This weekend in Singapore Nico Rosberg is poised to become just the 16th member of F1’s ‘200 club’. But which other drivers have hit a double century of Grand Prix starts, and how do their achievements stack up against Rosberg’s? Read on to find out…
Rubens Barrichello - 322 starts
Having broken into F1 racing with Jordan in 1993, the popular Brazilian lasted 19 seasons in the sport, joining the 200 club in 2005 whilst racing for Ferrari. By that stage Barrichello had nine wins to his name - 12 fewer than Rosberg has currently, though his tally of 58 podiums at the same stage is higher than the German’s by eight.
Rubens Barrichello celebrated his 200th start at the 2005 Spanish Grand Prix - he'd go on to make 122 more. © Sutton Motorsport Images
Michael Schumacher - 306 starts
Currently the only man other than Barrichello to start 300 Grands Prix (though Jenson Button is set to join the club in Malaysia), Schumacher celebrated his 200th in 2004 with a typically dominant performance, taking pole, fastest lap and victory at the Nurburgring. By that stage he was well on the way to title number seven, having amassed 76 victories.
Michael Schumacher is one of just two drivers to win on his 200th Grand Prix start. © Sutton Motorsport Images
Jenson Button - 298 starts
Like Schumacher, Button celebrated his 200th Grand Prix start with a victory, at Hungary in 2011. That was the Briton’s 11th career win, which though fewer than Rosberg has at the same stage, comes with the caveat that he had, of course, won the world title by then - an accolade that still eludes the German...
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Like Schumacher, Button won on his 200th start, with a brilliant drive in Hungary. © Sutton Motorsport Images
Fernando Alonso - 265 starts
Alonso took 18 of his 32 career wins (not to mention two world championships) within his first 100 starts, whereas Rosberg didn’t get his first victory until his 111th. Fast forward to the 200 race mark, however, and the German is just 10 wins down on where Alonso was at the same point, and has six more poles than the Spaniard did. However, it’s a testament to Alonso’s achievements that by the same stage he had 38 more podiums than Rosberg - although the German will be hoping to add one to his tally when he makes his 200th start this weekend...
Fernando Alonso's 200th race start, for Ferrari in Bahrain in 2013, yielded a disappointing eighth. © Sutton Motorsport Images
Riccardo Patrese - 256 starts
Patrese is one of 10 members of the 200 club never to have won a world championship crown. However, the Italian, who was on the grid for 17 seasons, won races for two different teams - something Rosberg hasn’t done, with all his victories coming for Mercedes.
Riccardo Patrese celebrated his 200th Grand Prix start at Silverstone in 1990 with a suitably garish cake. © Sutton Motorsport Images
Jarno Trulli - 252 starts
Like Rosberg, Trulli had to wait over 100 races for his first victory, but unlike the German never went on to win again after securing his first. The Italian made his 200th start in Australia in 2009 where, driving for Toyota, he finished third behind the Brawns of Button and Barrichello.
Jarno Trulli celebrated a double century of starts with third place in Australia in 2009. © Sutton Motorsport Images
David Coulthard - 246 starts
In his 14-plus seasons in F1, Coulthard achieved a best championship finish of second, which is as high as Rosberg has managed to date. Like many others on this list, the Scot celebrated his 200th race on the podium, finishing a memorable third at Monaco in 2006. It was his 61st rostrum - 11 more than Rosberg currently has. However, Coulthard’s tally of 13 wins is dwarfed by the German’s 21.
David Coulthard had the honour of scoring Red Bull's first ever podium finish on his 200th race start at Monaco in 2006. © Sutton Motorsport Images
Kimi Raikkonen - 244 starts
Despite starting in F1 five years earlier than Rosberg, the Finn has made only 45 starts more than the German by virtue of his absence from the grid in 2010-11. How do the two compare at the 200-race mark? Favourably in terms of wins, with all of Raikkonen’s 20 victories coming before his 200th race at Austria in 2014. But while Rosberg has the slightest of edges in that category, Raikkonen is well ahead in terms of overall podiums, having notched up 77 to the German’s 50 in the same time period.
Kimi Raikkonen's 200th start was one to forget - he finished a lowly 10th in Austria in 2014. © Sutton Images
Felipe Massa - 243 starts
Rosberg made his Grand Prix debut with Williams; Massa celebrated his 200th race start with the same team, at Silverstone in 2014. By that stage the Brazilian had accumulated 11 wins, 36 podiums and 16 pole positions - all stats bettered by Rosberg.
Felipe Massa celebrated his 200th Grand prix start at Silverstone in 2014, and invited former team mates (and fellow 200 club members) Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen along for the party. © Sutton Images
Giancarlo Fisichella - 229 starts
Fisichella scored his third and final F1 win at the 2006 Malaysian Grand Prix, which just so happened to be the second race of Rosberg’s young career. By the time the Italian had become the ninth driver to make it to a double century of race starts, at Monaco in 2008, he was driving for Force India and destined to only score one further podium finish.
Giancarlo Fisichella retired with gearbox trouble on his 200th start, at Monaco in 2008. © Sutton Motorsport Images
Mark Webber - 215 starts
Like Rosberg, Webber - a former team mate of the German - was a bit of a late bloomer, with his first win coming on his 130th race start. By race 200, the 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix, the Australian had added a further eight wins to that tally, and like Rosberg they’d all come with the same team - Red Bull.
Mark Webber celebrated his 200th Grand Prix start at Bahrain in 2013, with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner giving him his likeness on a cake. © Sutton Motorsport Images
Gerhard Berger - 210 starts
Like Barrichello and Webber, Berger had nine winner’s trophies in his cabinet by the time his 200th Grand Prix start rolled around at San Marino in 1997 - his final year of competition. By that stage Berger was nearing 38 years old - Rosberg by contrast is a sprightly 31.
Gerhard Berger was 37 when he started his 200th race at San Marino in 1997. © Sutton Motorsport Images
Andrea de Cesaris - 208 starts
De Cesaris is the only driver in the 200 club without a Grand Prix win to his name, though the Italian did have the distinction of racing for no fewer than 10 different teams during his career. It was at the 1994 Canadian Grand Prix while driving for Sauber, as a replacement for the injured Karl Wendlinger, that De Cesaris made his 200th start.
Sauber designed a special livery to celebrate Andrea de Cesaris' 200th Grand Prix start in Canada in 1994. © Sutton Motorsport Images
Nelson Piquet - 204 starts
The Brazilian’s 200th race start came in Italy, four races before the end of his F1 career, by which time he’d already scored 23 wins and picked up three drivers’ titles. That makes Piquet one of just three drivers (along with fellow champions Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso) to have a better win ratio than Rosberg by the double century point.
Michael Schumacher, Nigel Mansell, Jean Alesi and Riccardo Patrese were amongst those who turned out to help Nelson Piquet celebrate 200 race starts at Monza in 1991. © LAT Photographic
Jean Alesi - 201 starts
Having graduated to F1 via a title-winning season in Eddie Jordan’s F3000 team, it seemed apt that the Frenchman should start his 200th race in one of the Irishman’s Grand Prix machines. Alesi, of course, was famous for near-misses, finishing second 16 times. In the same number of races, Rosberg has accumulated 21 second-place trophies, not to mention consecutive runner's-up finishes in the world championship…
Jordan left the fans in no doubt as to what number start Jean Alesi was making at Indianapolis in 2001. © Sutton Motorsport Images
Nico Rosberg - 199 starts
Rosberg will become the fifth member of the current F1 grid to reach 200 race starts, having started every Grand Prix on the calendar since his debut in Bahrain back in 2006 (Alonso, Massa, Raikkonen and Button all had interrupted runs to 200). The German’s tally of 21 victories, meanwhile, is the most that any driver has scored without winning the title - will that change this year?
WATCH: Rosberg's eventful Grand Prix debut, Bahrain 2006
Fresh-faced and just 20 years of age, Nico Rosberg made his debut with Williams at the 2006 Bahrain Grand Prix. In an eventful race, which saw Felipe Massa spin dramatically in front of Fernando Alonso's Renault and Jacques Villeneuve's BMW go up in flames, Rosberg started badly, crashing into Nick Heidfeld's BMW at the first corner and sustaining damage. But after pitting for a new nose the German roared back into points contention, clocking the race's fastest lap on the way to a superb seventh.
