BBefore the start of the 2026 season, there was something of a consensus within Formula 1. Mercedes appeared to have the fastest car and George Russell was favorite for the title. Alongside him, in what was indeed a dominant Mercedes, was his teenage teammate, Kimi Antonelli, the prodigious talent that needed to be honed after a difficult rookie season. This consensus lasted one race, but by the sixth it was overturned and Antonelli was squarely on his way to becoming champion.
Few doubted that the 19-year-old Italian would prove strong in a car that, for the first two-thirds of the season, was the class of the field, but the fact that Antonelli came out of the blocks with such verve, such aggressive skill and also the judgment and sometimes maturity of a veteran was telling. As F1’s youngest world champion and first Italian since Alberto Ascari in 1953, Antonelli made history this year, but it was the way he did it that really caught the eye.
As the sport’s youngest world champion, at 20, crossed the finish line in tears and emotion at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez, it was clear what it meant to him. As for his mother, his father and his sister, this family to whom he is so close and who played a key role in his success. They hugged each other and shed their own tears as well.
It may have been inevitable for some time now, but when he stepped out of his car to the roaring approval of fans in the extremely atmospheric section of the stadium, it was understandable that the Italian, barely out of his teens, could barely take it.
“We did it,” he said. “I wouldn’t be here without Mercedes, without my family. This moment will live forever. I’m speechless. I’m just trying to live this moment.”
During his rookie season, Antonelli had struggled with ground effects cars as he got used to F1 and endured a series of poor performances mid-season. Questions were asked about whether he was promoted too soon. This year, we answered these questions emphatically, but not quite straight away.
At the season opener in Australia, he crashed in final practice with an overeager charger look that was costly and familiar from 2025. Repairs to his car caused him to almost miss qualifying and Russell continued to win. It seemed the bookmakers were right.
What followed, even though it was so early in the season, was nonetheless a game-changer. Fifth place in the sprint in China, with a penalty for hitting Isack Hadjar, didn’t exactly bode well but it was the final mistake in Shanghai. Becoming the youngest F1 driver to win pole, he converted with a perfect run to take his first Grand Prix victory five seconds ahead of Russell.
With a mastery of how to optimize the driving style required by the energy management of new cars and a feel that was entirely beyond his teammate’s reach, Antonelli was on another level. Victory in Japan after dropping to sixth at the start followed, albeit with the chance of a safety car call, and with it a championship lead he would never relinquish.
Miami fell to the Italians, then to Canada. The narrative had changed, Russell and the rest of the grid were being schooled by the kid with only one season under his belt.
If it was necessary to insist on who was in charge, Antonelli played insistently in Monaco. He held off a fierce charge from Max Verstappen to take pole and then left an indelible mark with victory on the streets of the principality. He maintained his lead from the start and was impeccable under the threatening walls before having to keep his composure to see out two restarts that had eradicated the 30-second lead he had built.
The second, a standing start alongside seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, was as nervous a test as one could ask of any driver, let alone one in only his second season. Antonelli succeeded with flying colors, held his line, his place and his lead until the flag.
Questions were asked to him several times and each time he had the answers. If there were weaknesses in his game, that he could be impetuous or overexcited, Monaco had banished them with the calm, cool commitment of a champion in waiting.
It was his fifth consecutive victory, a record after a first victory and with it he had accumulated a lead of 66 points over Hamilton and 68 over Russell.
To be fair, Russell had endured more than his fair share of bad luck and it was undeniably a factor but not decisive. The safety car at Suzuka enjoyed by Antonelli cost the British driver, who was unfairly penalized for speeding in the pit lane at Monaco and then suffered an engine failure while leading in Canada, a major blow. However, he admitted at the time that he was not as comfortable with the car as Antonelli and this showed on the track, the Italian often being faster even behind his teammate.
This was demonstrated in Barcelona when he overtook Russell to take second place with five laps to go. However, the Italian also had to deal with his share of misfortune. Having taken second place, he stopped with a power cut, much to his disappointment and that of some observers who missed the good old days when the engines gave out at least with a bang.
This bad luck was followed by a wheel shield failure at Silverstone, putting him out of the race as he battled for the lead. The resulting points change put Russell within 25 points, but that was as close as the British driver could get.
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McLaren and Ferrari both came to Mercedes with two wins each, but even though Mercedes no longer had everything their way, Antonelli still performed. His brief mid-season frustration behind him, a dominant victory in Belgium followed by two podiums. Russell had some more bad luck, but there were two more races that defined why the season belonged to the 20-year-old.
The first time at his home race at Monza, where he started from 19th after a grid penalty caused by an engine change, but then took victory, was a masterclass, proving he had the racing craft, control and judgment to carve through the field from a seemingly impossible position. It was another blow for Russell who had started second and hoped to salvage points, but lost seven more.
Only one driver has come back to win from further down the grid, John Watson, 22nd at the Long Beach GP in 1983. Watson’s driving will be remembered, as will Antonelli’s.
The second was of the same type; it indicated the depth of his talent and the heights the Italian could reach. In a season marked by only marginal errors, a misreading of yellow flags during qualifying in Austria and a penalty for failing to slow down under yellow during qualifying in Hungary, the most egregious by far was his qualifying crash in Baku, where Russell took pole by a huge margin.
Antonelli admitted the mistake was unnecessary and started from 16th place. Yet the way he handled the situation exemplifies the mindset of a champion. Instead of charging through the race trying to gain places and take risks on a circuit he knew he could bite into, he played the percentages, moving around the field with care and determination, even if the chaos and crashes on restarts caused him to take damage on the ground, making the car a brute to deal with. He kept his head and composure to finish fifth, although he was still beating himself up for the qualifying crash.
He had accepted the blame and learned from it, then assessed his position, how to handle it and what was the best solution in the entire title fight. Not all titles are won with courage, but they can be lost. Antonelli had lost points, but with as much damage limits as could reasonably be expected, the title was inexorably closing in.
A similarly cool head allowed a late resurgence from Verstappen in an incredibly improved Red Bull as Antonelli took the podium behind him. Indeed, taking third place in Singapore with a sprint ahead of Lando Norris and Hamilton as they battled against each other explained why the title was practically in his hands.
An emphatic win in Austin followed, his ninth, which Wolff hailed as one of his best, which wasn’t quite enough to seal the deal but it left him so far ahead that a ninth or better would be enough this weekend here in Mexico, where he duly closed with a nerveless run to take third.
Better than anyone expected, perhaps even his Mercedes team could have hoped, Antonelli delivered on his promise in emphatic style and sparked a new consensus: that there is surely more to come.
Gn sports
