Ever wonder what it feels like to stand on a Formula 1 podium before you’re even old enough to rent a car? Some drivers don’t just dream it—they do it. And they do it fast.
There’s something wild about seeing a teenager in oversized overalls spraying champagne next to world champions. These aren’t just “young drivers.” They’re freakishly fast, scarily focused, and already rewriting the history books before most people finish university.
And let’s be honest—don’t we all secretly love an underdog with braces and zero fear? It adds a jolt to every race. You’re watching someone who probably still gets ID’d at restaurants out-brake veterans into Turn 1.
But just how young is too young to be making waves in F1? Who cracked the top 10 youngest drivers to grab a podium, and how did they get there?
Spoiler: one of them did it before he even had a proper driver’s license in his home country. Ready to meet them—starting from the “oldest” of the young guns? Let’s count them down.
10. Robert Kubica
Team: BMW Sauber
Age: 21 years, 9 months, 3 days
F1 Experience: ~4 months
Podium Race: 2006 Italian Grand Prix (Monza)
He was 21 years, 9 months, and 3 days old when he snatched P3 at Monza in 2006. That was just four months after his first Grand Prix start. Four months! Blink and you’d have missed his rookie phase. Monza’s flat-out blasts suited Kubica’s fearless style and led to his first podium finish.
9. Fernando Alonso
- Team: Renault
- Age: 21 years, 7 months, 23 days
- F1 Experience: ~2 years, 7 months
- Podium Race: 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix (Sepang)
At 21 years and 7 months, Sepang 2003 became the site of Alonso’s first podium taking a P3 finish after two intense seasons of absorbing everything F1 could throw at him. Two years later he’d go on to become world champion, and three years later he’d be double world champion.
The race where he took his first podium was the same race Kimi Raikkonen took his first victory.
8. Charles Leclerc
- Team: Ferrari
- Age: 21 years, 5 months, 15 days
- F1 Experience: ~13 months
- Podium Race: 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix (Sakhir)
Leclerc was 21 years, 5 months, and 15 days old when he pocketed his first podium at Sakhir in 2019. Just 13 months into his F1 life,he led for most of the race before frustrating engine gremlins sent him down to third.
He suffered the heartbreak of losing out on his first victory, but he did at least take his first podium. And the wins would follow suit soon enough.
7. Kevin Magnussen
- Team: McLaren
- Age: 21 years, 5 months, 11 days
- F1 Experience: Debut race
- Podium Race: 2014 Australian Grand Prix (Melbourne)
Imagine your first day at work ending with a trophy. Kevin did exactly that in Melbourne 2014. On his first race in F1, and first race for McLaren, he finished P3 on the roa which later become P2 after Ricciardo was later disqualified. He became the second driver to score a podium on debut after Lewis Hamilton in 2007.
Kevin went on to compete in F1 for another 10 years, his last race coming at the end of 2024 for HAAS. Amazingly, in that time he never scored another podium.
6. Daniil Kvyat
- Team: Red Bull Racing
- Age: 21 years, 3 months, 0 days
- F1 Experience: ~16 months
- Podium Race: 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix (Hungaroring)
Kvyat was 21 years and 3 months when he took second in the 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix, 16 months after joining the sport with Toro Rosso. His podium sealed the best-ever Russian finish at that time.
5. Sebastian Vettel
- Team: Toro Rosso
- Age: 21 years, 2 months, 11 days
- F1 Experience: ~17 months
- Podium Race: 2008 Italian Grand Prix (Monza)
Fast facts: 21 years, 2 months, 11 days old. Seventeen months in the paddock. A damp Monza in 2008. Pole on Saturday. Win on Sunday.
Yes, a win. That maiden victory also meant a podium, but it felt bigger—a teenage dream delivered in front of Ferrari’s faithful. Vettel winning in the rain for the Red Bull junior team out him on everyone’s radar and pretty much sealed his fate as a future Red Bull driver and multiple world champion.
4. Lando Norris
- Team: McLaren
- Age: 20 years, 7 months, 22 days
- F1 Experience: ~1 year, 1 month
- Podium Race: 2020 Austrian Grand Prix (Red Bull Ring)
Lando was 20 years, 7 months, 22 days old when Austria 2020 turned orange for more than one reason. He gave Papaya fans something to cheer about.
Lando actually crossed the line in P4, but Lewis Hamilton in P2 had a 5 second penalty for contact with Albon. Lando pushed as hard as he could in the final few laps, even setting the fastest lap on the last lap of the race.
When he finally crossed the line he was just 4.892 seconds behind Lewis. He’d done it. P3 and his first podium finish. And the first of many of his now infamous champagne spikes.
3. Kimi Antonelli
- Team: Mercedes
- Age: 18 years, 9 months, 21 days
- F1 Experience: ~3 months
- Podium Race: 2025 Canadian Grand Prix (Montreal)
At 18 years, 9 months, 21 days, Antonelli stood on the Montreal podium in 2025 during his rookie season. Only three months and 10 races in to his first year in the sport, already the Italian prodigy had proved the doubters wrong. He might not have had a real driving license when the season started, but he did have the desire to become one of the greats.
In Canada he read the changing conditions like a seasoned tactician, pouncing during a late safety-car restart. He seems to be something of a wet weather master.
2. Lance Stroll
- Team: Williams
- Age: 18 years, 7 months, 27 days
- F1 Experience: ~3 months
- Podium Race: 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix (Baku)
Perhaps a name you didn’t expect to see on this list? Well despite his recent laclustre results, Stroll actually got his F1 career off to a pretty good start.
Baku 2017 was chaos, which played in to Lance’s hands. The 18 year old, who’d only been in F1 for 3 months, thrived. Through debris and restarts he kept the Williams FW40 pointed straight and out of trouble, bagging P3 at the line and beating Vettel in a Ferrari and Hamilton in a Mercedes.
For Williams, it was a rare spark in a tough season. For Lance, it was proof that calm heads can belong to teenagers, too.
1. Max Verstappen
- Team: Red Bull Racing
- Age: 18 years, 7 months, 15 days
- F1 Experience: ~11 days with Red Bull (1 season overall)
- Podium Race: 2016 Spanish Grand Prix (Barcelona)
Unsurprisingly it’s the record-breaker Max Verstappen at #1 on this list. He took his first podium when he was just 18 years, 7 months and 15 days old. That’s just 12 days younger than Stroll above. And it was his debut for Red Bull after taking a mid-season promotion from Toro Rosso. And he didn’t just get a podium, he won the race, becoming the youngest ever F1 victor in the process.
Max managed tires, defended like a chess grandmaster from a closing Raikkonen at the end of the race, and casually became the sport’s youngest winner after the two Mercedes crashed out ahead of him. Were you even allowed to drive solo on public roads at that age? He was busy rewriting history instead.
