As the 2024 Formula 1 season takes a short break between last Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix and the Canadian race in Montreal next weekend, some of the drivers might try to rest and recuperate a little more than others. Being the two oldest drivers in the field, Fernando Alonso (shown in the opening image ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri at the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix) and Lewis Hamilton , ages 42 and 39, respectively, might be excused for needing an extra nap or two before the gladiatorial jousting begins again in this grueling 24-race gauntlet . In a series where mental and physical reactions must be immediate and razor sharp, and the wisdom of experience is balanced against the need for sudden moves to negotiate a passing maneuver at near 200 mph, the ideal age for a racing driver has again taken center stage this season.
After decades in which the average age of a Formula 1 racer moved steadily lower, this year sees teams drawing from both ends of the spectrum, with one of the youngest participants ever and a handful of the oldest in modern times lining up together on the starting grid. Step back a moment to the first Formula 1 race: The average age of the 26 drivers in that 1950 British Grand Prix was 35. The youngest was 29, the oldest was 53.
This year, the average age is 29, with the oldest being 42 and the youngest 23 (not counting an 18-year-old in one race). But while 13 of today’s drivers are in their 20s, there was only one in 1950, with six in their 40s, and .