CHARTING F1’S MOST-EXPERIENCED-DRIVER RECORD

The history of the most Formula 1 World Championship race starts record goes back, rather obviously, to the first race of the inaugural season in 1950. Given its frequent swapping during the championship’s infancy, where the record was often held by several drivers on low totals, we are charting its progression since the first major milestone: 50 races.

The first driver to reach this mark had actually officially been F1’s most experienced driver for three years by this point, as Juan Manuel Fangio had held the accolade since his 34th start. But he reached 50 at the 1958 season opener: the Argentinian Grand Prix. He took the record to 51, with his last F1 start at that season’s French GP, before he was joined on that number by Maurice Trintignant at the 1959 Monaco GP.

Trintignant extended the record to 82 by the

1964 Italian GP, his last world championship race, and it remained there until he was caught by Jack Brabham at the 1966 US GP.

Brabham took the record to 109 by the 1969 Dutch GP but, when he missed the next three races after injuring his foot in a testing accident, Graham Hill matched his total and extended the record to 113 four races later at Watkins Glen, where he broke his legs in a crash. With Hill therefore missing the Mexican finale, Brabham caught him back up and they shared extending the record until the 1970 Austrian GP, which Hill skipped. Brabham then extended the record to 126 at that season’s finale in Mexico, his last race.

Hill caught back up at the 1971 Spanish GP, and he then extended the record solo to 176 until he stopped racing in 1975 to concentrate on running his ownf1 squad, before he died in a plane crash in November that year.

The record stayed with Hill for 15 years, until the 1986 British GP, where he was equalled by Jacques Laffite. But Laffite would not add to his tally as he broke both legs at the start of the race at Brands Hatch, and so the pair shared the record for the next three years.

At the 1989 Brazilian GP, Riccardo Patrese (left) took the record, which he would hold until 2008. Patrese extended it to 256 by the time of his last F1 race at the 1993 Australian GP, with Rubens Barrichello then taking over on 257 at the 2008 French GP.

Barrichello extended the total to 322 by the time of his last race at the 2011 Brazilian GP and held it for the next nine years, until Kimi Raikkonen surpassed him earlier this month at the Nurburgring.