Kimi Antonelli has become Formula 1’s youngest-ever champion.
asserted
Antonelli → become → ?
Securing the title on Sunday at the Mexico City Grand Prix confirms the rapid rise of a 20-year-old driver who hadn’t won a race when 2026 began.
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2026 → secure → race
Here’s the story of Antonelli’s historic title-winning season in five key moments:
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story → ’ → moments
Antonelli admitted doubting himself in an inconsistent rookie season as he scored less than half the points total of teammate George Russell.
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he → admit → Russell
The first race of 2026 made it seem this would be another year of Antonelli as Mercedes’ No. 2 driver.
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this → make → driver
He crashed heavily in practice in Australia and was second behind Russell in the race.
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He → crash → race
Then came the breakthrough.
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breakthrough → come → ?
Antonelli battled past seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton at the start of the Chinese Grand Prix and then pulled away, leaving Hamilton, Russell and Charles Leclerc to fight it out for second.
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Antonelli → battle → second
Holding back tears, Antonelli was almost speechless as he became the second-youngest race winner in F1 history.
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he → hold → history
Wheel-to-wheel battle with Russell ends suddenly
Antonelli turned his China victory into a five-race winning streak to surge into the standings lead, while Russell hit trouble.
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Russell → end → trouble
The highlight came in Canada, when the title-chasing Mercedes duo put on a show in a thrilling fight through 30 laps, trading the lead several times and coming dangerously close to making contact.
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duo → come → contact
Then it all went wrong for Russell.
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it → go → Russell
An engine failure brought him to a sudden stop and he slammed his fists against the car in frustration.
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he → bring → frustration
Worse was to come for Russell at the next race in Monaco, when Antonelli won and Russell was hit hard by a timing system fault which wrongly handed out penalties for pit lane speeding.
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which → come → speeding
Determination in adversity
Antonelli showed his grit when he hit his own troubled run in the middle of the season, refusing to give up on fighting even for a potential single point at the British Grand Prix.
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he → show → Prix
Antonelli arrived at Silverstone with his lead cut after car problems in Barcelona as Hamilton won, and a win for Russell in Austria.
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Hamilton → arrive → Austria
Antonelli was chasing down Leclerc for the lead in Britain when his car suffered damage to the bodywork around the left front wheel, leaving Antonelli barely able to turn into corners.
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car → chase → corners
Despite pleas over the radio from Mercedes to pit and retire the car, Antonelli kept going as he tried to cling on to 10th.
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he → pit → 10th
In the end, Antonelli didn’t score points because of a penalty for going off-track in his near-undriveable car, but it was a signal of his willingness to fight for even a small advantage.
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it → score → advantage
A win like no other at home
Eating spaghetti from the Italian Grand Prix trophy was the exclamation point on a remarkable win for Antonelli in front of his home crowd.
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Eating → eat → crowd
Two years on from crashing at Monza on his F1 race weekend debut, Antonelli was unbeatable at home.
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Antonelli → crash → home
Charging through the field from 19th on the grid, Antonelli took the lead by lap 17 and the win was never in doubt after that.
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win → charge → that
No Italian had won at home in 60 years, and no driver had won from that far back on the grid since 1983.
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driver → win → 1983
In a season where Antonelli often seemed to be accumulating points with minimum fuss, here was a victory which showed he could elbow his way past the best in the business.
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he → seem → business
“For me personally, I’m not even thinking about a fight or a comeback or anything,” Russell said after the race.
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Russell → think → race
Antonelli’s ‘best race’ sets up title clincher
Could Antonelli do even better than he had done in Italy?
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he → set → Italy
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff thought so, hailing his win at the Circuit of the Americas last week as “probably the best race I’ve seen” from Antonelli.
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I → think → Antonelli
This was a masterpiece in control as Antonelli took pole position, held the lead ahead of Max Verstappen and Leclerc at the start and managed the race to perfection to ensure neither could challenge him after that in Texas.
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neither → take → Texas
Unlike earlier in the season, Antonelli did it without having the unquestioned best car in the field, too.
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Antonelli → do → field
By this stage, Red Bull and Ferrari had largely caught up with Mercedes on pace and Antonelli’s car was increasingly skittish after recent upgrades.
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car → catch → upgrades
Russell couldn’t make it work at all and was eighth.
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it → make → ?
That left Antonelli needing just two more points to secure his championship in Mexico.
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That → leave → Mexico
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