The Ten Formula One Drivers From New Zealand

Formula 1 drivers from New Zealand have been part of the sport since its earliest decades, and the country’s contribution to Grand Prix racing is disproportionate to its population of five million. Between 1959 and 1984, eight Kiwi drivers started at least one world championship race. The list includes a world champion, the founder of one of the sport’s most successful teams, and a driver whose mechanical misfortune became so legendary that Mario Andretti once joked “if Chris Amon became an undertaker, people would stop dying.” After a 33-year absence from the grid, New Zealand’s motorsport identity in Formula 1 was revived by Brendon Hartley in 2017 and has been carried forward by Liam Lawson, who is now established as a full-time competitor in the 2026 season.

What connects every New Zealand driver on this list is the path they took to reach Formula 1. None came from a country with a domestic Grand Prix or a well-funded single-seater ladder. Most left home as teenagers, travelling to Europe or Australia to race in unfamiliar categories on unfamiliar circuits, funded by family savings and small sponsorships. The talent was never in question. The infrastructure to develop it was, and that makes the achievements of the drivers below all the more significant.

Denny Hulme: New Zealand’s Only World Champion

Denis Clive Hulme remains the only New Zealander to win the Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship. He took the title in 1967 driving for the Brabham team, beating his own boss Jack Brabham by five points after victories at Monaco and the Nurburgring. Hulme had arrived in Europe in the early 1960s with little money, working as a mechanic in Brabham’s garage to fund his early racing career. That background shaped his approach to the sport. He was practical, understated, and allergic to self-promotion, earning the nickname “The Bear” for his gruff demeanour and physical toughness.

After winning the championship, Hulme moved to McLaren for 1968 and stayed for the remaining seven seasons of his career. He won six more races for the team and finished third in the championship standings in four consecutive years between 1968 and 1972. Across 112 Grand Prix starts, Hulme recorded eight victories, 33 podiums, and one pole position. His consistency was remarkable. In an era when mechanical failure ended more races than driver error, Hulme’s ability to nurse a car to the finish while maintaining competitive pace made him one of the most valuable drivers on the grid.

Hulme retired from Formula 1 at the end of 1974 and returned to New Zealand, where he continued to race in touring cars and sports cars. He died of a heart attack while competing in the Bathurst 1000 in October 1992, at the age of 56. He was still racing at a competitive level, which tells you everything about the kind of competitor he was.

Bruce McLaren: The Driver Who Built a Dynasty

Bruce McLaren is the most consequential Formula 1 driver New Zealand has ever produced, not because of his race victories, though he had four, but because of what he built. McLaren won the United States Grand Prix at Sebring in 1959 at the age of 22, making him the youngest race winner in Formula 1 history at the time. That record stood for 44 years until Fernando Alonso broke it at the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix.

McLaren’s driving career was consistently strong without being dominant. He finished second in the 1960 World Championship driving for Cooper and won the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix for his own team, but it was his work as an engineer, designer, and team owner that set him apart from every other driver of his generation. He co-founded Bruce McLaren Motor Racing in 1963 with Teddy Mayer, and the team that bears his name has gone on to win 10 constructors’ championships, 13 drivers’ titles, and over 180 Grand Prix victories. It is the second most successful team in Formula 1 history behind Ferrari.

McLaren was killed on 2 June 1970 at the age of 32 while testing a Can-Am car at Goodwood Circuit in England. He never saw the team he created reach the heights it would achieve under subsequent leadership, but every McLaren victory since carries his name. As he wrote in his autobiography, published the year before his death, “to do something well is so worthwhile that to die trying to do it better cannot be foolhardy.”

Chris Amon: The Greatest Driver Never to Win a Grand Prix

Chris Amon started 96 Grands Prix across 14 seasons for 13 different teams and never won a single one. That statistic, on its own, does not begin to describe his career. Amon was fast enough to be signed by Ferrari in 1967, where he finished fifth in the championship and won the 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside Bruce McLaren the year before. He led races repeatedly. He set fastest laps. He qualified on the front row. And then something would break.

The list of mechanical failures that cost Amon almost-certain victories is extraordinary even by the standards of an era when reliability was poor for everyone. Fuel systems failed while he led. Transmissions broke in the closing laps. At the 1968 British Grand Prix, he was leading comfortably when his car’s visor mechanism jammed, forcing him to slow down and finish second. At the 1972 French Grand Prix, he was leading when a puncture dropped him out of contention. The pattern was so consistent and so cruel that it transcended bad luck and became part of his identity. Andretti’s undertaker joke was not made as an insult. It was made with genuine sympathy by a fellow driver who recognised how unfairly the sport had treated Amon.

Amon attempted to run his own Formula 1 team in 1974 but lacked the funding to make it competitive, and the car completed only two race entries. He retired from the sport entirely after 1976 and returned to farming in New Zealand. He died in 2016 at the age of 73, still widely regarded as the finest driver never to have stood on the top step of a Formula 1 podium.

Liam Lawson: New Zealand’s Modern F1 Representative

Liam Lawson is the first New Zealander to hold a full-time Formula 1 seat since Denny Hulme retired in 1974. Born in Hastings in 2002 and raised in Pukekohe, Lawson was racing karts by the age of seven and reportedly told his parents he intended to become a Formula 1 driver almost as soon as he could talk. He left New Zealand as a teenager to pursue his career in European single-seaters, winning races in Formula 3 and Formula 2 while serving as Red Bull’s reserve driver.

Lawson’s first taste of Formula 1 came as a substitute. When Daniel Ricciardo broke his hand at the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix, Lawson was called up to replace him at AlphaTauri and scored a point on his first weekend in Singapore. He was impressive enough in five substitute appearances that Red Bull promoted him to a full-time race seat for 2025, initially partnering Max Verstappen at the senior team. That promotion lasted two races. After a crash in qualifying at Melbourne and a difficult weekend in China, Red Bull swapped Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda, sending Lawson back to Racing Bulls from the Japanese Grand Prix onwards.

The demotion could have derailed his career, but Lawson responded with quiet determination. He scored his first points of the season at Monaco, recorded a career-best fifth place in Azerbaijan, and finished the season with 38 points across seven top-ten finishes, enough to place 14th in the standings. Red Bull retained him for 2026, where he now partners rookie Arvid Lindblad at Racing Bulls. At 24, Lawson is still developing, but the trajectory is upward and the opportunity to build a sustained career in Formula 1 is something no New Zealand driver has had since the early 1970s.

Brendon Hartley: The Driver Who Ended the 33-Year Wait

Before Lawson, the most recent New Zealand driver on the Formula 1 grid was Brendon Hartley, and his path to that seat was one of the most unconventional in modern F1. Hartley had been part of Red Bull’s junior programme as a teenager but was dropped in 2010 before ever reaching Formula 1. He pivoted to sports car racing and became a two-time FIA World Endurance Champion, winning the 2015 championship alongside Mark Webber and Timo Bernhard for Porsche and adding a Le Mans 24 Hours victory in 2017.

When Toro Rosso needed a replacement for the dropped Daniil Kvyat at the 2017 United States Grand Prix, they turned to Hartley, making him the first New Zealand driver to start a Formula 1 race in 33 years. He was retained for the full 2018 season but struggled to match teammate Pierre Gasly’s pace and was released at the end of the year with a best finish of ninth. Hartley’s single full season did not produce the results his talent deserved, but his place in New Zealand’s F1 history is secure as the driver who ended the country’s longest absence from the grid.

Mike Thackwell: The Youngest Starter Who Disappeared

Mike Thackwell holds one of the more unusual records in Formula 1 history. When he started the 1980 Canadian Grand Prix at the age of 19 years and 182 days, he became the youngest driver ever to compete in a world championship race. That record lasted until 2009, when Jaime Alguersuari broke it. Thackwell’s Grand Prix career, if it can be called that, consisted of just two starts. The Canadian race was stopped after a first-lap collision, and Thackwell was not allowed to restart in the spare car under the regulations of the time. His only other start came at the 1984 German Grand Prix, where he retired with engine failure.

Outside of Formula 1, Thackwell was genuinely exceptional. He won the European Formula Two Championship in 1984 and finished runner-up in International Formula 3000 in 1985. A more sustained F1 career seemed inevitable, but funding and opportunity never aligned. He was the last New Zealand driver to start a Grand Prix before Hartley’s arrival in 2017, and the 33-year gap between their starts remains the longest period in which any traditional motorsport nation has gone without representation on the Formula 1 grid.

The Complete List of New Zealand F1 Drivers

Beyond the six drivers profiled above, four other New Zealanders have started world championship Grands Prix. Tom Clark made a single start at the 1959 British Grand Prix. Tony Shelly started three races between 1962 and 1963. Howden Ganley started 35 races between 1971 and 1974, recording a best finish of fourth at the 1971 United States Grand Prix. And Graham McRae started one race at the 1973 British Grand Prix. Together with Hulme, McLaren, Amon, Thackwell, Hartley, and Lawson, they bring the total number of Formula 1 drivers from New Zealand to ten.

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New Zealand F1 Drivers FAQs

Has a New Zealand driver ever won the F1 World Championship?

Yes. Denny Hulme won the 1967 World Drivers’ Championship with the Brabham team, beating teammate and team owner Jack Brabham by five points. He remains the only New Zealander to win the title.

Why was there a 33-year gap between New Zealand F1 drivers?

Mike Thackwell’s last start came at the 1984 German Grand Prix, and the next New Zealand driver to race was Brendon Hartley at the 2017 United States Grand Prix. The gap reflects the difficulty of reaching Formula 1 from a country without a domestic single-seater ladder, limited sponsorship opportunities, and no Grand Prix of its own to generate commercial interest. Talented Kiwi drivers during that period tended to pursue careers in touring cars, sports cars, and the domestic V8 Supercars series rather than the expensive European single-seater pathway.

Is Liam Lawson still racing in Formula 1?

Yes. Lawson is racing for Racing Bulls in the 2026 Formula 1 season alongside rookie Arvid Lindblad. He joined the team full-time after being promoted through the Red Bull junior programme and remains part of the Red Bull driver pool.

Who is the most successful New Zealand F1 driver of all time?

By championship results, Denny Hulme is the most successful with one world title, eight race wins, and 33 podiums. By lasting impact on the sport, Bruce McLaren’s legacy as the founder of the McLaren team arguably surpasses any individual driver achievement. The team he created has won more than 180 Grands Prix and 23 combined drivers’ and constructors’ titles since his death in 1970.

Written by

George Howson

George Howson is an F1 Chronicle contributor and FIA accredited journalist with over 20 years of experience following Formula 1. A member of the AIPS International Sports Press Association, George has covered F1 races at circuits around the world, bringing deep knowledge and first-hand insight to every race report and analysis he writes.

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