Which F1 driver has the most fastest laps?

The fastest lap at a circuit has long been a mark of distinction, emphasising a driver’s ability to push to the limit and to do so for an entire lap without losing control.

F1 then decided to reward those drivers for said achievement in 2019, by giving an extra championship point to whoever sets the fastest lap of a grand prix - on the condition that they finish inside the top 10. 

On an even greater scale, a driver can hold the circuit’s lap record with some remaining unbroken for years, if not decades. 

Alongside the lap record, which is set during a race, there is also the fastest lap which can be achieved at any point during a grand prix weekend - but tends to be in qualifying as that’s when drivers are most pushing to the limit.

Jamie Chadwick presents Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, with the Fastest Lap Award 2023

Photo by: Jake Grant / Motorsport Images

F1 drivers with the most fastest laps

Greater importance has been placed on the fastest lap of a grand prix since it has been worth one championship point. Often, if a driver is almost guaranteed to finish the position they are running, the team will tell him to box and apply fresh tyres so that he can go for the fastest lap in the latter stages. 

So, it is not always set by the race winner especially as 138 drivers in the history of F1 have set the fastest lap of a grand prix, including 16 on the current grid - Fernando Alonso, Valtteri Bottas, Pierre Gasly, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Hulkenberg, Charles Leclerc, Kevin Magnussen, Lando Norris, Sergio Perez, Oscar Piastri, Daniel Ricciardo, George Russell, Carlos Sainz, Yuki Tsunoda, Max Verstappen and Zhou Guanyu.

The top drivers therefore don’t tend to dominate in the same way that they do for wins or poles. But, having the best car is still helpful for such things as Michael Schumacher holds the record for the most fastest laps in F1 history with 77 ahead of Hamilton in second on 67.

So, who else is up there for the most fastest laps ever? 

DHL Fastest Lap Award

F1 has awarded the DHL Fastest Lap Award since 2007 and it is presented to the driver who achieved the most fastest laps across the recent season. DHL is the championship’s official logistics provider having first partnered with F1 in 2004.

In situations where drivers are tied, the award is given to who has the most second-fastest laps and if that is also equal, it goes down to the third-fastest laps and so on.

There have been four tiebreakers for the DHL Fastest Lap Award. The first came in its inaugural year, where Ferrari team-mates Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa both set the fastest lap six times across 2007 and the second-fastest lap twice. But, that year’s world champion had more third-fastest laps so it was eventually awarded to Raikkonen.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG F1 recevies the DHL Fastest Lap award from DHL

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

In 2009, Red Bull team-mates Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber both achieved the fastest lap of a race on three occasions, but the eventual four-time world champion claimed the award because he had two more second-fastest laps. 

The following year, Alonso and Hamilton were tied on five, but the double F1 world champion had a higher number of second-best lap times. The Briton eventually won a tie-breaker in 2021 though, when he pipped that year’s world champion Verstappen because Hamilton had more second-fastest laps after both had set the best lap time on six occasions throughout their dramatic title battle.

In total, Hamilton has won the most DHL Fastest Lap Awards with six, while Vettel (2009, 2012, 2013), Raikkonen (2007, 2008) and Verstappen (2022, 2023) are the others to have claimed it multiple times.

Lap records at the current F1 circuits

Many F1 lap records were set across 2019 to 2021 because that is when the cars were at their quickest. For example, Jarno Trulli took pole at the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix with a 1m13.985s compared to Hamilton’s 1m10.166s in 2019 and Leclerc’s 1m10.270s in 2024. 

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1, celebrates pole position, and is presented with the Pirelli Pole Trophy by Jackie Stewart

Photo by: Dom Romney / Motorsport Images

So, it comes as no surprise that many were set by Hamilton and Bottas who were both driving for then reigning world champions Mercedes. 

But, several tracks have since joined F1 while many have altered their layouts causing quicker lap times. So, what are the lap records for each circuit on the current calendar?