Kimi Antonelli Becomes World Champion, Making History at Age 20

The Mexico Grand Prix, the 19th round of the Formula 1 World Championship, was held at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez circuit. Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli finished third in the race and clinched his first world championship.

Antonelli won the title with the performances he delivered in the 2026 season, getting ahead of his rivals in the championship fight. The 20-year-old Italian broke the record of Sebastian Vettel, who became champion in 2010 at the age of 23, and became the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history. Over the 19 races completed so far, he recorded 9 wins and 16 podium finishes.

At the start of the race, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc moved ahead of Lewis Hamilton and took the lead. However, Leclerc's position was reviewed for going beyond the track limits, and the Monegasque driver was given a 5-second time penalty. Fernando Alonso retired from the race with a technical problem at Aston Martin, while Lance Stroll was forced to park his car at the side of the track. Following these incidents, the virtual safety car was deployed.

During the phase when his rivals were making their pit stops, Antonelli took the lead and spent most of the race conserving his tyres. After Hamilton pitted on lap 29, the Italian driver moved into first place. He made his first pit stop on lap 30 and was running fourth on track.

One of the most critical moments of the race came on lap 45. Cadillac driver Valtteri Bottas lost control after a suspension failure on his car and crashed into the barriers, but he got out of the incident safely. Due to the damage to the barriers, the race was stopped with a red flag on lap 46. When the race restarted under the standard start procedure, Max Verstappen kept the lead, and Hamilton passed Leclerc to move into second place. Antonelli also passed Leclerc and rose to third.

On lap 59, Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad hit the barriers, and the safety car was deployed once again. After the safety car period, the race restarted without incident and finished.