Summary
- Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli finished third at the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday, November 1, and clinched the Formula 1 world championship at 20 years and 68 days old.
- He is the youngest world champion in F1 history, breaking Sebastian Vettel’s record (23 years and 134 days, 2010) by more than three years — and the first Italian champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953, a 73-year wait.
- Antonelli needed only a ninth-place finish to seal the title with four rounds remaining; race winner Max Verstappen and runner-up Lewis Hamilton hoisted him onto their shoulders on the podium.
- The title caps a sophomore season with nine wins — more than his teammate George Russell’s eight — after a turbulent rookie year.
Formula 1 has a new youngest champion, and he did it with room to spare. Kimi Antonelli went into the Mexico City Grand Prix needing only ninth place to take the title, and he drove the kind of race champions are supposed to drive: clean, composed, third across the line in a chaotic, red-flagged afternoon at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
The numbers are the story. Twenty years and 68 days old — more than three years younger than Sebastian Vettel was when he set the previous record in 2010. Italy’s first champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953. Nine wins in his second season, with four rounds still to run. Antonelli joined Mercedes as a 12-year-old protege, replaced Lewis Hamilton in the seat in 2025, and has now beaten his experienced teammate and the rest of the grid to the sport’s biggest prize.
The podium image said the rest: Verstappen, the race winner, and Hamilton, second on the day, lifting the new champion onto their shoulders. Twelve world championships between the three of them — and the youngest one in the middle, still processing it. “I would not be here without Mercedes or my family,” Antonelli said after. “A day I will remember forever.”
Source: ESPN, Hypebeast, The Drive and BusinessWorld race reporting, cross-checked November 2. Photo: Getty Images via The Drive.
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