At 20, Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli Beats Vettel's Record To Become Youngest F1 World Champion

Mexico City: Formula 1 has a new youngest world champion and he is only 20 years old. Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli created history on Sunday by sealing the drivers' title with 4 Grands Prix still remaining in the season. The Italian sealed the deal with a measured drive to third place at the Mexico City Grand Prix. The result gave him an unassailable lead over his Mercedes teammate George Russell and Ferrari's 7-time champion Lewis Hamilton. 

Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the race, which is his 6th victory in Mexico City. Meanwhile, with the latest triumph, Antonelli has overtaken Sebastian Vettel, who was 23 when he became the youngest champion in 2010. He has also ended a long drought for Italy, becoming the first Italian to win the championship since Alberto Ascari in 1953.

The race in Mexico was not straightforward, as on lap 46, the action was stopped with a red flag after Cadillac driver Valtteri Bottas crashed into the wall at Turn One. The incident followed an issue with his right-side suspension. The team later confirmed that he was taken for "further medical assessments as a precaution", though the Finn managed to get out of the car and waved to the crowd as he walked away.

At the restart, Verstappen led from Leclerc, with Hamilton, Antonelli, Norris and Russell behind him, and he held on to take the win.

On the other hand, once Antonelli crossed the line in third and realised the title was his, his emotions poured out on team radio. "Thank you so much, we did it, we did it, thank you so much ... thank you," he said.

After Mexico, the championship heads to Brazil and then Las Vegas, with uncertainty over whether the final two races scheduled in Qatar and Abu Dhabi will go ahead due to instability in the region.

Boy Who Sneaked Into The Paddock Inside Tyres

Antonelli's journey to the top is already the stuff of legend, as ever since he entered the Formula 1 paddock hidden inside a stack of tyres, he has done things differently. His father Marco was a sports car racer and his team was part of a support event at the 2014 German Grand Prix. 7-year-old Kimi had no pass but desperately wanted to see F1 up close. He recalled last year before his debut, saying, "I don't even know how I fit inside the tyre, but it was really tight…..Plus, we put an umbrella on top so it wouldn't look, you know, suspicious or anything."

Since then, comparisons with greats have followed him everywhere. Mercedes signed him as the replacement for Lewis Hamilton when Hamilton moved to Ferrari. Team boss Toto Wolff saw him as his own answer to Max Verstappen, who debuted at 17. 

Born in 2006 as Andrea Kimi Antonelli, his middle name was suggested by a family friend, an event carrying a story. At the time, Finland's Kimi Raikkonen was one of the sport's biggest stars and won the title just after Antonelli's first birthday. Antonelli insisted that it was not a direct tribute, saying, "My family comes from a racing background, and also this good friend of ours comes from a racing background…….So he decided to give me Kimi, but it was not referring to the actual driver. It just came into his mind."

Monza Crash And Monza Masterclass

The road was not always smooth for Antonelli, who initially spoke to Ferrari when he was 11, but talks broke down. Reports suggested that Ferrari felt he was too young to commit to, following which Mercedes stepped in and signed him to the young driver programme, and he quickly started winning titles after stepping into cars in 2021.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc said in September, "If I look at Kimi going through the junior ranks, I think it was quite clear for everybody that he had something very special. His laps look very much on the limit but somehow he manages to do the lap when it counts. That's been very impressive to watch."

His first taste of an F1 weekend ended in the barriers as he crashed in front of his home fans as a Formula 2 driver doing practice for Mercedes at Monza in 2024. When he made his full race debut at 18 last year, he looked overawed at times, even inviting his entire school class to his home race. He became the youngest driver ever to take pole position in Miami, but mistakes crept in and a poor run in Europe saw Wolff call his driving “underwhelming”.

Antonelli admitted, "I let the pressure kind of destroy me as well during that period, because I felt like I was letting down so many people who had believed in me." He reset for 2026 and it worked instantly as a debut win in China in March started a run of 5 victories, including a stunning drive at this year's Italian Grand Prix where he won from 19th on the grid despite an engine penalty.

Many believed that the biggest regulation change in decades helped him. His aggressive style and natural car control suit the 2026 cars, and he has adapted better than Russell to the heavy reliance on hybrid power. Russell himself pointed to Antonelli's strength in low-grip, slippery conditions.