Last weekend, Carlos Sainz not only celebrated his debut F1 victory but also made history. Before winning the first victory, the Spaniard needed to make 150 races – the second most in the history of Formula 1. Here are the drivers who needed the most starts to win their debut victory in F1.
Mark Webber – 130th Race
For a long time, it was Webber who was the owner of the longest path to the first victory in F-1. The key to Mark’s career was the move to Red Bull, which predetermined the Australian’s future prospects. In 2009, Adrian Newey managed to build a combat-ready car for the bulls – for the eighth season of his stay in Formula 1, Webber got at his disposal a car capable of fighting for the highest places.
The racing weekend at the Nürburgring. On Saturday, he took his first pole position in F1, and already on Sunday, he rushed to his debut victory. At the start, Webber fought quite aggressively with Barrichello – so much so that a little later he would get a ride in the pit lane for this. However, the penalties did not really shake Mark’s chances for final success. Webber confidently spent the rest of the distance and crossed the finish line first, thus setting a very original achievement. You can compare this achievement to winning a massive amount of funds on the casinochan.com/en-AU website. No one thought that everything would turn out this way.
Carlos Sainz – 150th Race
Carlos could have won his debut victory in F1 back in 2020. At the end of the crazy race in Monza, the Spaniard pursued Gasly, who was in the lead but failed to keep up with the Alpha Tauri pilot.
With the start of this season, it turned out that Sainz did not fail with the transition to Ferrari: the Italians managed to build perhaps the fastest car in the peloton. However, despite the high pace of the red cars, it is not so easy for Carlos to fight for victories: Maranello has long decided on the team leader, and the Spaniard can fight for victories only if Leclerc has problems. After the restart, Sainz easily dealt with his partner, and while the Monegasque heroically restrained Perez and Hamilton, Carlos was going towards his debut victory in F1.
Sergio Perez -190th Race
Absolute record holder, the pilot who spent the most races before the first victory. Interestingly, Sergio could climb the first step of the podium already at the beginning of his second season in F1. Driving a modest Sauber on a wet Malaysian track, Perez fought desperately with Alonso, but a mistake made at the end of the race crossed out the chances of the Mexican for debut success.
With his success at Sauber, Sergio attracted the attention of top teams. Ferrari and McLaren fought for Perez, and, unfortunately, the Mexican chose the latter. The cooperation between Perez and McLaren did not end with anything positive. The very next year, he joined the ranks of Force India. For the next few years, Sergio did not even think about fighting for victories – rare podiums remained the ultimate dream.
In 2020, the Mexican was even shown the door to make room for Sebastian Vettel. At the end of the season, it was not certain that Pérez would continue to compete in F1 next year. And against the backdrop of all this uncertainty, Checo grabbed his first victory.
The Grand Prix of Sakhir became a triumph for Perez, although the beginning of the race did not bode well for the Mexican: after the starting incident involving Leclerc and Verstappen, Checo rolled back to the end of the peloton. However, a heroic breakthrough, an unexpected performance from the Mercedes mechanics and the appearance of a safety car on the track allowed Perez to lead the peloton and, a few minutes later, win the most long-awaited victory in the history of Formula 1.
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