A 20-year-old has just rewritten Formula 1 history. Kimi Antonelli crossed the line third at the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday and was crowned the youngest world champion the sport has ever seen — smashing a record that had stood for 16 years, while Max Verstappen stole the race win from fifth on the grid in one of the wildest afternoons of the season.
The numbers are staggering. Antonelli, a Mercedes rookie in only his second season of Formula 1, sealed the 2026 drivers’ title at 20 years and 68 days, obliterating Sebastian Vettel’s record of 23 years and 133 days set in 2010. He is also the first Italian world champion since the legendary Alberto Ascari in 1953 — ending a 73-year wait for Italy.
Antonelli only needed ninth — he cruised to the crown
The maths was simple going into the 71-lap race at the Autódromo Hermanos RodrÃguez: Antonelli needed only a ninth-place finish to guarantee the championship, no matter what his rivals did. In the end, it never looked in doubt.
Starting fourth, the Italian avoided all the chaos that swallowed up half the field and drove a calm, measured race to third place behind Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. It was enough to seal the crown with four rounds of the season still to run.
“We did it! Without Mercedes, without my family, I wouldn’t be here,” an emotional Antonelli said in the post-race interview, conducted by former world champion Nico Rosberg. “It’s one that will live forever, and I just am speechless.”
He will now spend the rest of the season racing as champion — and sharing podiums with two of the greatest drivers of all time, as he did in Mexico City. “To share this podium with Max and Lewis is truly incredible,” he added.
How Verstappen won from fifth on the grid
While Antonelli was making history in third, the race win belonged to Max Verstappen — and it was a classic piece of opportunism from the Dutchman.
Verstappen started fifth but struck gold within seconds of the lights going out, as the two Ferraris ahead of him tangled with each other. By the time the dust settled on the opening lap, the Red Bull was perfectly placed to control the race.
His victory margin was just 0.799 seconds over a charging Hamilton, who pushed him all the way to the flag after a standing restart with eight laps remaining. Verstappen, running medium tyres against the Ferraris’ softs, absorbed everything Hamilton threw at him.
It was Verstappen’s third win of the season, and remarkably his sixth at this circuit — a record. “They should actually call it the ‘Maxico’ Grand Prix,” he joked afterwards.
Hamilton vs Leclerc: the Ferrari row that decided the race
The biggest drama of the afternoon came from the two scarlet cars. Pole-sitter Hamilton and team-mate Charles Leclerc went side by side through Turns 1 and 2, before Leclerc launched a bold move around the outside into Turn 4.
The move ended on the grass, with Leclerc cutting across the run-off and rejoining in the lead — without handing the position back. Hamilton was furious, and the stewards announced an investigation on lap two before handing Leclerc a five-second penalty on lap 13.
The pair pitted on different strategies — Leclerc and Verstappen on lap 28, Hamilton a lap later — and the tension boiled over again when Ferrari brought Hamilton in for fresh tyres on lap 45, just before a red flag. Hamilton, who had been leading at that point, lost crucial track position and finished second, still within a second of the win.
“Shame we didn’t get a win, but some you win, some you lose,” a frustrated Hamilton said afterwards.
Chaos in Mexico City: red flags, safety cars and a 0.8-second finish
The race featured two safety cars and a lengthy red flag after a heavy crash for Valtteri Bottas’s Cadillac, which stopped the race entirely and forced a standing restart. The stoppage shuffled strategies up and down the pit lane and set up the eight-lap sprint to the finish.
Oscar Piastri had one of the drives of the day, launching from 12th on the grid to seventh — despite a hefty collision with Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad along the way. Behind the leaders, Lando Norris finished fifth for McLaren and George Russell sixth for Mercedes.
Five drivers failed to finish: Lindblad, Oliver Bearman, Bottas, Lance Stroll and Alonso.
What happens now: the fight for second
With the championship settled, attention turns to the battle for the runners-up spot. Antonelli is 119 points clear, but Verstappen has now moved two points ahead of Hamilton in the fight for second, with Russell nine points behind Hamilton and Leclerc a further five back.
Four rounds remain in the Formula 1 2026 season, and while the champion’s name is already on the trophy, there is plenty still to fight for. Verstappen, the four-time champion who has watched his crown slip away this year, will want to end the season as the best of the rest — starting at the next round.
But Sunday in Mexico City belonged to one man: a 20-year-old Italian who, at an age when most drivers are still dreaming of a seat, has already become the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history.
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