Kimi Antonelli: 5 things to know about Formula 1’s first 21st-century champion

Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy, who finished third, is lifted by race winner Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands, left, and second placed Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain after winning the world championship at the Formula One Mexico Grand Prix auto race in Mexico City, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Italian Kimi Antonelli has become the youngest ever Formula 1 world champion, clinching the title at the age of 20 years and 68 days with a third-place finish at the Mexican GP on Sunday. The Mercedes driver sobbed with joy over the team radio as he took the chequered flag at the high-altitude Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, with his overall lead now an unassailable 119 points.

Here are five things to know about the record-breaker:

1. A 16-year-old record broken

At 20 years old, there is clear daylight between Antonelli and Sebastian Vettel in the list of youngest-ever Formula 1 world champions. Vettel was aged 23 years and 134 days when he won his first world championship in 2010. Antonelli is also the first driver born in the 21st century to have won the world championship.

2. First Italian world champion since 1953

Few countries have contributed to Formula 1 and motorsports in general as much as Italy, yet no one from the country had been world champion for over 70 years until Antonelli on Monday. The last Italian to clinch the title was the great Alberto Ascari, who finished as world champion in the 1952 and 1953 seasons. Before that, Guiseppe Farina won the inaugural championship in 1950.

3. Most wins by an Italian driver in a season

Antonelli won nine races this season, which was more than Ascari or Farina did in their championship winning seasons. The previous record was Ascari’s who won six races on his way to the 1952 world championship.

4. First No.12 world champion since his idol Senna

Antonelli’s racing number is 12 and he has said that he will keep it that way next season as well, as opposed to changing it to No.1 as most defending world champions tend to do. He is the first F1 driver to win a championship with the number 12 since the late Brazilian triple champion Ayrton Senna did so with his first for McLaren in 1988. Senna is also an idol for Antonelli and he said that he would be wearing a special tribute helmet at next weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo.

5. Most race wins by a teenager

Antonelli is only the second driver to have won a Formula 1 race as a teenager, after his rival Max Verstappen did it at the age of 18 in Spain in 2016. That was Verstappen’s only win as a teenager, with his early years in Formula 1 coinciding Hamilton’s dominant years with Mercedes. Antonelli, on the other hand, won six races before he turned 20 this season.