The Fastest F1 Cars of All Time
Last updated: May 6, 2024 by Leon Marshal
F1 teams are always looking to give themselves an advantage by developing the speed of their cars. You can have the best drivers in the world on your roster, but unless you also have a seriously fast car, they’ll be unlikely to see many podium finishes. It is one of the reasons why F1 is such a unique sport, where the work of the background technicians is just as important as the ability of the superstar drivers.
We’re going to examine the fastest F1 cars of all time. There is not just one way of ranking them, so we’ll be taking a scattergun approach. It will include cars that have recorded the fastest ever laps and those that have hit the highest ever speeds. Yet rule changes and FIA restrictions have had an impact on what has been possible to achieve in certain F1 seasons. So we’ll also be taking into account the dominance of teams’ cars in past years and trying to evaluate how much was down to the speed of the car in question and how much was contributed by the skill of the driver.
We’ve picked out ten F1 cars that we believe to be the fastest ever.
10. Red Bull RB19
Let’s start with the most recent example. Red Bull have enjoyed one of the most dominant seasons in F1 history, in large part due to the speed of their RB19. Having won 17 out of 22 races in 2022 with the RB18, the successor proved to be an upgrade, as Red Bull saw the chequered flag in 21 of the 22 races in 2023. They won the first 14 races of the season, making it a snooze fest at the best betting sites, before the run ended with the 15th in Singapore. Carlos Sainz Jnr of Ferrari won that race, as Red Bull’s low ride height saw them struggle with the bumpy track.
From the 16th race onwards to the last, Red Bull were back to winning ways. Sergio Perez won two of the races over the season, with Max Verstappen winning 19 to take the drivers’ championship. In the 16th race in Japan, Verstappen’s win would land Red Bull the Constructors’ Championship, with six races remaining. Lewis Hamilton proclaimed that the RB19 was the fastest F1 car that he’d ever seen. While recent rule changes made that a disputable claim, Red Bull set a number of different lap records in the 2023 season. With Verstappen at the wheel of the RB19, they set the fastest ever laps in Miami, Spain and Qatar, while Perez did likewise at the Australian Grand Prix.
9. Lotus 78
The Lotus 78 was a truly groundbreaking F1 car. In the 1978 season it became the first F1 car to use ground effect to its advantage. Ground effect is where aerodynamics are utilised to create downforce. This gave it the advantage of being able to corner at much higher speeds than the other cars on the circuit at the time, while also boasting superior handling. The downforce was achieved thanks to the aerodynamic design, with a lightweight fiberglass bodywork and an inverted wing and spoiler.
With a memorable black and gold design, the Lotus 78 looked the part too. Powered by a Ford Cosworth three-litre V8 engine, the Lotus 78 gave Team Lotus the Constructors’ Championship. With the American Mario Andretti and the Swede Ronnie Petersen the drivers, Lotus won a total of eight of the 16 Grand Prix races in 1978. It was Andretti that won the Drivers’ Championship, with Petersen finishing as runners-up.
8. McLaren MP4-20
Back in the 2005 season, the McLaren MP4-20 was extremely fast, if not reliable enough to land either a Constructors or Drivers title. Juan Pablo Montoya was at the wheel at the Italian Grand Prix, when the MP4-20 hit a speed of 231.52mph (372.6km/h). That remains the official fastest speed of any F1 car during a race, in history. The Williams FW38 broke that top speed in 2016, when Valtteri Bottas reached 234.9mph (378km/h) at the European Grand Prix, but as it was only in practice, it doesn’t officially count.
The MP4-20 set two lap records that season, which remain unbeaten. Pedro de la Rosa holds the lap record for the Bahrain Grand Prix, with Montoya holding the record for the Turkish Grand Prix. Yet though the Mercedes engine was the most powerful in F1 that year, the drivers struggled to adapt to the changes that had been made to the car and its unreliability ultimately cost Kimi Raikkonen the title. By the second half of the season the car was easily the fastest on the circuit, but the Finn missed out on at least three Grand Prix wins, due to reliability issues.
7. Williams BMW FW26
Another car that was the fastest on the track at the time, but was simply not reliable enough to achieve the results it might have, was the FW26. Ferrari was the dominant force back in 2004, but with Montoya driving for Williams, the FW26 managed to reach an average speed of 162.95 in qualifying, which was then a lap record. Much of its speed was done to the two vertical spars which were positioned on either side of the nosecone. The car became known as the ‘walrus nose’, due to the tusk-like appearance, but the distinctive look wasn’t there for novelty value, with the ‘tusks’ maximising airflow.
Before the season began, Williams were tipped for glory. Ultimately, the FW26 couldn’t live with the Ferrari F2004, despite technically being faster. It was not consistent enough and in Michael Schumacher, the Ferrari team had the top driver around. Williams would only win one Grand Prix that year, when Montoya took the chequered flag at the final Grand Prix of the year in Brazil. Though it could be thought of as a failure that did not live up to its promise, the FW26 was the last really competitive car that Williams produced and they did not win another race for eight years.
6. Ferrari F2004
Though the F2004 was not technically as fast as the Williams in 2004, the sheer reliability, handling and dominance of Ferrari’s car, mean that we have give it a higher ranking. Having Michael Schumacher driving was clearly a great help, but the fact that his teammate Rubens Barrichello also had a very successful season, says a lot about the F2004. Both drivers set lap records that year which are still in place, with Schumacher still reigning supreme at the Chinese Grand Prix and no one having gone faster than Barrichello at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza.
Ferrari won 15 of the 18 races in 2004, with Schumacher winning 13 and Barrichello twice. Yet the Brazilian was able to be competitive with his senior partner, claiming pole on four occasions and also claiming four fastest laps that season. Barrichello’s consistency and the reliability of the F2004 meant that he was able to finish second in the Drivers’ Championship, 34 points behind Schumacher. Ferrari won the Constructors’ Championship at a canter, thanks to their brilliant drivers and a perfect combination of a reliable engine, superb handling and of course, good old fashioned speed.
5. Williams FW14B
The golden years of Williams peaked with the FW14B. It was the car that finally saw Nigel Mansell win the Drivers’ Championship in 1992. Mansell won nine of the 16 Grand Prix races that year. There have been more dominant records by champions, but you only have to look at the other race winners to see the level of competition that Mansell was up against and the role that the FW1FB provided, in giving him the edge. The likes of Ayrton Senna, Gerhard Berger, Michael Schumacher and Mansell’s teammate Riccardo Patrese, all tasted victory.
Against such stellar opposition, the speed of the FW14B is highlighted by the fact that it claimed pole position in 15 of the 16 races and gave the fastest lap in eleven of them. With Patrese finishing second to Mansell, Williams walked the Constructors’ Championship that year. The carbon fibre chassis of the FW14B made it extremely lightweight and it featured technological advancements for the time, such as active suspension and traction control. If you need a measure of how fast this car was by modern standards, Sebastian Vettel’s purchase of Mansell’s FW14B in 2020, suggests that it is still held in high esteem.
4. Ferrari SF70H
For their 70th anniversary, Ferrari needed to do something special. The SF70H was the answer and it was extremely fast. With two former world champions at the wheel, in the shape of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel, there were high hopes for Ferrari back in 2017, though ultimately they were bettered by Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes in both the Drivers and Constructors’ Championships. Nevertheless there were successes, which highlight the speed of the Ferrari SF70H against top class opposition. Vettel won five races that year (including Monaco), while Ferrari recorded the fastest lap in seven of them and enjoyed a podium finish in all 20 Grand Prix events.
Scuderia Ferrari’s design took advantage of rule changes in 2017, which allowed use of mechanical grip and aerodynamic downforce. The six-cylinder 1600-cc engine provided up to 1000 horsepower, yet this was offset by a light body, with the chassis made of a composite of carbon fibre and honeycomb, which was very light. A semiautomatic transmission featured a fast shifter and eight gears. The Ferrari SF70H definitely falls into the category of F1 cars that are remembered more fondly by fans, than their achievements might suggest is warranted.
3. Red Bull RB7
In 2011, Red Bull came up with an innovative car that quite literally, blew away the opposition. The controversial exhaust-blown diffuser of the RB7, utilised exhaust fumes to create downforce. Such was the impact of this innovation, that it was imitated by many of Red Bull’s competitors and the practice was eventually banned. The RB7 also had plenty of other tricks up its sleeve, such as a seven speed semi-automatic transmission and a kinetic energy recovery system, that could store braking energy, ready to give the car an extra boost when required.
The lucky drivers of the RB7 were Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. Between them, they took all but one of the pole positions across the 19 races in 2011. It was Vettel that claimed the Drivers’ Championship with eleven Grand Prix victories. Webber only won one, but he certainly did his part in highlighting how fact the RB7 was. The Australian recorded the fastest lap on seven occasions, which was more than any other driver.
2. McLaren Mp4-4
One of the fastest cars in Formula One history is the McLaren Mp4-4, which utterly dominated the 1988 season. With the legendary pairing of Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna driving, McLaren had serious star power behind the wheel, but the performance of the Mp4-4 was just as important as their collective brilliance. Proving that less can sometimes be more, the car had a 1.5-litre, 650 horsepower Honda V6 engine, which was considerably less powerful than those of their rivals. Yet with a smaller engine and a restricted fuel capacity, the Mp4-4 benefitted from being extremely streamlined and lightweight.
With a go-kart like feel, the Mp4-4 helped Senna to take pole in 13 of the 16 races in 1988. In total, he and Prost won 15 of the 16 Grand Prix races that year, with Gerhard Bergher’s victory for Ferrari in Belgium, being the only time that McLaren were denied. Prost won seven of the races, with Senna taking eight. That saw the Brazilian pip his French colleague by three points in the Drivers’ Championship. With both drivers having qualifying times in 1m 27s, when no other car was capable of going sub 1m 30s, the Mp4-4 played a major part in enabling an epic battle between McLaren’s in-house rivals.
1. Mercedes W11
It is the Mercedes W11 that Formula One experts generally consider to be the fastest F1 car of all time. The full title of the car is the Mercedes-AMG F1 W11 EQ Performance. With Red Bull putting pressure on them, Mercedes needed an answer and in 2020, the W11 was born. With a Mercedes chassis and transmission, along with a Mercedes V6 power unit producing 1,025 horsepower, the team had a car that was more than capable of keeping their rivals at bay.
Mercedes has Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas driving for them. They would win 13 of the 17 races in 2023 and took pole position in 15 of them. The brilliance of Hamilton was of course a major factor in Mercedes’ dominance that season and makes hime one of the the Best British F1 drivers of all time, but when he got Covid and the reserve driver George Russell had to step in as a substitute at the Sakhir Grand Prix, it was the youngster that set the fastest lap time. Hamilton would win the Drivers’ Championship, ahead of Bottas in second place, with Mercedes taking the Constructors’ Championship. With the W11, Hamilton was able to set lap records that still stand at the Hungarian Grand Prix, the Portuguese Grand Prix and the Italian Grand Prix. To give an idea of the level of competition that the Mercedes W11 faced that season, lap records also still stand that were set in 2020 by McLaren at the Austrian Grand Prix and Red Bull at the British Grand Prix.