Top 10 drivers with most race wins in F1

Max Verstappen equalled Fernando Alonso with a win in the Japanese Grand Prix.

Taking a victory in Formula 1 is not an easy task. One first needs to be amongst the finest crops in the world. When you get a chance, you will largely depend on what car the mechanics have built. Evaluating drivers is not as straightforward as it seems. The difference in machinery doesn't really give the best scenario to compare and evaluate a driver's true skill. In its 72 years of history, F1 had 112 different race winners, ranging from England, and Germany to Columbia and Venezuela. Here we take a look at the Top 10 drivers with Formula 1 race wins.

10. Jim Clark/Niki Lauda (25)

Jim Clark (1936-1968) has the best race-win percentage among everyone on this list. His 35% is only bettered by Fangio. He won his two championships in 1963 and 1965. Clark has seen some brutal racing accidents in front of him. He even got involved in some of them. He eventually lost his life in a Formula 2 race held at Hockenheimring in Germany. By the time of his death, he held the record for most wins and poles in F1.

The Austrian Racer-Entrepreneur Niki Lauda is the only driver to win a championship with both Ferrari and McLaren. He won titles in 1975, 1977 and 1983. Niki Lauda was involved in a horrific crash in Nürburgring where his car caught fire after colliding with the barriers. He got evacuated by his fellow drivers. He was out of action for only six months and came back to compete for the title, which he only lost by one point to James Hunt. Their rivalry even has a separate movie named 'Rush'.

9. Jackie Stewart (27)

Sir Jackie Stewart raced in Formula 1 for nine seasons and won three World titles while finishing as the runner-up twice. He won his titles in 1969, 1971 and 1973. His win percentage of 27 is better than that of both Senna and Prost. He held the record for having the most number ofFormula 1 wins for 14 years until Prost passed him in the 1987 Portuguese Grand Prix. The likes of Clark, Stewart and Lauda came from an era with absurd safety measures. Stewart was an advocate for improving safety measures. He even marshalled a few driver boycotts during his time.

8. Nigel Mansell (31)

Nigel Mansell's only championship came in 1992. But he is the second most successful British driver of all time in terms of race wins. In his 15 years of a long career, he raced for Lotus, Williams and Ferrari. His title win was when he returned to Williams.

7. Fernando Alonso (32)

The Spaniard magician is the second active driver in the Top 10 list. He has had a long F1 career which started back in 2001. His longevity saw him fighting Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen, Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton, and Pierre Gasly in 2021. At 42, he is still among the best in the grid. In 2018, he retired from F1 after a terrible returning stint with McLaren. However, after attempting the triple crown, he made a comeback and signed for Alpine (formerly and still Renault).

Alonso is known for his tremendous adaptability with the cars which makes him stand as one of the most skilful drivers in the history of racing. His 2012 campaign still stands out where he outscored his teammate by a hundred points and competed with Vettel for the title, only to miss out with two points. He last won a race in the 2013 Spanish GP. And it is unlikely he will ever step on the top of the podium again. Alonso recently signed a multi-year contract with Aston Martin, replacing Vettel.

6.Max Verstappen (35)

Max Verstappen has been in phenomenal form in the ongoing season and is on course to win his second title on the trot. He is only 25 but has left many legends behind in the charts. He came ahead of Alonso after the Japanese Grand Prix climbed up the charts. He will be in contention to leave Ayrton Senna in the next season.

5. Ayrton Senna (41)

Ayrton Senna (1960-1994) is one of the biggest what-ifs in Formula One history. He lost his life in a horrible accident at the San Marino GP 1994 held at Imola. Being 34 driving at Williams, he certainly had a few more race victories to get, if not one or two more championships. His race-win tally stalled at 41. He won three World titles in his lifetime. Some of his most famous wins came in Brazil where he roared around with his country's flag in front of his natives. Due to his consistent majesty at Monaco, he was rendered as The 'King of Monaco'.

4. Alain Prost (51)

Four-time French F1 champion Alain Prost is fourth on the list. He might be the most underrated of all. Going by today's points system, he would have never lost to his teammate over a season. And he was Senna's McLaren teammate in 1988 and 1989. The two had the most iconic racingrivalry of all time. They became so synonymous that it is kind of impossible to take one's name without taking the other's. They even crashed into each other twice to win the title. However, there was always mutual respect between them. Prost was known for his meticulous preparation and pinpoint accuracy. His technicality and smoothness earned him the title of 'Professor'.

3. Sebastian Vettel (53)

The former Ferrari driver and Red Bull Champion Sebastian Vettel is third on the list. In his prime, he won four back-to-back driver's titles with Red Bull from 2010 to 2013. He came close to being a Ferrari World Champion but maybe it just wasn't meant to be. Being German, he spent a lot of time getting mentored by senior countryman Michael Schumacher. He has a special connection with Indian fans as he has the perfect record in theBuddh International Circuit. The 35-year-old will no longer be part of the grid from 2023. He announced his retirement during the summer break. He will be driving the last few of his races as an Aston Martin driver, whose part he has been since last season.

2. Michael Schumacher (91)

Michael Schumacher is synonymous with the most historical constructer of the sport, Ferrari. He has won five of his seven World titles with the Scuderia. Which consists of back-to-back titles from 2000 to 2004. His career total of race wins is just one less than both Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna combined. Michael's last race win came in the 2006 Chinese GP. He stayed alone at the top for a long time until Lewis Hamilton surpassed him in 2020. He went into a coma after a skiing accident in 2013. His son Mick Schumacher has been in the competition since 2021.

1. Lewis Hamilton (103)

The only centurion on the list, Sir Lewis Hamilton shattered Schumacher's one more F1 record when he clinched the victory in the Turkish GP 2020 to surpass his 91 and equal his seventh. The Mercedes Talisman and former McLaren star have never had a season where he didn't register a race win in the series. He made his infamous debut in 2007 when he missed the driver's championship by just one point. He went on to win the next year in the last lap of the rain-affected Brazilian GP. The year 2022 has been struggling for him as he hasn't won a single race yet, endangering his record of winning every year. He came close but wrong calls and bad luck cost him.