There have been 58 Formula One drivers from the United States including two World Drivers' Championship winners, Mario Andretti and Phil Hill. Andretti is the most successful American Formula One driver having won 12 races, and only Eddie Cheever has started more Grands Prix.
While many drivers from the United States have competed in the Formula One World Championship, the vast majority only competed in the Indianapolis 500, which was part of the World Championship between and . Another 56 American drivers competed in F1 races other than the Indy 500. , the most recent American race winner remains Mario Andretti, who won the 1978 Dutch Grand Prix.
Statistics
Statistics for the number of American drivers to have taken part in Formula One are convoluted by inclusion of the Indianapolis 500 in the 1950s. At the time the race was accepted as being part of the Formula One World Championship, even though very few teams or drivers from Europe participated at the event. Several American drivers only ever competed in that race and, if included in the overall statistics, it means that 233 drivers have been entered for a Formula One event since 1950. There have been only 19 American racers who contested 10 or more events.
The drivers' title has been won twice for the United States, with Phil Hill winning in 1961 and Mario Andretti being victorious in 1978.
Andretti was the last American driver to win a race in Formula One – the 1978 Dutch Grand Prix. If every Formula One event is taken into consideration there have been 15 race winners, with five having won more than one race.
The most recent driver to have raced as an American is Logan Sargeant, who was signed to Williams Grand Prix Engineering for the 2023 season.
Current driver
Logan Sargeant made his Formula One debut for Williams at the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix.
Former drivers
Notable former drivers
Mario Andretti is the most successful Formula One driver to drive as an American, but he did not leave his native Italy until the age of 15. He raced in IndyCars from 1964 and, from 1968, spent time commuting to Europe to make appearances in Formula One races. Between his debut with Lotus at the 1968 Italian Grand Prix and the end of the 1974 season Andretti started 21 of the 84 races, driving for four teams. His first race with Ferrari brought about his first win – the 1971 South African Grand Prix. Andretti eventually decided to sign up as a full-time driver with Parnelli in 1975, but after a little over two seasons and no real success the team withdrew from Formula One. He signed with Lotus for the remainder of the season and, by the end of the year, was beginning to achieve some good results including a win at the 1976 Japanese Grand Prix. The car proved fast but unreliable for the following season, and Andretti's four wins took him up to third in the championship. With the problems solved for the following year he was able to win six races and the drivers' title. The decisive victory came at the 1978 Italian Grand Prix, but the race also saw the death of teammate Ronnie Peterson after a crash at the start. Andretti drove for three more seasons, but achieved only one more podium finish and was at best 12th in the championship. He retired from Formula One in 1981 but returned to Ferrari for the final two races of 1982 following an injury to Didier Pironi, some weeks after the death of Ferrari driver Gilles Villeneuve. Out of 128 F1 race starts Andretti finished on the podium 19 times, 12 of which were on the top step.
Phil Hill is the only American-born Formula One champion. He won with Ferrari in 1961 after having had a season-long battle for top spot with teammate Wolfgang von Trips. Hill's win at the 1961 Italian Grand Prix secured the drivers' title for the American but, after passing the chequered flag and returning to the pits, he discovered that his close rival had died in an accident during the race. The collision between von Trips and Jim Clark's Lotus also killed 15 spectators – Hill's victory coincided with the worst tragedy in Formula One history. During his Formula One career Hill started 48 races and won just three events, the joint lowest of any world champion alongside Briton Mike Hawthorn.