Kimi Antonelli Is the 2026 F1 World Champion, the Youngest Ever

Kimi Antonelli is the 2026 Formula 1 World Champion. The Mercedes driver finished third at the Mexico City Grand Prix on 1 November, behind race winner Max Verstappen and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, and that was more than enough: he arrived in Mexico 123 points clear of his team-mate George Russell and needed only ninth place to make the title his, whatever anyone else did.

He did it at 20 years and 68 days old, the youngest champion the sport has had. The previous record belonged to Sebastian Vettel, who won his first title with Red Bull in 2010 at 23 years and 134 days. Antonelli has taken more than three years off it, and he has done it with four rounds of the season still to run.

How the title was won

Antonelli started fourth in Mexico City and drove the kind of race a points leader is supposed to drive: no risks at the start, no fights he didn't need, and a podium at the end of it. Ahead of him, the race fell apart for Ferrari. Hamilton started from pole, but a first-lap battle with his team-mate Charles Leclerc opened the door for Verstappen, who went on to win. Hamilton finished second; Leclerc, after a five-second penalty, finished fourth. (The fallout from that fight is a story of its own, covered here.)

The title itself was built over the summer. Antonelli's wins this season include China, Japan, Miami, Canada, Monaco and Belgium, and in the head-to-head with Russell, the more experienced driver in the same car, he had the clear upper hand. Russell's own season has been held back by reliability: his Canadian Grand Prix retirement was the W17's first of the year, and he takes another engine penalty in Brazil this weekend.

"Champion of the world"

The radio after the flag did the rest. Race engineer Peter Bonnington, the voice in Hamilton's ear for all six of his Mercedes titles, was first on: "Get in there Kimi, champion of the world!" Team principal Toto Wolff followed with "Kimi, we did it, world champion, we did it." Antonelli could be heard screaming and crying before he managed "We did it!" Afterwards he admitted he had felt more tense than usual all weekend and was simply happy the job was done.

Wolff, who brought Antonelli into the Mercedes junior programme as a karting teenager and promoted him straight from Formula 2 to replace Hamilton for 2025, was in no mood to be modest about it. "This is Kimi Antonelli! Incredible," he told Sky Sports, and reminded reporters how many people had written Antonelli off after a difficult Formula 2 season. He went further at the team's briefing, holding Antonelli up as a role model against what he called "entitled" drivers who moan on the radio. Verstappen, asked about it, called the argument boring.

A 73-year wait for Italy

Antonelli is the first Italian world champion since Alberto Ascari won his second title for Ferrari in 1953, a gap of 73 years. He is also the sport's 36th world champion, and the first driver from Mercedes' own junior programme to win it.

For Mercedes it is a first drivers' title since Nico Rosberg's in 2016, and the first world title the team has won without Lewis Hamilton in its line-up since Juan Manuel Fangio in 1955. And it is the second season running that Formula 1 has crowned a first-time champion, after Lando Norris won the 2025 title with McLaren.

source: Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team

What's left of 2026

The drivers' title is settled, but the season isn't. Four rounds remain: this weekend's São Paulo Grand Prix at Interlagos, then Las Vegas, Qatar and the finale in Abu Dhabi. Mercedes have won 12 of the 19 races so far and can wrap up the constructors' championship as early as Sunday. Here is what they need.

Antonelli himself arrives in Brazil racing for the first time as champion, and was second-fastest in Friday's first practice, 0.082 seconds behind Norris in McLaren's upgraded car. The pressure is off; the rest of the year is about how a 20-year-old champion races when he has nothing left to protect.

Planning a trip around next season? The full 2027 F1 calendar has every race weekend, from Bahrain in March to Abu Dhabi in December.

Grand Circle is not affiliated with Formula 1, the FIA or any team.

Sources and further reading

• Formula 1: F1's youngest World Champions as Antonelli smashes the record
• Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team: Mexico City GP race report
• ESPN: Kimi Antonelli makes F1 history as youngest world champion
• PlanetF1: Raw Kimi Antonelli reaction after F1 2026 championship win
• Sky Sports: Toto Wolff says Kimi Antonelli should be a role model
• Yahoo Sports: Kimi Antonelli's 2026 season by the numbers