Formula 1 Racing

F1 drivers with the most pole positions to race win conversions

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren MP4-22 Mercedes

A Grand Slam (or Grand Chelem) is when a driver takes pole position, a race win whilst leading every lap and the fastest lap, all at one grand prix. A total of only 25 five drivers have taken a combined 68 Grand Slams in total, with Verstappen taking the most recent (and his fifth) at the 2025 Bahrain GP.

While 65 drivers have converted a pole position start to a race win, only 12 drivers have managed to reach double figures. Here’s everything you need to know about drivers with the most poles to race wins. 

F1 drivers with the most pole positions converted to race wins

1. Lewis Hamilton – 61 pole position to race wins

Lewis Hamilton has converted the most pole positions to grand prix victories with a total of 61 over his 18-year career. This is a conversion rate of 58.65% from his 104 pole positions, which is unsurprising given the Brit’s dominant performance between 2014 and 2021.  

His first pole to win came at the 2007 Canadian GP just six races into his debut season. He was able to hold off an attack from his McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso at the start of the race but lost his lead for two laps between 22-24 to Felipe Massa having pitted on lap 21.

The race saw four safety car periods and 10 drivers out of the grand prix, but Hamilton remained calm and drove smoothly, later saying it was a “fairly simple race apart from the restarts”.

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren MP4-22 Mercedes

Photo by: Lorenzo Bellanca / Motorsport Images

By winning the race, the then-22-year-old took the lead in the drivers’ championship – leapfrogging his team-mate Alonso by eight points.  

Hamilton took a notable pole to win at the 2017 Italian GP when he broke Michael Schumacher’s record for most pole positions, taking his 69th. He has since gone on to take a further 36 pole starts over his career and sits solidly in first place, with the nearest current driver being Max Verstappen who sits in fifth with 40 poles behind Ayrton Senna and Sebastian Vettel in third and fourth respectively.
The Brit has faced a couple of tough years in Formula 1 recently though, and has not taken a pole-to-win finish since the 2021 Saudi Arabian GP – just one race before the season finale. Hamilton took pole position with a gap of 0.111 seconds ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas. He had looked to be losing the pole to a charging Verstappen, but a crucial mistake on the final corner saw the Dutchman end his lap in the…

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