Kimi Antonelli is F1 world champion at 20 as Verstappen wins in Mexico City

Kimi Antonelli is the 2026 Formula 1 world champion. The Mercedes driver finished third at the Mexico City Grand Prix, which started at 1am Pakistan time on Monday, and that was enough to settle the title with four rounds still to run. Max Verstappen won the race for Red Bull, 0.799 seconds ahead of Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, Sky Sports reported.

Antonelli is 20 years and 68 days old. Sky Sports says that makes him the youngest champion in the sport's history by about three years, beating Sebastian Vettel, who was 23 years and 134 days old when he won in 2010. He is also Italy's first world champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953. "We did it, we did it," he said on the team radio.

Mexico City Grand Prix 2026: the top 10

Gaps from the classification published by Total Motorsport. Arvid Lindblad, Oliver Bearman, Valtteri Bottas, Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso did not finish.

How the race was won

• Lap 1: Hamilton started from his first pole for Ferrari, but Leclerc cut across the grass to take the lead and was given a five-second penalty. Hamilton complained that the stewards were "basically handling Charles this win".
• Red flag: Bottas crashed heavily into the barriers in his Cadillac after a front-right suspension failure on lap 46, stopping the race. It restarted from the grid with 26 laps left.
• The restart: Hamilton attacked Verstappen into Turn 1 and the two touched, but Verstappen came out in front and stayed there. It was his third win in four races.
• Safety car: Lindblad crashed after tangling with Piastri, bunching the field again before the finish.
• Leclerc held on for fourth on flat-spotted front tyres.

Antonelli only needed a solid finish after his win in Austin a week earlier left him on the edge of the title. We previewed the weekend in Mexico City Grand Prix at 1am PKT Monday and covered the near miss in Austin.

What is left of the season

With the drivers' title decided, the fight moves to second place and to the constructors' championship. The next race is the Sao Paulo Grand Prix in Brazil on the weekend of 6 to 8 November, the last of three races in a row. Brazil is eight hours behind Pakistan, so the Sunday race usually starts in the late evening PKT.

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