MEXICO CITY, Mexico — Last year, the championship came down to the last race, with a 3-way battle for the title in Abu Dhabi, but this time around, Kimi Antonelli made sure it wouldn’t be that close, not even remotely. Now, in only his second season in Formula 1, Antonelli was able to celebrate his championship, while standing on the podium alongside seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, and four-time champion Max Verstappen.
Kimi Antonelli Wins the 2026 World Drivers’ Championship
Kimi Antonelli went into this season with a lot of potential. Mercedes were the clear favorites for the title, with what was appeared to be the fastest car. At the time, Antonelli’s older, more experienced teammate, George Russell, was the favorite for the title. Those expectations held true during the season opener in Australia, where Russell took the win.
The story soon changed in the next race, in China, where Antonelli got his first race victory in Formula 1. This would be the first of five consecutive race wins for Antonelli, giving him a sizable early, lead in the standings. The gap would only stretch from there.
Antonelli would go on to face reliability troubles, and battles with his teammate, which threatened to slow his pace. But despite this, Antonelli continued his excellent sophomore campaign with consistent success.
Last week in Texas, Antonelli was eligible to clinch the title, but despite winning the race, Antonelli’s rivals in the standings, Hamilton and Russell, finished high enough to keep the title just out of the young driver’s reach. This week was different, as Antonelli had a clear shot to clinch the title.
As long as he finished P9 or better, he would go home a champion, regardless of who won. But the young driver, who has proven himself so well this year, wasn’t going to be satisfied with a conservative P9 finish. Instead, Antonelli finished the race in P3, securing a dream come true. He finished just behind Lewis Hamilton, as Max Verstappen held onto the lead. This made for an impressive podium, with three drivers who with 12 titles between them.
This is an exceptionally impressive accomplishment given his age. At just 20 years, and 68 days old, Antonelli is now the youngest driver to be crowned champion, breaking the previous record set by Sebastian Vettel. This marks the first time an Italian driver has won the WDC in 73 years, with the previous Italian champion being Alberto Ascari, who won the title in 1953.
Max Verstappen Wins Third Race This Year
Max Verstappen has never been short on talent, even if things don’t always go well. This season was certainly no cakewalk for the Dutch driver. Verstappen struggled under the new regulations, with several issues with his car throughout the year.
But, the four-time champion is no stranger to the podium, and as he showed last year, he knows how to finish the season strong. Verstappen has won in Bahrain and Singapore, fighting his way back up the drivers’ standings. This shows yet another strong second half of the season.
Last year, Verstappen made an impressive comeback in the second half of the season. He managed to climb up the standings, and challenge for the title in Abu Dhabi, where he, along with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris fought for the title.
Unfortunately, Verstappen isn’t in the running for the title, especially now that it has officially been clinched by Antonelli. Nonetheless, he still gave a strong performance. Verstappen started the race from P5, and quickly fought his way up to P2, after making his way past Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.
Verstappen soon made a clever strategic move. Charles Leclerc, who had received a five-second penalty, was leading the race, with a five-second lead over Verstappen. The Red Bull driver was able to get the gap down to just below five seconds, which could give Verstappen an advantage going into the pit.
So when the Ferrari went into the pits, so did Verstappen. This allowed him to get a fresh set of tires, and make it out of the pit ahead of Leclerc.
Verstappen was in the lead for the lap 46 restart, and held the lead as Hamilton passed Leclerc. But soon he found himself defending against Hamilton. Verstappen managed to stay consistent, and keep Hamilton behind him, holding onto the lead and finishing 0.799 seconds ahead of Hamilton. The victory brings Verstappen up to second place in the drivers’ standings.
Ferrari’s Clash
Lewis Hamilton had fantastic pace throughout the weekend, securing pole position in qualifying. This marks the 105thpole position of his career, and the first time he has done so with Ferrari.
This joy was short-lived in the race. Hamilton soon found himself under fire from his teammate. Hamilton and Leclerc went wheel-to-wheel as they battled for the early race lead. Both drivers were aggressive, and soon, both went off-track. In this case, Leclerc had the advantage, and rejoined the track in the lead.
This infuriated Hamilton, who said he was “pushed out.” By this point, Hamilton had fallen behind Verstappen as well, making it tough to simply swap positions as Leclerc ran off with the lead. After an investigation, Leclerc received a five-second penalty for going off-track and gaining an advantage. Leclerc served the penalty on his pit stop, which Verstappen took advantage of, but Hamilton was still behind Leclerc.
That was until the red flag, and the race restart. Upon the restart, Hamilton and Leclerc got off the line, fighting for position. Leclerc locked up, and Hamilton was quicker. Hamilton made his way into P2, chasing Verstappen for the race lead.
Leclerc then found himself battling a flat spot on his tire due to the lock up. He was soon passed by Antonelli as well, missing out on the podium. Charles was determined not to give up another position, but soon found his rear-view mirror filled with the sight of the defending champion Lando Norris, who was determined to make the most of his last few laps as champion.
Despite Norris’ best efforts, and a degrading tire, Leclerc managed to hold off the McLaren driver, and finish the race in P4.
Meanwhile, Hamilton was hot on the heels of his old rival, with the race lead on the line. However, Verstappen doesn’t give many opportunities, and he raced well. Hamilton was unable to get past the Red Bull, and finished second.
Chaos and DNFs
Of course, there were several drivers who didn’t finish the race. For some it was reliability, for others it was collisions, but there was no shortage of chaos. The first to retire were the two Aston Martin drivers.
Both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll retired from the race early on. For Stroll, this marks his 13th DNF of the season. Because while other drivers fight for points and championships, Aston Martin fans know that real victory is when you manage to finish the race in the first place.
Meanwhile, other drivers seemed to fight for victory in bumper cars. First came a collision between Oliver Bearman and Nico Hulkenberg just after the restart, causing Bearman to retire from the race, and resulted in a 10-second penalty for Hulkenberg. Later on, Arvid Lindblad came into contact with Piastri, causing Lindblad to sustain damage and spin off-track, bringing out a late safety car. This also resulted in Oscar Piastri receiving a 10-second post-race penalty, dropping him down to P13.
Then there was the cause of the red flag, a high speed accident for Valtteri Bottas. Bottas was on the straight when he experienced suspension failure on his front left, causing the wheel to break off, and his car veered off track. Luckily, Bottas made it out, and walked to the medical car under his own power.
The biggest news is still Kimi Antonelli’s phenomenal championship run. A real dream come true for the young Italian, who can now celebrate what every driver dreams of, and he got to do so on the podium with his childhood heroes. Now, only the Constructors’ Championship is yet to be decided. Currently, Mercedes leads the charge, with a 126-point lead over Ferrari. Mercedes will be hoping to clinch the Constructors’ title next week as Formula 1 heads to Brazil.
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