At the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton became the first driver to score points at 250 F1 race weekends. We take a look at the drivers who have scored in the most Grands Prix.
250 – Lewis Hamilton
As of the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix, there have been only 38 races in Hamilton’s 289 race career in which he has failed to score. That gives him a points scoring rate of over 86% – the highest of any driver in history who has started more than just a single Grand Prix.
The seven-time World Champion became the first driver to score in 250 races at the season-opening 2022 race. Impressively, 225 of those points scoring races have been top five positions – including his record-breaking 103 wins, and 183 podium finishes.
221 – Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher held the record for the most races in which a driver has scored until Lewis Hamilton overtook his tally at the 2020 Russian Grand Prix. In his glittering 21-year F1 career, Schumacher picked up points in no fewer than 221 races.
In 2004, he became the first driver to score points in 14 consecutive seasons, taking a 34-year old record from Jack Brabham. He went on to score in sixteen consecutive years – every season in the first part of his career – a record which has been broken only once twice, by Jenson Button in 2016.
219 – Kimi Raikkonen
Kimi Raikkonen came close to equalling Schumacher for second in the all-time list in the final season of his Formula 1 career, but the Finn fell two races short. He scored the final points of his career at the 2021 Mexico City Grand Prix, where he finished in eighth place.
Raikkonen scored points for the first time in his maiden F1 race at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix, where he finished sixth. In 2019, Raikkonen became the 25th driver to score for five different constructors in Formula 1. He scored at every team with which he raced: Sauber, McLaren, Ferrari, Lotus and Alfa Romeo.
218 – Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso has scored in 218 races in his Formula 1 career to date. The Spaniard has scored in fifteen or more consecutive races on four separate occasions. Alonso’s longest streak of points-scoring races is 18 in a row between the 2005 Turkish Grand Prix and the 2006 German Grand Prix. His streak ended one short of equalling Michael Schumacher’s then record.
Alonso will overtake former title rival Schumacher in the list of most races at which a driver has scored if he scores at five races in 2022. It’s one of a number of longevity records which Alonso could break this year.
209 – Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel has scored points in almost 75% of the races which he has started – a feat which only five other full-time F1 drivers can boast. Vettel scored his first points on debut at the 2007 United States Grand Prix, where he deputised for Robert Kubica. At that event, he became F1’s youngest points scorer, taking the record from Jenson Button and becoming the first driver under the age of 20 to pick up points.
Vettel’s record has since been broken by four other drivers. Vettel is one of only 26 drivers in F1 history to score points with five different teams: BMW Sauber, Toro Rosso, Red Bull, Ferrari and Aston Martin.
LIST OF TOP 20 F1 DRIVERS WHO HAVE SCORED IN THE MOST RACES
Below is a list of the top 20 F1 drivers who have scored points at the most Grand Prix. This list was last updated after the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix.
Pos | Driver | Points-Scoring Race Weekends |
---|---|---|
1 | Lewis Hamilton | 250 |
2 | Michael Schumacher | 221 |
3 | Kimi Raikkonen | 219 |
4 | Fernando Alonso | 218 |
5 | Sebastian Vettel | 209 |
6 | Felipe Massa | 165 |
7 | Jenson Button | 162 |
8 | Rubens Barrichello | 140 |
9 | Nico Rosberg | 133 |
10 | Valtteri Bottas | 133 |
11 | Sergio Perez | 132 |
12 | Alain Prost | 128 |
13 | Daniel Ricciardo | 124 |
14 | David Coulthard | 121 |
15 | Mark Webber | 112 |
16 | Max Verstappen | 109 |
17 | Nelson Piquet | 100 |
18 | Nico Hulkenberg | 97 |
19 | Ayrton Senna | 96 |
20 | Gerhard Berger | 94 |