Nico Hulkenberg finally scores first F1 podium: who holds the record for most races without a podium now?. Nico Hulkenberg ended his long wait for a first Formula 1 podium at the 2025 British GP.

Nico Hulkenberg has finally achieved a major career milestone by securing his very first Formula 1 podium, thereby ending his unfortunate record for the most races started without ever finishing in the top three. But now, who holds that record?

At the 2025 British Grand Prix held at Silverstone, Nico Hulkenberg broke his long streak without a podium finish, giving the Sauber Formula 1 team their first podium since the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix. More importantly, it marked the long-awaited and highly celebrated first podium in Formula 1 for the German driver.

Nico Hulkenberg achieved this milestone on his 239th career start—a new record for the highest number of races completed before reaching a podium. This places him at the very top of an unusual but notable statistic within Formula 1 history.

Following Hulkenberg in this particular ranking is Carlos Sainz Jr., who earned his first podium in Brazil in 2019 during his 101st race start. Third on the list is Martin Brundle, who reached his first podium at the 1992 French Grand Prix during his 85th start. Behind him are notable names such as Mika Salo (72nd start at the 1999 German Grand Prix), Johnny Herbert (67th start at the 1995 Spanish Grand Prix), Jenson Button (68th start at the 2004 Malaysian Grand Prix), Pedro De La Rosa (66th start at the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix), Esteban Ocon (66th start at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix), Gianni Morbidelli (60th start at the 1995 Australian Grand Prix), and Felipe Massa (57th start at the 2006 European Grand Prix). These ten drivers make up the list of the longest waits before their first Formula 1 podiums.

Most Formula 1 Races Without Ever Reaching the Podium: Adrian Sutil Now Holds the Unwanted Record

With Hulkenberg finally breaking his negative streak, the record for the most Formula 1 race starts without ever finishing on the podium now belongs to Adrian Sutil.

Also German, Adrian Sutil competed in Formula 1 for seven seasons between 2007 and 2014, skipping 2012, and totaled 128 race starts. Despite several competitive drives, Sutil never quite made it to the podium. His best career result was a fourth-place finish at the 2009 Italian Grand Prix—a near miss that remains the closest he came to a top-three finish.

Behind Sutil in this record are other drivers who never stood on a Formula 1 podium despite many starts. Pierluigi Martini ranks second with 119 starts, also never finishing higher than fourth. Third on this list is Philippe Alliot with 109 starts. Fourth is current Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda, who has 99 race starts and a career-best fourth place at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Following him are Pedro Diniz with 98 starts, Marcus Ericsson and Ukyo Katayama with 97 starts each, Jonathan Palmer and Marc Surer with 88 starts apiece, and Vitantonio Liuzzi rounding out the top ten with 80 starts without a podium finish.