Formula 1 Drivers Who Raced on Their Birthday

There have been 77 occasions when a Formula 1 driver has raced on their birthday. From those 77 occasions, two have won a Grand Prix, six have finished on the podium and 18 have scored points. Here are all the statistics!

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Drivers who won on their birthday

In Formula 1 history, there have been only two drivers who have won a Grand Prix on their birthday: James Hunt and Jean Alesi.

Racing on his 29th birthday, Hunt won from second on the grid at Zandvoort in the 1976 Dutch Grand Prix on August 29th. This was Hunt’s fourth of six victories in his title-winning season. Nineteen years later, on June 11th, Alesi won the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix. It was the only win of his career and came on his 31st birthday.

Drivers who finished on the podium on their birthday

In addition to Hunt and Alesi, four other drivers have finished on the podium on their birthday. Chris Amon, Carlos Pace and Carlos Reutemann all finished as runner-up on their birthdays. Amon did so at the 1968 British Grand Prix, Pace finished second at the 1974 United States Grand Prix and Reutemann finished as runner-up at the 1981 Argentine Grand Prix. The most recent, and only other, time a driver has finished on the podium on their birthday was in 2004, when Rubens Barrichello scored a third place result.

Drivers who raced at home on their birthday

Reutemann is the only driver who has scored a podium finish at his home Grand Prix on his birthday, but four other drivers have made home race appearances on their birthdays. The first to do so was Toulo de Graffenried at the 1952 Swiss Grand Prix, who finished just outside the points in sixth place.

American Chuck Arnold competed in the 1959 Indianapolis 500 – the penultimate time that it was a round of the Drivers’ Championship – where he finished fifteenth. It was nineteen years before another driver made a home appearance on their birthday. The driver to do so was Bruno Giacomelli, who finished fourteenth at Monza in the 1978 Italian Grand Prix.

Since Reutemann’s podium finish at home on his birthday, there has been only one more driver who celebrated their birthday with a home appearance. Pierluigi Martini raced in the 1989 San Marino Grand Prix on his birthday. Though given the title of ‘San Marino’ Grand Prix, the event was held at the Imola circuit in Italy. Martini drove only six laps before retiring with gearbox problems.

Drivers who started from pole on their birthday

Two drivers have started a Grand Prix from pole position on their birthday. Gerhard Berger did so at the 1995 Belgian Grand Prix and Mika Hakkinen did so at the 1997 Luxembourg Grand Prix. On both occasions, neither driver reached the end of the race. Berger retired after 22 laps at Spa in 1995, while Hakkinen – who started from pole for the first time in his career – retired at the Nurburgring in 1997 after 43 laps.

Drivers who took pole position on their birthday

There have been three previous occasions on which a driver has secured pole position for a Grand Prix on their birthday. Rene Arnoux was the first driver to do so, on his 33rd birthday, at the 1981 French Grand Prix. Nigel Mansell secured the 11th pole of his Formula 1 career in qualifying for the 1987 Hungarian Grand Prix on his 34th birthday.

The last driver to take pole on his birthday was Ralf Schumacher, at the 2001 French Grand Prix. It was the first pole position of his Formula 1 career. He took his first pole on the day of his 26th birthday – though his brother Michael would go on to win the following day’s Grand Prix.

Drivers who made the most birthday appearances

There are only 11 drivers who have raced on their birthday on more than one occasion. Andrea de Cesaris and Fernando Alonso are the only drivers who have raced on their birthday three times. De Cesaris retired on all three birthday appearances, while Alonso finished in the top ten on all three of his birthday appearances, with a best result of fifth at the 2012 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Chris Amon made two birthday appearances, at the 1962 and 1968 British Grands Prix. He could have made a third birthday outing at the 1974 British Grand Prix, but he missed races in the mid part of that season due to illness.

Nelson Piquet, Gerhard Berger, Rubens Barrichello, Sebastian Vettel, Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll, Valtteri Bottas and Carlos Sainz are the other drivers who have raced on their birthdays twice.

Youngest and Oldest birthdays celebrated

The youngest driver to celebrate their birthday by racing in a Grand Prix is Lance Stroll, who turned nineteen on the day of the 2017 Mexican Grand Prix. On the other end of the scale, the oldest drivers to start a Grand Prix on their birthday are Reg Parnell and Carlos Reutemann who each turned 39 on the day of the 1950 French Grand Prix and the 1981 Argentine Grand Prix respectively.

Multiple birthdays celebrated in a race

The 1989 Belgian Grand Prix is the only race in which multiple drivers on the grid were celebrating their birthday. On that day, Derek Warwick celebrated his 35th birthday, while Gerhard Berger celebrated his 30th birthday. Warwick picked up a point in sixth place, but Berger retired. It was the Austrian’s tenth retirement in a row.

Drivers who could have raced on their birthdays

There are two drivers who could have raced on their birthday, but failed to qualify for the Grand Prix. The first was Jochen Mass at the 1979 Canadian Grand Prix, who missed out on a spot on the grid by just 0.064s. The second was Aguri Suzuki at the 1991 Italian Grand Prix. He qualified 30th and last in the qualifying session, 0.841s away from the pace which was needed for a place on the starting grid.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen had a particularly unlucky birthday in 2003. After lining up fifteenth on the grid, Frentzen made his way through two formation laps. A faulty launch control for Cristiano da Matta meant that there were three formation laps that afternoon. At the start of the third formation, Frentzen had clutch issues and there was no time to set up the spare car. It meant that Frentzen did not start the race.

Drivers who made their only appearance on their birthday

No driver has made their only Grand Prix appearance on their birthday, but there is one driver who had their only F1 outing on their birthday. That was Channoch Nissany, who made his only outing in Free Practice for the 2005 Hungarian Grand Prix. On the day he turned 42, he became the first driver from Israel to participate in an F1 weekend. Nissany’s lap times were almost seven seconds off the pace of his Minardi team-mate Christijan Albers. He spun out of the session, and was unable to take the steering wheel out after his spin. That meant that his car had to be recovered with him sitting in it.

The full list of Formula 1 drivers who raced on their birthday:

Below is a full list of drivers who have raced in a round of the Formula 1 World Championship on their birthday.

Date	Race	Driver	Result	Birthday Celebrated
January 1st	1968 South African Grand Prix	Jacky Ickx	DNF	23
January 29th	1978 Brazilian Grand Prix	Jody Scheckter	DNF	28
March 4th	2001 Australian Grand Prix	Jos Verstappen	10th	29
March 18th	2012 Australian Grand Prix	Timo Glock	12th	30
March 26th	2017 Australian Grand Prix	Stoffel Vandoorne	13th	25
April 9th	2000 San Marino Grand Prix	Jacques Villeneuve	5th	29
April 12th	1981 Argentine Grand Prix	Carlos Reutemann	2nd	39
April 17th	1983 French Grand Prix	Riccardo Patrese	DNF	29
April 17th	2016 Chinese Grand Prix	Romain Grosjean	19th	30
April 21st	2013 Bahrain Grand Prix	Max Chilton	20th	22
April 23rd	1989 San Marino Grand Prix	Pierluigi Martini	DNF	28
April 25th	2004 San Marino Grand Prix	Felipe Massa	10th	23
May 4th	1980 Belgian Grand Prix	John Watson	DNF	34
May 10th	2009 Spanish Grand Prix	Nick Heidfeld	7th	32
May 12th	1991 Monaco Grand Prix	Stefano Modena	DNF	28
May 15th	1988 Monaco Grand Prix	Luis Perez-Sala	DNF	29
May 18th	1952 Switzerland Grand Prix	Toulo de Graffenried	6th	38
May 18th	2003 Austrian Grand Prix	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	DNS	36
May 23rd	1993 Monaco Grand Prix	Rubens Barrichello	9th	21
May 23rd	2004 Monaco Grand Prix	Rubens Barrichello	3rd	32
May 29th	1994 Spanish Grand Prix	Ukyo Katayama	DNF	31
May 30th	1959 Indianapolis 500	Chuck Arnold	15th	33
May 30th	2004 European Grand Prix	Gianmaria Bruni	14th	23
May 31st	1981 Monaco Grand Prix	Andrea de Cesaris	DNF	22
May 31st	1987 Monaco Grand Prix	Andrea de Cesaris	DNF	28
May 31st	1992 Monaco Grand Prix	Andrea de Cesaris	DNF	33
June 11th	1995 Canadian Grand Prix	Jean Alesi	1st	31
June 18th	1967 Belgian Grand Prix	Denny Hulme	DNF	31
June 22nd	1952 Belgian Grand Prix	Robin Montgomerie-Charrington	DNF	37
June 27th	2010 European Grand Prix	Nico Rosberg	10th	25
July 1st	2018 Austrian Grand Prix	Daniel Ricciardo	DNF	29
July 2nd	1950 French Grand Prix	Reg Parnell	DNF	39
July 3rd	2016 Austrian Grand Prix	Sebastian Vettel	DNF	29
July 3rd	2022 British Grand Prix	Sebastian Vettel	9th	35
July 7th	1968 French Grand Prix	Jo Siffert	11th	32
July 13th	1986 British Grand Prix	Thierry Boutsen	DNF	29
July 13th	1997 British Grand Prix	Jarno Trulli	8th	25
July 20th	1963 British Grand Prix	Chris Amon	7th	20
July 20th	1968 British Grand Prix	Chris Amon	2nd	25
July 24th	2005 German Grand Prix	Tiago Monteiro	17th	29
July 27th	1986 German Grand Prix	Philippe Alliot	DNF	33
July 29th	2001 German Grand Prix	Fernando Alonso	10th	20
July 29th	2012 Hungarian Grand Prix	Fernando Alonso	5th	31
July 29th	2018 Hungarian Grand Prix	Fernando Alonso	8th	37
August 5th	1962 German Grand Prix	Richie Ginther	8th	32
August 6th	2006 Hungarian Grand Prix	Vitantonio Liuzzi	DNF	26
August 8th	1982 German Grand Prix	Nigel Mansell	9th	29
August 17th	1980 Austrian Grand Prix	Nelson Piquet	5th	28
August 17th	1986 Austrian Grand Prix	Nelson Piquet	DNF	34
August 27th	1989 Belgian Grand Prix	Derek Warwick	6th	35
August 17th	1989 Belgian Grand Prix	Gerhard Berger	DNF	30
August 27th	1995 Belgian Grand Prix	Gerhard Berger	DNF	36
August 27th	2006 Turkish Grand Prix	Mark Webber	10th	30
August 28th	2016 Belgian Grand Prix	Valtteri Bottas	8th	27
August 28th	2022 Belgian Grand Prix	Valtteri Bottas	DNF	33
August 29th	1976 Dutch Grand Prix	James Hunt	1st	29
September 1st	2019 Belgian Grand Prix	Carlos Sainz	DNF	25
September 1st	2024 Italian Grand Prix	Carlos Sainz	4th
September 2nd	2001 Belgian Grand Prix	Olivier Panis	11th	35
September 2nd	2018 Italian Grand Prix	Marcus Ericsson	15th	28
September 5th	1971 Italian Grand Prix	Clay Regazzoni	DNF	32
September 8th	1985 Italian Grand Prix	Stefan Johansson	5th	29
September 10th	1978 Italian Grand Prix	Bruno Giacomelli	14th	26
September 11th	2005 Belgian Grand Prix	Antonio Pizzonia	15th	25
September 17th	2017 Singapore Grand Prix	Esteban Ocon	10th	21
September 17th	2023 Singapore Grand Prix	Esteban Ocon	DNF	27
September 28th	1997 Luxembourg Grand Prix	Mika Hakkinen	DNF	29
September 30th	2018 Russian Grand Prix	Max Verstappen	5th	21
October 1st	1978 United States Grand Prix	Jean-Pierre Jabouille	4th	36
October 1st	1995 European Grand Prix	Jean-Denis Deletraz	15th	32
October 3rd	1971 United States Grand Prix	Andrea de Adamich	11th	30
October 5th	2014 Japanese Grand Prix	Kevin Magnussen	14th	22
October 6th	1974 United States Grand Prix	Carlos Pace	2nd	30
October 19th	2008 Chinese Grand Prix	Heikki Kovalainen	DNF	27
October 29th	2017 Mexican Grand Prix	Lance Stroll	6th	19
October 29	2023 Mexico City Grand Prix	Lance Stroll	DNF	25
November 13th	2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix	Lando Norris	DNF	23

Header image: Rick Dikeman, Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0