At the heart of it, the sport of F1 is about speed. Cornering speeds and aerodynamics may be equally as important, but it is raw top speed that makes the heart race. It is what brings fans to the TV screens. Over 75 years of this sport’s existence, the cars have only gotten quicker. But what is the fastest an F1 car has ever gone?
Circuits that have longer straights force teams to go for low-downforce setups. This means higher top speeds. So it is relatively normal for F1 cars to clock in speeds of over 350 km/h at certain tracks. But what is the record for the fastest ever speed reached in F1?
What is the official F1 top-speed record?
The answer lies in a record set in 2016. This is still unbeaten nearly a decade later.
The fastest top speed ever recorded during a F1 race belongs to Valtteri Bottas, who reached an astonishing 372.6 km/h (231.4 mph) at the 2016 Mexican Grand Prix. Driving for Williams, powered by a Mercedes engine, Bottas hit the speed on the main straight at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
Mexico City has always aided high top speeds. The city sits at an altitude of over 2,200 meter above sea level. This means thinner air and less drag. This is why teams usually opt for a low-downforce setup around the circuit, resulting in higher top speeds.
What makes the achievement even more special is that the speed was officially clocked during the race itself, and not in practice or qualifying.
What about practice or qualifying?
Bottas also has a claim to the fastest speed ever recorded during any F1 session. The Finn hit a top speed of 378 km/h (234.9 mph) during qualifying for the 2016 European GP in Baku.
Williams claim this speed, as they recorded this figure using their internal telemetry. But the FIA’s speed trap registered a slightly lower speed of around 366 km/h. Hence, this is largely considered to be the unofficial fastest speed ever achieved during an F1 sessions.
In 2005, Juan Pablo Montoya also reached a top speed of 372.6 km/h (231.5 mph) in his McLaren-Mercedes. The Colombian driver achieved this during a test session at the Monza circuit in Italy.
In more recent years though, no car has reached close to the Bottas-Williams record from 2016. This is because modern F1 cars feature more on downforce. This is because teams want to be the quickest in the slower corners, rather than achieve the maximum top speed on the straights.
Interestingly, the fastest an F1 car has ever gone is 397.36 km/h (246.9 mph). This was when Honda modified an F1 car and took it to the Bonneville Salt Flats in the USA. The car was fitted with special aero gear and tires, for the sole purpose of clocking a top speed.
This obviously does not count as a record within the sport though. It was not part of an F1 weekend, or official session.
