Mexico City Grand Prix 2026: Antonelli Youngest F1 Champion

This weekend the Mexico City Grand Prix took place, and we finally have a new world champion. What’s more, he’s the youngest champion in history, so congratulations to Kimi Antonelli!

He is the first Italian world champion since 1953, so for the vast majority of Italian fans this is the first time they have seen a compatriot crowned champion. We Spaniards had the same feeling until Fernando Alonso arrived and won his two world titles in the now distant years of 2005 and 2006, at least for those of us who are of a certain age.

Goguma, stop being nostalgic and get to work. What happened in this race?

The bad thing about these weekends is that in Korea it’s the middle of the night, so I couldn’t watch qualifying. Still, this race was different because a championship was at stake, and it was entertaining and full of action from the start.

Saturday qualifying and starting grid

First of all, Russell, Antonelli’s rival for the championship, started second. A few metres after the start he had a problem with the car and dropped to fifth.

But the real fun came with the Ferraris, when Leclerc overtook Hamilton by cutting across the grass after contact between the two cars. Leclerc didn’t give the position back, so he received a 5-second penalty. But he gained far more than 5 seconds. In other words, it paid off. Understandably, his teammate Hamilton was furious.

In my opinion, this can’t be right: doing something illegal shouldn’t pay off, and this needs another look. Perhaps, reading the rulebook, everything is correct, but it doesn’t look that way to the spectator.

And further back, the other Mercedes stayed fourth, doing what it has to do to win the championship.

After the start the race settled down, with the retirement of both Aston Martins with mechanical problems being the highlight. Anyway, we’re just waiting for the championship to be over.

Antonelli didn’t win by one lap

The race continued the same way, despite the complaints from Hamilton and Verstappen about Leclerc’s move, until lap 28, when they pitted. Verstappen took advantage of Leclerc’s penalty to move into first place. That put Antonelli in the lead of the race, until he had to pit.

The problem is that just after Antonelli’s pit stop, Valtteri Bottas had a heavy crash after a suspension failure at the end of the straight, at over 300 km/h. The crash looked spectacular, but he walked away from the car. But of course, this brought out a red flag. Had he not pitted, he would most probably have won the race easily.

The overtake on Leclerc for the podium

At this point, after the red flag, Antonelli was still fourth, behind Leclerc and Hamilton. Here the Italian once again showed why he is world champion. He threw the car at the Monegasque from a long way back and managed to pass him. He finished third, behind Hamilton and Verstappen, who ended up winning the race. An incredible podium for an unforgettable race.

One more controversy: Lindblad and Piastri

Late in the race Lindblad was fighting with Piastri, and in one of the Australian’s attempts on the outside of the corner they touched and Lindblad went into the wall. As a result, the Australian was penalised. Watching the footage (sorry, I can’t post it here, but it’s easy to find), I wouldn’t have penalised him. Although by the book the penalty is correct, it can’t be right that forcing someone off the track is valid. Maybe this is why we don’t see more action on track and all the overtakes are limited to the end of the straight: it seems that nowadays you can’t fight for position.

Anyway, here are the standings and the race result. Now we’ll see who takes the runner-up spot. What about you? Did you like the race? What do you think of Antonelli?

Race result

World Drivers’ Championship standings

World Constructors’ Championship standings

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Photo by Sebastian Angarita on Pexels.