(Motorsport-Total.com) – On his 31st attempt, Lewis Hamilton finally did it: At the 2026 Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona-Catalunya (click here for the race report!), the Brit celebrated his long-awaited debut victory for Ferrari. A look into the history books reveals: Only three Scuderia drivers needed even more patience until their first triumph in red.
Read more First Ferrari win: Only three drivers needed more races than Hamilton
Carlos Sainz ranks just ahead of Hamilton. The Spaniard needed 32 attempts, exactly one more than the Brit, before winning his first race for the Maranello team. Just like Hamilton, Sainz also remained winless in his debut season in 2021, but unlike the record champion, he still collected four podium finishes.
Sainz’s breakthrough came only in his second season with the Scuderia, specifically at the 2022 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. In the following years, however, the Spaniard only added three more victories in the red racing suit.
Eddie Irvine had to wait even longer for redemption. The Northern Irishman celebrated his first Ferrari victory only in his 50th race for the team. His career with the Reds had started quite promisingly: On his debut in 1996, Irvine immediately finished third on the podium. However, it was to remain his only podium finish that season.
How long all Ferrari drivers needed for their first Formula 1 victory
Even in 1997 and 1998, Michael Schumacher’s then-teammate achieved further top-3 results, but the leap to first place remained denied to him for the time being. Only at the 1999 season opener in Australia did Irvine break the dry spell. Three more victories were to follow in the course of the season.
Read more First Ferrari win: Only three drivers needed more races than Hamilton
Jean Alesi needed almost 70 attempts for a Ferrari victory
However, Jean Alesi holds the undisputed top spot in this statistic. The Frenchman moved to Ferrari in 1991 as one of the greatest talents of his generation, but there he slipped into a difficult sporting phase for the Scuderia. Despite numerous strong performances, Alesi celebrated his first success in his fifth year and after 68 races with Ferrari.
The Frenchman finally achieved his debut victory only at the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. However, it was also his only Formula 1 victory ever. After five rather unsuccessful Formula 1 years with Ferrari, Alesi turned his back on the team and moved to Benetton.
However, the overall statistics of the Scuderia actually paint a completely different picture: More than half of all Ferrari drivers needed fewer than ten races to enter the winners’ lists for the first time. Not a few, including Kimi Räikkönen and Fernando Alonso, even stormed straight to the top step of the podium on their Ferrari debut.
But how many races did world champions like Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, or Niki Lauda actually need to achieve their first success in red? Our large photo gallery with all Ferrari winners reveals this – and the exact number of races they had already completed until their first triumph with the Scuderia.
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