Longest win droughts by an F1 driver before clinching the title

Reigning Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen is on a four-race winless streak, which is his longest drought for four years.

It began with the Austrian Grand Prix in June, where the Red Bull driver was leading with seven laps to go until his collision with Lando Norris dropped Verstappen to fifth.

The triple world champion then finished second at the following weekend’s British GP before fifth in Budapest, as Red Bull struggled to match the pace of Mercedes and McLaren.

Verstappen was quickest in qualifying for the Belgian GP though, but a 10-place grid penalty due to an engine change put him out of contention and he crossed the line in fifth – yet eventually finished fourth due to George Russell’s post-race disqualification.

He does still lead the championship by 78 points though, as he won seven of the opening 10 grands prix meaning Verstappen is on course for a fourth consecutive title despite Red Bull no longer holding such a pace advantage.

So, what are some of the longest winning droughts during a driver’s title-clinching year?

Podium: Race winner Keke Rosberg, Williams

Photo by: Motorsport Images

13 – Keke Rosberg (1982)

Keke Rosberg clinched the 1982 F1 world championship in peculiar fashion, as the then-Williams driver only won one grand prix that year. That made him just the second driver after Mike Hawthorn (1958) to clinch the title with only one race win, something nobody has since achieved.

Rosberg’s victory came at the season’s third-to-last round in Dijon, meaning he went the first 13 grands prix without a win. But he did claim five podiums and three other top five finishes during that time, so Rosberg was consistently at the front yet his championship fight largely came through circumstance.

That is because Ferrari’s Didier Pironi was leading the standings when he suffered a career-ending leg injury after crashing in qualifying at the Hockenheimring, which was that season’s 12th round. Rosberg was fifth in the championship, 16 points behind Pironi at the time of the crash, but four top-five finishes including three podiums and a victory in the final five grands prix meant he won his one and only title by five points.

Nelson Piquet, Brabham BT52B BMW

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11 – Nelson Piquet (1983)

Nelson Piquet has the second-longest win drought during a championship year, which coincidentally came the season after Rosberg’s crown. The then-Brabham driver started 1983 with a win at his home Brazilian GP, yet went the following 11 rounds without victory.

Piquet came close on several occasions though with podiums in France, Monaco, Britain and Austria, as well as leading the early stages of the Detroit GP, yet much of the season was dominated by Alain Prost.

The then-Renault driver led Piquet by 14 points with three rounds remaining (only a maximum of 27 left available due to F1’s scoring system that season), but bad luck hit as Prost retired from the Italian GP due to a turbo problem while Piquet ended his winning drought.

Piquet claimed another victory at the Brands Hatch penultimate round with Prost in second, meaning the Frenchman led the championship by two points. Prost then lost the title at the Kyalami season finale, as he retired on lap 35 with another turbo failure while Piquet finished third to clinch his second of three championships by just two points.

Jenson Button, Brawn Grand Prix celebrates winning the World Championship

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Brawn GP’s Jenson Button winning the 2009 world championship is one of F1’s best underdog stories. In the winter of 2008, Button lost his race seat due to Honda exiting the series but then its former technical director Ross Brawn bought the squad for just £1 in March 2009 to create a team in his name.

The Brackley-based outfit, that under its Honda guise in 2008 finished ninth, surprisingly emerged as the leading squad after an aerodynamic rule change that shook up the competitive order. Brawn achieved it largely because of its double diffuser, which created better downforce by expanding the airflow and decreasing pressure beneath the car.

This resulted in Button winning six of the opening seven grands prix, but Red Bull brought several updates to Silverstone which was a turning point in the season. The Austrian squad suddenly had the fastest car culminating in Button failing to win any of the final 10 races.

He only had two podiums during that run as well: second in a Brawn 1-2 at Monza and third in the season-closing Abu Dhabi GP. But Button still sealed the championship with fifth at the penultimate round in Brazil thanks to his early winning run.

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing RB8

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The 2012 F1 season was one of the tightest in history, as it had a different winner in each of the opening seven rounds and the championship lead changed eight times throughout the campaign. Sebastian Vettel eventually pipped Fernando Alonso to the title by three points, despite the Red Bull driver enduring a nine-race winless run that helped his Ferrari rival emerge as the championship favourite.

It came between rounds five, the Spanish GP, and 13, the Italian GP, so Vettel’s championship hopes looked dead and buried as he trailed leader Alonso by 39 points after Monza.

But, everything changed when the season headed to Asia as Vettel ended his drought by claiming four consecutive victories, beginning with the Singapore GP where he took the lead because of Lewis Hamilton’s retirement. Vettel then won in Japan, South Korea and India to lead the standings by 13 points with three rounds remaining.

The German kept his championship lead after podiums in Abu Dhabi and Austin before sixth in the Interlagos season finale, despite spinning to the back on lap one, as he sealed his third of four consecutive world titles.

Emerson Fittipaldi celebrates with Ronnie Peterson

Photo by: David Phipps

8 – Emerson Fittipaldi (1974)

Emerson Fittipaldi clinched the 1974 F1 world championship, despite not winning the middle eight rounds. The then-McLaren driver had a strong start with two victories and a podium in the opening five races, but second at Brands Hatch and Monza was the best he finished in the next eight grands prix.

He was close to victory at the Italian GP though because Fittipaldi finished 0.8s behind Ronnie Peterson, as various retirements meant the drivers who started sixth and seventh ended up 1-2. But, Fittipaldi was seemingly content with second knowing it would put him just three points behind championship leader Clay Regazzoni with two rounds remaining.

Fittipaldi then ended his drought at the following race, as he won the Canadian GP from pole to move atop of the standings. That was his third and final victory of the season, as fourth at Watkins Glen gave Fittipaldi his second world championship.

Niki Lauda, Ferrari 312T2

Photo by: Rainer Schlegelmilch

7 – Niki Lauda (1977), Alain Prost (1986), Nelson Piquet (1987), Fernando Alonso (2006)

There are four drivers who have gone seven grands prix without victory during a championship-winning year. Niki Lauda was the first to do so in 1977, when he astonishingly claimed his second world title just a year after his horrifying crash at the Nurburgring.

Lauda’s first victory of the campaign came at the third round in South Africa, but the then-Ferrari driver failed to win the following seven grands prix. He was still fast during that period with four runner-up finishes meaning Lauda led the championship and he extended his advantage by winning the 11th round in Hockenheim. That was the first of two victories in the following five races meaning Lauda clinched his second title with two rounds left. He then skipped the remaining grands prix after a fallout with Ferrari.

His future team-mate Prost also went seven races without a victory, when he won his second of four world championships in 1986. The then-McLaren driver won two of the opening four rounds, but Williams soon became the dominant force by winning six of the next seven grands prix with Lotus’ Ayrton Senna claiming victory in the other.

Williams was therefore on course for a double championship, as Nigel Mansell led the drivers’ standings with five rounds left. But Prost staged a late charge by ending his drought in Austria where both Williams cars retired. Despite being disqualified from the following race at Monza due to an illegal car change, Prost still only trailed Mansell by eight points with three races remaining.

He cut that gap to six with runner-up finishes in Portugal and Mexico, but all seemed too little, too late for Prost as Mansell was initially third in the Adelaide season finale. That was until his left rear-tyre exploded with 19 laps remaining and Prost soon took the lead after Williams pitted Piquet as a precaution. Prost eventually held on to clinch the title.

Podium: race winner and World Champion Alain Prost, second place Nelson Piquet, third place Stefan Johansson

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A similar win drought happened the following year when Piquet went the first seven grands prix without a victory, but still claimed five runner-up finishes during that time.

So, Piquet only trailed leader Senna by one point before ending his drought by winning the next two rounds in Germany and Hungary. This gave Piquet the championship lead, which is a position he then never lost because of a win in Monza and three other podiums during the final seven rounds.

Alonso then became the final driver to date to go seven grands prix without a victory when he claimed the 2006 title. It came after a dominant start to the year, where Alonso won six of the first nine races while finishing second in the other three.

But the FIA then banned Renault’s tuned mass damper – a stability aid that improved front-end downforce – which gave the pace advantage to Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher, who next won five races to Alonso’s none.

It left both drivers level on points with two rounds remaining, but Alonso then ended his drought in Japan while Schumacher retired with an engine failure. This all but sealed back-to-back crowns for Alonso, who eventually clinched it with second at the final round in Brazil.

Kimi Raikkonen, McLaren Mercedes MP4-20 Giancarlo Fisichella, Renault R25 and Fernando Alonso, Renault R25

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

6 – Alain Prost (1993), Fernando Alonso (2005), Kimi Raikkonen (2007), Lewis Hamilton (2008), Sebastian Vettel (2010)

Alonso also won the 2005 championship having gone six races without a victory. It occurred in a similar fashion to 2006, as Alonso began 2005 with six victories in 12, meaning he led the standings by 36 points.

McLaren gradually improved throughout the season though, culminating in it winning six consecutive races from rounds 13, the Hungarian GP, to 18, the Japanese GP, with Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya. Alonso was still on top form though, as five podiums during that run clinched his maiden title with two rounds remaining before ending the drought at the Chinese season finale.

He was the second driver to have a six-race winless run before clinching the title. Prost first did it in 1993, which also followed a dominant start as the then-Williams driver won seven of the first 10 rounds yet failed to win for the rest of the year.

Prost was still quick, as he claimed four poles in that time but two of those ended up in retirements at the Hungaroring and Monza. He was on the podium for the other four races though, so Prost clinched his fourth title with two rounds remaining before retiring at the end of the season.

Raikkonen, Hamilton and Vettel also went six races without a victory during a championship-winning year. In 2007, Raikkonen won the Melbourne season opener but did not stand on the top step again until July’s French GP. That reignited his championship fight and Raikkonen eventually sealed the title at the final round in Brazil, meaning Hamilton missed two opportunities to become world champion in his rookie year.

Podium: second place Felipe Massa, Ferrari, Race winner Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, third place Lewis Hamilton, McLaren

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Redemption followed in 2008 though, as Hamilton dramatically pipped Felipe Massa to the title on the final day. Both drivers were involved in a season-long battle, which Hamilton led after 10 rounds with four victories, but a drought followed as Heikki Kovalainen won in Hungary, Massa claimed two victories, Vettel had a shock win at Monza, while Alonso controversially won the Singapore GP before winning in Japan.

But Hamilton had scored three podiums during that time so he still led the championship before the penultimate round, which he won in Shanghai to end the drought. Hamilton then clinched his maiden crown at the Brazil season finale after finishing fifth, having overtaken Timo Glock in the final corners.

Vettel had a similar drought two years later, as he did not win from rounds 10, the British GP, to 15, the Singapore GP, in 2010. It meant Vettel had only won two of the first 15 grands prix, resulting in him trailing team-mate and championship leader Mark Webber by 21 points.

But everything changed in the final four grands prix, which Webber drove with a fractured shoulder after a biking accident, as Vettel claimed three victories starting with the Japanese GP. He next won in Brazil before another at the Abu Dhabi season finale, meaning Vettel won an unlikely maiden title despite never leading the standings during the year.