São Paulo Grand Prix: Formula One 2026 – live

Oy my days! It’s raining now and Antonelli slides off the track as they go around to get into position! He’s able to adjust, but that’s a warning to all drivers.

That and Pulp Fiction are the only ones I’ve seen twice in the cinema on the same day. Rightly so.

On which point, if there’s been a better film this century than City of God, I’d love to know about it.

Is Brazil they greatest country in the world? Well, it’s in the top one. Should you want to learn more about it, The Edge of Democracy is excellent and on Netflix, likewise Apocalypse in the Tropics. Both are directed by Petra Costa.

Antonelli doesn’t – unusually for young sports stars – look older than his years. He’s all chuchi-faced and innocent, with a luxuriant head of hair, curls spilling out of his baseball cap. I am not envious, not one bit.

It knows how to rain in Brazil.

It’s dry now, but it may not stay that way.

Also going on:

1 Lando Norris 🇬🇧 McLaren

2 Kimi Antonelli 🇮🇹 Mercedes

3 Liam Lawson 🇳🇿 Red Bull

4 Nico Hülkenberg 🇩🇪 Audi

5 Isack Hadjar 🇫🇷 Red Bull

6 Oliver Bearman 🇬🇧 Haas

7 George Russell 🇬🇧 Mercedes

8 Fernando Alonso 🇪🇸 Aston Martin

9 Alexander Albon 🇹🇭 Williams

10 Oscar Piastri 🇦🇺 McLaren

11 Rafael Câmara 🇧🇷 Haas

12 Arvid Lindblad 🇬🇧Racing Bulls

13 Carlos Sainz 🇪🇸 Williams

14 Charles Leclerc 🇲🇨 Ferrari

15 Franco Colapinto 🇦🇷 Alpine

16 Pierre Gasly 🇫🇷 Alpine

17 Lance Stroll 🇨🇦 Aston Martin

18 Valtteri Bottas 🇫🇮 Cadillac

19 Gabriel Bortoleto 🇧🇷 Audi

20 Lewis Hamilton 🇬🇧 Ferrari

21 Max Verstappen 🇳🇱 Red Bull

22 Sergio Pérez 🇲🇽 Cadillac

Boris Becker winning Wimbledon at 17 in 1985; Mike Tyson winning the world heavyweight boxing championship at 20 in 1986; Stephen Hendry winning the World Snooker Championships at 21 in 1990; Luke Littler winning the World Darts Championship in 2025; to which ludicrous list can now be added the name Kimi Antonelli, winner of the world driver championship at 20 in 2026.

Of course the car has plenty to do with it, but finding the confidence and nous to beat around tracks men who’ve been driving them for years is a rare old effort – the next youngest to take the title, Sebastian Vettel in 2010, was 23 at the time. The question now, though, is whether Antonelli can go again, and again, and again, as the distractions away from the race multiply and the other freaks of nature who call this mad pursuit work, find holes in his game while closing some in their own.

All of which makes today’s jaunt an important one: can the champ, starting second on the grid, lay down a marker for next season, advising his elders that there’ll be no letting up? Or will the piqued old stagers launch their fightback?