The first-ever Formula 1 race was held in 1950 with the first Grand Prix of the championship being held at the Silverstone Circuit.
Ever since then, the sport has been pushing the teams and drivers to get the best out of themselves and become the champions of the world and some have successfully achieved to do so.
There are some historic teams that have dominated the sport ever since its inauguration such as Ferrari, McLaren and Williams. They have broken multiple records consistently and set new ones with invariably fast cars and the fastest drivers.
Every season the teams battle for a constructors championship while the drivers in the cockpit strive to get the best out of themselves by pushing the cars to the limit and making their own records.
Top 10 drivers with most championships in F1.
Who do you think is the best driver out of this list? pic.twitter.com/ofv4k89ava
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To make this game harder, fairer and in accordance with the demands of the world, the governing body of the sport, the FIA even changes regulations for engines from time to time.
Whoever cracks open a solution for those new technical regulations wins the race, championships and everything in it to top the grid.
In recent times, this honour was held by Mercedes as Formula 1 had entered the turbo-hybrid era and the engineers of the Silver Arrows knew exactly what to do with it and ended up designing the fastest car for eight seasons in a row.
As much as F1 is about fast cars and engineering that goes behind the challengers, it is also about the talents of the drivers. But what is the number of championships that the drivers have?
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Most F1 drivers’ championships
From 1950 to date, the highest number of championship titles held by a single driver is seven and there are only two drivers in the history of Formula 1 to have achieved that feat.
Seven Formula 1 world championship titles
Michael Schumacher was the first one to have broken the championship title record of 5 titles set by Juan Manuel Fangio in the 50s.
The German legend broke the record in the early 2000s when he scored 5 back to back titles with Ferrari and went on to become one of the greatest F1 drivers.
Then in 2007, Hamilton made his debut in the sport and had all eyes on him. The Briton went on to score his first title in 2008 and then dominated the sport from 2014 onwards.
In the 2020 season, Hamilton equalled the record set by Schumacher by claiming his 7th title. Although, that’s not the end of the Mercedes star’s career, as he is still looking to grab his 8th title which will be record-breaking.
Five Formula 1 world championship titles
There is only one driver to have achieved that feat and that is Juan Manuel Fangio. He used to be the oldest driver in several Grand Prix that he participated in as he had started his career in the late 30s.
The Argentinian racer won his first-ever title in 1951 driving an Alfa Romeo and went on with the rest of his 4 championship titles with Maserati, Mercedes and Ferrari.
| Driver | Championship Season | Team |
| Juan Manuel Fangio | 1951 | Alfa Romeo |
| Juan Manuel Fangio | 1954 | Maserati/ Mercedes |
| Juan Manuel Fangio | 1955 | Mercedes |
| Juan Manuel Fangio | 1956 | Ferrari |
| Juan Manuel Fangio | 1957 | Maserati |
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Four world championship titles
In the entire history of F1, only two drivers have won four championship titles or let’s say came close to equalling Fangio’s record.
At first, Alain Prost won the title in the late 80s while battling against his archnemesis Ayrton Senna. The rivalry between Prost and Senna is considered one of the most frivolous rivalries in F1 history.
Fans have even drawn parallels between the Senna-Prost rivalry and Hamilton-Rosberg rivalry that was prevalent during the 2014 to 2016 season.
The other driver to have achieved those many titles is Sebastian Vettel. The German driver dominated the early 2010s with the Red Bull F1 team by scoring 4 consecutive titles.
| Driver | Championship Season | Constructors |
| Alain Prost | 1985 | McLaren |
| Alain Prost | 1986 | McLaren |
| Alain Prost | 1989 | McLaren |
| Alain Prost | 1993 | Williams |
| Sebastian Vettel | 2010 | Red Bull |
| Sebastian Vettel | 2011 | Red Bull |
| Sebastian Vettel | 2012 | Red Bull |
| Sebastian Vettel | 2013 | Red Bull |
Three world championship titles
There have been 5 drivers in total who have scored at least 3 titles in their Formula 1 careers. One of the biggest names in that list is the Brazillian legend, Ayrton Senna.
Senna passed away in a tragic accident at the San Marino GP in 1994. Many believe that had he not met his tragic fate the 3-time champion would have won the 1994 season and might have even become a hurdle in Schumacher’s way to championship titles.
Another huge name on the list is Niki Lauda. He is known for his rivalry with the popular British driver of the 70s James Hunt. In his fight for the championship against Hunt, Lauda prevailed twice.
Nelson Piquet is one of the other huge names. He recently came under the spotlight after he made racial and homophobic comments about Lewis Hamilton.
He is also known to be the father of Kelly Piquet, the current girlfriend of 2-time world champion Max Verstappen.
<table
| Driver | Championship Season | Constructors |
| Jack Brabham | 1959 | Cooper |
| Jack Brabham | 1960 | Cooper |
| Jack Brabham | 1966 | Brabham |
| Jackie Stewart | 1969 | Matra |
| Jackie Stewart | 1971 | Tyrell |
| Jackie Stewart | 1973 | Tyrell |
| Niki Lauda | 1975 | Ferrari |
| Niki Lauda | 1977 | Ferrari |
| Niki Lauda | 1984 | McLaren |
| Nelson Piquet | 1981 | Parmalat |
| Nelson Piquet | 1983 | Fila |
| Nelson Piquet | 1987 | Williams |
| Ayrton Senna | 1988 | McLaren |
| Ayrton Senna | 1990 | McLaren |
| Ayrton Senna | 1991 | McLaren |
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Two world championship titles
There have been a total of seven drivers who have at least two championship titles in their Formula 1 racing career.
Interestingly, two of those drivers are still active in the sport namely, Fernando Alonso and Max Verstappen.
Alonso who is set to race with the Aston Martin F1 team in the 2023 season hopes to clinch more titles at the age of 41 year old. He scored his two consecutive titles in the 2005 and 2006 seasons with Renault.
Verstappen, meanwhile, clinched his first title in the 2021 season in a controversial finale that led to many criticisms. He succeeded in defeating Hamilton and ending his years of dominance in the sport.
In 2022, he beat Ferrari Charles Leclerc to the championship title as the Scuderia could not manage to get the best out of their cars and strategies.
| Driver | Championship Season | Constructors |
| Alberto Ascari | 1952 | Ferrari |
| Alberto Ascari | 1953 | Ferrari |
| Graham Hill | 1962 | BRM |
| Graham Hill | 1968 | Lotus |
| Jim Clark | 1963 | Lotus |
| Jim Clark | 1965 | Lotus |
| Emerson Fittipaldi | 1972 | Lotus |
| Emerson Fittipaldi | 1974 | McLaren |
| Mika Hakkinen | 1998 | McLaren |
| Mika Hakkinen | 1999 | McLaren |
| Fernando Alonso | 2005 | Renault |
| Fernando Alonso | 2006 | Renault |
| Max Verstappen | 2021 | Red Bull |
| Max Verstappen | 2022 | Red Bull |
One world championship title
There are seventeen drivers who have won at least one championship title in their career. One of them is the driver who won the championship title in the inaugural championship season of Formula 1 in 1950, Giuseppe Farina.
| Driver | Championship Season | Constructors |
| Giuseppe Farina | 1950 | Alfa Romeo |
| Mike Hawthorn | 1958 | Ferrari |
| Phil Hill | 1961 | Ferrari |
| John Surtees | 1964 | Ferrari |
| Denny Hulme | 1967 | Brabham |
| Jochen Rindt | 1970 | Lotus |
| James Hunt | 1976 | McLaren |
| Mario Andretti | 1978 | Lotus |
| Jody Scheckter | 1979 | Ferrari |
| Alan Jones | 1980 | Williams |
| Keke Rosberg | 1982 | Williams |
| Nigel Mansell | 1992 | Williams |
| Damon Hill | 1996 | Williams |
| Jacques Villeneuve | 1997 | Williams |
| Kimi Raikkonen | 2007 | Ferrari |
| Jenson Button | 2009 | Brawn GP |
| Nico Rosberg | 2016 | Mercedes |
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