Antonelli wins F1 title at 20 with third place in Mexico

Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli clinched the 2026 Formula 1 drivers' championship on Sunday after finishing third at the Mexico City Grand Prix, Turkey's state-run news agency Anadolu Agency reported.

The 20-year-old Italian became the youngest world champion in the sport's history, breaking the record held by Sebastian Vettel.

Antonelli took over Mercedes' second seat from seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in 2025, and this is only his second season in the series.

He was the first Italian to win the drivers' title since Alberto Ascari in 1953, with four rounds still to run.

Antonelli started fourth on the grid and did not need to win, as a ninth-place finish or better would have secured the title whatever his rivals did.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the 71-lap race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, while Ferrari's Hamilton finished second.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc led after a chaotic first lap, when he fought off track with Hamilton, and Antonelli briefly led during the pit-stop phase.

A crash involving Cadillac's Valtteri Bottas brought out the safety car and then a red flag, and the race restarted on lap 47.

Antonelli passed Leclerc at Turn 1 on lap 48 to take third place, and he held that position through a second safety car period.

"We did it! And I wouldn't be here without Mercedes and without my family," Antonelli said after the race.

He added that he was speechless and still trying to process what had happened.

"This weekend, I did feel a little more tense," he said.

Verstappen finished 0.799 seconds ahead of Hamilton, while Antonelli crossed the line 4.006 seconds behind the winner.

Leclerc took fourth, followed by Lando Norris, George Russell, Oscar Piastri, Franco Colapinto, Liam Lawson and Pierre Gasly.

The drivers' title is awarded on the points scored across the season's race calendar, and the Mexico City race was one of the final rounds of that schedule.