It is often said that the hard part is not getting there, but staying there – so perhaps the real challenge isn’t winning in Formula 1 (which it absolutely is, very much so), but repeating it.
Kimi Antonelli has done just that: after becoming the second-youngest driver to win in F1 history at the Chinese Grand Prix, he followed it up by winning again in the Japanese Grand Prix a few weeks later. His second F1 race win made him the youngest championship leader in history.
But which other drivers managed to make their first two wins consecutively?
Well, only 116 drivers have won at least one race in F1, and only 82 have won at least two. Of those 82, just 10 achieved a back-to-back after their first win. Here they all are.
- Alberto Ascari: German GP and Italian GP in 1951
- Peter Collins: Belgian GP and French GP in 1956
- Bruce McLaren: United States GP 1959 and Argentine GP 1960
- Rene Arnoux: Brazilian GP and South African GP in 1980
- Nigel Mansell: European GP and South African GP in 1985
- Damon Hill: Hungarian GP and Belgian GP in 1993*
- Mika Hakkinen: European GP 1997 and Australian GP in 1998*
- Lewis Hamilton: Canadian GP and United States GP in 2007
- Charles Leclerc: Belgian GP and Italian GP in 2019
- Andrea Kimi Antonelli: Chinese GP and Japanese GP in 2026
*Damon Hill and Mika Hakkinen actually won their first three races consecutively: Hill in Hungary, Belgium, and Italy in 1993, and Hakkinen in Europe 1997, then Australia and Brazil 1998. Antonelli could still match this if he wins the next race in Miami.
Antonelli achieved his first two victories within the first three races of only his second F1 season, just as Arnoux, Hill, and Leclerc did – although Antonelli and Leclerc had more races by that point due to the longer modern seasons.
By comparison, Hamilton won in his rookie season, taking victory in his sixth and seventh races in F1.
Interesting cases include Hakkinen and Bruce McLaren. The McLaren founder won the final race of the 1959 championship and the first of 1960 – at the end of his first season and the start of his second. Hakkinen, meanwhile, won the last round of 1997 and the first of 1998 – at the end of his seventh season and the beginning of his eighth.
Collins also won his first two races consecutively (in his fifth season), but then only won once more, in his final championship year in 1958. He had competed in 14 races before his first win, a figure only surpassed by Hamilton (five races before his first win), McLaren (six races before his debut win), and Hill (12 races before his first victory).
Finally, the question you might be asking: has any driver become world champion in the same year they started winning races, and did so with two consecutive victories? Only Hakkinen – although, as noted, his consecutive wins came in the final race of 1997 and the first of 1998. So, no driver has won the championship in the same year as their first victory, but Hakkinen did win it in the year he secured his second consecutive win.
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