SPORT Formula 1® Records: Racing Against Time

At TAG Heuer, our passion for Formula 1® runs deep — it’s part of our DNA. Welcome to this special series where we share what every true enthusiast should know about this thrilling sport. 

Every thought, intention and action made by a Formula 1® team or driver is aimed at minimizing it. That was the case in 1950, and it remains the case today. Lap times have gotten much quicker, and pit stops are now just mere seconds. With race wins and world championships on the line, mastering time is not just the objective; it is the whole mission — one shared with, and by, TAG Heuer, as the Official Timekeeper of Formula 1®.

In a sport constantly evolving, the record book mirrors that persistent endeavor. It reflects what the Formula 1® championship and its teams have achieved through time.

TAG Heuer understands that quest, after breaking boundaries in Formula 1® when it becomes the first watchmaker to have its emblem adorn an F1® car in 1969, a mark re-enforced two years later when it becomes the first watchmaker to sponsor a team.

Technology, training and increasing precision allow F1® to continue its rate of near-perpetual development, but targets are getting higher and higher, and records are getting harder and harder to break.

This is none more evident than with two of the championship’s most important records: the most drivers’ titles and race victories.

Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher took a record seventh World Championship crown in 2004, an accolade matched by Sir Lewis Hamilton in 2020, sixteen years later. 

Schumacher equalled Juan Manuel Fangio’s record of five titles in 2002, and Alain Prost, Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen all have four championships on their mantle.

Each generation of driver has raised the game in the fight for the most race victories in Formula 1®.

After Giuseppe Farina, who won the first Formula 1® grand prix. Alberto Ascari and Fangio held the race victories record, until the latter relinquished it to Jim Clark in 1968, following the Briton’s 25th and final win in F1®.

Sir Jackie Stewart claimed the mantle five years after, before Prost in 1987. Ultimately reaching 51 victories, the Frenchman was surpassed by Schumacher in 2001. Whilst Prost upped the bar by 24 from Stewart’s 27, the German raised it by 40.

TAG Heuer timed 70 of Schumacher’s 91 victories during its first period as the Official Timekeeper of Formula 1®, between 1992 to 2003.

His record was not bested until Hamilton claimed victory number 92 in 2020. He became the first F1® driver to reach a century in 2021. Still in possession of the record, the Briton’s tally now stands at 105. Schumacher was a physical marvel for his era, but his precise dedication to fitness and health allowed him to raise the standard — and race in F1® for over 20 years. Through his elevation of expectation, he laid the groundwork for the strides taken today. What he started, Hamilton — and now Max Verstappen — have continued.

Max Verstappen is currently third all-time with 67 grand prix victories and has displayed unprecedented dominance during the contemporary F1® era, like in 2023, when he won 19 of 22 rounds. By the time the current four-year regulations cycle draws to a close, the Dutchman will have won over half the 92 grands prix of that period.

Since its involvement in Formula 1® began, TAG Heuer has witnessed the evolution of both records. Like Schumacher, Hamilton and Verstappen, TAG Heuer symbolizes winning pedigree in Formula 1®, with 230 wins, 15 drivers’ titles and 11 constructors’ crowns to its name through its associations with teams. 

Records, such as World Championship and victory totals, may stand the test of time, and as unattainable as they appear, the pursuit never relents, because the technology and tools at the disposal of drivers and their teams continue to evolve in tandem with the ever-increasing understanding of training methods in Formula 1®.

They are why reaction times from F1® drivers at race starts have been lowered from seven-to-eight tenths of a second at the dawn of the championship to the two-to-three tenths seen today.

This passage of increasing precision mirrors TAG Heuer’s journey. It is how the combination has allowed drivers to enter F1® younger and race for longer than ever before.

It is redefining performance in Formula 1®. Fernando Alonso, aged 44, has reached 422 grand prix entries and counting.

At the Formula 1® Japanese Grand Prix 2025, TAG Heuer stopped the clock for Andrea Kimi Antonelli, as he became the youngest F1® driver to claim the fastest lap in a race, aged just 18 years and 225 days.

Although time may not at first appear central to drivers’ titles and race victories, time underpins those records in the truest and fullest extent.

And those twin catalysts afford time to Formula 1® drivers in its most complete form; in the same way technological advancement and ever-increasing understanding allow TAG Heuer to continue pushing the boundaries of time.