Kimi Antonelli becomes youngest F1 champion in history after taking the chequered flag in third place at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. The result gave the Italian an unassailable 119-point lead over his nearest rival with four rounds left in the season.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the dramatic 71-lap race, holding off Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton in the closing laps. Antonelli drove a controlled race from fourth on the grid, knowing he only required a ninth-place finish to seal the championship.
The young driver crossed the finish line four seconds behind Verstappen, triggering emotional celebrations over the team radio and inside the Mercedes garage.
A Record Standing Since 2010
The triumph eclipses the previous benchmark set by Sebastian Vettel, who captured his first world title in 2010 at 23 years and 134 days. Antonelli's feat lowers that milestone by more than three full years.
He also ends a 73-year wait for his country, becoming the first Italian driver to claim the Formula 1 drivers' crown since Alberto Ascari won his second championship in 1953.
On the podium, race winner Verstappen and second-placed Hamilton lifted the emotional 20-year-old onto their shoulders, uniting twelve world titles in a historic celebration.
How the Mexico City Race Unfolded
Sunday's race proved chaotic from the opening lap, featuring intense battles and neutralisations across the high-altitude circuit. A mid-race red flag halted proceedings for barrier repairs, forcing a standing restart on lap 46.
Antonelli held his composure through the restart and swiftly overtook Ferrari's Charles Leclerc into Turn 1 to regain third position. A late safety car clustered the field once more with eight laps remaining, but Antonelli managed tyre temperatures cleanly to protect his podium spot to the finish.
Hamilton pushed Verstappen hard for the race victory, finishing just eight-tenths of a second adrift, while Leclerc and McLaren's Lando Norris completed the top five.
From Rookie Uncertainty to World Champion
Antonelli's path to the championship represents one of the most rapid ascents in modern motorsport. Stepping directly into a front-running seat in his sophomore year, the Bologna-born driver rebounded from early-career scrutiny with commanding race victories across the 2026 calendar.
His dominant mid-season campaign built a comfortable points buffer that left rivals unable to bridge the gap as the season moved into its final flyaway stretch.
With both the drivers' crown decided and four Grands Prix still to run, attention now turns to the constructors' battle and the remaining podium fights heading into Brazil.
