Max Verstappen dominated proceedings at the season opener in Bahrain and was a class apart from the rest of the grid. He completed what is known as a ‘Grand Slam’ in F1 terminology. But what exactly is a Grand Slam?
The term Grand Slam comes from the word Grand Chelem. However, the latter is very rarely used nowadays. It is a pretty big achievement to complete a Grand Slam weekend. When a driver finishes qualifying on the pole, goes on to win the Grand Prix, leads every single lap, and also gets the fastest lap of the race, they are said to have completed a ‘Grand Slam’ weekend.
Conquering the competition in Bahrain
Pole position ✅ Fastest Lap ✅ Win ✅ Every lap led ✅ pic.twitter.com/53cilyAJQD
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) March 2, 2024
At Bahrain, Verstappen did just that. Qualifying was a close affair, but in the race, no one could match the Dutchman’s brilliance. Needless to say, completing a Grand Slam weekend is not easy, and only the best, a select few, have done it since the sport’s inception.
Which driver has the most F1 Grand Slams?
Only 26 drivers in history have secured a Grand Slam in F1. Max Verstappen’s Bahrain exploits mean that his tally stands at 5, but he is far away from the top. The driver with the most Grand Slams is Jim Clark, a former two-time world champion, who has 8.
Clark’s record is exemplary, because of the amount of time it took for him to complete 8. He did it in just 3 years, throughout 32 Grand Prix weekends, which means he got a Grand Slam once in every four races.
The first driver to get a Grand Slam, however, was the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio. The Argentine driver completed a Grand Slam at the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix, and the sport has come a long way since then.
Every driver to get a Formula 1 Grand Slam
To date, there have been a total of 66 Grand Slam weekends. The complete list of the 26 drivers who got them are:
| No. | Driver | Number | Grand Prix |
| 1 | Jim Clark | 8 | 1962 British GP, 1963 Dutch GP, 1963 French GP, 1963 Mexican GP, 1964 British GP, 1965 South African GP, 1965 French Grand Prix, 1965 German Grand Prix |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | 6 | 2014 Malaysian GP, 2015 Italian GP, 2017 Chinese GP, 2017 British GP, 2019 Abu Dhabi GP |
| 3 | Alberto Ascari | 5 | 1952 French GP, 1952 German GP, 1952 Dutch GP, 1953 Argentine GP, 1953 British GP |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | 5 | 2021 Austrian GP, 2022 Emilia Romagna GP, 2023 Spanish GP, 2023 Qatar GP, 2024 Bahrain GP |
| 5 | Michael Schumacher | 5 | 1994 Monaco GP, 1994 Canadian GP, 2002 Spanish GP, 2004 Australian GP, 2004 Hungarian GP |
| 6 | Jackie Stewart | 4 | 1969 French GP, 1971 Monaco GP, 1971 French GP, 1972 United States GP |
| 7 | Ayrton Senna | 4 | 1985 Portuguese GP, 1989 Spanish GP, 1990 Monaco GP, 1990 Italian GP |
| 8 | Nigel Mansell | 4 | 1991 British GP, 1992 South African GP, 1992 Spanish GP, 1992 British GP |
| 9 | Sebastian Vettel | 4 | 2011 Indian GP, 2012 Japanese GP, 2013 Singapore GP, 2013 Korean GP |
| 10 | Nelson Piquet | 3 | 1980 United States GP, 1981 Argentine GP, 1984 Canadian GP |
| 11 | Juan Manuel Fangio | 2 | 1950 Monaco GP, 1956 German GP |
| 12 | Jack Brabham | 2 | 1960 Belgian GP, 1966 British GP |
| 13 | Mika Hakkinen | 2 | 1998 Brazilian GP, 1998 Monaco GP |
| 14 | Nico Rosberg | 2 | 2016 Russian GP, 2016 European GP |
| 15 | Mike Hawthorn | 1 | 1958 French GP |
| 16 | Stirling Moss | 1 | 1959 Portuguese GP |
| 17 | Jo Siffert | 1 | 1971 Austrian GP |
| 18 | Jacky Ickx | 1 | 1972 German GP |
| 19 | Clay Regazzoni | 1 | 1976 United States GP |
| 20 | Niki Lauda | 1 | 1976 Dutch GP |
| 21 | Jacques Laffite | 1 | 1979 Brazilian GP |
| 22 | Gilles Villeneuve | 1 | 1979 United States GP |
| 23 | Gerhard Berger | 1 | 1987 Australian GP |
| 24 | Charles Leclerc | 1 | 2022 Australian GP |
| 25 | Damon Hill | 1 | 1995 Hungarian GP |
| 26 | Fernando Alonso | 1 | 2010 Singapore GP |
Other F1 Grand Slam Records
Getting a Grand Slam performance is extremely difficult. Very few have done it, and even fewer have done it multiple times. However, only three drivers in F1 history have completed Grand Slam weekends in three consecutive seasons. These drivers are Jim Clark, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen. In fact, Clark has done it for four seasons in a row.
Alberto Ascari also joins Clark and Vettel as the only three drivers to get a Grand Slam on successive race weekends.
Verstappen, who is the man of the hour, could soon break Lewis Hamilton’s record. Hamilton is at 6, whereas Verstappen is at 5. The Dutchman likely will match him sometime this season. His Grand Slam in Bahrain already made him level up with Ascari and Michael Schumacher.
