Notable drivers and the records they hold.

Every count below carries the date it is current to and names its source. Much of the record-keeping comes from Wikipedia, which we treat as a secondary source and name wherever it is our only one. Seasons still running in October 2026 (Formula One, the NASCAR Cup Series, the World Endurance Championship drivers' title and Supercars) have no champion here, and figures our sources do not state are left out rather than filled in from memory.

Title records at a glance

All counts are as of October 2026.

Grand Prix and Formula One

Before the World Championship, Rudolf Caracciola was European Champion for Mercedes-Benz in 1935 and 1937 (Mercedes-AMG F1) and Bernd Rosemeyer for Auto Union in 1936 (Audi); see the Grand Prix era.

Champions who marked an era

• Giuseppe "Nino" Farina won the first World Championship race, at Silverstone on 13 May 1950 (Formula 1), and that year's title ahead of Juan Manuel Fangio (Pirelli).
• Juan Manuel Fangio won five titles (1951, 1954 to 1957), third on the all-time list according to Wikipedia.
• Mike Hawthorn beat Stirling Moss to the 1958 title by one point (Goodwood).
• Jack Brabham won in 1959 and 1960 in rear-engined Coopers, and later a third title in a car of his own make (Goodwood).
• Jackie Stewart won three titles (1969, 1971, 1973) and 27 Grands Prix, and campaigned for safety after a 1966 crash at Spa (Formula 1).
• Mario Andretti was 1978 champion in the ground-effect Lotus (Motor Sport), and Nelson Piquet the first turbo-powered champion, in 1983 (Formula 1).
• Ayrton Senna holds the Monaco record of six wins, five in a row from 1989 to 1993 (Formula 1). He died at Imola on 1 May 1994 (Reuters).

Career wins

That list is a snapshot. Verstappen has won since, including the 2026 Singapore Grand Prix (La Voce di New York), and Hamilton took his first Ferrari win at the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix (Wikipedia); we could not confirm a current total for either. Wikipedia credits Verstappen with the most wins in a season, 19 in 2023, and Sebastian Vettel as the youngest champion, at 23 years and 134 days in 2010.

The current era

Lando Norris (McLaren) won the 2025 title on 423 points to Verstappen's 421 (Al Jazeera, Sports Illustrated). Both are former karting world champions: Verstappen in KZ in 2013, aged 15 (FIA), and Norris in KF in 2014 (Formula 1). The 2026 season is in progress: after Singapore, Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) led on 340 points to George Russell's 238 with six races left (Formula 1).

Indianapolis and American open-wheel

Ray Harroun won the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911 (National Park Service), Louis Meyer became its first three-time winner in 1936 (Indianapolis Business Journal), and Jim Clark won it in 1965 in the first rear-engined car to do so (Indianapolis Motor Speedway).

• A.J. Foyt: seven national titles, a record 67 Indy car wins and four Indy 500s (1961, 1964, 1967, 1977), per Wikipedia, which also calls him the only driver to win the Indy 500, Le Mans (1967), the Daytona 500 (1972) and the 24 Hours of Daytona.
• Mario Andretti (1965, 1966, 1969, 1984), Sébastien Bourdais (2004 to 2007) and Dario Franchitti (2007, 2009 to 2011) have four national titles each (Wikipedia).
• Scott Dixon: six titles (2003, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2020) and 59 wins. Wikipedia says his run of 21 straight seasons with a win ended in 2026.
• Álex Palou (Chip Ganassi Racing): champion in 2021 and every year from 2023 to 2026 (Wikipedia). In 2025 he won the Indianapolis 500 and became the youngest four-time champion, at 28 (IndyCar). His 2026 title, a record-tying fourth in a row, came with six wins and 631 points, 86 ahead of Kyle Kirkwood (Reuters).
• Felix Rosenqvist won the 110th Indianapolis 500 in 2026 by 0.0233 seconds over David Malukas, the closest finish in the race's history (IndyCar).

NASCAR

• Red Byron won the first NASCAR-sanctioned race, at Daytona Beach on 15 February 1948 (Jayski), and NASCAR's first two championships for owner Raymond Parks (History.com). Lee Petty was confirmed winner of the first Daytona 500, in 1959, three days after the race (History.com).
• Richard Petty holds the Cup records for wins (200), poles (123) and laps led (51,406) on NASCAR's 2017 all-time list. He won seven titles (1964, 1967, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1979), seven Daytona 500s and 27 races in 1967 alone, and retired in 1992 after 1,184 starts (Britannica).
• Dale Earnhardt also won seven titles (1980, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994). He died on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500 (Associated Press); our safety page covers what followed.
• Jimmie Johnson is the third seven-time champion (2006 to 2010, 2013, 2016), per Guinness World Records and NASCAR.
• Kyle Busch, a two-time Cup champion according to Wikipedia, died on 21 May 2026, aged 41, after being hospitalized with a severe illness, as reported by Michigan Public and the Boston Globe.
• Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports) won his second Cup title in 2025, after 2021 (NBC). He led the 2026 Chase after Phoenix on 18 October with three races left (Bleacher Report).

Sports cars and endurance

• Tom Kristensen holds the Le Mans record with nine overall wins and 14 podiums from 18 starts (ACO). Jacky Ickx won six between 1969 and 1982, according to Wikipedia.
• Graham Hill won the Indianapolis 500 (1966), Le Mans (1972, with Henri Pescarolo), Monaco five times (1963 to 1965, 1968, 1969) and the F1 title (1962, 1968). The ACO calls him the only Triple Crown winner; Wikipedia notes he qualifies whether the third leg is Monaco or the world title. Fernando Alonso has Monaco (2006, 2007) and Le Mans (2018, 2019) but not Indianapolis (Wikipedia).
• Felipe Nasr won the Rolex 24 at Daytona for a third year running in 2026, joining Hélio Castroneves and Peter Gregg as the only drivers to do so (IMSA). Porsche says Nick Tandy, a 2025 Rolex 24 winner, became the first driver with overall wins at Daytona, Le Mans and the Nürburgring and Spa 24-hour races.
• In 2025 Robert Kubica and Yifei Ye, with Phil Hanson, became the first Polish and Chinese overall Le Mans winners (ACO). The 2026 WEC drivers' title is between the two Toyota crews, to be settled at Monza on 8 November (FIA WEC).
• Romain Dumas shared in the 2010 Le Mans distance record of 5,410 km (FIA WEC), set the Pikes Peak record of 7:57.148 in 2018 (PPIHC) and won Pikes Peak for a sixth time in 2026 (DailySportscar).

Rallying and rally-raid

• Wikipedia lists Björn Waldegård as the first world rally drivers' champion, in 1979, and the Group B champions as Hannu Mikkola (1983), Stig Blomqvist (1984), Timo Salonen (1985) and Juha Kankkunen (1986).
• Michèle Mouton won four WRC rallies, was runner-up to Walter Röhrl in 1982 and won Pikes Peak outright in 1985 (Wikipedia).
• Sébastien Loeb and Sébastien Ogier share the record of nine titles; Ogier equalled it in 2025 with co-driver Vincent Landais (FIA). Wikipedia gives Ogier a record 10 Monte Carlo Rally wins to Loeb's eight.
• Elfyn Evans and co-driver Scott Martin won the 2026 title (WRC). Autosport calls Evans Britain's first world rally champion since Richard Burns in 2001.
• Nasser Al-Attiyah won the 2026 Dakar Rally with Fabian Lurquin, his sixth Dakar win (Dacia).

The sport's wider story is on our rallying history page.

Drag racing, touring cars and Formula E

• John Force won 16 NHRA Funny Car titles and 157 races as a driver between 1978 and 2024, and announced his retirement from driving on 13 November 2025, after a serious crash in June 2024 (Wikipedia).
• In 2026 Ash Sutton won a record fifth BTCC title and Thomas Preining (Manthey, Porsche) won the DTM for the second time, after 2023 (Autosport).
• Garth Tander won his sixth Bathurst 1000 in 2025, sharing with Matt Payne (ABC News). Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood won in 2026 (Autosport).
• Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche) won his second Formula E title in 2025-26, only the second driver after Jean-Éric Vergne to win two (Formula E).

Women who broke ground

These come from Wikipedia. Camille du Gast finished 33rd of 122 starters in the 1901 Paris-Berlin race. Maria Teresa de Filippis was the first woman to qualify for a World Championship Grand Prix, in 1958, and Lella Lombardi is the only woman to score World Championship points, half a point at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix. Janet Guthrie was the first woman to qualify for and race in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500, in 1977. Danica Patrick won the 2008 Indy Japan 300, the first top-level open-wheel win by a woman, and took pole for the 2013 Daytona 500. For today's series and champions, see the events section.