F1 drivers with the longest gap between first and last wins

Lewis Hamilton’s run without a race win came to an end at Silverstone in July after waiting 945 days since his last at the Saudi Arabian GP in 2021. The Brit took his final home grand prix for Mercedes after announcing earlier in the year that he would join Ferrari for the 2025 season.

The emotional win was his 104th Formula 1 victory, breaking a number of records with the win, including the most wins on a single track. 

Mercedes had struggled with the regulation changes since 2022, but the team have made a comeback in recent weeks with both George Russell and Hamilton taking consecutive wins at the Austrian and British grands prix respectively.  

The British GP win also saw Hamilton claim the record for the longest interval between his first grand prix win and his latest, taking the accolade from Kimi Raikkonen.

F1 drivers with the longest interval between their first and last race wins

1. Lewis Hamilton – 17 years 27 days

First win: 2007 Canadian GP 

Last win: 2024 British GP 

Interval duration: 17 years, 0 months and 27 days 

Grand Prix interval: 338 races

Lewis Hamilton claimed his first grand prix victory during his debut season with McLaren at the 2007 Canadian GP. The Brit qualified on pole and kept the lead at the start over his team-mate Fernando Alonso. Despite an easy race for Hamilton at the front things were more tumultuous behind as ten drivers failed to finish, including six out from collisions, two gearbox failures and the disqualifications of Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella for exiting the pit lane when the red light was one. 

Aged just 22 at the time, many impressed by his ability to take his maiden win so early in his career. The win also gave Hamilton the lead in the driver’s championship by eight points. Although he didn’t win the championship at the end of the season, he finished joint second with his team-mate Alonso, who both finished just one point behind Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.

Hamilton’s latest win came 17 years and 27 days later at the 2024 British Grand Prix. After qualifying in second, the race took a dramatic turn when two periods of rain forced all the cars to pit for intermediate tyres. Once the rain began to show signs of easing, Mercedes made the call to switch Hamilton to slicks, giving him the race lead from the slower-to-respond Lando Norris.  

The seven-time world champion managed his new soft tyres…