F1 drivers with the most Belgian GP wins
The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps has hosted Formula 1 since the sport's first official season in 1950. These are the five drivers that have won the most races in Belgium over the decades. Does your favourite make the list?
Video Transcript
It's race week, guys.
The Belgian Grand Prix is on this weekend, and ahead of the race, as always, I'm gonna take a look at the five most successful drivers around the Belgian Grand Prix of all time in Formula 1.
The Belgian Grand Prix has been on the Formula 1 calendar since the very start back in 1950.
In Spa-Francorchamps, although it is very different today, was one of the original venues back 75 years ago.
And I've got a proper top five here, guys.
Five drivers that have won around the Belgian Grand Prix at least four times.
Spa hasn't been the only venue to host Formula 1, but it is very much the main venue of the Belgian Grand Prix and has hosted every Belgian Grand Prix since 1985 and in its current guise, with a few little tweaks here and there.
So here are the top five best Belgian Grand Prix drivers of all time.
So like I said, all these drivers have at least four victories.
We've got two drivers at the start that have four victories.
And if you know anything about Spa-Francorchamps in the modern era, you will know that Kimi Rikknen was really, really good around here.
The Iceman absolutely had ice in his veins when it came to keeping his cool around some very difficult conditions at time at Spa-Francorchamps.
He won here for McLaren in 2004 and 2005, and he also won here for Ferrari in 2007 and 2009.
And the thing about Kimi as well is that half of these wins, you would have to say in 2004 and 2009 in particular, he did not have the fastest car on the grid.
2004 was the time when Ferrari had their most dominant season of all time, arguably, with the F2004, but Rikknen still managed to win the race in '04.
2009 as well, that was the only victory for Ferrari that year.
They really, really struggled in 2009 after that regulation change.
Even when he wasn't winning, he was regularly on the podium as well.
But like anybody, he wasn't perfect round here either.
2008 had a rather embarrassing crash, although it was incredibly difficult conditions.
Dry tires on a wet track, very, very tough indeed.
But yeah, four victories for Kimi Rikknen over the decades at Spa, and also four victories as well for Jim Clark.
Now, I've spoken about Jim Clark a lot here on the channel.
He is definitely a contender for the GOAT, and his record around Spa was absolutely incredible.
He won here not only four times, but he also won here four times in a row.
Between 1962 and 1965, he won every single race.
Of course, Jim Clark only drove for Lotus for all these victories, were for the Lotus team.
And if I had to pick one out, it would have to be the 1963 victory where he won the race by nearly five minutes.
This, of course, being the days of the old Spa that was about 10 miles or so long.
It was a massive circuit, and typically with Clark, it was also run in very wet conditions as well.
He had lapped the entire field aside from a certain Mr. McLaren, Bruce McLaren, but he was almost five minutes behind Clark by the finish.
An unbelievable performance by one of the GOATs, without a doubt, in Formula 1.
Speaking of GOATs, let's get to the top three.
Let's get onto the podium with our five-time winners.
And first of all, we have Sir Lewis Hamilton.
Five victories for Hamilton over the years at Spa.
He's the only active driver on this list, and of course, he can match the all-time record if he manages to win this weekend around Spa.
Of course, he did win last year as well.
He did win in 2024.
He has a very good record around here.
Really, for me, he should already have six victories around here.
If you saw the race in 2008, you will know what I'm talking about.
That very controversial penalty that robbed him of victory.
We'll debate about that another time.
He got a bit of karma for that, some might say, because he was a bit lucky, in a sense, to win last year because, of course, George Russell crossed the line first but was later disqualified.
Hamilton also won here for McLaren in 2010, as well as Mercedes in 2015, 2017, and 2020 as well.
2014, he had a very controversial clash here with Nico Rosberg, one of many during their time as Mercedes teammates going for the championship, and that ruined his opportunity to get a victory around Spa, and it also paved the way for Daniel Ricciardo to get an unlikely victory that day as well.
But Hamilton has already matched his idol, Ayrton Senna, for five victories.
Senna got his five victories around Spa between 1985 and 1991.
He won the first Grand Prix around the new Spa, the newly redesigned Spa, in 1985, driving for Lotus, and he also won here four times for McLaren on the bounce, matching Jim Clark, in a sense, doing it between 1988 and 1991, winning the world championship in all but one year during that spell, 1989, of course, being the exception to it.
Senna was absolutely mesmeric around Spa.
He loves those high-speed tracks.
He loves all tracks.
He was an unbelievable driver.
For me, he's my favorite of all time, and it is no surprise to see him here so high on the list, but not as high as Michael Schumacher.
Schumacher still holds the record for the most victories around the Belgian Grand Prix and also Spa-Francorchamps in Formula 1.
He won here six times during his career.
In 1992, he won his first-ever Grand Prix, his first of a then record-breaking 91 Grand Prix victories in 1992.
1991, of course, he did make his debut here for Jordan Racing in his only race for Jordan, but he didn't even make it to the end of the first lap, I believe.
It was a clutch problem that put him out of that one.
He also won here for Benetton again in 1995, a controversial victory, that one.
An incredible performance on a wet track with dry tires, but his, his defense against his title rival, Damon Hill, very much did rub a lot of people up the wrong way.
But it was an incredible victory from so far down the grid.
I think he started about 16th, something like that.
One of the all-time greats in that regard, for sure.
1996, he managed to win here in an absolute dog of a Ferrari during that year, and he backed it up with a third victory in three years at 1997.
2001, he also won for Ferrari.
In 2002, he managed to win again.
I believe in 2002, he actually broke the record for the most Grand Prix victories at the time.
It was either that or 01, one of the two.
He broke Prost's all-time record at the time, which was 51 victories.
That was his 52nd in the sport.
He, of course, came close to victory as well in the year 2000, but he was, of course, on the wrong end of that incredible overtake by Mika Hkkinen.
Go back and watch it, my favorite overtake of all time in Formula 1.
Pure sisu in every single sense of the word from Hkkinen there.
And I believe as well he was disqualified from the victory in 1994 because his plank had worn down too much.
Again, another controversial one.
But hey, there we go, guys.
Schumacher, should he have had seven victories?
Could it have been more?
He's got six.
He's the all-time record holder.
But can Hamilton match him this weekend?
Certainly possible.
Unlikely, but possible.
Spa can really produce some surprise results.
Like, share, comment, subscribe if you enjoyed this one, guys.
What-- It-- Spa is absolutely my favorite circuit on the Formula 1 calendar, without a doubt.
Is it yours?
Let us know in the comments below.
I know you're sad to see, of course, that it's going to be on a biannual basis after 2027.
I really, really am, to be honest.
I'm glad it's not going, but I'm sad it's gonna be there only half the time.
But yeah, have a great time, guys, this weekend.
I hope we have a great Belgian Grand Prix this weekend.
See you very soon, guys, for much more content on the world of Formula 1, just like this.
