Who has the most Formula 1 podiums?

Only seven drivers in the history of F1 have achieved 100 podium finishes. We take a look at the drivers who’ve had the most Formula 1 podiums and compare the statistics between their first hundred top three finishes.

Who has the most Formula 1 podium finishes?

Lewis Hamilton holds the record for the most Formula 1 podiums. The British driver has finished in the top three on almost 200 occasions so far in his illustrious career. He set a new record for most podium finishes at the 2020 Spanish Grand Prix, where he overtook Michael Schumacher’s former record of 155 top three appearances.

Four current drivers feature in the top ten on the all-time list of most Formula 1 podiums. Hamilton is joined in the top ten by Fernando Alonso, Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas.

Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna are the only drivers who have not raced in Formula 1 this millennium who remain in the top ten of most Formula 1 podiums. They are two of seven drivers who’ve recorded a century of podium finishes in F1. Below, we take a look at the drivers who’ve recorded over 100 podium finishes in Formula 1.

Alain Prost

Alain Prost was the first driver to reach a century of F1 podium finishes back in 1993. He drove for four different teams – Renault, McLaren, Ferrari and Williams – on his way to reaching the milestone of 100 podiums.

Prost’s first top three finish came at the 1981 Argentine Grand Prix, where he finished third with Renault. After 17 rostrum appearances with the French team, Prost then went on to take 63 podiums with McLaren, before 14 podiums during his stint at Ferrari took his overall total up to 94.

When the Frenchman returned to the sport with Williams in 1993, he took 12 podiums during the season on his way to being crowned World Champion for a fourth and final time. It was at his home event, the 1993 French Grand Prix at Magny Cours, where Prost took his 100th career podium. It came on his 191st Grand Prix appearance – 4,467 days after his first podium appearance – when he was 38 years, 4 months and 11 days old.

Prost would go on to take another six top three finishes in his final season in the sport, and took his 106th and final rostrum finish in his final F1 race; the 1993 Australian Grand Prix.

Michael Schumacher

After a lonely nine years, Prost was joined in the 100 podium club by Michael Schumacher in 2002. Schumacher made his first podium appearance at the 1992 Mexican Grand Prix with Benetton, and would enjoy a further 37 podiums with the Enstone-based team before moving to Ferrari.

Schumacher took his 100th podium on his way to his fifth World Championship win at the 2002 Brazilian Grand Prix, on his 164th Grand Prix appearance. There was a gap of 10 years and 10 days between his first and 100th podiums. Schumacher holds the record for the highest percentage of wins from his first hundred podiums, with 55 of his first hundred top three finishes being victories.

Schumacher’s total podium tally is an incredible 155, with his first and last spanning a period of over twenty years. His last came with Mercedes, at the 2012 European Grand Prix. It was his only podium finish during his comeback stint.

THE 100 CLUB’S FIRST 100 PODIUMS

Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton became the third member of the 100 Podium Club at the 2016 Japanese Grand Prix. Hamilton is one of only a handful of drivers to have taken a podium finish on their Formula 1 debut, having finished third at the 2007 Australian Grand Prix.

Hamilton would go on to take 49 podiums with McLaren in total, with his last for the team being his victory in the inaugural Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas. The British driver then moved to Mercedes and continued his record of scoring at least one podium in every season he’s contested in the sport.

Five podiums came Hamilton’s way in 2013 before Mercedes rocketed him to title success for 2014 – a season in which he scored a podium in every race where he saw the chequered flag. It would be a third place at Suzuka in 2016 which would secure him his 100^th top three finish.

In the years since, Hamilton has added a further four World Championships to his tally and eclipsed Michael Schumacher’s record of 155 podium finishes at the 2020 Spanish Grand Prix, becoming the driver with the most Formula 1 podiums.

Despite 2022 and 2023 being the first seasons in which Hamilton did not win a race, he continues to be a regular podium finisher. At the start of the 2024 season, his total of podiums stood at 197 – just three away from becoming the first to reach 200 top three finishes.

Sebastian Vettel

Sebastian Vettel joined the 100 Podium Club at the 2018 Australian Grand Prix on his 199th race start. Vettel set a new record when he first stepped on to the podium, becoming the youngest-ever podium finisher in F1 when he won the 2008 Italian Grand Prix – a record which would later be beaten by Max Verstappen.

Until 2024, Vettel was the driver to have reached 100 podium finishes in the shortest amount of time, with his quest for 100 taking just 9 years, 6 months and 12 days – a period of exactly two weeks less than it took Lewis Hamilton to do the same thing.

By the time of his retirement at the end of the 2022 season, Vettel had racked up 122 podium finishes, putting him third in the all-time list. His final top three finish came at the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix with Aston Martin – though he did stand on the podium at the Hungarian Grand Prix later that year, before being disqualified.

AGE AT TIME OF 100TH PODIUM FINISH

• Fernando Alonso 41 years, 7 months, 19 days
• Kimi Raikkonen 38 years, 10 months, 17 days
• Alain Prost 38 years, 4 months and 11 days
• Michael Schumacher 33 years, 2 months, 29 days
• Lewis Hamilton 31 years, 9 months, 3 days
• Sebastian Vettel 30 years, 8 months, 23 days
• Max Verstappen 26 years, 5 months, 9 days

Kimi Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen became the fifth driver to reach 100 podium finishes at the 2018 Italian Grand Prix. It marked the first time that two drivers reached the milestone of 100 podiums during the same season, with Sebastian Vettel having done so earlier in the season.

From his first century of top three finishes, Raikkonen had significantly less wins than any other driver who has taken 100 podium finishes; less than half the victories of any other driver at the time of their 100^th podium.

Raikkonen’s first podium finish came at the 2002 Australian Grand Prix, during his first race at McLaren – immediately proving wrong the critics who said the Finn was too young for a top tier seat.

Raikkonen’s tally of 100 took the most time yet, with a gap of 16 years, 5 months and 31 days between his first and his 100th podium. At 38 years, 10 months and 17 days old, he also became the oldest driver at the time they reached 100 podium finishes – just over six months older than Alain Prost was when he reached the milestone. His record was later broken by Fernando Alonso.

Fernando Alonso

Kimi Raikkonen’s records for the longest time to reach 100 podiums and being the oldest driver to reach 100 podium finishes were broken by Fernando Alonso at the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Alonso recorded his 99^th podium finish at the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix. He followed that up two weeks later in Jeddah, recording his first successive podium results in almost ten years. After standing on the podium for the 100th time, Alonso’s third place finish was taken away from him. The stewards alleged that he had incorrectly served a penalty during the race and thus received a 10-second penalty, dropping him to fourth place. Aston Martin lodged an appeal and the penalty was subsequently overturned.

Alonso overtook Raikkonen as the oldest driver to secure a 100th podium and became the first driver in his 40s to do so. Alonso’s 100th podium came 19 years, 11 months and 24 days after his first at the 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix.

Alonso recorded his maiden podium finish with Renault at the 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix. He’d go on to win the title twice with the Enstone-based team and by the end of 2006 had racked up 37 top three finishes with Renault. A turbulent year at McLaren in 2007 brought another 12 podium finishes, before a return to Renault in 2008 saw him secure another four top three finishes with the French manufacturer.

Alonso’s years at Ferrari brought him plenty more podiums – but no further title successes. Ferrari is the team with which Alonso has recorded the most podiums, with 44 top three finishes between 2010 and 2014. After a move back to McLaren, which brought little in the way of big results, Alonso left Formula 1 at the end of 2018.

He returned in 2021 with Alpine – the new name of the former Renault team – and recorded a third place finish in his comeback season, with a podium appearance at the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix.

A move to Aston Martin for 2023 yielded immediate success with another third place finish on his debut for the team. He overtook Raikkonen for fifth in the list of most Formula 1 podiums at the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix and equalled Alain Prost for fourth place on the list at the 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen became the seventh driver to record 100 podium finishes in Formula 1 at the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, one year after Fernando Alonso achieved the same feat at the same track. While Alonso set a new record for the most time taken to amass 100 top three finishes, Verstappen set a new record for the shortest time to do so.

Verstappen recorded his first podium result on his Red Bull debut at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix – the race in which he became the sport’s youngest-ever winner. Verstappen soon racked up the top three finishes, setting a new record for the most in a single season in 2021, with 18. He then beat his own record in 2023, securing podium results in 21 of that season’s 22 Grands Prix.

Verstappen’s first 100 podium finishes included 56 wins – the highest percentage of wins from any driver’s first 100 top three finishes. Verstappen reached 100 podiums at the age of 26 years, 5 months and 9 days – almost four years younger than the age at which anyone else has reached the milestone. Verstappen amassed his first 100 podiums in 7 years, 9 months and 23 days – the shortest amount of time between first and 100th podium results.