What is the quickest a Formula One car has ever gone and which is the fastest F1 car in the world
How could a car reach over 250 mph – and what is the speed record for a grand prix weekend?
Which Is The Fastest F1 Car In The World Ever: What Was Its Top Speed Record
In Formula One, speed is everything. Without it, you’re more likely to be at the rear of the pack and not competing for points. The sky’s the limit with it, and it’s up to you to extract more of it from the automobile and yourself than the other 19 people doing the same thing. Obviously, some do it better than others, but what is the all-time speed record for the quickest F1 car?
How did the fastest speed ever recorded escape a grand prix weekend?
THIS CURRENT RACER HOLDS THE SPEED RECORD FOR THE GRAND PRIX
Valtteri Bottas holds the record for the quickest lap of an F1 vehicle throughout a grand prix weekend. In practise for the 2016 European Grand Prix in Baku, the Finn set a lap time of 234.9mph while driving for Williams. That equates to 378km/h.
Drivers were unable to replicate Bottas’s pace with the larger tyres and draggier breed of cars introduced for the 2017 season, despite breaking the F1 average speed record during a single lap.
It happened during qualifying for the 2020 Italian Grand Prix, when Lewis Hamilton put the all-conquering Mercedes W11 on a comfortable pole position.
He completed the 3.600 mile Autodromo in 1m:18.887s, averaging 164.267mph or 264.362km/h. That time bested Kimi Raikkonen’s 1m:19.119s from the 2018 Italian Grand Prix.
THE FASTEST F1 CAR IN HISTORY
While Bottas holds the record for the fastest F1 vehicle on a grand prix weekend, he is not the absolute fastest.
Alan van der Merwe, a medical vehicle driver, is the recipient of this honour. In his previous life, van der Merwe was a Honda test driver, and in 2006, the firm set a goal of getting an F1 vehicle to 400km/h – or 248mph.
The crew attempted to meet the aim by driving a modified, unrestricted Honda 007 from 2005 to the Bonneville Salt Flats.
The car was the final of the monstrous V10 era, with the rear wing modified to work as a stabiliser on the salt – the same location that Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May visited for a Top Gear segment in road cars.
Runs have to be conducted across a mile route in both directions to exclude any benefit or hindrance from the wind. Van der Merwe achieved a top speed of 400.454km/h (248.830mph) on one run but was unable to duplicate it on the return.
The maximum speed and quickest an F1 vehicle has ever gone is officially 397.360km/h – 246.908mph.
Unofficially, van der Merwe was able to push the Honda to a stunning 413.205km/h – 256.753mph in one run.