By Joe Murphy
Max Verstappen won a wild Mexico City Grand Prix, but the day belonged to Kimi Antonelli, who finished third to become the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history.
At 20 years and 68 days old, the Mercedes driver secured his maiden drivers’ title with four rounds still to run, the first Italian champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953. Third place was more than enough. He came to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez needing only a top nine finish to clinch the championship after his dominant win in Austin a week earlier. He delivered it in front of a raucous Foro Sol crowd.
The weekend began with Lewis Hamilton’s first pole position for Ferrari. The seven-time champion took pole with a 1:16.514, just nine thousandths clear of George Russell on the front row, with Charles Leclerc third. Antonelli qualified fourth after Verstappen was handed a one-place grid penalty for a collision with Liam Lawson in second practice. Verstappen therefore started fifth, Lando Norris sixth, Oscar Piastri seventh, Lawson eighth before being disqualified from the qualifying classification for a technical breach relating to MGU-K power reduction, Franco Colapinto ninth and Pierre Gasly tenth.
It was an all-Ferrari front row lockout on merit, but the race unravelled for them at Turn Four on lap one. Both Hamilton and Leclerc ran wide, Leclerc cut across the grass and emerged in the lead. The stewards later gave him a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, a decision that would prove decisive.
Verstappen capitalised. Running fourth early on, Red Bull brought him in during the first pit cycle and jumped him ahead of Leclerc when the Monegasque served his penalty on lap 28. The race then turned chaotic.
On lap 46, Valtteri Bottas suffered a front-left suspension failure and crashed heavily at Turn One, bringing out a red flag. Bottas got out unaided. At the stoppage, Hamilton had just pitted under a Virtual Safety Car to return to soft tyres, while Verstappen and Leclerc stayed out. The restart order with 25 laps to go was Verstappen, Leclerc, Hamilton, Antonelli.
Two laps after the restart, Antonelli made the move that sealed the title. He dived down the inside of a flat-spotted Leclerc into Turn One for third. The crowd erupted. Leclerc finished fourth.
A second Safety Car followed on lap 59 after Oscar Piastri hit Arvid Lindblad at Turn Two, putting Lindblad into the barriers. Verstappen controlled the final restart perfectly, holding off Hamilton by 0.799 seconds at the flag. It was his sixth win in Mexico City, his third win in four races, and moves him from fourth to second in the championship, two points ahead of Hamilton.
Behind Leclerc, Norris finished fifth for McLaren, Russell recovered to sixth despite a 10-second penalty for causing a collision with Isack Hadjar at Turn Six on the opening lap, Colapinto was seventh for Alpine, Gasly eighth, Lawson ninth from the back of the grid and Yuki Tsunoda took the final point in tenth for Racing Bulls on his return.
There were several other incidents. Aston Martin suffered a double DNF on lap five, both Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso retiring within seconds of each other with abnormal pressure in the power unit systems, which Honda later attributed to cooling issues at altitude. Ollie Bearman retired after contact with Nico Hulkenberg, who received a 10-second penalty.
For Verstappen, it was vintage Mexico. For Antonelli, who admitted after the race he could not see through his tears on the final lap, it was history. With 380 points and four races remaining, he cannot be caught.
All eyes on the battle for second, currently held by the Dutch driver.
