Twenty-year-old motor racing protege Kimi Antonelli won the Formula 1 world championship on Sunday at the Mexican Grand Prix, becoming the youngest driver in the sport’s history to do so.
The Italian won the title by finishing third and scoring 15 points, enough to eclipse his remaining rivals mathematically.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won Sunday’s race, while Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, who started on pole position, finished second.
Antonelli’s veteran Mercedes teammate, George Russell, who began the year as the betting favourite to win the 2026 championship, qualified second but finished sixth, after a 10-second time penalty for a crash ruined his race.
Russell and Hamilton both needed to win and have Antonelli finish lower down the order to have any chance of staying in the title fight, but they failed to do so.
Antonelli, who clinched the most coveted trophy in motor racing with four races left on the 2026 calendar, said on the team radio after he took the checkered flag, “We did it! Thank you so much.”
“I’m very grateful for this moment. It’s one that will live forever. I’m speechless. I’m trying to process what has just happened,” Antonelli stated after coming out of the car. Looking forward to some more battles in the future.”
Antonelli’s victory means he broke the record set in 2010 by Sebastian Vettel, who was 23 years old when he won the title.
Antonelli, who also became Italy’s first F1 world champion since 1953, when Alberto Ascari achieved the feat, has won nine of 19 races so far this season.
