(Motorsport-Total.com) – Kimi Antonelli became the youngest driver in Formula 1 history to achieve a Grand Slam in Monaco. A Grand Slam is achieved by a driver who secures pole position and the win, also sets the fastest lap of the race, and leads every single lap of the race.
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A look into history shows that Antonelli’s record was previously held almost exclusively by the greatest in Formula 1 history.
Juan Manuel Fangio: 38 years, 10 months, 27 days
Monaco GP 1950
The very first Grand Slam was achieved already in the second race of the Formula 1 World Championship.
The later five-time champion Juan Manuel Fangio was 2.6 seconds faster than the rest in qualifying. The 38-year-old Argentine managed to pass just before a wave from the harbor basin at the Tabac corner, which flooded the track and took out most of the field – including the other four drivers from the top 5 on the grid.
“I was very lucky,” Fangio told Autosport and dismissed speculations that he had a seventh sense. “In 1936 there had been a similar incident, and the day before the race I happened to see a photo of it at the automobile club.”
“When I came out of the chicane, I noticed something was different with the spectators. Although I was leading the race, they were not watching me at all. They were looking further down the road. Instead of their faces, I saw the backs of their heads. Something at the Tabac corner was more interesting than the leader.”
“And then I remembered that photo and braked as hard as I could. It was extremely close.”
Fangio subsequently lapped the entire remaining field. It was by no means his most fantastic drive, but it still went down in history.
Alberto Ascari: 33 years, 11 months, 23 days
French GP 1952, Rouen-les-Essarts
No further Grand Slam was achieved until Alberto Ascari and Ferrari dominated the seasons 1952 and 1953, which were run under Formula 2 regulations. Their superiority earned them five Grand Slams in just 14 races.
The first of these was the inaugural French Grand Prix in Rouen in 1952. Ascari lapped the 5.1-kilometer circuit in 2:14.8 minutes and beat his Ferrari teammates Giuseppe Farina and Piero Taruffi by 1.4 and 2.3 seconds respectively.
Ascari completed the 388-kilometer race without a pit stop, and even a rain shower could not stop his dominance. He crossed the finish line 1:10.7 minutes ahead of Farina, while Taruffi was a lap behind and all others were even further back.
Mike Hawthorn: 29 years, 2 months, 26 days
French GP 1958, Reims
The next driver in the Grand Slam ranks was Mike Hawthorn – the first to achieve this in his twenties.
The long-time Ferrari driver had consistently been among the top 3 in previous years. For example, in 1952 at the British Grand Prix, he became the youngest podium finisher in Formula 1 at just 23 years old in a privately entered Cooper. However, the 1958 French Grand Prix marked only his third – and last – victory.
As the only driver who had scored points in every race of the season up to that point, Hawthorn was second in the standings behind two-time race winner Stirling Moss. In Reims, however, he took pole position with a seven-tenths advantage over his Ferrari teammate and rival Luigi Musso, while Moss was sixth with a two-second deficit.
Musso chased Hawthorn at the start but went off track on lap ten. Three weeks after surviving a severe crash at Spa-Francorchamps, the 33-year-old Italian was thrown from his flipping Ferrari and succumbed to his injuries a few hours later.
Hawthorn won unchallenged with a 24.6-second lead over Moss, which turned out to be his last Formula 1 victory. Due to Moss’s fair play, he narrowly became world champion as Moss supported Hawthorn when a disqualification threatened him after the Portuguese Grand Prix.
Hawthorn announced his retirement after winning the title and died in a fatal traffic accident just three months later. He was 29 years old.
Jim Clark: 26 years, 4 months, 17 days
British GP 1962, Aintree
Back in 1962, Team Lotus introduced the highly successful Lotus 25 – a car that would win 14 Grands Prix – and Jim Clark proved he could get the maximum out of it.
At only 26 years old, Clark became a genuine title contender that year. However, technical problems set him back in three of the first four races. He celebrated his maiden victory in Spa-Francorchamps – but from 12th on the grid, so a Grand Slam was not on the cards.
At Aintree, Clark took the third pole position of his career (out of a later record-holding 33). He was 0.6 seconds faster than John Surtees and led the race throughout ahead of Surtees’ Bowmaker-entered Lola. He gradually but confidently pulled away and won by 49.2 seconds.
Clark won only two world championships, as reliability issues in 1962, 1964, and 1967 cost him dearly, but until his early death at a Formula 2 race in Hockenheim in April 1968, he achieved eight Grand Slams – still a record today.
Ayrton Senna: 25 years, 1 month
Portuguese GP 1985, Estoril
No fewer than ten drivers achieved a Grand Slam in the following 23 years, but only the emergence of Ayrton Senna offered the chance to break the record for the youngest driver.
Senna moved to Lotus for his second Formula 1 year after an impressive debut season at Toleman. In Jacarepagua, he qualified fourth and was third until an electrical failure occurred. His performance in Estoril was simply impressive.
The 25-year-old Brazilian secured a dominant pole position in dry conditions – his first of a record 65 – and was 0.413 seconds faster than McLaren driver Alain Prost. Rain caused chaos in the race, so only nine of the 26 starters were classified under the chequered flag.
After lap one, Senna was 2.65 seconds ahead of teammate Elio de Angelis, by lap ten already 12.9 seconds in front, and he kept extending the lead to finally triumph 63 seconds ahead of Michele Alboreto in the Ferrari. The celebration he shared with Lotus team boss Peter Warr went down in Formula 1 history.
“The car was sliding everywhere – it was very hard to keep it under control,” Senna commented afterwards. “You often saw cars sliding off the track due to lack of grip and too much power. The only problem was the brakes, but under these conditions, you expect that.”
“As soon as you were close behind someone, you couldn’t see anything. People think I made no mistakes, but that’s not true – I have no idea how many times I was at risk of going off! Once I was on the grass with all four wheels, completely out of control, and the car came back onto the track.”
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“Everyone said: ‘Fantastic car control,’ but it was just luck.”
And when years later it was suggested that his lesson in the rain at Donington 1993 was his greatest drive, Senna disagreed: “No way! I had traction control there.”
“OK, I made no real mistakes [at Donington], but the car was so much easier to drive. It was a good win, sure, but compared to Estoril ’85, that was actually nothing!”
Sebastian Vettel: 24 years, 3 months, 27 days
Indian GP 2011, Buddh
Unlike any other driver on this list, Sebastian Vettel was already a world champion when he achieved his first Grand Slam.
The Red Bull prodigy had come close to success several times: for example, at the 2009 British GP, where he temporarily lost the lead to teammate Mark Webber because he pitted three laps earlier; or at the 2011 European GP, where he changed tires one lap before Felipe Massa and briefly gave up first place.
There was also the 2009 Japanese GP, which he led from pole to victory – but Webber snatched the fastest lap from him by 0.003 seconds.
Finally, Vettel put it all together at the first Formula 1 visit to India. He secured pole position with a solid 0.296-second lead over Lewis Hamilton, set the fastest lap 0.271 seconds faster than Webber, and pulled away by 4.8 seconds from Jenson Button in the first ten laps. He essentially maintained that gap on the way to an 8.4-second victory.
Red Bull was not thrilled about Vettel’s pursuit of the fastest lap. When asked if his driver had asked for permission to complete the Grand Slam, team boss Christian Horner said: “Of course not, because he knows we don’t like that.”
“We did our best to manage it: we turned down all engine modes, switched off KERS, and apart from putting a cow on the track, there wasn’t much more we could do.”
“Ultimately, we have full confidence in him. I’m sure he had reserves left, and his main goal is to win the race. He knows there are no points for fastest laps, but he likes these little stats to round off a perfect weekend.”
That day, Vettel also broke Nigel Mansell’s record for most laps led in a season – 739 until the end of 2011 compared to the British icon’s 694 in 1992, although Mansell’s rate was higher and Max Verstappen shattered this record in 2023.
Max Verstappen: 23 years, 9 months, 4 days
Austrian GP 2021, Spielberg
It may seem almost bizarre that Verstappen only became the youngest Grand Slam winner in Formula 1 on his 128th attempt – as many races as Fangio, Ascari, and Hawthorn combined. But this simply reflects the fact that he debuted in GPs at 17 and never really had the fastest car before 2021.
Fairly, one must say Verstappen deserved the Grand Slam in Abu Dhabi 2020: he led the entire race from pole, but a late pit stop by Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo – at a time when the fastest lap still awarded a point – denied him this accolade.
When Formula 1 arrived at the Red Bull Ring in 2021, Verstappen led the drivers’ standings comfortably with a 32-point lead over Hamilton.
The Dutchman beat Lando Norris in the surprisingly strong McLaren by 0.048 seconds in the fight for pole with a lap he described as “pretty bad.” In the race, he pulled away effortlessly once an early safety car was deployed.
He won with an 18-second lead over Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas and set the fastest lap with a huge 1.562-second advantage over his nearest pursuers thanks to the very last stop. But even before that, he had already been the fastest.
“Honestly incredible,” Verstappen commented. “The car drove like on rails. I mean, on every set of tires we put on, it was really fun to drive. Pretty crazy.”
“I’m a bit surprised myself how the day went. I didn’t expect it to go like this.”
Kimi Antonelli: 19 years, 9 months, 3 days
Monaco GP 2026
Mercedes prodigy Kimi Antonelli has pushed the Grand Slam record below 20 years – a mark unlikely to be beaten anytime soon.
After a difficult debut season in Formula 1, Antonelli benefits from superior equipment in 2026 and presents himself as a much more complete driver.
The 19-year-old Italian had already come extremely close to a Grand Slam in China this year when he secured his first pole with a 0.222-second and the fastest lap with a 0.125-second advantage over teammate George Russell. However, a lightning start by Lewis Hamilton in the Ferrari took the lead from him in lap one.
In Monaco, Antonelli beat Verstappen by 0.043 seconds in the fight for pole – a “magical lap,” as the driver in his second year said – and led a chaotic race from start to finish.
He built a 29-second lead over Hamilton and then survived a late red flag and a standing restart to also win the eight-lap sprint.
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“I was surprised by the pace, but today I just felt like one with the car. I could drive a very good rhythm with high intensity and the car responded extremely well,” Antonelli commented. “Yes, I was definitely surprised, but it was just one of those days when everything comes together.”
Regarding the red flag, he added: “I was extremely frustrated because Lewis started right next to me this time and I know how good their starts are. I just thought: ‘Oh no.’ But luckily the start went quite well. He also had heavily spinning wheels, which made life a bit easier for me in turn 1. But yes, it was not easy to refocus after the red flag.”
The youngest pole sitter, fastest lap driver, race and championship leader, hat-trick and Grand Slam winner in history is now on the best way to become the youngest Formula 1 world champion in 2026 – thus breaking Sebastian Vettel’s record (23 years, 4 months, 11 days) by more than three years.
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