Patryk Stachowiak
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Kimi Antonelli clinched the Formula 1 world championship on Sunday, becoming the youngest driver in the sport’s history to claim the title at just 20 years old. The Italian sealed it at the Mexican Grand Prix with four races still left on the 2026 calendar, capping a remarkable run in only his second season in F1.
Antonelli finished third in Mexico, scoring 15 points, enough to mathematically eliminate every remaining rival from the title fight. "We did it! Thank you so much," an emotional Antonelli said over team radio after crossing the finish line.
He breaks the record previously held by Sebastian Vettel, who was 23 when he won his first championship in the dramatic 2010 title decider. Antonelli also becomes Italy’s first F1 world champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953, a result that instantly turns him into a national sporting icon.
A Season of Total Dominance
Antonelli has won nine of the 19 races held so far this year, consistently beating his more experienced Mercedes teammate George Russell, who entered the season as the favorite to take the crown. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won Sunday’s race in Mexico, with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton starting from pole and finishing second. Russell, who qualified second, dropped to sixth after a 10-second penalty for a crash wrecked his afternoon. Both Hamilton and Russell needed victories combined with a poor Antonelli result to keep their hopes alive.
Mercedes opened the year strong. Russell won in Australia, the season opener, appearing to confirm his team had built the quickest car under this year’s new regulations. Everything shifted after that. Antonelli reeled off five consecutive race wins to establish himself as the clear championship favorite.
"Kimi surprised us all with his maturity. Obviously we knew he had speed and all this talent. I think not many people expected that he was, this year, so quick and beating a very strong teammate like George," former Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner told NBC News. "I didn’t expect it. He’s a 20-year-old with the mind of a 30-year-old experienced F1 driver. That made him what he is."
Antonelli grabbed the championship lead in the third race of the season and never gave it up. A pivotal stretch came when he won in Canada and Monaco while Russell failed to score in either event, undone by a mechanical failure and a pit-timing error. By the sixth race, Antonelli’s lead had swelled to 68 points.
Luck turned against the Italian in later rounds, and Russell clawed back ground. It wasn’t close to enough. By Russell’s own admission, Antonelli simply outdrove him across the campaign, posting more poles and more wins whenever both machines were on equal footing.
The Mental Edge
Otmar Szafnauer, another former F1 team principal, pointed to three factors behind Antonelli’s title-winning year: "His mental preparedness, raw talent and great attitude."
"He is able to mentally compartmentalize to his advantage," Szafnauer told NBC News, crediting his composure under pressure.
Antonelli effectively locked up the championship last Sunday with a win in Austin, Texas, a result that led even his closest rivals to accept the outcome.
"The truth is he’s been at a higher level than me this year," Russell told reporters Thursday. "This season, we have the best car, and I’m not able to achieve these results. So, yeah, it’s quite strange and certainly has us scratching our heads a little bit."
Why Antonelli Beat His Teammate
After four seasons in a Mercedes capable of only sporadic wins, Russell finally got the title-contending car he’d been waiting for. Antonelli made the most of it instead. This year’s regulation overhaul, cars with less downforce and heavier reliance on electrical power, forced every driver on the grid to rethink technique.
The new machinery suits Antonelli’s style of braking late and attacking corners aggressively. He’s also more at ease than most driving a car that slides loosely beneath him at the limit.
Russell’s preference for smooth inputs and early throttle application on corner exit, a method that worked well under the previous regulations, now drains tire life and battery charge too quickly. Russell compared the adjustment to "a golfer changing his swing."
The clearest illustration of the gap between the two came at the Italian Grand Prix. Antonelli started 19th and hunted down Russell to win the race outright, a statement result that summed up his edge over his teammate all year.
Room to Improve
Speaking to NBC News last Sunday in Austin, Antonelli admitted he hasn’t hit his ceiling yet, citing race starts and a tendency to exceed track limits as areas needing work.
"Track limits has been the bigger thing for me," he said. "But definitely, these kinds of situations, and then also in some of the qualifying sessions, I just didn’t go in with the right mindset. So, yeah, just making sure I improve those."
The flip in the Mercedes pecking order stands as the story of the season. Antonelli endured an inconsistent rookie year in 2025, mixing flashes of brilliance with rough patches, and was clearly outperformed by Russell, who was widely tipped as F1’s next champion once given a competitive car.
With the title secured, the fight now shifts to second place in the standings, where Russell, Hamilton, Verstappen and Charles Leclerc remain tightly bunched.
Russell insists finishing runner-up this year matters less than building momentum for next season.
"For every driver on the grid, there’s only one position that matters, and it’s P1," he told reporters. "Of course, I want to finish as high as possible. … What’s more important to me is to finish the season with positive momentum rather than necessarily that final order."
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