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In the old days, F1 drivers usually entered the sport at a much later age than they do today: most in their thirties or forties. Consequently, by the time they'd get themselves in good enough form to be world champion, not to mention earn the right to drive for a worthy team, they'd be on the far side of the forties.
F1's first world champion was Nino Farina and he was 44 years old at the time of his crowning achievement. The following year, five-time world champion Juan Manuel Fangio picked up his first of five championships at the ripe old age of 48.
However, the trend began to change with time. F1 gradually went from being a hobby for gentleman drivers to a serious professional sport. Subsequently, drivers began to be raised from an ever-younger age as the competitiveness went up a notch year-on-year.
Max Verstappen, arguably the quickest driver in the sport now, entered the sport at just 17 and won a race by the time he was 18.
Out of five of the youngest world champions, three are still racing in Formula 1. Here, we look at five of the youngest F1 champions.
5) Michael Schumacher
Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher won his maiden title in 1994 with the Benetton Ford Formula 1 team, aged 25 years, 10 months and 10 days.
Schumacher won his second title the following year in 1995, when the same team was rebadged as Benetton Renault. The German didn’t win a championship again until his stint with Ferrari bore fruit in 2000, marking the beginning of the most dominant years in the sport for both the drivers as well as the team, as they went on to secure five titles in total while Schumacher won 91 races.
Schumacher ended his career with a bit less fanfare after a fairly average comeback stint with the Mercedes Grand Prix team and retired after the 2013 season - the end of the V8 engine era in the sport. His departure from F1 marked the beginning of another dominant era for his former team Mercedes, who won eight titles with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
4) Emerson Fittipaldi
The Brazilian double world champion, famous for being one of the most versatile drivers in series history, won his first title in 1972 with Team Lotus, aged 25 years, 8 months and 29 days. The Brazilian won his second in 1974 with Team Texaco. Although he retired from Formula 1 after the 1980 championship, he went on to a successful career in Indycar that included a title and multiple Indy 500 victories.
He won the Indy 500 in 1989 and 1993, and contested the event for 12 years. The double world champion participated in the Daytona 24 hours sports car race in 1985, but notched up a DNS (did not start) due to a mechanical issue.
The Brazilian is a semi-retired racing driver today and his other participations motorsport include the Grand Prix Masters series from 2005-2006 and the World Endurance Championship in 2014.
3) Fernando Alonso
The Spanish double world champion won his first title in 2005 with French manufacturer Renault, aged 24 years, 1 month and 27 days. Alonso’s first title will always be remembered as the one that ended Schumacher and Ferrari's dominant streak in the sport. With several team changes later and a long stint with Ferrari, his only opportunities to contend for a title were from 2010- 2013, where he was Vettel’s only challenger.
While the Spaniard still has an active career in the sport, and a thirst for fighting for another title, the Spaniard took a sabbatical from F1 in 2019. He managed to win the Le Mans 24 Hours with Toyota during that period only to return to F1 in 2021 with the same French outfit now rebadged as the Alpine F1 team.
2) Lewis Hamilton
Reigning and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton won his first title aged 23 years, 9 months and 26 days, in the year 2008 with the McLaren racing team. The Briton won the title in the second year of his F1 career and was a title contender in 2007, in his debut season in the sport.
Meanwhile, it took Hamilton another six years before he could bag another title. He won his second title in 2014, with Mercedes, before going on to dominate the V6 hybrid engine era of the sport till date, winning six of the seven titles for the Silver Arrows. He has only been challenged once during that time, by his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg, who managed to successfully wrest the championship from his childhood rival in 2016. His most recent title, in 2020, helped him equal Michael Schumacher’s tally of seven titles.
1) Sebastian Vettel
The four-time world champion still holds the record for becoming the youngest Formula 1 world champion. The German driver won his first title with Red Bull Racing at the age of 23 years, 4 months and 11 days. Vettel’s title marked the beginning of a dominant period for his team in the V8 era of the sport.
Post 2010, he won three more consecutive titles, with has last one being in 2013. Currently driving for Aston Martin, the last time Vettel contested a title was in 2018 when he gave Ferrari their best shot at dethroning Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton. However, a slew of driving errors as well as mistakes by the team put paid to any hope of a first world championship since 2007.
