Kimi Antonelli crowned 2026 F1 World Champion at 20
Italian driver Kimi Antonelli has become the youngest ever F1 World Champion at just 20 years of age, beating experienced drivers Max Verstappen and Sir Lewis Hamilton in the process.
At just 20 years of age, Italian Kimi Antonelli has been crowned the 2026 F1 World Champion after his decisive drive at Mexico City. This makes him the youngest ever F1 Champion in the history of the sport but also only the third Italian driver to achieve this accolade.
Italy’s Alberto Ascari won in 1952 in a Ferrari and the team have longed for another Italian champion ever since. However, Kimi Antonelli was driving a Mercedes for this historic achievement.
What makes this photo so special for Kimi is that he was on the podium with arguably the best recent driver legends in Max Verstappen and Sir Lewis Hamilton. With 11 World Championship wins between them, to have resoundingly have beaten them in only his second year of F1 racing is simply remarkable. They took first and second race position in Mexico with Antonelli in third place but to be captured in the same shot on the Mexico podium is extraordinarily poignant. A simple message lies therein. ‘Watch out for me boys since I am joining your club’. And I have little doubt that he will continue to be the rising star of the years ahead. Who knows, he might equal Schumacher and Hamilton’s record of 7 World Championships each and potentially before he is 30 years of age.
It was not luck that got him the wins either and he was up against proven race winner George Russell in the other Mercedes who is an accomplished driver. But Antonelli got the best out of his car on each race day and no circuit troubled him. Indeed, the race of the year for me was his Italian Grand Prix victory at Monza after starting last on the grid. This marked one of the furthest-back winning drives in Formula 1 history and showed a dogged and skilled determination right up to the chequered flag. He even passed his team mate in the closing stages of the race and gave the Italians the boost that they needed to see a local man win an Italian GP for the first time since 1966.