Top 10: oldest first-time F1 winners of all time

Formula 1 has many great race winners in its 74-year history but who are the oldest drivers to claim their first win in the sport?

Formula 1 is one of the fastest-growing sports on the planet due to several reasons: the high-speed cars, Netflix’s Drive to Survive and the superstar status of the drivers. In the US alone, according to Statista, F1’s 2023 season became the second-most watched season with an average US TV audience of 1.11 million, just shy of 2022’s record of 1.2 million.

As a result, many fans would certainly be looking into some of the record books to gather their knowledge of the sport whether it is to take the next step from casual fan to passionate and knowledgable fan.

Whilst it’s talked about who are the youngest race winners of the sport with the likes of Red Bull’s triple world champion, Max Verstappen in 2016 or then-Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel back in 2008, the oldest maiden winners are overlooked.

So, thanks to the number-crunchers at StatsF1.com, who are the top 10 oldest maiden F1 winners?

10 – Jean-Pierre Jabouille, France 1979 

Age: 36 Years, 9 Months & 0 Days

Jean-Pierre Jabouille is the first driver on this top 10 list as one of the oldest drivers in the sport’s history to secure a win in Formula 1. The Paris-born driver raced for Equipe Renault Elf when he took home his first maiden victory at the French Grand Prix, in 1979. 

Whilst Gilles Villeneuve led the first half of laps, from the start of the race, Jabouille took the lead on Lap 47 of 80 and took the chequered flag. He took his second – and last win – a year later at the 1980 Austrian Grand Prix. 

9 – Maurice Trintignant, Monaco 1955 

Age: 37 Years, 6 Months & 22 Days

Maurice Trintignant was another driver with only two wins to their name across his 90-race career in the sport, spanning from Monaco (1950) to Italy (1964). Despite starting in the sports founding season, the French race winner had to wait five seasons before he got his first win.  

This finally came in 1955’s Monaco GP. Racing for Ferrari, Trintignant started the race in ninth place, and, despite losing position on the first lap, the Frenchman took the lead on lap 81 of 100. 

8 – Vittorio Brambilla, Austria 1975

Age: 37 Years, 9 Months & 6 Days

Vittorio Brambilla, unlike the previous two drivers, only won one race in his 74-race career. This came at the 1975 Austrian Grand Prix. 

Brambilla started his race-winning adventure down in eighth on the grid, alongside Patrick Depailler, and behind the likes of Clay Regazzoni and Carlos Pace who were fifth and sixth respectively. 

Whilst Ferrari’s famous Niki Lauda led most of the race, with 14 laps led, Brambilla took the lead from Hesketh’s James Hunt on lap 19 and went on to take his maiden win.

7 – Rodger Ward, Indianapolis 1959 

Age: 38 Years, 4 Months & 20 Days

The Indianapolis 500 was the season’s second race, after Monaco at the beginning of May that year, and it provided Roger Ward with his only career win. Eventual winner, Ward started the prestigious Indy 500 race on the second row, qualifying sixth with an average speed of 144.035mph. 

Whilst this marked Ward’s first F1 race win, with the Indy 500 classed as a championship race, he later took the Indy 500 race win for a second time in 1962. Although, that Indianapolis race was no longer part of the F1 championship. 

6 – Juan Manuel Fangio, Monaco 1950

Age: 38 Years, 10 Months & 27 Days

Juan Manuel Fangio is the first of two F1 world champions to feature on this list. In the seven-race debut season, Fangio was one of the sport’s first drivers and it didn’t take long for him to take his first win which came at the second race of the season. 

The 1950 Monaco GP was where Fangio took his first career win, and his first pole position, joined by eventual world champion Giuseppe Farina and Jose-Froilan Gonzalez. Fangio controlled the race in the principality and led all 100 laps to secure his first of 24 wins in his career.

5 – Lee Wallard, Indianapolis 1951

Age: 39 Years, 8 Months & 22 Days

In a time where the Indy 500 was still part of the world championship, Lee Wallard had a win rate of 50% having only competed in the 1950 and 1951 Indy 500 races – his only involvements of the F1 world championship. 

Although Wallard missed out on the win in his first attempt, in 1950, finishing sixth in the race, he completed his achievement in the following season where he started second on the grid.

4 – Sam Hanks, Indianapolis 1957 

Age: 42 Years, 10 Months & 17 Days

In an eight-race career in F1, which are solely the Indianapolis races from 1950 to 1957, Sam Hanks has only secured one win in his tenure at the sport. 

Hanks finished inside the top three in four of the eight races he competed in, two third place finishes, one second place finish and a win. His sole F1 win came at the American’s final Indy 500 race – in 1957 – of which he started 13th on the grid. 

3 – Giuseppe Farina, Britain 1950

Age: 43 Years, 6 Months & 13 Days

The first-ever F1 world champion, back in 1950, dropped into the sport firing on all cylinders as he secured the sport’s inaugural first race around Silverstone at the British Grand Prix – the birthplace of F1. 

He went on to take four more wins during his six-season tenure in the sport, spanning from 1950-1955. Three of those wins came in the sport’s first season; Britain, Switzerland and Italy, on the way to his first and only championship win.

2 – Piero Taruffi, Switzerland 1952

Age: 45 Years, 7 Months & 6 Days

In an 18-race career in the early seasons of F1, Piero Taruffi stands as the second-oldest driver to secure his maiden win in the sport. Having gone through the first two seasons, Piero Taruffi finally took his maiden win with Ferrari.

At the Switzerland Grand Prix of 1952, Taruffi started the race on the first row – alongside world champion Farina – and took over the lead from lap 17. He went on to take home a Ferrari 1-2 with Rudi Fischer coming home second. 

1 – Luigi Fagioli, France 1951

Age: 53 Years, 0 Months & 22 Days

Since 1951, Luigi Fagioli has stood as the oldest F1 driver to take home their first win and remain as the oldest driver to have ever won a race in the sport. 

The Italian race winner had competed in all of the first races of F1’s inaugural season with a podium finish in all but one race (Monaco 1950) as a result of a pile up. In his final F1 race he finally got his maiden win at the 1951 French GP. 

It’s a record that looks like it will stand the test of time. 

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