Lewis Hamilton News: The F1 records the Ferrari star could break in 2026

Lewis Hamilton holds onto his hat in the paddock at Baku — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 2026

The astonishing F1 records that Lewis Hamilton could break in 2026

Lewis Hamilton could still be breaking records at Ferrari this year

Dan Ripley Global Editor

Professional F1 journalist and analyst

Wednesday 7 January 2026 12:56 Updated: 13:13

Lewis Hamilton has enough records in F1 already, including most of the majors like race wins, pole positions, podiums and world championships (along with the great Michael Schumacher of course, let's not forget him).

Now, just because he had a real dog's dinner of a year at Ferrari in 2025 doesn't mean some more records are not available to him in 2026 - and I don't mean the negative ones like longest Ferrari streak without a podium.

So as the British star celebrates his 41st birthday, can this old dog perform some new tricks in 2026? Let's see what records he can break.

Most World Titles/Oldest World Champion

A record eighth title was a lap away in 2021 and hasn't been as close since. If Ferrari can get their act together in 2026, this is still possible.

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If Hamilton wants to be the oldest world champion he will have to wait another five years to eclipse Juan Manuel Fangio. However, title success in 2026 would make him the third oldest world champion ever behind Fangio (x4) and Nino Farina. It would also make him the oldest world champion since 1957 and the oldest British champion ever.

Oldest F1 World Champions
Driver	Year	Age
Juan Manuel Fangio	1957	46y 1m 11d
Juan Manuel Fangio	1956	45y 2m 9d
Juan Manuel Fangio	1955	44y 0m 22d
Nino Farina	1950	43y 10m 4d
Juan Manuel Fangio	1954	43y 1m 29d
Jack Brabham	1966	40y 5m 2d
Juan Manuel Fangio	1951	40y 4m 4d
Graham Hill	1968	39y 8m 19d
Nigel Mansell	1992	39y 0m 8d
Alain Prost	1993	38y 7m 2d
Mario Andretti	1978	38y 6m 13d
Damon Hill	1996	36y 0m 26d
Lewis Hamilton	2020	35y 10m 8d

Oldest Race Winner

Again, like the world title - this one is probably not likely to ever be beaten again as Luigi Fagioli was 53(!) when he won the 1951 French Grand Prix. To put that into perspective that would be like Giancarlo Fisichella coming back this year to win a race. He retired in 2009 having made his debut in 1996! As great as Fisichella is, no amount of watching the F1 movie will convince me anything like this is possible.

So what is Hamilton looking at here. He is already 12th on the list following his final win for Mercedes at the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix after George Russell was disqualified.

Any victory after the Bahrain Grand Prix on April 12 will take him into the top six behind Fagioli, Farina, Fangio, Piero Taruffi and Jack Brabham to make him the oldest race winner since 1970. If he wins before Bahrain he would also be behind Nigel Mansell. (Note, I've not included Sam Hanks because his F1 record only comes from the Indy 500 being included into the championship - so none of that.)

Oldest F1 Race Winners
Driver	Grand Prix	Age
Luigi Fagioli	France 1951	53y 0m 22d
Nino Farina	Germany 1953	46y 9m 3d
Juan Manuel Fangio	Germany 1957	46y 1m 11d
Piero Taruffi	Switzerland 1952	45y 7m 6d
Jack Brabham	South Africa 1970	43y 11m 5d
Nigel Mansell	Australia 1994	41y 3m 5d
Maurice Trintignant	Monaco 1958	40y 6m 18d
Graham Hill	Monaco 1969	40y 3m 3d
Clay Regazzoni	Great Britain 1979	39y 10m 9d
Lewis Hamilton	Belgium 2024	39y 6m 21d

Fastest Laps

It's probably a surprise that this is one record Lewis Hamilton has not bagged but the numbers don't lie and he is rather stuck on 68, putting him 11 behind the great Michael Schumacher.

That record is unlikely to go in 2026 - if at all - but if Ferrari build a rocketship... Never say never. If you are thinking about oldest fastest laps, forget it. Even in the 21st century Schumacher and Fernando Alonso are still in front and they are not even near the top.

F1 Fastest Laps
Driver	Fastest Laps
Michael Schumacher	77
Lewis Hamilton	68
Kimi Raikkonen	46
Alain Prost	41
Sebastian Vettel	38
Max Verstappen	36
Nigel Mansell	30
Jim Clark	28
Fernando Alonso	26
Mika Hakkinen	25

Hat-Tricks

So this isn't an F1 driver scoring three goals in one grand prix (whatever that is supposed to look like). Instead this is the achievement of grabbing pole position, fastest lap and the win.

The record right now is with Schumacher who has 22. Hamilton is within touching distance on 19 - although the last of those was his final win as world champion back in the 2021 Saudi Arabian GP. Just three behind Schumacher though so it's far from out of reach.

F1 Hat-tricks
Driver	Hat-tricks
Michael Schumacher	22
Lewis Hamilton	19
Max Verstappen	14
Jim Clark	11
Juan Manuel Fangio	9
Alain Prost	8
Sebastian Vettel	8
Alberto Ascari	7
Ayrton Senna	7
Nigel Mansell	5
Damon Hill	5
Mika Hakkinen	5
Fernando Alonso	5

Grand Slams

One up from the hat-trick and the most difficult achievement in Formula 1. Grab pole position, win by leading every lap and set the fastest lap - the F1 Grand Slam (aka Grand Chelem). Jim Clark holds the record with eight (incredible considering he did them all in just four seasons).

But Lewis Hamilton is not far behind on six - although his last came seven years ago while with Mercedes at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Even worse news for Hamilton is Max Verstappen is also on six and claimed one as recent as the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last year, and doesn't look like stopping anytime soon.

F1 Grand Slams
Driver	Grand Slams
Jim Clark	8
Lewis Hamilton	6
Max Verstappen	6
Alberto Ascari	5
Michael Schumacher	5
Jackie Stewart	4
Ayrton Senna	4
Nigel Mansell	4
Sebastian Vettel	4
Nelson Piquet	3

Written by

Dan Ripley - Global Editor

I've been a massive F1 fan since the mid 1990s and continue to study the history of the sport long before that. As an experienced motor sport reporter covering F1, MotoGP and the LeMans 24 Hour race, being part of GPFans has allowed me to work with a diverse team with all sorts of different backgrounds in watching the sport and given me a greater appreciation of F1.

View full biography

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