Formula 1 Drivers Who Excelled in the Rain

At Donington Park in 1993, Senna went from fifth at the first corner to the lead by the end of the opening lap. His second place for Toleman in the rain-shortened 1984 Monaco Grand Prix makes a good companion watch. The Donington lap shows how quickly he could make passes. Monaco gives you time to see how he built up to one.

Start with Spain in 1996, where Schumacher took his Ferrari to victory in heavy rain by more than 45 seconds. Then watch Belgium in 1995 for a different kind of control. He stayed on slicks as rain fell, and the track dried in time for the gamble to work. His defense against Damon Hill also earned him a suspended ban.

Hamilton won the rain-soaked 2008 British Grand Prix by more than a minute. His 2020 win in Turkey offers a useful contrast. There, watch how he kept a set of intermediate tires working on a slippery track long enough to finish the race on them. The two wins show what he could do with clear air and what he could do with tires that had already done a lot of work.

Interlagos is the place to start. In 2016 a late stop for wet tires dropped Verstappen to 14th, and he came back to finish third. In 2024 he won from 17th on the grid. A red flag gave him a chance to change tires without losing track position that day. Watch how he used the later restart to take the lead from Esteban Ocon. He also came from 21st to second in the wet-dry-wet race there in 2026.

Moss took the privately entered Lotus to victory at a slippery Monaco in 1960. In Germany the following year, he started on rain tires and kept them in good enough shape while the track was dry to benefit when the rain returned. Put those races together to see how much he could gain by keeping a car underneath him while conditions changed.

Spa in 1963 gave Clark a gearbox that kept slipping out of top gear as well as a wet track. He won anyway, then won a rain-hit Belgian Grand Prix there again in 1965. The account of the second win is worth reading for Clark’s explanation. Finding speed was a matter of judging how little he needed to lift off the accelerator on a slippery road.

Stewart recalled being barely able to see the road in the 1968 German Grand Prix, a race he won by over four minutes. His 1971 win at a soaked Mosport gives you a second place to see that pace in the rain. Stewart later used the German result to explain why he could win in dangerous conditions and still argue that the race should have been called off.

At Suzuka in 1994, a rain stoppage meant Hill had to beat Michael Schumacher on combined time. He made up the deficit after the restart and won. In Brazil two years later he led through patchy rain and won from pole. Hill’s own account of that race describes the odd prospect of putting on slicks while parts of the circuit were still soaked.

Barrichello took his first F1 win at Hockenheim in 2000 by staying on slicks as parts of the track got wet, helped by a safety car that brought him back into contention. At Silverstone in 2008, he went the other way. Extreme wet tires helped his Honda to third in heavy rain. The two drives make a good pair if you want to see why there’s no single tire choice that makes someone good in the wet.

In the rain at Hungary in 2006, Alonso came through traffic to lead before retiring. At Malaysia in 2012 he turned a downpour and a restart into a lead, then held on to win for Ferrari. Start with Hungary’s onboard footage if you want to see why the result sheet alone misses one of his more revealing wet drives.

Watch the 2010 Australian Grand Prix for Button’s early move to slicks on a drying track. In Canada in 2011, the same ability to find speed as the grip changed helped him recover after a drive-through penalty and collisions. He took the lead from Vettel on the last lap. Canada is the bigger spectacle, but Australia makes the gamble easier to follow.

Vettel won from pole for Toro Rosso in a wet Monza weekend in 2008, then gave Red Bull its first F1 victory at a rain-soaked Shanghai the following season. The pair is a useful reminder of what made him good in those conditions. Once he had clear air, the rest of the field still had to match his pace on a slippery track.

Two wet street races in 2022 tell you a lot about Pérez. At Monaco he was the first of the leaders to switch to intermediates and went on to win. In Singapore he took the lead from Charles Leclerc at the start on a slippery surface, then held him off. Compare the way a pit stop opened up the first win with the way a good start set up the second.

Norris kept the lead from pole on a soaked track at Melbourne in 2025 and recovered to win after sliding into the gravel in a late shower. He also won at Silverstone in mixed conditions that year, helped when teammate Oscar Piastri received a restart penalty. Melbourne is the better starting point if you want to watch Norris recover his composure under pressure from another car. His 2026 São Paulo win added a race that went from wet to dry and back again.

Start with the rain-soaked 1951 Swiss Grand Prix at Bremgarten, which Fangio won for Alfa Romeo. In Argentina in 1954, showers shuffled the lead before he stopped for tires, chased down the leading Ferrari, and won in a Maserati. Argentina is the one to read about if you want to see how a stop that cost time in the moment gave him a chance to find speed as the grip changed.

The best place to start is Spa in 2025. Piastri got a better run than Lando Norris through Eau Rouge on the wet opening racing lap and passed him on the straight on the way to victory. At Silverstone that year he pulled away after taking the lead in the rain, only to lose the gap behind the safety car and finish second after a penalty. The pace was there in both races.