F1 Wins From Furthest Back on the Grid

John Watson won the 1983 United States Grand Prix West from 22nd on the grid, the furthest back any Formula 1 winner has started. Next: Andrea Kimi Antonelli, 19th at the 2026 Italian Grand Prix.

Record holder

John Watson

1983 United States Grand Prix West

F1 Wins From Furthest Back on the Grid
#	Grand Prix	Driver	Grid
1st	1983 United States Grand Prix West	John Watson	22
2nd	2026 Italian Grand Prix	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	19
3rd	2000 German Grand Prix	Rubens Barrichello	18
=4th	1982 Detroit Grand Prix	John Watson	17
=4th	2005 Japanese Grand Prix	Kimi Räikkönen	17
=4th	2024 São Paulo Grand Prix	Max Verstappen	17
=7th	1973 South African Grand Prix	Jackie Stewart	16
=7th	1995 Belgian Grand Prix	Michael Schumacher	16
9th	2008 Singapore Grand Prix	Fernando Alonso	15
=10th	1977 Austrian Grand Prix	Alan Jones	14
=10th	2006 Hungarian Grand Prix	Jenson Button	14
=10th	1999 European Grand Prix	Johnny Herbert	14
=10th	2018 German Grand Prix	Lewis Hamilton	14
=10th	2022 Belgian Grand Prix	Max Verstappen	14
=10th	1996 Monaco Grand Prix	Olivier Panis	14
=16th	1990 Mexican Grand Prix	Alain Prost	13
=16th	1960 Argentine Grand Prix	Bruce McLaren	13
=16th	1962 Belgian Grand Prix	Jim Clark	13
=19th	1961 French Grand Prix	Giancarlo Baghetti	12
=19th	1989 Hungarian Grand Prix	Nigel Mansell	12
=19th	1978 South African Grand Prix	Ronnie Peterson	12
=22nd	2003 Australian Grand Prix	David Coulthard	11
=22nd	2012 European Grand Prix	Fernando Alonso	11
=22nd	1975 Spanish Grand Prix	Jochen Mass	11
=22nd	1977 Argentine Grand Prix	Jody Scheckter	11
=22nd	1971 Italian Grand Prix	Peter Gethin	11

How this is measured

The grid position the race winner started from, one row per Grand Prix. Pit-lane starts are not counted; no race winner in the data started from the pit lane.

The 1950–1960 Indianapolis 500 rounds counted towards the world championship but were run to American rules with roughly 33-car grids and almost no overlap in entrants. They are excluded from every leaderboard on this site.
The current season is included, so these figures change after every Grand Prix.