Andrea Kimi Antonelli clinched the 2026 Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship at the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday, becoming the youngest world champion in the sport’s history at 20 years and 68 days. The Mercedes-AMG Petronas driver finished third at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez, with four Grands Prix remaining this season.

Antonelli succeeds McLaren’s Lando Norris, who secured his first World Drivers’ Championship in 2025. The Italian driver also takes one of Formula 1’s longest-standing age records from Sebastian Vettel, who was 23 years and 134 days old when he won his first title with Red Bull back in 2010. Vettel himself had taken the mark from Lewis Hamilton driving for McLaren-Mercedes, the 2008 champion, and held it for 16 years.
“Only very few of us have managed to achieve that, and nobody has done it as young as you,” - Sebastian Vettel, four-time Formula 1 World Champion, via a video message on Instagram.
Antonelli started fourth on the grid, and finished behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Hamilton, who had secured his first Grand Prix pole for Ferrari on Saturday and his first since 2023 at the Hungaroring. In Mexico City this past weekend, Antonelli needed only two points or ninth place to settle the driver’s championship.
The race featured an early battle between the Ferraris upfront, multiple penalties, Safety Cars and a red flag after Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas crashed into the barriers on Lap 44. While it left Antonelli fourth for the standing restart, he quickly passed Charles Leclerc into Turn 1 to take third and return to one of the podium positions on the afternoon when he would secure the title.
Antonelli now leads with 380 points after 19 rounds, 119 clear of Verstappen and 121 ahead of Hamilton. He has won nine Grands Prix this season, including five of the opening six, while Mercedes has claimed 12 of 19 between Antonelli and George Russell.
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Antonelli’s nine victories set a new single-season record for an Italian driver, surpassing the previous benchmark of six set by the great Alberto Ascari in 1952, which, for context, is 74 years ago. Antonelli is also the first Italian world champion since Ascari in 1953 and only the third overall, following Giuseppe Farina and Ascari.
His record-breaking season began long before Mexico, and it has been a long streak of records. Born on August 25, 2006, Antonelli is also the first Formula 1 world champion born in the 21st century. Antonelli became the youngest Grand Prix pole-sitter in China at 19 years, six months and 18 days. That too was a record he took from Vettel, 21 years, 2 months and 11 days driving for Toro Rosso back in 2008, driving for Toro Rosso at the time.
Antonelli subsequently also became the youngest driver to lead the World Championship after winning in Japan this year. His early-season dominance made him the first rookie-era driver to challenge the sport's highest tier so rapidly.
In Monaco, Antonelli became the youngest driver to complete a Grand Slam by taking pole, setting the fastest lap, leading every lap, and winning. He also charged from 19th on the grid to win the Italian Grand Prix this year, becoming the first Italian to do so since 1966. This follows his rookie 2025 season when he secured a brilliant Sprint pole in Miami at 18, taking another record from Vettel.

"What Kimi has achieved today is extraordinary. To become Formula 1 World Champion at 20 years old, and to do it in only his second season, is a remarkable achievement. But what makes me most proud is not the record or the statistics, it is the journey he has been on to get here" - Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO - Team Principal and CEO of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team
With the driver’s world championship now concluded, the grid now heads to Interlagos for the São Paulo Grand Prix from November 6 to 8, followed by Las Vegas, Qatar, and the season closing out in Abu Dhabi next month. The Constructors’ Title is still up for grabs, with Mercedes in the lead with 630 points, ahead of Ferrari on 504, and Red Bull on 380.
Images: Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1