Kimi Antonelli becomes youngest Formula 1 world champion in history
Third place in Mexico City secures the title for the 20-year-old Mercedes driver. Italy has a drivers' world champion again for the first time since Alberto Ascari in 1953.
Kimi Antonelli is the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history at 20 years and 68 days. The Mercedes driver secured the title on Sunday, 1 November 2026, with third place at the Mexico City Grand Prix. Max Verstappen won the race ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Antonelli takes over the age record from Sebastian Vettel; the German was already 23 years and 134 days old when he won his first title in 2010.
For Italy, a 73-year wait for a drivers' world champion ends. Alberto Ascari was the last to win the championship, in 1953. After Giuseppe Farina and Ascari, Antonelli is only the third Italian to hold this title. He achieves it in his second Formula 1 season.
A podium finish is enough for the record
The starting position before the 71 laps at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez was comfortable: ninth place would have been enough for Antonelli regardless of his rivals' results. He started fourth and finished the Grand Prix on the podium. After 19 rounds of the season he now has 380 points according to Formula 1 and can no longer be caught mathematically in the remaining races.
The decision on track was not straightforward nonetheless. After a heavy crash by Cadillac driver Valtteri Bottas the race was stopped. A further safety car period followed later after a crash by Arvid Lindblad. Antonelli stayed in the leading group while Verstappen brought the win home just 0.799 seconds ahead of Hamilton.
Antonelli's gap to the winner was 4.006 seconds. Behind him came Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris. His Mercedes team-mate George Russell finished sixth. The world title and the day's victory therefore went to different drivers: Antonelli did not need to win in Mexico to complete the work of an entire season.
After the stoppage he reclaims third place
Mercedes describes the first stint as a combination of pace and careful tyre management. Antonelli was able to use his soft tyres for more than 40 laps. According to the team, the red flag took away the strategic advantage that had grown out of this.
Before the stoppage he lay in third place. Because the control line at the pit entrance was decisive for the order at the restart, he resumed the race in fourth. Already on the second lap afterwards he overtook Leclerc at the first corner and reclaimed the podium place.
For Russell the afternoon was more difficult. According to Mercedes, a power delivery problem at the start cost him positions. After contact with Isack Hadjar he also received a ten-second penalty. The team cites such setbacks but at the same time credits Antonelli's success as the result of his growing maturity in handling difficult race situations.
The first win changed the season
At the start of the year Russell was seen more as the title candidate. He won the opener in Australia. Antonelli responded in China with his first pole position and his first Grand Prix victory. In Japan came the next success and the lead in the world championship.
In its season review, the Guardian traces how the young challenger became the benchmark for the competition. After wins in Miami, Canada and Monaco, Antonelli already had five victories in a row. Later he made another statement in Monza: starting from 19th after an engine-change penalty, he won his home race.
The championship also included setbacks. The review names an electrical failure in Barcelona and problems at Silverstone. In Baku, Antonelli had to start from far back after a crash in qualifying but limited the damage with fifth place. His ninth season decision in his favour finally came in Austin. He completed the title a week later in Mexico.
Mercedes has a second goal
After the race Antonelli thanked his team and his family. On the official Formula 1 site he explained that he had been more tense this weekend. Mercedes emphasises that a graduate of its junior programme has won the drivers' world championship for the first time.
The season does not end with the new drivers' world champion. Antonelli told his team that the constructors' championship was the next shared goal. The São Paulo Grand Prix follows from 6 to 8 November. There the 20-year-old will line up as a confirmed Formula 1 world champion for the first time.
Sources
- FIA: Result and title decision in Mexico City
- Formula 1: Race report from 1 November 2026
- Mercedes: Race progress, age record and reactions
- Formula 1: Antonelli's reaction and championship points
- The Guardian: Review of Antonelli's season
- Lead image: Liauzh, Antonelli in Shanghai, Wikimedia Commons
- Lead image licence: CC BY 4.0
- Article image: Jason Puddephatt, Silverstone 2026, Wikimedia Commons
- Article image licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
