Kimi Antonelli has become Formula One’s youngest world champion at 20 years and 68 days old, after a third-place finish for Mercedes at the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday. He is the first Italian champion since 1953.
The result gave him an unassailable overall lead of 119 points. He was overcome with emotion over the team radio as he took the chequered flag at the high-altitude Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Verstappen wins a chaotic race in Mexico City
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the race, which was red-flagged and restarted, for his second win of the season. Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton started from pole position and finished second, after clashing with his teammate Charles Leclerc.
The afternoon was full of drama. Officials used two safety cars, several cars crashed, and there was a halt of 33 minutes with 25 of the 71 laps remaining.
The race was first stopped after a brief safety car period on lap 46. Valtteri Bottas suffered a high-speed front-left suspension failure on the main straight, and his Cadillac hit the barriers at turn one. Bottas received medical attention in the car, then walked to an ambulance giving a thumbs-up, and he was later released from the medical centre.
Antonelli’s emotional reaction after the title win
Antonelli’s race engineer, Peter Bonnington, greeted the result over the radio with a cheer. Bonnington is a frequent target of the young driver’s practical jokes.
“Get in there, Kimi. Champion of the world,” Bonnington said.
Antonelli, whose parents and sister were there to greet him, gasped “We did it. Thank you so much” as he stepped out of the car. He was then mobbed by his pit crew.
The previous youngest champion was Germany’s Sebastian Vettel, who won the first of his four titles with Red Bull at 23 years and 134 days old in 2010. The last Italian champion before Antonelli was Alberto Ascari, 73 years earlier.
On the podium, Antonelli, with an Italian flag wrapped around his shoulders, sprayed champagne freely. He told the crowd, “I’m speechless. I’m trying to process what has just happened.”
He praised his season and his podium companions. “It’s been an incredible season, and to share this podium with Max and Lewis is truly incredible,” he said, adding that he had felt more tense during the weekend.
Standings and Mercedes’s constructors’ title push
Leclerc finished fourth, while McLaren’s outgoing champion Lando Norris was fifth. Antonelli’s teammate George Russell finished sixth, despite needing to win to keep any realistic chance of staying in contention.
The result moved Verstappen into second in the drivers’ standings, with Hamilton third. Russell dropped to fourth, 130 points behind Antonelli, despite being a preseason favourite.
Mercedes have 630 points in the constructors’ standings, compared with Ferrari’s 504. The team could clinch that title at the Brazilian Grand Prix next weekend.
Hamilton and Leclerc clash, and penalties follow
Hamilton led away from the original pole position, his 105th time from pole in his career. It was Ferrari’s first pole at a full Grand Prix, with Leclerc starting third on the grid.
The two Ferrari drivers ran side by side through the opening corners. Leclerc cut turn four and went across the grass during the battle for the lead, and Verstappen then took second from Hamilton as the Ferrari looped wide.
“Pushed out by my own teammate,” Hamilton said over the radio. The stewards gave Leclerc a five-second penalty, which he served after both drivers made their pit stops on laps 28 and 29, leaving Hamilton behind him.
Russell, who had started on the front row, made a poor start and dropped to fifth. He also collided with Hadjar, sending the Red Bull driver off the track, and the stewards gave Russell a 10-second penalty.
