F1 drivers with the most F1 pole positions

Lewis Hamilton has the most pole positions in Formula 1 history with 104. The British driver has more than 30 pole positions than second-placed on the all-time list, Michael Schumacher. Max Verstappen is the only other current driver in the top ten on the all-time list.

Drivers with the most pole positions in Formula 1

Hamilton achieved his 104th pole position during the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix after a drought of around 1.5 years. The Mercedes driver hopes to add to that tally as his team work to improve his car. Second-placed Schumacher achieved 68 pole positions in his career. Ayrton Senna achieved 65 pole positions and did that feat in 40% of the Grands Prix he entered. For comparison, Schumacher started on pole in 22% of his races.

Sebastian Vettel is next on the list with 57 pole position. During the height of Vettel's four World Championships, his % would've been very high, but it dropped to 19% by the time he retired. Jim Clark secured 33 pole positions between 1962 and 1968, an astonishing 46% of the races he entered. However, he couldn't beat Juan Manuel Fangio's rate of 57% in the early days of F1. Fangio has 29 pole positions.

Others inside the top ten include; Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Nico Rosberg. Given the performance of the RB19, you'd expect Verstappen to work his way through the top ten over the coming months.

Number of pole positions for the current grid

Outside of Hamilton and Verstappen, Fernando Alonso is the next best with 22 career pole positions. He is 14th on the all-time list. Valtteri Bottas and Charles Leclerc are locked together on 20 pole positions. You then have to drop all the way down to place 52 for Carlos Sainz. Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez both have 3 pole positions. Other drivers on the current grid to have a pole position are; Nico Hulkenberg, Lance Stroll, Lando Norris, George Russell and Kevin Magnussen. A total of 106 drivers have qualified on pole position.