Formula 1 has just a handful of drivers still living who competed in the early days of the sport.
The inaugural world championship was run in 1950, and Hermano da Silva Ramos – who first raced an F1 car in 1955 – is its oldest driver still alive at 98. Hans Herrmann, now 95, made his F1 debut two seasons earlier, in 1953.
With just two world champions over the age of 80 still alive, here are the oldest surviving F1 drivers, including world champions and grand prix winners:
Oldest F1 world champions still alive
Jackie Stewart - 84 years old
Stewart is the oldest F1 world champion alive at the age of 84. He took world championship titles in 1969, 1971 and 1973, and 27 race wins during his career. Making his debut in 1965, the Scottish driver raced with BRM, Matra, March and Tyrrell and is the only living F1 world champion from the 1960s.
Mario Andretti – 83 years old
Andretti is the second-oldest living F1 world champion at the age of 83. The American driver took the F1 title in 1978 when he raced with Lotus, but across his career he also raced with March, Ferrari, Parnelli, Alfa Romeo and Williams. Andretti is just one of three drivers, including Dan Gurney and Juan Pablo Montoya, to win races in Formula 1, IndyCar, NASCAR and the World Sportscar Championship.
Alan Jones – 77 years old
Jones, 77, took his world championship for Williams in 1980, which was the team's first championship win. In his decade-long career, the Australian raced for Hesketh, Hill, Surtees, Shadow, Williams, Arrows, Haas and Lola and achieved 12 wins from 116 starts. Jones was the last Australian driver to win the Australian Grand Prix in 1980.
Emerson Fittipaldi – 77 years old
Fittipaldi is a two-time world champion, with wins in 1972 and 1974. The 77-year-old’s first world championship with Lotus secured him the title of the youngest driver to win a championship at just 25 years old. He held this record for 33 years before the record was broken by a 24-year-old Fernando Alonso in 2005. The Brazilian driver raced with Lotus, McLaren and then the Brazilian Fittipaldi Automotive team, which was founded by his brother Wilson Fittipaldi.
Keke Rosberg – 75 years old
Rosberg, 75, won his world championship in 1982. Driving for Theodore, ATS, Wolf, Fittipaldi, Williams and McLaren, Rosberg had just five wins from 114 starts. The 1982 season was fraught with issues; there was a drivers’ strike at the season opener in South Africa, two drivers died (Gilles Villeneuve was killed during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix while Riccardo Paletti died at the start of the Canadian Grand Prix) and Didier Pironi suffered a career-ending accident at the German Grand Prix. The championship was secured by Rosberg by five points over Pironi, and he became the second driver to win a championship having only won a single race, after Mike Hawthorn in 1958.
Jody Scheckter – 73 years old
Jody Scheckter, 73, took his world championship in 1979, in the penultimate season of his F1 career. He raced with McLaren, Tyrrell, Wolf and Ferrari during his nine-season career. Scheckter is the first and only driver from Africa to have won an F1 race and a world championship.
Nelson Piquet – 71 years old
Piquet, 71, is a three-time world champion, taking the title in 1981, 1983 (with Brabham) and 1987 (with Williams). The Brazilian scored 23 wins from 204 starts and raced for Ensign, McLaren, Brabham, Williams, Lotus and Benetton.
Oldest F1 grand prix winners still alive
Jacques Laffite – 80 years old
Jacques Laffite is the oldest living F1 race winner who did not win a championship title. The 80-year-old took six wins in his 12-year career, which included competing for Iso-Marlboro, Ligier and Williams. The French driver competed between 1974 and 1986 and secured 228 career points.
Jacky Ickx – 79 years old
Ickx spent 13 years competing in Formula 1, racing for Cooper, Ferrari, Brabham, McLaren, Williams, Lotus, Wolf-Williams, Ensign and Ligier. From 116 starts, the Belgian took eight wins and 181 career points. Ickx, 79, has also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans six times, as well as the World Sportscar Championship and the Can-Am championship.
John Watson – 77 years old
John Watson, 77, took five F1 wins during his 12-year career. The Northern Irish driver competed with Brabham, Surtees, Lotus, Penske and McLaren. Watson finished third in the 1982 championship but never took the title himself.
Jochen Mass – 77 years old
Mass, 77, won just one grand prix win in his nine-year career. Mass had 105 starts, which included racing for Surtees, McLaren, ATS, Arrows and March and achieved 71 podium points. However, the German driver is perhaps most known for his tragic on-track incident with Gilles Villeneuve in 1982, which led to the Canadian driver’s death.
Rene Arnoux – 75 years old
Arnoux secured seven race wins during his 12-year career. The 75-year-old French driver participated in 149 races and drove for Martini, Surtees, Renault, Ferrari and Ligier and took 181 career points.
F1 drivers in their 90s
| Driver | Age | Race Starts | Career Points | Years Active | Team(s) |
| Hermano da Silva Ramos | 98 | 7 | 2 | 1955-56 | Gordini |
| John Rhodes | 96 | 1 | 0 | 1965 | Cooper |
| Hans Herrmann | 95 | 18 | 10 | 1953-1955, 1957-1961, 1966-1969 | Veritas, Mercedes, Maserati, Cooper, BRM & Porsche |
| David Piper | 93 | 2 | 0 | 1959-1960 | Lotus |
| Bernie Ecclestone | 93 | 2 | 0 | 1958 | Connaught |
| Gaetano Starrabba | 91 | 1 | 0 | 1961 | Lotus |
| Alex Soler-Roig | 91 | 6 | 0 | 1970-1972 | Behra-Porsche |
F1 drivers in their 80s
| Driver | Age | Race Starts | Career Points | Years Active | Team(s) |
| Peter Ashdown | 89 | 1 | 0 | 1959 | Cooper |
| Giorgio Bassi | 89 | 1 | 0 | 1965 | Scuderia Centro Sud |
| Paddy Driver | 89 | 1 | 0 | 1963 & 1974 | Lotus |
| Brian Gubby | 89 | 1 | 0 | 1965 | Lotus |
| Michael May | 89 | 2 | 0 | 1961 | Lotus |
| John Cordts | 88 | 1 | 0 | 1969 | Brabham |
| Carlo Facetti | 88 | 1 | 0 | 1974 | Scuderia Finotto |
| Jim Hall | 88 | 11 | 3 | 1960-1963 | Lotus |
| Skip Barber | 87 | 5 | 0 | 1971-1972 | March |
| Bill Brack | 87 | 3 | 0 | 1968-1969 & 1972 | Lotus & BRM |
| Bruce Kessler | 87 | 1 | 0 | 1958 | Connaught |
| Jackie Lewis | 87 | 9 | 3 | 1961-1962 | Cooper & BRM |
| Gus Hutchinson | 86 | 1 | 0 | 1970 | Brabham |
| Roger Penske | 86 | 2 | 0 | 1961-1962 | Cooper & Lotus |
| Brian Redman | 86 | 12 | 8 | 1968 & 1970-1974 | Cooper, Williams, Surtees, McLaren, BRM & Shadow |
| Alan Rees | 85 | 3 | 0 | 1966-1967 | Cooper & Brabham |
| David Hobbs | 84 | 7 | 0 | 1967-1968, 1971 & 1974 | BRM, Honda & McLaren |
| Brausch Niemann | 84 | 1 | 0 | 1963 & 1965 | Lotus |
| Dieter Quester | 84 | 1 | 0 | 1969 & 1974 | BMW & Surtees |
| Kurt Ahrens Jr | 83 | 4 | 0 | 1966-1969 | Brabham |
| Conny Andersson | 83 | 1 | 0 | 1976-1977 | Surtees & BRM |
| Richard Attwood | 83 | 16 | 11 | 1964-1965 & 1967-1969 | BRM, Reg Parnell Racing, Cooper & Lotus |
| Gérard Larrousse | 83 | 1 | 0 | 1974 | Scuderia Finotto |
| Andrea de Adamich | 82 | 30 | 6 | 1968, 1970-1973 | Ferrari, McLaren, March, Surtees & Brabham |
| Derek Bell | 82 | 9 | 1 |
1968-1972 & 1974 |
Ferrari, McLaren, Surtees & Tecno |
| Clive Puzey | 82 | 1 | 0 | 1965 | Lotus |
| David Walker | 82 | 11 | 0 | 1971-1972 | Team Lotus |
| Howden Ganley | 81 | 35 | 10 |
1971-1974 |
BRM, Iso-Marlboro, March & Maki |
| Chris Irwin | 81 | 10 | 1 | 1966-1967 | Brabham, Reg Parnell Racing |
| Gijs van Lennep | 81 | 8 | 2 |
1971, 1973-1975 |
S.A.N, William, Ensign |
| Jackie Oliver | 81 | 50 | 13 |
1967-1973 & 1977 |
Lotus, BRM, McLaren & Shadow |
| Henri Pescarolo | 81 | 57 | 12 | 1968-1974 & 1976 | Matra, March, William, BRM & Surtees |
| Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi | 81 | 3 | 0 | 1976 | Tyrrell |
| Teddy Pilette | 81 | 1 | 0 | 1974 & 1977 | Brabham & BRM |
| Jean-Claude Rudaz | 81 | 0 | 0 | 1964 | Cooper |
| Jo Vonlanthen | 81 | 1 | 0 | 1975 | Williams |
| Robin Widdows | 81 | 1 | 0 | 1968 | Cooper |
| Guy Edwards | 80 | 11 | 0 | 1974, 1976-1977 | Hill, Hesketh & BRM |
| Mike Fisher | 80 | 1 | 0 | 1967 | Lotus |
| Hans Heyer | 80 | 0 | 0 | 1977 | ATS |
| Max Jean | 80 | 1 | 0 | 1971 | Frank Williams Racing Cars |
| Helmut Marko | 80 | 9 | 0 | 1971-1972 | BRM, McLaren |
| François Mazet | 80 | 1 | 0 | 1971 |
March |
| Arturo Merzario | 80 | 57 | 11 | 1972-1979 | Ferrari, Iso-Marlboro, Williams, Fittipaldi, March, Wolf-Williams, Shadow & Merzario |
| Tim Schenken | 80 | 34 | 7 | 1970-1974 | Williams, Brabham, Surtees, Trojan & Lotus |
| Vern Schuppan | 80 | 9 | 0 | 1972, 1974-1975 & 1977 | BRM, Ensign, Hill & Surtees |
| Tony Trimmer | 80 | 0 | 0 | 1975-1978 |
Maki, Surtees & McLaren |
Oldest participant in F1 grand prix
The oldest participant of an F1 grand prix is Louis Chiron, who was 55 years and 292 days old when he came sixth in the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix. Chiron is also the oldest person to enter a race at 58 years and 277 days old when he entered the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix, although he did not qualify for the race itself.
The Monegasque driver first began his F1 career in 1950 and drove for Maserati, Ecurie Rosier, Lancia and Scuderia Centro Sud before his career ended. Chiron took just one podium during his career and no race wins.
Louis Chiron raced for Bugatti between 1926 and 1932 and won many races for the team, including the 1931 Monaco Grand Prix in a Bugatti T51. His legacy has lived on with the team which, in 2015, named its latest car, the Bugatti Chiron, after him.
* Data correct as of 1 January, 2024.
