A champion at 20
Kimi Antonelli is Formula 1 world champion. He did it from third place at the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday, and he did not need to win. A top-nine finish was enough, and he never looked like missing it.
Max Verstappen took the race, his sixth win in Mexico, after a long fight with Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari. Hamilton, who had started from pole, finished second with the fastest lap and was never more than a second behind at the end. Antonelli completed the podium. He is 20 years, two months and seven days old, which makes him the youngest champion the sport has seen. Sebastian Vettel’s 2010 record is gone.
Italy has waited a long time for this one. Antonelli is the first Italian champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953. His Mercedes engineer congratulated him on the radio and the new champion could not answer, in tears. His first words to the team were “We did it!”
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A race that kept shifting
The opening lap set the tone. Charles Leclerc and Hamilton touched as the two Ferraris went wheel to wheel, Leclerc took a five-second penalty, and Verstappen slipped through to second. Isack Hadjar spun at the start, and George Russell was handed ten seconds for his part in it.
Antonelli kept out of trouble from fourth on the grid. He passed Hamilton, led briefly while others stopped, and rejoined well placed. Then Valtteri Bottas crashed his Cadillac on lap 44, and a red flag followed on lap 45. The field lined up for a standing restart with 25 laps left. Verstappen led it away, Hamilton chased him down, and Antonelli picked off Leclerc on the inside to take the last podium place.
Another safety car came when Arvid Lindblad went off after contact with Oscar Piastri. Alonso and Stroll had both retired early for Aston Martin.
What the numbers say
Antonelli has won nine races this season and stood on the podium 13 times. Going into Mexico he led his Mercedes teammate Russell by more than 120 points with five rounds to play, so the title arrives five races early.
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