Kimi Antonelli becomes Formula 1's youngest world champion as Verstappen wins in Mexico
Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli has become the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history, sealing the title with third place at the Mexico City Grand Prix at 20 years and 68 days old. Max Verstappen won the race for Red Bull ahead of Lewis Hamilton, whose Ferrari started from pole, on a day of open tension between Hamilton and team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Antonelli beat Sebastian Vettel's record as the youngest champion by three years and 66 days, and he is the first Italian to win the title since Alberto Ascari in 1953. He wraps up the championship with several races still to go. On the slowing-down lap he was in tears and laughing at the same time, at first unable to speak when his team told him he was champion. "Thank you so much. We did it. We did it," he finally said on the radio.
He only needed to stay out of trouble, and he drove a calm race. The grand prix was stopped with a red flag after Valtteri Bottas's Cadillac crashed on lap 45 when its front suspension failed under braking, and the barriers had to be repaired. After the restart, Antonelli passed Leclerc, who had locked a wheel, and after another safety car, triggered when Arvid Lindblad's Racing Bulls crashed following contact with Oscar Piastri's McLaren, the top three crossed the line nose to tail, less than two seconds apart. It was Verstappen's third win in four races.
The flashpoint at Ferrari came on the first lap. Leclerc attacked Hamilton, went off at the Turn Four/Five chicane, cut the corner and came out in the lead, while Verstappen used the chaos to slip past Hamilton. Leclerc kept the position and got a five-second penalty, reduced from the usual ten because Hamilton had also gone off. Hamilton later said Ferrari had "big problems" and needed "serious talks", feeling a possible one-two finish had slipped away.