Twelve championships stand on the podium following the 2026 Mexico City Grand Prix as Kimi Antonelli becomes the youngest F1 Champion in sports history with a third-place finish in Mexico City.
The 20-year-old Italian needed only a ninth-place finish in the Mexico City Grand Prix to win the championship, but that wasn’t enough for him or Mercedes, as the team went on to secure it with a podium finish behind the Four-time and Seven-time champions.
Antonelli finished third in the Mexico City Grand Prix, joining Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton on the podium the driver that Mercedes missed out on to start Toto Wolff’s vindetta to find the future of the sport, and the legendary driver that Kimi replaced.
“We did it,” Antonelli told F1TV. “And without them, I wouldn't be here without Mercedes, without my family. So I'm very grateful for this moment, and it's one that will live forever. And I'm speechless. I am trying to process what has just happened.
“It's been an incredible season, and to share this podium with Max and Lewis is truly incredible. And yeah, looking forward to some more battles in the future.”
The year started with Mercedes dominance as teams struggled to catch up in the development race under the new 2026 regulations. What looked to be a battle between him and his senior teammate became a runaway train for Antonelli, who won five in a row early and then pulled out championship-level drives when the rest of the field started to catch up, including in his 19th-to-first run at his home Grand Prix where he became the first Italian driver to win at home since Ludovico Scarfiotti.
Through 19th rounds, Kimi Antonelli won nine races and finished on the podium in 16 races to secure the championship with four races remaining on the calendar.
He did all of this in his second season in F1, just five years after graduating from karts to car racing.
Victoria Beaver is a nomadic sports writer who spends her time hopping between race tracks and hippie farms. She’s covered every corner of motorsports that will let her in from 410 Sprints to NASCAR to Supercross. Her daily driver is a 2010 Subaru that she refused to do the smallest amount of preventative maintenance on. Instead, she spends her free time and money building a 42-foot Skoolie to one day travel the country full time.
