Jean Alesi has more career podiums than any other F1 driver who won exactly one race.

The 1995 Canadian Grand Prix. Ferrari, car number 27. Fifth on the grid, first across the line. It was his 31st birthday and his 91st F1 start. He raced for six more years, climbed the podium 17 more times, and never won again. Below: the full leaderboard of every driver in F1 history who has won exactly one Grand Prix, ranked by podiums.

Every one-win driver in F1 history.

As of Round 4, 2026 · Miami

Most starts with one win? That is Jarno Trulli — 256 races spread over 15 seasons, with eleven podiums to show for it. Alesi had 202 starts and three times the podiums. They are different kinds of one-win careers, and the leaderboard sorts by podiums for a reason.

Two on the current grid sit at exactly one win: Gasly and Ocon. These rankings move every Sunday they finish on the podium.

Why this number is the one

Wins make the headlines; podiums make the career. Thirty-two of them, all in midfield-Ferrari and Benetton machinery that was usually the second- or third-quickest on the grid. Alesi was fast enough to put a non-winning car on the podium more often than any contemporary peer who only ever won once, and never had the car to convert. The number was always going to live on this list — it never had a chance of living on the wins list.

The shape of the long tail

Below Alesi the field collapses. The next best one-win driver is Richie Ginther at fourteen, then François Cevert at thirteen, then Robert Kubica at twelve, then Jarno Trulli at eleven. Every one of these drivers got to F1, made it to the podium, won a Grand Prix — which puts each of them in a club almost no human ever joins. Most of the names further down the list have one podium total: the win itself. The list is, in its own way, a celebration of how thin the gap between "race winner" and "won once and never again" really is in this sport.

How this is calculated

Every figure on this page is computed directly from the Racemate Formula 1 database — the same dataset that powers the live standings, championship calculator and race-strategy tools at racemate.io. For each driver we count every classified championship Grand Prix entry as one start, a finishing position of P1 as a win, and P1–P3 as a podium. The leaderboard then keeps only drivers whose career win total is exactly one, and ranks them by podiums.

The Indianapolis 500 counted toward the F1 World Championship from 1950 to 1960, so American drivers like Sam Hanks, Jimmy Bryan and Lee Wallard appear on the list — they are F1 World Championship winners by the rulebook of their era. Sprint races are excluded: they only exist from 2021 onward and would quietly bias the modern numbers.

Frequently asked

How many F1 drivers have won exactly one Grand Prix?

33 drivers in championship history have won exactly one F1 Grand Prix and never won another — going all the way back to the Indianapolis 500 entries that counted toward the World Championship in the 1950s.

Why does Jean Alesi have so many more podiums than the others?

Alesi spent six seasons in Ferrari (1991–1995) and Benetton (1996–1997) at a time when those teams were regularly the second- and third-best on the grid — fast enough to put him on the podium 32 times, but rarely fast enough to beat Schumacher, Hill or Häkkinen in a straight fight. The same talent in a worse seat would have produced a fraction of the podiums; the same talent in the dominant car of the era would have produced wins.

Is this just modern drivers or does it cover all F1 history?

All of it. The leaderboard is computed from the entire Racemate F1 database — every championship Grand Prix since 1950 — and includes the Indianapolis 500 winners from 1950–1960, which counted toward the World Championship at the time. Filter by era at the top of the chart to narrow it down.

Which current F1 drivers are on the list?

Gasly and Ocon are on the current grid with exactly one career F1 win. Their position on the list can change with their next podium — turn on "Active drivers only" to surface them.

Where does Alesi’s one win come from?

The 1995 Canadian Grand Prix, driving for Ferrari from fifth on the grid. It was his 91st start. It was also his 31st birthday. He retired six years later having added 17 more podiums but no second win.

How current is this data?

Figures are as of Round 4 of the 2026 season (the Miami Grand Prix). The page reads from the live Racemate database and refreshes hourly, so it updates automatically as the season progresses and as drivers like Gasly or Ocon either take a second win or add more podiums.

More stats from the Racemate F1 database: career win rate of every 2026 driver · only 11 champions ever defended their title · Canadian GP — every driver’s record.