F1 lap record: the fastest lap in F1 history and every circuit’s record

What is a lap record

A circuit’s lap record is the fastest lap set in a race on its current layout. Qualifying and practice laps don’t count, even though they are usually faster. At Monza in 2025 pole was taken with a 1:18.792, while the best lap of the race was 2.1 seconds slower, a 1:20.901.

This is also how Formula 1 shows the records on its event pages: for Monza it lists a race lap, Lando Norris’s 1:20.901 from 2025. On Gridlap’s circuit pages the record is worked out the same way from the f1db database — see, for example, the Monza page.

One reason why a race is slower than qualifying is fuel: a car carries all the fuel for the distance from the start, as there has been no refuelling since 2010. More on this in the pit stop article.

When a circuit is rebuilt, the record starts again from scratch. That is why the records are recent at Melbourne, where the layout changed in 2022, and at Barcelona and Singapore, which have had new layouts since 2023.

The fastest lap in history

The fastest race lap is 1:20.901, set by Lando Norris at the Italian Grand Prix on 7 September 2025: an average of 257.78 km/h. In qualifying the day before, Max Verstappen did a lap faster still, a 1:18.792, which the FIA classification gives as 264.681 km/h.

A lap’s average speed is its length divided by its time. Compare the best laps of every championship race since 1950 this way, and Monza takes the top 15 places. Norris set his time on the 53rd and final lap. The previous record for the average speed of a race lap stood for 21 years: Rubens Barrichello’s 1:21.046 for Ferrari in 2004, 257.32 km/h.

The top five of this comparison:

Verstappen’s lap earned him pole. In its qualifying report Formula 1 called it “a new lap record time”, but the Monza record on its event page is Norris’s race lap. For comparison, Lewis Hamilton’s pole lap at Monza in 2020 was 1:18.887, 264.362 km/h.

Speed on the straight is a separate record, covered in the top speed article.

Lap records at the 2026 circuits

Below are the records of all 23 circuits on the 2026 calendar as of 29 September 2026, after 15 rounds. The record is the fastest race lap on the circuit’s current layout, according to f1db.

The oldest record on the calendar is at Shanghai: Michael Schumacher’s 1:32.238 has stood since 2004. Lewis Hamilton holds the most records, four; Charles Leclerc, Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen have three each.

The Red Bull Ring record was set at the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix, the second of the two races held at the circuit that season. The Formula 1 website shows a different record for Austria: Oscar Piastri’s 1:07.924 from 2025. Since 2025 Formula 1 has given the lap length as 4.326 km instead of the previous 4.318 km, and it shows the record from that year on. On the 2024 event page, Sainz’s 1:05.619 still stood as the record. In f1db the layout has been the same since 2020, so by our database the record is Sainz’s lap.

The Sepang record dates from the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix, the last race held there. According to the calendar, the Bahrain Grand Prix will be held there on 4 October 2026.

Have any records fallen in 2026

No: in the 15 rounds of 2026 up to 26 September, not a single circuit record has been broken. The only new record of the season is at Madring: the race in Madrid was held for the first time, and George Russell’s 1:35.587 became the circuit’s first record.

Monza is the clearest example. The best race lap there in 2026 was Kimi Antonelli’s 1:23.504, 2.6 seconds slower than Norris’s record. Why cars built to the 2026 rules are slower on the fastest circuits is explained in the top speed article, and what changed in the rules in the article on the 2026 regulations.

Who has the most fastest laps

Michael Schumacher: as of the end of 2025 he has 77 fastest laps in races. The leaders:

The most in a single season is ten: by Schumacher in 2004 and by Räikkönen in 2005 and 2008. Among the teams from 1950 to 2025, Ferrari lead with 267 fastest laps, McLaren have 184 and Williams 134.

From the 1950s to the 1970s the fastest lap was sometimes shared by several drivers with the same time. At the 1954 British Grand Prix there were seven of them, and f1db credits the lap to each.

The 2021 Belgian Grand Prix has no fastest lap at all in f1db: the race was stopped because of the weather, and the classification was drawn up after one lap.

Pole, the win and the fastest lap in one race make a hat-trick, covered in the pole position article. There has been no point for the fastest lap since 2025; how it used to be awarded is explained in the points article.