Story: Sports Desk
Kimi Antonelli clinched his first world title and became the youngest champion in Formula 1 history by finishing third at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Antonelli – 20 years and 68 days old – finished the race in third, behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton.
His moment of glory came on a day when tensions at Ferrari between seven-time champion Hamilton and teammate Charles Leclerc came close to boiling over.
Antonelli drove a composed race amid some hectic action involving the other front-runners in a Grand Prix interrupted by a red flag that led to a 25-lap sprint to the finish.
The Italian, a teenager until late August, spent the closing laps watching Hamilton try to get close enough to pass Verstappen after the two had made contact at the first chicane at the restart.
But Hamilton found it impossible to get his Ferrari close enough to Verstappen to try to pass and ended the day frustrated and feeling a win had slipped through his fingers as a consequence of Leclerc’s aggression on the first lap.
That was a secondary story on the day Antonelli made history, smashing Sebastian Vettel’s previous record for being the youngest champion by three years and 66 days.
Antonelli also becomes the first Italian to win the F1 title since Alberto Ascari in 1953.
Antonelli had tears mixed with laughter over the radio on the slowing down lap as he proved initially incapable of talking when his team told him he was world champion.
After he half-composed himself, he said: “Thank you so much. We did it. We did it.”
Antonelli keeps calm during late chaos
Antonelli went into the race knowing that effectively he only had to stay out of trouble to ensure he secured the title.
The only way he could not do so was if George Russell or Hamilton won the race. Even then, he needed only to finish ninth if it was his teammate or 10th if it was Hamilton.
Antonelli ran a steady fourth in the first stint, behind Leclerc, Verstappen and Hamilton, moving into the lead as others made their pit stops in front of him, and then pitted for fresh tyres just a lap before the safety car, which was why Mercedes had elongated his final stint.
A lap later, Valtteri Bottas’ Cadillac crashed on lap 45 when its front suspension failed under braking for Turn One, leading initially to a safety car and then the race being stopped when it became clear how long it was going to take to repair the barriers.
At the restart, Leclerc locked his left front wheel heavily as Verstappen and Hamilton battled for the lead in front of him, and Antonelli passed him at the start of the next lap.
There was another safety car with 12 laps to go when Arvid Lindblad crashed his Racing Bulls after a collision with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
When the race restarted with seven laps to go, Antonelli ran at the back of a three-car train with Verstappen and Hamilton, none of the three able to make any moves.
They crossed the line nose to tail, less than two seconds covering all three cars.
