Kimi Antonelli is the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history. At 20 years and 68 days old, the Mercedes driver sealed the title at Mexico City's Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, lowering Sebastian Vettel's long-standing record by three years and 67 days. He also became the first Italian to claim the crown since Alberto Ascari in 1953. "Get in there, Kimi, champion of the world!" an emotional Peter Bonnington, his race engineer, shouted over the radio as Antonelli came down the finishing straight.
The crown had been within touching distance since Austin. His ninth win of the season at the United States Grand Prix left him 123 points clear of team-mate George Russell and 124 ahead of Lewis Hamilton, meaning he needed only to finish ninth in Mexico to take the title. There had been a geopolitical subplot, too. With the escalating conflict between the United States and Iran threatening the Qatar and Abu Dhabi rounds, Formula 1 bosses had drawn up a contingency plan to end the season at Imola. Under that scenario, only 100 points would have remained in play, and Antonelli would already have wrapped up the title in Austin.
He sealed it on the podium, too. In a dramatic 71-lap Mexico City Grand Prix won by Max Verstappen, Antonelli drove a calm, calculated race to third, 4.006 seconds behind the winner. Verstappen started fifth in his Red Bull but capitalised on a first-lap fight between Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc to seize the lead and claim his third win of the season, with Hamilton crossing the line second, 0.799 seconds adrift.
In the final classification, Charles Leclerc took fourth, 10.707 seconds off the winner, with Lando Norris fifth, 11.778 seconds back. George Russell, Oscar Piastri and Franco Colapinto followed in sixth, seventh and eighth, while Liam Lawson, who started from the pit lane, finished ninth and Pierre Gasly completed the top 10.
For Toto Wolff, the title was full vindication. The Mercedes team principal had put his faith in an 18-year-old and handed him a Mercedes seat, and a week earlier in Austin he had hailed Antonelli's victory as "the race of a champion who isn't the champion yet". In Mexico, Wolff was on the radio as soon as the title was sealed. "Kimi, we did it, world champion, we did it," he said, drawing a tearful reply from his driver: "We did it! Thank you so much." Antonelli has repeatedly stressed that the trust shown in him by Wolff and the team was the bedrock of his success, and he made the point again when he spoke to Nico Rosberg in his official interview. "We did it! We did it, and, you know, without them I wouldn't be here, without Mercedes, without my family," Antonelli said. "So I'm very grateful for this moment, and it's one that will live forever. I'm speechless. I'm trying to process what has just happened."
The young Italian will see out the rest of the season as world champion, with the next round taking the championship to Brazil's Autódromo José Carlos Pace, better known as Interlagos.
