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Formula One, abbreviated to F1, is the highest class of open-wheeled auto racing defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), motorsport's world governing body. [1] The "formula" in the name refers to a set of rules to which all participants and cars must conform. [2] The F1 World Championship season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix, held usually on purpose-built circuits, and in a few cases on closed city streets. [3] The polesitter is the driver that has qualified for a Grand Prix in pole position, at the front of the starting grid. [4] Out of the 1,149 completed Grands Prix (as of the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix), the driver that has started in first has gone on to win the race 497 times. [5]
Contents
- By driver
- By nationality
- Most pole positions per season
- See also
- Notes
- References
- Bibliography
- External links
Qualifying is traditionally contested on the Saturday (Friday for some events) of a Grand Prix weekend to determine the drivers' positions on the starting grid of the race held on the Sunday (although across 2021 and 2022, in a small number of the events, so-called sprint races were held, which determined the starting grid of the race on Sunday. [6] In 2021, the winner of the sprint was credited with pole position. [7] In 2022 the pole-sitter of the sprint race was officially awarded the pole position in those events. [8] Since 2023, sprint races have been held at select events, these have had their own qualifying session, the polesitter for these races is not credited with a pole position.) [6] [9] Historically, there have been a number of different qualifying systems; previously, each driver was only allowed a single lap to set his qualifying time. [10] Drivers currently have to compete in three rounds before pole position is determined. The first round, known as Q1, is contested by twenty drivers in an 18-minute session, at the end of which the five slowest cars are eliminated. This is followed by Q2, a 15-minute session, where the slowest five are again eliminated. The remaining ten cars contest Q3, the final 12-minute session, to determine their places on the grid and who will sit on pole position. [11]
Lewis Hamilton holds the record for the most pole positions, [12] having qualified first on 104 occasions. [13] Michael Schumacher is second with 68 pole positions. [14] Ayrton Senna is third with 65 poles. [13] Senna and Max Verstappen jointly hold the record for most consecutive pole positions; Senna qualified in first place in eight Grands Prix in a row from the 1988 Spanish Grand Prix to the 1989 United States Grand Prix, with Verstappen's record streak lasting from the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to the 2024 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. [15] [16] Sebastian Vettel is the youngest polesitter; he was 21 years, 72 days old when he qualified in first place for the 2008 Italian Grand Prix. [17] [N 1] The oldest person to qualify in pole position was Nino Farina, who was 47 years, 79 days old when he was polesitter for the 1954 Argentine Grand Prix. [19] As of the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, 107 drivers have been on pole position in the 1,149 Grands Prix since the first World Championship race, the 1950 British Grand Prix, with the most recent driver to achieve their first pole position being Oscar Piastri at the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix. [13] [20] [21] From 2014 to 2017, the driver with the most pole positions in a season was awarded the Pole Trophy. [22] The inaugural Pole Trophy was won by Nico Rosberg. [23] In 2018, the FIA Pole Trophy was discontinued and replaced with the Pirelli Pole Position Award, where the polesitter at each race as awarded a Pirelli wind tunnel tyre with the name of the polesitter and their time. [24]
