Has An F1 Driver Ever Won Le Mans?

  • Yes: at least 60 Formula 1 drivers have gone on to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans outright, most recently Nyck de Vries and Kamui Kobayashi, who shared victory for Toyota in 2026.
  • Only five drivers have won both an F1 World Championship and Le Mans overall: Mike Hawthorn, Phil Hill, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt and Fernando Alonso.
  • Graham Hill’s 1972 Le Mans win completed the unofficial Triple Crown of Motorsport (Monaco, the Indianapolis 500 and Le Mans), a feat no other driver has matched since.

Formula 1 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans are two of the most prestigious and challenging motorsport events in the world. While the two competitions are quite different in nature, there have been several drivers who have successfully competed in both. In fact, at least 60 F1 drivers have also claimed outright victory at the iconic Le Mans endurance race, most recently Nyck de Vries and Kamui Kobayashi, who won together for Toyota in 2026. Among these, five exceptional drivers have achieved the remarkable feat of winning both an F1 World Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Elite Five: F1 Champions and Le Mans Winners

  1. Mike Hawthorn (F1 Champion: 1958, Le Mans Winner: 1955) Mike Hawthorn won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1955 with Ivor Bueb in a Jaguar D-Type. Three years later he became F1 World Champion, the first driver to win both.
  2. Phil Hill (F1 Champion: 1961, Le Mans Winner: 1958, 1961, 1962) Phil Hill won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times, in 1958, 1961 and 1962. In 1961 he also won the F1 World Championship, joining the elite group of drivers who have won both.
  3. Graham Hill (F1 Champion: 1962, 1968, Le Mans Winner: 1972) Nicknamed “Mr. Monaco” for his five wins at the Monaco Grand Prix, Graham Hill’s racing skills went beyond F1. In 1972 he added the 24 Hours of Le Mans to his CV, driving a Matra-Simca MS670 with Henri Pescarolo. Combined with his 1966 Indianapolis 500 win, that victory completed the Triple Crown of Motorsport, a feat still unmatched by any other driver.
  4. Jochen Rindt (F1 Champion: 1970, Le Mans Winner: 1965) Jochen Rindt’s life was cut short when he died in practice for the 1970 Italian Grand Prix. Earlier in his career he had already won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1965 with Masten Gregory in a Ferrari 250LM.
  5. Fernando Alonso (F1 Champion: 2005, 2006, Le Mans Winner: 2018, 2019) Two-time F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso made the transition to endurance racing and won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2018 and 2019 with Toyota Gazoo Racing. No driver has joined this group since, though Alonso himself has come close to the Triple Crown, still needing an Indianapolis 500 win to complete it.

Formula 1 Drivers and Their Le Mans Wins

Below is a list of Formula 1 drivers who have also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans outright, organised alphabetically by surname, with the years they won:

  • Michele Alboreto: 1997
  • Fernando Alonso: 2018, 2019
  • Chris Amon: 1966
  • Richard Attwood: 1970
  • Paolo Barilla: 1985
  • Derek Bell: 1975, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1987
  • Lucien Bianchi: 1968
  • Mark Blundell: 1992
  • David Brabham: 2009
  • Geoff Brabham: 1993
  • Martin Brundle: 1990
  • Ivor Bueb: 1955, 1957
  • Sébastien Buemi: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022
  • Yannick Dalmas: 1992, 1994, 1995, 1999
  • Nyck de Vries: 2026
  • Johnny Dumfries: 1988
  • Bertrand Gachot: 1991
  • Olivier Gendebien: 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962
  • Marc Gené: 2009
  • Antonio Giovinazzi: 2023
  • José Froilán González: 1954
  • Masten Gregory: 1965
  • Dan Gurney: 1967
  • Duncan Hamilton: 1953
  • Brendon Hartley: 2017, 2022, 2023
  • Mike Hawthorn: 1955
  • Johnny Herbert: 1991
  • Phil Hill: 1958, 1961, 1962
  • Graham Hill: 1972
  • Nico Hülkenberg: 2015
  • Jacky Ickx: 1969, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1981, 1982
  • Kamui Kobayashi: 2021, 2026
  • Robert Kubica: 2025
  • Jan Lammers: 1988
  • Gérard Larrousse: 1973, 1974
  • JJ Lehto: 1995, 2005
  • André Lotterer: 2011, 2012, 2014
  • Helmut Marko: 1971
  • Pierluigi Martini: 1999
  • Jochen Mass: 1989
  • Bruce McLaren: 1966
  • Allan McNish: 1998, 2008
  • Kazuki Nakajima: 2018, 2019, 2020
  • Jackie Oliver: 1969
  • Henri Pescarolo: 1972, 1973, 1974, 1984
  • Didier Pironi: 1978
  • Emanuele Pirro: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007
  • Jochen Rindt: 1965
  • Pedro Rodríguez: 1968
  • Tony Rolt: 1953
  • Roy Salvadori: 1959
  • Ludovico Scarfiotti: 1963
  • Vern Schuppan: 1983
  • Carroll Shelby: 1959
  • Hans-Joachim Stuck: 1986, 1987
  • Nino Vaccarella: 1964
  • Derek Warwick: 1992
  • Volker Weidler: 1991
  • Peter Whitehead: 1951
  • Alexander Wurz: 1996, 2009

Toyota’s Latest Le Mans Winners Join the Club

The 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans added two more names to this list. Nyck de Vries, who started 11 Grands Prix for Williams and AlphaTauri in 2022 and 2023, took his maiden Le Mans win alongside Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway in the Toyota GR010 Hybrid, beating a BMW M Hybrid V8 by just 11 seconds. It was Toyota’s first Le Mans victory in four years, and a redemption story for de Vries, who was dropped by AlphaTauri partway through the 2023 F1 season. Kobayashi, who raced in F1 for Toyota, Sauber and Caterham between 2009 and 2014 and famously held off Jenson Button for a podium at his home race in 2012, became a two-time Le Mans winner, having also won in 2021 with the same team.

That 2026 result followed Robert Kubica’s win for Ferrari’s AF Corse squad in 2025, alongside Phil Hanson and Yifei Ye, which made him the first Polish driver to win Le Mans outright. Kubica’s own F1 career spanned BMW Sauber, Renault, Williams and Alfa Romeo across three separate stints between 2006 and 2021, either side of the rally crash that nearly ended his career.

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Source:

List of 24 Hours of Le Mans winners — Wikipedia

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Jack Renn

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Jack Renn

Jack Renn is an editor at F1 Chronicle and a veteran motorsport journalist with 25 years of experience covering Formula 1 and international motorsport. A member of the Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive (AIPS), the global body representing accredited sports journalists, Jack has spent his career reporting from paddocks and press rooms across the F1 calendar. His work spans race analysis, technical insight, and in-depth features, giving readers authoritative coverage grounded in decades of firsthand experience at the highest level of the sport.

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