Who is the tallest Formula One driver? Our unique chart shows who towers over the rest of the paddock and who is smallest – with Lewis Hamilton left in the shade

Formula One drivers are required to keep in peak physical condition due to the huge toll their bodies take during a Grand Prix weekend. 

Drivers are subjected of forces up to 5G, extreme heat, and have to maintain extraordinary levels of concentration. 

To be up to the task, they need to maintain intense training regimes. They also must stick to an extremely strict diet to make sure they are not overweight or underweight come the end of a race, or they risk being disqualified.

Unlike in many other sports, height is not a decisive factor – provided you can at least reach the pedal.

So, how does that transform onto the grid and what is the disparity in height between the various drivers? 

As you’ll see below, none of them are of superhuman height, giving hope to us all that we, too, might one day be earning £50million per day. 

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Esteban Ocon (6’1) 

Ocon takes the honour of being the joint-tallest driver on the grid, coming in at a height of 6’1.

The Frenchman is now in his ninth season of full-time F1 racing and has enjoyed an impressive start to life for Haas, who have struggled in recent years. 

He also has a history of fractious relationships with team-mates, so being tall might be an advantage!

Alex Albon (6’1)

Taking joint-first-place in this list Mr Albon, a man so destined for Formula One racing that the first word he ever said was… Ferrari. 

He’s part of a renewed Williams team who, for the first time in a few years, are challenging for a top-half finish.

A fun fact about Albon is that he has a lot of pets and even has an Instagram account devoted to them. As of last June, he had 12 cats, two horses, and one dog.

George Russell (6’0)

While he’s not quite the tallest man on the track, English gentleman Russell’s size has been an issue for him before. 

When he stepped in for Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes for the 2020 Sakhir GP, he had to wear boots one size smaller than usual to fit in the Mercedes W11 car in what he called a ‘tight squeeze’. 

Now the lead driver for the Silver Arrows and partnered by Kimi Antonelli, Russell sits fourth in the Drivers’ Standings on more than double the points of Ferrari defector Hamilton. 

Nico Hulkenberg (6’0)

It’s only appropriate that a man nicknamed ‘the Hulk’ is one of the tallest men on the grid. 

The German is really leaning into the nickname by driving for Kick Sauber, who have a fluorescent green livery.

Now 232 starts deep into his F1 career, Hulkenberg, 37, is a respected veteran but holds the record for the most races without a win.  He is believed to be celebrating his ten-year anniversary with his Lithuanian fashion designer girlfriend Egle Ruskyte this year.

Oliver Bearman (6’0)

Continuing on the trend of nominative determinism, it’s no surprise to see Bearman lugging it out with the biggest beasts of the sport. 

Bearman is the youngest Englishman ever to race in F1, having made his bow for Ferrari aged 18 last year, finishing seventh. Crucially, that he’s still a teenager means there’s still time to grow!

His cameos last campaign were enough to win the trust of Haas, who have given him his first permanent seat and where he has made a solid start. 

Gabriel Bortoleto (6’0)

Again wreathed in the green livery of Kick Sauber, Bortoleto is another member of Formula One’s over 6ft club.

The Brazilian left his family in his homeland aged 11 to come to Europe and pursue his dream of racing, so it’s good that paid off. However, he is settled and has been with his computer scientist girlfriend Isabella Bernardini for since their mid-late teens. 

He’s yet to score a point, but after winning the F3 and F2 championships, and with a fine personal hero in Fernando Alonso – who welcomed him at his karting track to talk and play padel last year – he’ll see the sky as the limit.  

Jack Doohan (6’0)

Here’s another young’un batting at the top end of the height table.

Doohan, 22, once declared himself ‘fluent in sarcasm’ and is now learning the language of elite racing with Alpine, though he is yet to score a point in his debut campaign. 

Away from the track, mental health is a big thing for him and he wants the phrase ‘Doohan Ok’ to normalise reaching out for help (try saying that in an Aussie accent and you’ll see what he’s getting at).

Lance Stroll (5’11)

Finally we’re out of the six foot territory and the first chap to fall short is Stroll. 

Then again, he’s got a history of shortening. His real name is actually Lance Strulovitch, which reflects his Russian roots, though we all know him by Stroll. 

The Aston Martin star is having a pretty typical year for him, sitting 10th on the grid with 10 points. He has faced much criticism for being the son of billionaire Lawrence Stroll, who partly owns Aston Martin, but has been a reliable finisher in his nine years of F1 action. 

Max Verstappen (5’11)

Four-time champion Verstappen can do just about anything so it wouldn’t surprise me if he was miraculously 6′ 10″ this time next year.

He made his debut at a record young age at 17 and has been tearing up the record books ever since. This path was written for him – his father, Jos, was an F1 driver as well and started his son karting aged four, making him do up to 100,000km per year.

His stranglehold on the Drivers’ Championship is under severe threat this year, though, with McLaren speedsters Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris ahead of him.  This year requires more of his focus to be off track as his girlfriend Kelly Piquet has given birth to baby Lily, though he is still set to race in the Miami grand Prix this weekend. 

Charles Leclerc (5’10) 

Ferrari star Leclerc is a true creative. 

When he’s not zooming past you at 180mph, he’s composing music on his piano – he taught himself over lockdown – or building his ice cream brand, Lec. He is also set to bring out a fashion collection with Ferrari style. 

He’s having a decent year on the track, sitting fifth in the standings with the Scuderia, though he and team-mate Hamilton will hope to get closer to the front of the grid. 

Oscar Piastri (5’10)

This year was meant to be all about Lando Norris but it’s actually his McLaren buddy Piastri who leads the way so far.

Perhaps it’s his natural trajectory – the Australian is the only man to win the three championships below F1 consecutively, so he’s used to silverware. He’s already won three of five races this year – more than his previous career haul of two. 

His manager is fellow Aussie and former F1 star Mark Webber, who knows what it’s like to get agonisingly close to a title and has plenty of wisdom to pass on to his protege.

Norris met his girlfriend Lily Zneimer aged 14 at boarding school in Hertfordshire and she is reportedly an engineering graduate. 

Carlos Sainz Jr (5’10)

Sainz is rebuilding his career at Williams after rather unceremoniously being dumped by Ferrari for Lewis Hamilton after four seasons of reliable service. 

Son of rally driver Carlos Sainz Sr, he has won four races down the years. He also has a high-profile relationship with supermodel Rebecca Donaldson. 

Interestingly, the name Sainz is derived from the medieval Sancho, so who knows, maybe he is distantly related to footballer Jadon. 

Pierre Gasly (5’9)

Whatever happens in Gasly’s career, he will be the the holder of one of the most extraordinary wins in recent F1 history.

His remarkable win at Monza in 2020 will live long in the memory and was the first time someone outside a Big Three team had won since 2014. 

Ever since, the Alpine star and Zinedine Zidane fanatic (his racing number, 10, is partly inspired by the World Cup winner) has been part of the furniture in the middle of the grid.  

Lewis Hamilton (5’8)

We could write thousands of words of interesting things about Hamilton, though he wants the bulk of his talking to be done on the track with new side Ferrari.

Hamilton is desperate to win a record eighth world title to pull clear of Michael Schumacher, and described it as a childhood dream to race for Ferrari. Earning £50m a season isn’t bad either. 

When he’s not flicking his Prancing Horse around the circuit, he’s got plenty of business ventures to work on, with a collapsing vegan burger chain, a film production company, and a non-alcoholic spirit brand, to name a few. 

Liam Lawson (5’8)

Liam Lawson made headlines this season after he was dropped by Red Bull after just two races and demoted to Racing Bulls, though his replacement Yuki Tsunoda hasn’t fared much better.

The New Zealander subsequently opened up on how it had been his childhood dream to race in F1, even sharing a tear-jerking photo of him having drawn his future self as Formula One racer in school. 

When he’s not driving, Lawson enjoys travelling with his girlfriend Hannah St. John and playing the guitar.  

Kimi Antonelli (5’8)

Antonelli has taken to F1 life like a duck to water and is currently ahead of the man he replaced, Hamilton, at Mercedes. 

The 18-year-old Italian only passed his driving test in January but has put in lots of impressive performances, including a fourth-placed finish in the first race of the season in Australia. 

He has been likened to a young Verstappen and Mercedes have seen his potential for a long-time, having signed him to their Junior Programme in 2019.

The teenager became the youngest driver to take pole in a F1 sprint event on Friday. 

Fernando Alonso (5’7)

One of the grandmasters of Formula One, Alonso has two Drivers’ Championship titles to his name from his days with Renault, though he’s not having an easy ride with Aston Martin this season.

Aged 43, he’s the oldest current F1 star, although he has a long way to go to reach the record books. In the 1950s, lots of drivers were in their 50s, and Louis Chiron holds the record at 55 years, 292 days. 

Aston Martin calculated that Alonso’s career has seen him travel more than two million kilometres – 50 times the circumference of the earth! Cultured. 

Lando Norris (5’6)

Norris will hope that after much patience with McLaren, this will be his crowning season where he finally topples Verstappen.

Believe it or not, he’s already in his seventh season, but the last two have seen him catapult into contention with five race wins. 

Norris has a wide range of hobbies. An avid gamer, Norris has founded an esports team, Quadrant, while he also plays guitar, piano, drums, and golf. 

Isack Hadjar (5’6)

Rookie Hadjar made a poor first impression when he lost control of his car and crashed on the formation last of the first race of the season, meaning he was unable to compete. 

Ever since, the Racing Bulls starlet has been so impressive, scoring points twice, that some fans have even called for him to replace Tsunoda at Red Bull (cut-throat sport, eh?).

He is a self-aware man, previously describing himself as ‘kind, short and fast’. The Pixar film Cars inspired his love for motorsport. 

Yuki Tsunoda (5’2) 

Shortest of them all is Tsunoda, who is occasionally the butt of jokes from his fellow drivers due to his diminutive height. When speaking about seeing a figurine version of himself in one press conference, Sainz interjected: ‘You just saw yourself in the mirror!’

The Japanese star has finally got his big break at Red Bull after years with their feeder team although he has struggled so far, only scoring two points in three races. 

Outside of racing, Tsunoda loves food. In one video where the F1 drivers were asked their dream, every one said to win the Drivers’ Championship besides Tsunoda, who said that his was to open a restaurant.