Kimi Antonelli was crowned the 2026 Formula 1 world champion at the Mexico City Grand Prix, sealing the title with four races of the season remaining.
He stood on the last step of the podium, behind race winner Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton in the Ferrari.
At 20 years old, Antonelli made his title fight look remarkably easy. He laid down the foundations with his maiden victory at the second race of the season in China, and with the exception of the occasional reliability setback with his Mercedes, he remained composed ever since.
It marked Mercedes' return to the top winning its first drivers' and constructors' trophy since Hamilton six years ago, and the team have well and truly unlocked their next superstar -- a superstar simply just enjoying himself.
Here are the highs -- and few low points -- that shaped his title-winning campaign.
- Kimi Antonelli makes F1 history as youngest world champion with maiden title
- Kimi Antonelli's historic F1 title: Every record broken and milestone reached
- In pictures: The moments that defined Kimi Antonelli's F1 title-winning season
Melbourne crash, early favourite Russell wins opener
It was George Russell, not Antonelli, who was the name on everyone's lips coming into the season. Russell was one of the standout performers in 2025, while Antonelli's rookie season had been a rollercoaster. When it was clear Mercedes was the team to beat, Russell was the easy pick for the title.
By the time the season-opener had arrived in Melbourne, it was clear he had finally got what he dreamt of after a tedious four-year wait -- a fast and dominant Mercedes to match his ambition. It was an opportunity he couldn't afford to waste.
To anyone who had paid attention to 2025, it was perhaps not surprising how the opening weekend went. Antonelli showed flashes of pace but a crash in final practice left him on the back foot going into qualifying. TV cameras showed Toto Wolff and his race engineer Peter Bonnington comforting a disconsolate Antonelli after the smash.
Russell claimed pole, although Mercedes' quick repair job allowed Antonelli to get out and lock out the front row of the grid. The race was a showcase of F1's new era. F1's 2026 hybrid engine regulations featured a near 50/50 split between internal combustion and electrical power, but it was instantly met with driver criticism with Max Verstappen labelling them "anti-racing."
At the start of the race, Russell powered down to Turn 1 in a comfortable lead, but a sluggish start for Antonelli followed -- something that would be an early theme of his season. He quickly fought back through the order. A thrilling back and forth contest followed, as Ferrari briefly fought Mercedes for the win, but by the end it was as they were at the beginning -- Russell winning, although he had not been able to shake Antonelli, who finished just under three seconds behind.
Russell seemed overjoyed at the start.
"I love this car, I love this engine!" Russell declared over the radio after the race.
As for Antonelli, the young Italian had managed to avoid the disaster of his practice crash, but he was still tellingly hard on himself afterwards. To team boss Wolff, it was the kind of baptism by fire he expected the Italian would have in his sophomore season now the team was the benchmark car to beat.
"He's literally learning [F1] the hard way, which makes him stronger," Wolff commented on Antonelli after the race. "He was very, very strong on Friday and his pace on Saturday was there. But then the accident happened, and that can happen."
But anyone who thought the opening race of the season was a sign of things to come was gravely mistaken.
Championship standings after Australia:
Russell -- 25
Antonelli -- 18
China breakthrough changes everything
Mercedes showed the first glimpses of vulnerability in China with a series of front wing and technical problems, but it was not enough to stop another lockout of the front row. This time, Antonelli did not repeat any of his Melbourne mistakes, claiming a resounding first career pole position -- becoming the youngest driver in history to do so.
Antonelli had another sluggish getaway though, and after trying to cover Russell into Turn 1, the Mercedes drivers both allowed Hamilton's Ferrari to swoop into an early lead. Mercedes' strong pace quickly showed itself and Antonelli got back ahead a lap later, the beginning of a dominant and assured drive to his first win. It made him F1's second youngest winner of all time, behind Verstappen.
"I'm speechless," an emotional Antonelli said after the race. "I'm about to cry, to be honest. Thank you so much to my team, because they helped me to achieve this dream."
For anyone who had already handed Russell the title after Melbourne, Antonelli's Shanghai drive seemed to be a clear reminder the Brit would not have it all his own way.
It had been a monumental weekend for Antonelli with landmark pole and wins. A week later, he did the same again and took pole at the Japanese Grand Prix, with Russell nearly three-tenths behind. Again, Antonelli struggled at the start, dropping to sixth by the end of the first lap as Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc battled for the lead, with Russell fourth. The pendulum of the race seemed to be swinging back to Russell as he carved through the field, but a pit stop on lap 22 from the lead would prove his undoing. Almost immediately afterwards, Oliver Bearman crashed at Spoon, triggering a safety car.
It was manna from heaven for Antonelli, who effectively got a free pit stop, vaulting him up the order and ahead of Russell and Piastri.
"Unbelievable!" said Russell on his radio immediately afterwards.
Russell dropped to fourth by the end, a quite remarkable outcome for such a dominant car. Out in front, Antonelli surged clear, winning over Piastri by a dominant 17 seconds. Antonelli might have been fortuitous getting to the lead, but there was nothing lucky about the margin of victory: Antonelli was looking every bit worthy of his newest accolade and the youngest man to ever lead the world championship. Little did anyone know it then, but it was a lead he would never relinquish.
He would have several weeks to dwell on the new place in the history books, too, with the outbreak of war in Iran cancelling April's races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Championship standings after Japan:
Antonelli -- 72
Russell -- 63
Three wins that broke Russell's challenge
The next three races underlined Antonelli's superiority and marked what would be the turning point in the season. Russell was no longer the established team leader waiting for the next generation to catch up -- Antonelli was in fact fully caught up. After the break caused by the Middle East cancellations -- Bahrain was subsequently moved to Malaysia in September -- Russell looked to fight back in Miami and the sprint appeared to suggest the title battle would swing back and forth. Antonelli out-qualified Russell comfortably but his Achilles heel from the year quickly re-emerged as he fluffed his start and dropped down the order. Norris and Piastri claimed a McLaren one-two while Russell was fourth and Antonelli sixth.
The momentum would swing again hours later. In qualifying again the difference between the pair was clear as Antonelli romped to his third straight pole position, with Russell languishing down in fifth. The young Italian's race start got the better of him once again and he ran wide at Turn 1 while Leclerc took a comfortable lead.
Antonelli and Leclerc fought out in front before Norris came into the mix and headed the field on lap 14. It was Antonelli vs. Norris for the rest of the race, before the Italian fended off the reigning world champion to take his third win in a row.
"This is just the beginning," Antonelli declared afterwards. "The road is still long, but we're working super hard and the team is doing an incredible job."
Canada followed and would deliver a blockbuster moment between the Mercedes duo. It was a Russell stronghold -- three pole positions to his name and a victory the year prior, the perfect place to kick life into his stuttering campaign. Russell started perfectly, taking a comfortable sprint pole, with Norris ahead of Antonelli in third. The mini-race featured a tense battle between the pair, with Antonelli being forced wide while trying a very ambitious move around the outside at Turn 1.
The Italian driver would then lose second after going wide a lap later while trying to pass Russell, losing second to Norris. Antonelli was fuming on the radio, leading to an intervention from Wolff. "Kimi, concentrate on the driving please, and not on the radio moaning," he said. Russell knew this weekend was his time to shine and he ended up stamping his authority and producing another stunning pole, but the race couldn't have gone any worse.
Both Mercedes drivers had a poor start while Norris took the lead before being called into the pits. Antonelli and Russell had fierce wheel-to-wheel battles for the best part of 27 laps, providing some excellent entertainment. Neither driver was willing to give an inch -- it seemed like all of Mercedes' worst nightmares coming back to life, with memories of Hamilton and Nico Rosberg's collisions in 2014 and 2016 while fighting each other for championships.
Fate would intervene before Russell and Antonelli were able to create another, with Russell retiring from the lead with a reliability issue while fending off his younger teammate. "It feels like the gods don't want me to be in this fight," a deflated Russell would say later. Antonelli's win rubbed salt into the wounds.
The Brit needed a clean weekend at the Monaco Grand Prix, but instead the problems continued. He qualified in sixth while Antonelli started on pole at a circuit where overtaking is notoriously difficult.
Monaco felt like a sucker punch to Russell. This time, Antonelli was flawless, taking a great pole. Antonelli's launch off the line was strong, but chaos unfolded behind him. In a race filled with incidents, Safety Cars and a red flag. Russell would be one of the drivers given a drive-through penalty for a minor pit-lane speeding infraction -- one later revealed to have been caused by the FIA incorrectly measuring pit entry. During a red flag, Russell argued his penalty should be deferred to after the race, but he served the drive-through anyway, dropping to the back.
Antonelli's win gave him another unanswered 25 points -- 50 in two races. While Canada had shown the raw side of Antonelli, Monaco had shown his class. Russell's championship hopes were slowly slipping from his grasp.
Championship standings after Monaco:
Antonelli -- 156
Russell -- 88
Ferrari fightback puts Antonelli under pressure
A team in red decided to join the title party and arrived to the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix with its first major upgrade -- and suddenly Mercedes had a title challenger.
Russell responded to his title struggles with pole, while Hamilton split the two Mercedes' to start the race second. A perfectly executed three-stop strategy played into the seven-time world champion's hands to make history and win his first race with the Scuderia, becoming the first driver of the season to end Mercedes' winning streak.
Antonelli suffered an electrical shutdown and was forced to retire from second place with just four laps remaining, while Russell gained some much-needed points in the title race. Hamilton cut the gap in the championship to Antonelli by 41 points -- making him a worthy title contender.
Antonelli lost 18 points in the championship and was downcast afterwards. He said: "I feel very empty emotionally right now, because we're trying to soak in what has just happened."
Russell arrived to Austria ready to fight back and locked out the front-row in what was a controversial pole position which occurred during a yellow flag period. He converted his pole into his second race win by nearly three-tenths from Antonelli, who stood on the final spot of the podium.
There might have been a glimpse of hope for Russell who said afterwards that he was "feeling like himself again." But that euphoric feeling was followed by a kick in the teeth at the next race when Antonelli bounced back at the British Grand Prix. He edged out Hamilton to win the sprint race after making a move on lap 8 of 17 from second. He crossed the line 2.7 seconds clear of Hamilton, with Norris third and Russell fourth.
The Italian took his form into the rest of the weekend with a stunning pole ahead of Leclerc. But during the race, it was the Ferrari man who had a mighty launch off the line to take the lead and win his first race in two years.
For Antonelli it was a race to forget as he scrambled for a point in ninth and desperately pleaded on the Mercedes team radio to stay out on track to seal a singular championship point. He was then demoted to 16th following a time penalty for exceeding track limits when he was struggling with car reliability.
It was a mixed bag of results for Mercedes, while Ferrari continued to build momentum. With the summer races in full swing, the championship fight was far from over.
Championship standings after Silverstone:
Antonelli -- 179
Russell -- 154
Hamilton -- 147
Antonelli strikes back
Russell's fightback did not last long. At Spa-Francorchamps, Antonelli got things back on track, claiming pole with a scintillating lap 0.3 seconds quicker than Norris in second, while Russell had to settle for fourth. The first lap seemed to be another of the micromoments which summed up Russell's year. Already starting down on Antonelli, Russell's electrical boost did not materialize in time for the Eau Rouge/Kemmel Straight on the opening lap.
Starved of power, Russell was swallowed up by other cars into Les Combes, tangling with Hamilton's Ferrari and ending in the gravel. "I'm out," Russell said on radio immediately after finishing. "What the f--- happened down the straight? I had no battery down the straight! Unacceptable! Unf------g acceptable!" If there was ever a radio message which summed up his mood and his season, Russell had delivered it. All of his hard work of the past handful of races, the gentle chipping away at Antonelli, was undone like that. Out in front, Antonelli briefly lost the lead to Verstappen, but soon got himself back in front to romp home to another comprehensive win.
Russell's engine issues would emerge again at the start of the Hungarian Grand Prix, as he struggled to get away and dropped from the third row of the grid to the back of the field. Out in front, McLaren's Norris capitalized on teammate Piastri's late race retirement to win.
Going into the summer break, Hamilton appeared to be just as big a threat to Antonelli's championship as Russell.
Championship standings after Belgium:
Antonelli -- 204
Hamilton -- 159
Russell -- 154
Forza Kimi!
Formula 1's summer break ended with the last Dutch Grand Prix to be held at Zandvoort under its current deal. Russell came into the second half of the season promising an all-or-nothing approach to his teammate's title lead and took sprint pole and then sprint victory to kick the season off in positive form.
The pendulum would swing back Antonelli's way the following day. Antonelli got the jump on Russell at the start before Verstappen crashed uncharacteristically on a wet-dry track. Antonelli briefly got ahead of Norris at the restart, but soon dropped behind the McLaren driver again. A late Virtual Safety Car gave Mercedes a dilemma. Antonelli pitted for fresh tyres to cover the threat of the looming Ferrari drivers, but rejoined behind Russell, who had stayed out on older tyres. Antonelli was quicker but also being caught by the two Ferraris. Mercedes immediately intervened, asking Russell to let Antonelli by into second position. Russell would oblige, despite a muted objection on the radio, and held off Hamilton to complete a double podium for Mercedes. It was odd to see a driver move over for a title rival, but showed how well Mercedes had managed the intra-team dynamic.
Rather than it becoming a controversy, Russell defended the call post-race. He said: "I mean, Kimi was ahead of me anyway. He deserved to finish ahead ... That's always just been our sort of rules, and the fact is Kimi was ahead of me before the VSC [Virtual Safety Car], and he tried something different to, you know, protect us as a team."
The Mercedes call was a stark contrast to the Ferrari team, who at a key moment earlier in the race had dithered on asking Leclerc to move over to let Hamilton past, when the seven-time world champion was on a better strategy. Hamilton later argued it cost them a podium finish, at least. It suggested a team not all pulling in one direction -- and the tensions at F1's red team would explode into full public view one week later at Monza.
Antonelli's home Italian Grand Prix promised a moment of real jeopardy. Issues earlier in the season meant he needed a new engine and the back-of-the-grid penalty that came with it. Russell took a resounding pole position ahead of the two Ferrari drivers and it very much seemed game-on: yet another chance for Russell to try and change the momentum of the season, on Antonelli's home patch no less.
But Ferrari came into the race with bitterness lingering from Zandvoort. During qualifying at Monza, Hamilton -- the driver with the best mathematical shot at beating Antonelli -- had felt he was not given priority when it came to qualifying strategy. "The team was solely focused on trying to get an equal tow for each driver," Hamilton said, referring to the Monza trick of one driver giving his teammate an aerodynamic boost by doing a qualifying lap a certain distance ahead.
Hamilton continued: "We're at a point in the year where 59 points is a huge deficit to recover from, especially when Mercedes continue to be the leaders in speed. So yeah, we do have to work as a team. But have we been?" Hamilton then shrugged and shook his head, adding: "If and when that will ever change, we'll find out."
It seemed to be a clear plea from Hamilton for Ferrari to back him over Leclerc to try and wrestle the initiative back from Antonelli and Mercedes. Hamilton would get his answer in resounding fashion at Turn 1, when he got on the inside of Leclerc's car on the right-left first chicane. Leclerc refused to budge, pushing Hamilton wide and into the gravel. At the end of the second lap, Leclerc lost control of his car and crashed out. It was the most Ferrari of farces and appeared to end any chance the team had of making the rest of 2026 a two-team fight.
Antonelli's car, equipped with the new engine, was a rocketship. He was carving through the field, with each pass leading to a louder roar from the home crowd. He eventually caught Russell -- who had driven flawlessly out in front -- and, after one botched attempt at getting by which almost ended in the gravel -- Antonelli got ahead for a famous and emotional win, the first by an Italian at the Italian Grand Prix since 1966. Antonelli's 26 passes were the most recorded by a single driver at any race in F1 history. New engine or not, Antonelli had turned in the most magnificent of drives, dealt another bitter blow to Russell, and all while Ferrari fumbled a golden opportunity to give Mercedes some anxiety about a two-team fight. In a season of big moments, Monza was the moment.
As he stood on top of the podium, Antonelli soaked it all in. "The weekend itself was absolutely incredible," Antonelli said later. "Definitely so far the best day of my life, and an incredible memory. I couldn't wish for a better day." Two weeks later at Madrid's first-ever Spanish Grand Prix, Antonelli inched even closer to the title, as Norris' hopes of a win were undone by an awfully timed Safety Car. Antonelli would inherit the lead and keep Norris behind with a faultless drive under pressure to win Madring's processional debut event. Russell could only finish fifth.
Championship standings after Madrid:
Antonelli -- 292
Russell -- 211
Hamilton -- 191
Antonelli romps clear
Antonelli's perfect season appeared to hit a momentary roadblock in qualifying for Baku's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where he dragged his front left tyre into the wall at Turn 1. It was a nightmare moment, a rare unforced error, as teammate Russell settled for second behind surprise polesitter Pierre Gasly. To anyone looking for a championship turnaround, there was historical precedent: Piastri's 2025 season had unraveled with unforced errors in Baku 12 months earlier. Was Antonelli about to trigger the same kind of implosion?
Out in front, Russell quickly got himself into the lead and controlled things from there, holding off old foe Verstappen over a tense final set of laps to record his first win since the Austrian Grand Prix. If Saturday had shown a glimpse of the raw side of the young Antonelli, Sunday showed why he was the champion-in-waiting, as he turned in a sensible and decisive drive to fifth, avoiding further drama on Baku's tight and twisty circuit. Russell's win felt important, but Antonelli had avoided a bigger points swing.
Verstappen's Baku performance had suggested a Red Bull resurgence and he confirmed it at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, a race which was as bizarre in name as it was in drama. A deluge before the start delayed the start, before F1's controversial new engines had a software glitch which caused a red flag before the end of the formation lap. When things finally restarted, Antonelli, Russell and Verstappen all traded places, before Verstappen took control of the race late on. As the finish neared, a final, decisive blow to Russell, as his Mercedes engine packed up a handful of laps from the end. Verstappen claimed Red Bull's first win of the year while Antonelli took an unanswered 18 points.
Russell's DNF was doubly costly, and it knocked him to the back of the grid in Singapore's Marina Bay street circuit. As had been the case a week earlier, Verstappen would control proceedings. Leclerc finished second, with Antonelli having a lonely race to third, but it saw him gain again -- Russell could only manage to fight back to ninth. The result meant Antonelli would go to Austin's United States Grand Prix with a slim mathematical chance of getting it done.
Championship standings after Singapore:
Antonelli -- 340
Russell -- 238
Hamilton -- 229
Antonelli gets it done in North America
If Monza a month earlier had been Antonelli's defining moment, Austin would feel like his unofficial coronation. He could claim the title if he won and Hamilton was fifth or lower and Russell was ninth or lower and arrived in Texas with a spring in his step. On Thursday, he seemed calm and relaxed and by Saturday he was in a perfect stride. Red Bull looked strong but Antonelli was on hand to deny them a pole position, delivering a beautiful lap late in Q3 to edge out Verstappen by 0.179 seconds. Hamilton and Russell settled for fifth and sixth on the grid, respectively, and suddenly the unlikely permutations felt a little less farfetched.
Race day came and it felt like Antonelli could get it done. But first he would have to navigate Verstappen -- the Red Bull opting to start on the grippier soft tyre off the line, while Antonelli and Mercedes opted for the medium, teasing a blockbuster run up COTA's hill to Turn 1. But anyone hoping for fireworks would be disappointed. Antonelli moved across to cover Verstappen at the start -- those sluggish getaways of the first part of the year a distant memory. The Italian immediately started building a lead as Verstappen was swallowed into a fight with the two Ferraris and Norris. Antonelli would only briefly surrender the lead in the pit stop phase of the race, but once back out in front he would disappear again, crossing the line 17 seconds clear of the next quickest car.
At one point, the maths made him champion, albeit briefly. Russell's race was hampered by a five-second time penalty, which turned an already poor event into a desperate one, and he soon dropped to ninth at the same point Hamilton was fifth -- exactly what Antonelli needed. By the finish, both had gained an additional place, meaning Hamilton finished fourth and Russell eighth.
Either way, it was a thumping win and felt like his championship affirmation moment. "Yes! That's how we f------ do it," Antonelli said on the radio after taking the chequered flag. "Let's do it."
Wolff felt like it was the standout drive of his young career. "For me, the best race that he's delivered so far," the Mercedes boss said. "Getting off the start with the inferior [medium] tyre and then controlling it at all times. The race of a champion who isn't the champion yet, but exceptional. So I think he's outperformed the car. Maybe it's a bit harsh to say, but I think his driving style just glues with the car."
It meant he needed just two points from the final five races to be champion and he would need to wait just seven days to start the party -- albeit after what he would describe as one of the most difficult weeks of his life.
Calm, jokey and mischievous in Austin, Antonelli arrived in Mexico City tense and unwell. He would miss Thursday's media session, later saying he felt "very bad." He added: "I had a high fever and stomach problems, so it hasn't been easy. But now I feel OK, just low on energy, just feel pretty tired, so it's going to be important to try and sleep well, because I haven't been sleeping well in these days, and hopefully tomorrow I will have more energy."
He clearly was not at 100% when qualifying came and, in a quirky twist on Austin, when his two competitors qualified down the order, they locked out the front row -- Hamilton claimed a spectacular first pole position for Ferrari, with Russell taking second place alongside his former teammate. Antonelli qualified fifth, which became fourth after a grid penalty for Verstappen. "I'm aware that definitely I haven't been driving well," Antonelli said afterwards. "I felt like already going to qualifying, I didn't feel great, and I felt a bit low on energy, so definitely, you know, it's not an excuse, but for sure, it hasn't been my finest performance."
The young Italian's plan to have a good night's sleep ahead of the biggest day of his life? "Bombard myself with melatonin," he said. Antonelli looked like a different man on Sunday, although he took a cautious approach to the start and standing restart that followed mid-race. There was drama ahead, with an clumsy Leclerc move on Hamilton handing Red Bull and Verstappen the win on a silver platter, but Antonelli didn't need to worry about any of it. A decisive move on Leclerc late on got him into the podium places and he spent the final laps of the race watching the two greatest drivers of his lifetime race for the win.
He admitted the view through his visor -- including that of Hamilton's Ferrari -- was getting blurrier as he neared the chequered flag. "[I was] already [crying] the lap before," Antonelli said later. "I think I lost probably two seconds because I was already crying, basically. I couldn't see clearly ahead. You know, I could see two Ferraris somehow with the tears."
Antonelli came home third, more than enough to clinch the title, to trigger wild celebrations with his team, and his family, who had flown in overnight from Italy to watch his crowning moment. "I am speechless, trying to process what just happened," Antonelli said later.
"A day I will remember forever. So grateful, thank you so much. I am going to enjoy every bit. I'm going to out with my family, friends and the team and we're just going to enjoy all the way because this is a very special moment and one we will remember forever."
The championship makes Antonelli F1's youngest, aged 20 years and 86 days.
Standings after Mexico City:
Antonelli -- 380
Verstappen -- 261
Hamilton -- 259
Russell -- 250