Formula One's youngest world champions

Nov 1 - Italy's Kimi Antonelli, who turned 20 last August 25, became Formula One's youngest world champion at the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday.

The following lists the sport's five youngest champions to date:

KIMI ANTONELLI (Italy), Mercedes 2026

George Russell started the season as title favourite but teammate Antonelli ripped up the script in devastating fashion, reeling off five wins in a row from China to Monaco on his way to winning the title with four rounds to spare.

He becomes, in his second season, the first Italian to win the title since Alberto Ascari in 1953 and only the third since the championship started in 1950. The first was Giuseppe Farina in 1950.

Antonelli has also won more races than any other Italian F1 driver in a single season.

SEBASTIAN VETTEL (Germany), Red Bull 2010

Vettel took the first of his four titles at the age of 23 years and 134 days after going into the final race in Abu Dhabi in third place overall and 15 points behind Ferrari's leader Fernando Alonso.

Vettel, who was one of four title contenders when the race started, won at Yas Marina from pole position while Alonso started third and finished seventh. The outcome meant Vettel led the standings for the first time that season and became Germany's second champion after Michael Schumacher.

LEWIS HAMILTON (Britain), McLaren 2008

Hamilton, now a seven-time world champion, took his first at the age of 23 years and 300 days.

The Briton, runner-up in his sensational 2007 rookie season, famously clinched the title by overtaking Toyota's Timo Glock on the last corner of the last lap of the final race of the campaign in Brazil to finish fifth and beat Ferrari's home race winner Felipe Massa by a single point.

Hamilton, now 41, is the most successful F1 driver of all time with a record 106 wins.

FERNANDO ALONSO (Spain), Renault 2005

Alonso took the first of his two crowns aged 24 years and 58 days, ending Schumacher's five-year run as champion.

The Spaniard clinched the title with third place in Brazil, with two rounds to spare. He won the championship again the following year and is still competing with Aston Martin as the oldest active F1 driver, now 45.

MAX VERSTAPPEN (Netherlands), Red Bull 2021

Verstappen was 24 years and 73 days old when he took the first of his four at a controversial season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix when he and Hamilton arrived level on 369.5 points.

Hamilton had looked like taking a record eighth championship, leading for most of the race until a late safety car deployment and subsequent restart allowed Verstappen to pass on the last lap.

The safety car episode remains one of the sport's great controversies, with race director Michael Masi's decision to change the usual procedures leading to a Mercedes protest. Masi, an Australian, was subsequently removed from his position. REUTERS