Kimi Antonelli became Formula 1’s youngest-ever world champion on Sunday, November 1, 2026, finishing third for Mercedes at the Mexico City Grand Prix to seal the drivers’ title at 20 years and 68 days old, with four races still remaining in the season.
The Italian driver, who needed only a ninth-place finish to guarantee the championship, crossed the line behind race winner Max Verstappen of Red Bull and Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari, in a race that had been red-flagged and restarted after a crash. As he took the chequered flag at the high-altitude Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Antonelli sobbed with joy over the team radio, saying, “We did it, we did it,” according to reports of the broadcast.
Antonelli’s title breaks a record that had stood since 2010, when Germany’s Sebastian Vettel won his first championship with Red Bull at 23 years and 134 days old. It also ends a 73-year wait for Italy, making Antonelli the first Italian world champion since Alberto Ascari won for Ferrari in 1953, and only the third Italian champion in the sport’s history.
A title sealed with room to spare
Going into the Mexico City race, the championship permutations were clear. Antonelli led the standings by a large margin, and a finish in the top nine would have been enough to make his lead unassailable, regardless of where his closest rivals finished. In the end, he did far better than the minimum required, finishing on the podium and extending his lead to 119 points, according to Al Jazeera.
Verstappen won the race for the sixth time in Mexico City, his second win of the season, while Hamilton finished second. The race had been stopped and restarted after a crash, with a 33-minute halt with 25 of the 71 laps remaining, according to reports. Antonelli kept his composure through the interruption and the closing laps, bringing his Mercedes home in third place to confirm the title.
After the race, Antonelli was lifted into the air on the podium by Verstappen and Hamilton, two drivers who between them hold 11 world championships, in a moment that underlined the generational shift in the sport. Verstappen, a four-time champion, and Hamilton, a seven-time champion, were the men Antonelli had to beat to reach the top, and both were on the podium with him as he celebrated his first title.
Mercedes also lead the constructors’ standings, with 630 points to Ferrari’s 504, and could clinch that title in Brazil next weekend, according to Al Jazeera. For Mercedes, Antonelli’s championship is a vindication of a decision taken more than two years ago, when the team fast-tracked him into one of Formula 1’s most desirable seats in August 2024, just days after he turned 18.
Antonelli had been scouted by Mercedes as he dominated the European karting scene and signed by the team in 2019 as a 12-year-old, according to Sky Sports. Expectations were set extremely high from the start, and his second season in Formula 1 has seen him exceed even those expectations, with nine wins, seven pole positions and 16 podiums in 19 Grands Prix held so far this year, according to reports.
Breaking Vettel’s record
The previous youngest champion, Sebastian Vettel, was 23 years and 134 days old when he won his first title in 2010. Lewis Hamilton was second on that list, winning his first title at 23 years and 300 days old in 2008, while Verstappen became champion at 24 years and 73 days old in 2021. Antonelli, at 20 years and 68 days, has beaten Vettel’s record by more than three years.
Antonelli has also set a series of other age records during his short career, including the youngest driver to score a pole position, lead a lap and set a fastest lap, according to reports. He has now won more races this season — nine — than his Mercedes teammate George Russell, who has eight career wins and has been racing in Formula 1 since 2019.
The championship standings after Mexico show the scale of Antonelli’s dominance. He leads with 380 points, according to reports, ahead of Russell on 250 points, with Verstappen on 261 points and Hamilton on 259 points fighting for second place, along with Charles Leclerc on 245 points. The exact order of the chasing pack will be settled over the remaining races, but the title itself is already decided.
For Italy, the significance goes beyond the record books. Motorsport holds a special place in Italian culture, and the country had waited since Ascari’s titles in 1952 and 1953 for another world champion. Vettel congratulated Antonelli on breaking his record, according to Sky Sports.
The race itself
The Mexico City Grand Prix was not a straightforward procession to the title. Verstappen won the race, but the event was marked by clashes between the Ferrari drivers at the start and a red flag on lap 46 after a suspension failure and crash for Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas, according to reports. The 33-minute stoppage added tension to an already high-stakes afternoon, as drivers waited in the pit lane before the race resumed.
Antonelli handled the restart calmly, holding his position and bringing the car home in third place. That result was enough to make his championship lead unassailable, with 119 points separating him from his nearest rival after the race, according to Al Jazeera.
After Mexico, Formula 1 heads to Brazil and then to Las Vegas, with Qatar and Abu Dhabi still to come. With the drivers’ title decided, attention turns to the constructors’ championship and the battle for second place.
What happens next
For Antonelli, the immediate future is celebration, followed by the remaining races of the season and then preparations for 2027, when he will defend his title for the first time. For Mercedes, the focus will be on sealing the constructors’ championship in Brazil, which would complete a double that seemed unlikely when the season began.
For the sport as a whole, Antonelli’s title marks a changing of the guard. Verstappen and Hamilton, the dominant figures of the past decade, were both on the podium in Mexico City, but it was the 20-year-old Italian who left as champion. The next generation has arrived, and it has arrived earlier than anyone expected.
Whether Antonelli can build a sustained period of dominance, as Vettel, Hamilton and Verstappen did before him, will be one of the defining questions of the next few years. For now, however, the record books have been rewritten: at 20 years and 68 days, Kimi Antonelli is the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history, and Italy has a champion again after 73 years.
Sources: Al Jazeera; CNN; Indian Express; Sky Sports; Le Temps; Drive.com.au.
