso, Renault
2005 F1 champion
Age: 24 years, 58 days
Alonso in parc fermé after winning the 2005 F1 title
Clive Rose/Getty Images
Becoming the youngest driver to win the championship since Fittipaldi in 1972, Fernando Alonso’s first title was hugely significant moment for the sport. For F1, the start of the 21st century featured Schumacher winning five straight titles with Ferrari until the young Spaniard put an end to that in his fourth season.
He joined F1 driving for grid-propping Minardi team in 2001 and impressed, being hired as a Renault test driver for the next season before being promoted to the race team for ‘03. Alonso repaid the faith, winning his first race that year in Hungary. Despite failing to win the following season, he steadily improved before taking F1 by storm in 2005: four race wins from the opening seven races with just ine non-podium finish, before a further three victories secured the title. Räikkönen and McLaren might have had the pace that season, but reliability stymied their challenge. 2005 was the year of Alonso.
2. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren
2008 F1 champion
Age: 23 years, 300 days
Infamous pass on Glock at the final corner earned Hamilton the 2008 championship at Interlagos
Getty Images
While 2007 saw Hamilton lose the title in agonising circumstances, he dealt out similar heartbreak to Felipe Massa the next year. Following an intense season, the McLaren driver entered the finale at Interlagos seven points ahead of title rival Massa.
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If Massa won that weekend, Hamilton needed to finish fifth or higher to clinch the title. The McLaren driver managed it, but didn’t make it easy for himself.
Starting in fourth, the majority of Hamilton’s race was spent battling Sebastian Vettel. Then the rain began to fall on lap 63, and the pair pitted three laps later.
However, Timo Glock didn’t, which moved him up to fourth whilst Hamilton ran wide on lap 69 to hand fifth-place to Vettel. However, not switching to wet tyres proved costly for Glock who struggled for grip, allowing Vettel and Hamilton to pass at the penultimate Junção corner on the very last lap. Those moments of drama will live long in the memory: Massa passed the finish line in first, his team thinking for a moment he may have won the title. Hamilton now had the position he needed though, meaning he became the youngest driver to ever win the championship at the time.
1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
2010 F1 champion
Age: 23 years, 134 days
Vettel lets it sink in after winning the 2010 title in Abu Dhabi
Frederic Le Floch/DPPI
Becoming the youngest champion in the history of the sport in 2010, Vettel was also the first driver since James Hunt in 1976 to only lead the championship after the very final race. He was in the fight most of the season but an engine failure in Korea left him 25 points behind leader Alonso with two races to go. Then the final two races brought a win in Brazil followed by a stroke of good luck in Abu Dhabi, that handed him a deserved title.
Starting the race with a 15-point deficit to Alonso and seven points to team-mate Mark Webber, a Ferrari pit strategy error left the Spaniard stuck behind Vitaly Petrov from lap 18 until the end. Alonso finished the race in 7th with Webber in 8th, allowing Vettel to clinch his first title at just 23 years of age.
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