Kimi Antonelli clinches in Mexico City, becomes youngest champion in F1 history

EDDIE KALEGI - STAFF WRITER

Kimi Antonelli entered the 2026 F1 season as a teenager. He'll emerge from it as a champion.

By virtue of a third-place finish in the Mexican Grand Prix Sunday, second-year Italian driver Kimi Antonelli clinched the 2026 Formula One World Drivers' Championship, the first title of his career.

It has been a dominant sophomore campaign for the Mercedes driver, scoring nine victories, including five consecutive victories between March and June.

At 20 years and 68 days old, Antonelli becomes the youngest champion in Formula One's storied history as well, three years younger than the previous most youthful victor Sebastian Vettel.

The WDC is the first for Mercedes as a constructor since 2020, when Lewis Hamilton's streak of four consecutive titles came to a close, before Max Verstappen and Red Bull rattled off four in a row as well.

Meanwhile, Verstappen held off pole sitter Lewis Hamilton in a wild race for his third win of the season, as the battle for second in the standings rages on between those two, George Russell, and Charles Leclerc, the latter pair having both faced time penalties for early incidents Sunday.