Now, that is some serious company. Max Verstappen has officially stamped his name into a very exclusive club by topping Saturday's Qualifying session at the Singapore Grand Prix, banking his 50th pole position in Formula 1. Only five drivers in the entire history of the sport have ever reached this stunning landmark, and looking at the legends who made it here first makes for wild reading.
Sebastian Vettel sits on 57 pole positions, and he was the last man to enter this exact territory when he clinched his 50th at the 2017 Mexico City Grand Prix. Vettel's journey started back at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, where he became the sport's then-youngest ever polesitter aged just 21 years and two months—a record he held until it was broken by a certain Kimi Antonelli this season. After climbing from the junior outfit Toro Rosso to the main Red Bull squad, the German grabbed 44 more poles alongside four World Championships. He eventually pushed his final tally to 57 with his last pole at the 2019 Japanese Grand Prix after his switch to Ferrari.
Then there is Ayrton Senna with 65 pole positions, an icon of the sport who started making waves with Toleman in 1984 before really exploding into life after joining Lotus. His maiden pole in Portugal sparked his first win, but the bulk of his historic numbers came during his partnership with McLaren between 1988 and 1993. It was at the 1990 Spanish Grand Prix—the year he claimed his second of three World Championships—that Senna bagged his 50th pole. He reached 62 before moving to Williams in 1994, adding three more before the tragic weekend at the San Marino Grand Prix.
Michael Schumacher rewrote the record books to eventually surpass Senna, finishing his career with 68 pole positions. After an eye-catching debut for Jordan at the 1991 Belgian Grand Prix, he was snapped up by Benetton, eventually taking his first pole at the 1994 Monaco Grand Prix. His 50th pole landed at Japan's Suzuka Circuit in 2002 during his dominant era with Ferrari, and his final 68th pole came at the 2006 French Grand Prix (though he also topped Q3 at Monaco in 2012 for Mercedes before a grid penalty dropped him to sixth).
Finally, Lewis Hamilton leads the entire chart by a staggering margin with 104 pole positions. Hamilton grabbed his first pole during his rookie 2007 season with McLaren at the Canadian Grand Prix, racking up 26 before his move to Mercedes. His milestone 50th pole arrived at the 2016 Australian Grand Prix, and a year later at Italy's Monza circuit, he surpassed Schumacher to take the all-time record, pushing his tally to a whopping 104 at the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix. While he has scored more than one Sprint pole since his blockbuster move to Ferrari, a Grand Prix pole has not yet happened for him with the Scuderia.
