Juan Manuel Fangio – 38y, 10m, 27d
1950 Monaco GP
The primary-ever grand chelem – main the entire race from pole place and setting the quickest lap in your option to victory – occurred in simply the second race of the Method 1 world championship.
Future five-time title winner Juan Manuel Fangio was quickest by 2.6s in qualifying. The 38-year-old Argentine made it previous Tabac nook proper earlier than a wave from the harbour soaked the observe, which worn out many of the area, together with the opposite 4 drivers who began from the highest 5.
“I used to be very fortunate,” Fangio informed Autosport, denying strategies that he may need a ‘sixth sense’. “There had been the same incident in 1936 and I occurred to see {a photograph} of it on the Vehicle Membership the day earlier than the race.
“As I got here out of the chicane, I used to be conscious that there was one thing completely different with the gang. I used to be main, however they weren’t watching me. They have been wanting down the highway. As an alternative of seeing their faces, I used to be seeing the backs of their heads. One thing at Tabac was extra attention-grabbing than the chief.
“After which I remembered that {photograph} and braked as exhausting as I may. It was very shut.”
Fangio went on to lap all of his rivals. This wasn’t his most improbable drive by any means, however it nonetheless made historical past.
Alberto Ascari – 33y, 11m, 23d
1952 French GP, Rouen-les-Essarts
Alberto Ascari, Ferrari 500
Photograph by: LAT Photos through Getty Photos
No different grand chelem was achieved till Alberto Ascari and Ferrari dominated the 1952 and 1953 seasons, run to Method 2 laws, with their supremacy yielding 5 grand slams in simply 14 races.
The primary a kind of was the inaugural Rouen-based French Grand Prix, in 1952. Ascari lapped the 5.1km observe in 2m14.8s, outpacing Ferrari team-mates Giuseppe Farina and Piero Taruffi by 1.4s and a pair of.3s respectively.
Ascari accomplished the 388km race with no pitstops, and even a rain bathe couldn’t thwart his dominance. He took the chequered flag 1m10.7s forward of Farina, with Taruffi a lap down and everybody else additional adrift.
Mike Hawthorn – 29y, 2m, 26d
1958 French GP, Reims
Mike Hawthorn, Ferrari Dino 246
Photograph by: LAT Photos through Getty Photos
The following driver to affix the grand chelem ranks was Mike Hawthorn – the primary one to take action in his 20s.
The longtime Ferrari racer had been a constant top-three achiever over the earlier years – he grew to become F1’s youngest-ever podium finisher at simply 23 within the 1952 British Grand Prix with a privately-entered Cooper. However the 1958 French GP marked simply his third – and final – victory.
The one driver to have scored factors in each race thus far that season, Hawthorn was led by two-time winner Stirling Moss within the standings, however he took pole place at Reims, main Ferrari team-mate and rival Luigi Musso by seven tenths, with Moss two seconds adrift in sixth.
Musso chased Hawthorn early on however went off the observe on lap 10. Three weeks on from surviving a hefty crash at Spa-Francorchamps, the 33-year-old Italian was thrown out of his somersaulting Ferrari and died a couple of hours later.
Hawthorn went on to win unchallenged, 24.6s forward of Moss, in what turned out to be his last F1 victory. He was narrowly topped the world champion, courtesy of Moss’s fair-play, because the latter stood up for Hawthorn when he was dealing with disqualification from the Portuguese GP.
Hawthorn introduced his retirement after successful the title and suffered a deadly highway accident simply three months later. He was 29 years previous.
Jim Clark – 26y, 4m, 17d
1962 British GP, Aintree
Jim Clark, Lotus 25 Climax
Photograph by: Autocar / LAT Photos through Getty Photos
Again in 1962, Staff Lotus launched its extremely profitable Lotus 25 – a 14-time grand prix winner – and Jim Clark proved he may get probably the most of it.
Aged simply 26, Clark grew to become a bona fide title contender that 12 months, however mechanical issues took him out of rivalry in three of the primary 4 rounds, whereas he took his maiden win at Spa-Francorchamps – from twelfth on the grid, so a grand chelem wasn’t on the playing cards.
At Aintree nevertheless, Clark claimed his third profession pole of what could be a report 33, outpacing John Surtees by 0.6s, and led his compatriot’s Bowmaker-entered Lola all through the race. He slowly however comfortably pulled away and received by 49.2s.
Clark could have clinched simply two world titles, as unreliability price him pricey in ’62, ’64 and ’67, however he achieved eight grands chelems – nonetheless a report to this present day – earlier than his premature dying in an F2 race at Hockenheim in April 1968.
Ayrton Senna – 25y, 1m
1985 Portuguese GP, Estoril
Ayrton Senna, Lotus 97T Renault
Photograph by: LAT Photos through Getty Photos
No fewer than 10 drivers scored grands chelems over the following 23 years, however solely Ayrton Senna’s emergence offered a chance to beat the ‘youngest’ report.
Senna joined Lotus for what was simply his sophomore F1 season after a powerful rookie marketing campaign with Toleman. At Jacarepagua, he certified fourth and ran third till {an electrical} failure occurred, and his Estoril efficiency was genuinely spectacular.
The 25-year-old Brazilian took a dominant pole place in dry situations, his first of a report 65, 0.413s sooner than McLaren’s Alain Prost. Rain wreaked havoc within the race, with solely 9 of the 26 runners categorized below the chequered flag.
Senna was 2.65s away from team-mate Elio de Angelis after lap one, 12.9s forward on lap 10, and stored pulling away to triumph 63 seconds forward of Ferrari’s Michele Alboreto. The celebration he shared with Lotus group supervisor Peter Warr is etched into F1 folklore.
Photograph by: Motorsport Photos
“The automobile was sliding all over the place – it was very exhausting to maintain [it] below management,” Senna commented afterwards. “You usually noticed automobiles sliding about in all places purely via lack of grip and an excessive amount of energy. The one downside [I had] with the automobile was the brakes, however below these situations you count on that.
“When you have been near somebody, you would not see something. Folks assume I made no errors, however that’s not true – I’ve no thought what number of occasions I went off! As soon as I had all 4 wheels on the grass, completely uncontrolled, and the automobile got here again on the circuit.
“Everybody mentioned ‘Implausible automobile management’ however it was simply luck.”
And when, years later, it was urged that his 1993 Donington masterclass was his best drive, Senna disagreed: “No approach! I had traction management.
“OK, I didn’t make any actual errors [at Donington], however the automobile was a lot extra simpler to drive. It was a superb win, positive, however in contrast with Estoril ’85 it was nothing, actually!”
Sebastian Vettel – 24y, 3m, 27d
2011 Indian GP, Buddh
Sebastian Vettel, Purple Bull Racing RB7 Renault
Photograph by: Andrew Ferraro / LAT Photos through Getty Photos
Not like each different driver on this record, Sebastian Vettel was already a world champion when he clinched his maiden grand chelem.
The Purple Bull prodigy had come shut a number of occasions, together with the 2009 British GP – the place he quickly misplaced the result in team-mate Mark Webber as he pitted three laps earlier – and the 2011 European GP, the place he modified tyres one lap earlier than Felipe Massa and subsequently conceded first place ever so briefly.
There was additionally the 2009 Japanese GP, which he led from pole to victory – however Webber snatched the quickest lap away by 0.003s.
Nonetheless, Vettel lastly put all of it collectively on F1’s inaugural go to to India. He topped qualifying by a wholesome 0.296s over Lewis Hamilton, outpaced Webber by 0.271s for the quickest lap, and pulled away from Jenson Button by 4.8s within the first 10 laps, roughly sustaining that hole on his option to an 8.4s victory.
However Purple Bull wasn’t thrilled with Vettel’s fastest-lap heroics. As as to whether his driver had requested for permission to finish the grand chelem, group boss Christian Horner mentioned: “After all not as a result of he is aware of we do not prefer it.
“We had finished our greatest to handle it, we had turned all of the engine modes down, KERS off, and in need of placing a cow on the circuit there was not so much else we may do.
“On the finish of the day we’ve got full belief in him. I’m positive he nonetheless had the margin in there, and the primary purpose for him is to win the race. He is aware of there are not any factors for quickest laps, however he likes these little statistics to finish an ideal weekend.”
That day, Vettel additionally broke Nigel Mansell’s report for many laps led in a season – 739 by the tip of the 2011 season to the British icon’s 694 in 1992, although Mansell’s hit fee was increased and Max Verstappen obliterated that one in 2023.
Max Verstappen – 23y, 9m, 4d
2021 Austrian GP, Purple Bull Ring
Max Verstappen, Purple Bull Racing
Photograph by: Jure Makovec / SOPA Photos / LightRocket through Getty Photos
It may be considerably quaint that Verstappen grew to become F1’s youngest grand chelem scorer on the 128th time of asking – as many races because the mixed Fangio, Ascari and Hawthorn have competed in – however that’s only a reflection of the actual fact he made his grand prix debut at 17 and by no means actually had the quickest automobile earlier than 2021.
In all equity, Verstappen did deserve the grand chelem at Abu Dhabi ’20; he led the entire race from pole, however a late pitstop by Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo – at a time when the quickest lap was price one level – denied him that accolade.
When F1 arrived on Purple Bull’s turf in 2021, Verstappen was comfortably main the drivers’ championship, with Hamilton 32 factors adrift.
The Dutchman beat Lando Norris’ stunning McLaren to pole by 0.048s with a lap he labelled as “fairly unhealthy”; within the race, he simply solid forward as soon as an early security automobile was out of the best way. He received by 18 seconds from Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas, setting the quickest lap by a whopping 1.562s over his closest rivals, courtesy of the newest pitstop of all. However even earlier than that, he was quickest.
“Unbelievable, to be sincere,” Verstappen commented. “The automobile was on rails. I imply on each tyre set that we placed on, it was actually pleasurable to drive. Fairly insane.
“I am a bit amazed myself how as we speak went. I did not count on it to be like this.”
Kimi Antonelli – 19y, 9m, 3d
2026 Monaco GP
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photograph by: Alastair Staley / LAT Photos through Getty Photos
Mercedes wonderkid Kimi Antonelli has improved the grand chelem report to below 20 years of age – a benchmark that’s unlikely to be surpassed anytime quickly.
After a troublesome rookie marketing campaign in F1, Antonelli has loved extra dominant equipment in 2026 and has himself been a way more full bundle as a driver.
The 19-year-old Italian got here ever so near a grand chelem in China this 12 months, as he took his first pole by 0.222s and the quickest lap by 0.125s over team-mate George Russell, however Lewis Hamilton’s fast-starting Ferrari disadvantaged him of the lead on lap one.
In Monaco nevertheless, Antonelli outpaced Verstappen by 0.043s for pole – a “magic lap”, the sophomore mentioned – and led a chaotic race from begin to end. He pulled a niche of 29 seconds to Hamilton after which survived a late crimson flag and standing begin to prevail within the eight-lap sprint as nicely.
“I used to be shocked by the tempo, however as we speak I simply felt actually one with the automobile and I used to be simply in a position to set a superb rhythm with excessive depth and the automobile was responding rather well,” Antonelli commented. “So yeah, undoubtedly I used to be shocked, however it was simply a kind of days the place every part clicks.”
Concerning the crimson flag, he added: “Large time I used to be annoyed, as a result of Lewis was beginning subsequent to me this time and understanding how good they begin, I used to be like, ‘Oh man.’ However fortunately, the beginning went OK. Additionally, he had numerous wheel spin, in order that additionally made my life a bit of bit simpler into Flip 1. However yeah, it was not simple to refocus after the crimson flag.”
The youngest-ever polesitter, fastest-lap scorer, race and championship chief, hat-trick and grand chelem achiever is now on course to change into F1’s youngest world champion in 2026 – doubtlessly beating Vettel’s report (23y, 4m, 11d) by greater than three years.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photograph by: Alex Bierens de Haan / LAT Photos through Getty Photos
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