F1 News

F1 drivers who have won the 24 Hours of Le Mans

13 June at 17:45

Olly Darcy
Editor

One of the Triple Crown events will take place in June 2024, and that is the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the most iconic endurance race in the world. Le Mans is about duration and working in a team of three, the complete opposite of the hour-and-a-half single-seater and strict rules of Formula 1.

However, that has not stopped many former F1 drivers from trying their hand at one of the most prestigious races in motorsport. GPblog lists drivers who have won both in F1 and Le Mans, as well as Le Mans winners who have competed in F1.

F1 World Champions who have won the 24 Hours of Le Mans

The first-ever winner of both the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the F1 World Drivers' Championship was Mike Hawthorn, the first British F1 world title winner as well. Hawthorn won his World Championship in 1958, but his only victory in Le Mans came three years earlier in 1955. In what was his second start out of five in his career, he raced for Jaguar in their D-tyre car, battling the great Juan Manuel Fangio in the Mercedes for race victory. Hawthorn was also involved in a tragic crash that saw the death of fellow racer Pierre Levegh as well as 80 spectators, but he carried on to take victory in France.

Phil Hill was the next F1 world title winner who also has a Le Mans victory to his name. Hill has entered the 24-hour race 14 times in his career, winning three times in 1958, 1961 and 1962. However, the other 11 times the Americans took part, they all finished in DNFs. 1961 was a particularly special year for Hill, as that was when his Le Mans victory was coupled up with his F1 World Championship, becoming the first American to earn an F1 world title.

The third driver to win both in F1 and Le Mans history was Jochen Rindt. The Austrian was a part of four Le Mans races in his career between 1964 and 1967, with victory coming in the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans. Behind the wheel of the Ferrari 250 LM was when Rindt took victory, crossing the line five laps ahead of second place come the race end, dominating proceedings. His world title in F1 came five years later in 1970.

After Rindt, Graham Hill was next, the only driver in history to hold the illustrious Triple Crown of Motorsport, winning the Monaco Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. However, unlike the three drivers before him, Hill's F1 World Championships came after his Le Mans success, with the Brit winning two world titles in 1962 and 1968. Hill's attempts to earn the Triple Crown looked to be in vain after failing to win Le Mans between 1958 and 1966, but six years later in 1972, he was able to take victory in the 24-hour race behind the wheel of a Matra-Simca MS670, writing his name into motorsport history.

It would be 46 years until Fernando Alonso added his name to the winners of both the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the F1 World Championship. After winning his 2005 and 2006 world titles with Renault in F1, the Spaniard then pursued the opportunity to achieve the Triple Crown. Although he fell short of winning the Indy 500, Alonso took victory twice in Le Mans in 2018 and 2019. Along with former F1 drivers Sebastian Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima during both years, the 42-year-old drove the Toyota TS050 HYBRID to victory, giving him two of the three legs of the Triple Crown and leaving the Indy 500 in his sights.