Kimi Antonelli wins 2026 F1 title with third place in Mexico
Photo: Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Kimi Antonelli is the 2026 Formula 1 world champion. The Mercedes driver secured the title at the Mexico City Grand Prix, the 19th round of the season, held on November 1, 2026. He started from fourth on the grid and finished third, although ninth place would have been enough. He was 20 years and 68 days old on the day he clinched the championship, making him the youngest world champion in the history of the series. Max Verstappen won the race for Red Bull, finishing 0.799 seconds ahead of Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton.
A title in his second F1 season
Antonelli leads the drivers' championship with 380 points. The Italian won the title in his second F1 season and succeeds McLaren's Lando Norris as champion.
Leclerc's penalty and the lap 27 pit stops
Hamilton took pole position, with George Russell alongside him on the front row. Charles Leclerc led early in the race, but the Ferrari driver received a five-second penalty for his conduct at the start.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso retired on lap 6. One lap later, his teammate Lance Stroll was told to stop his car, which brought out the virtual safety car (VSC).
The pit stops decided the lead. Leclerc pitted at the end of lap 27, and Verstappen came in right after him. Leclerc had to serve his penalty before the Ferrari mechanics could work on his car, which allowed Verstappen to take the lead.
Red flag and a sprint-length restart
Antonelli managed his soft tires through the first part of the race and ran more than 40 laps on them. The race was then red-flagged when Valtteri Bottas hit the barriers at Turn 1 after a failure on his car. That left 24 laps to go, the length of a sprint.
During the stoppage, every driver fitted soft tires. The red flag cost Mercedes the tire advantage Antonelli had built up earlier.
After the restart, Verstappen won a close fight with Hamilton. Antonelli completed the podium in third. Leclerc finished fourth, keeping Norris behind him despite a flat spot on his left front tire, and Russell was sixth.
Post-race penalties changed the result further. Both Alpine drivers, Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly, lost their points-scoring positions.
Championship standings after Mexico
Verstappen is second in the drivers' standings with 261 points, ahead of Hamilton on 259. Russell, the pre-season favorite, needed to win in Mexico to keep his title hopes alive. After finishing sixth, he dropped to fourth in the standings, 130 points behind Antonelli.
In the constructors' championship, Ferrari has 504 points. The points from Hamilton's second place and Leclerc's fourth cut the team's deficit to Mercedes to 126 points.
How rivals reacted to Antonelli's title
"I think to achieve this in your second year in F1 is always very impressive. Because, of course, at his age as well, to be so solid, not make big mistakes, and of course, also beat your experienced team mate," Verstappen said. Hamilton said that being on the podium with Antonelli for his first world championship was one of the most special moments he remembers having in Mexico.
Norris said Antonelli had made everyone else look silly. "He's worked hard to understand how to drive this car, and he's exploited it better than anyone else," the McLaren driver said, adding that he was happy to see his number one go to Antonelli.
Oscar Piastri acknowledged that this year's title fight was not as close as the 2025 battle he was part of. In his view, Mercedes gave Antonelli the car and the support, and the Italian did the rest.
"I consider myself young, but when I look at him, he's even younger. And to see his parents underneath the podium being so emotional is a beautiful image," Leclerc said. Carlos Sainz summed up the champion's season: "He did a perfect first half of the year, dominated, and then controlled the second part of the year, which is what a World Champion has to do."
Colapinto highlighted Antonelli's consistency and the fact that he led the championship from the very start. Gabriel Bortoleto pointed to the caliber of the drivers Antonelli beat. "But imagine fighting for a F1 championship against, I don't know, Russell, Max, Lewis, all these World Champions [with] so much experience, and the guy didn't break," the Brazilian said.