When Sebastian Vettel broke down in tears after winning his first Formula 1 world championship in Abu Dhabi in 2010, Kimi Antonelli was just four years old. Sixteen years later, the young Italian has made history. A third-place finish at the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday sealed a world title that also broke Vettel’s 16-year record as the youngest champion in F1 history. Vettel was 23 years and 134 days old when he won his first crown. Antonelli did it at just 20 years and 68 days.
“Kimi, congratulations, world champion, campeone del mondo,” Sebastian Vettel said after Kimi won on Sunday. In a video message shared by F1’s official page, the German driver said, “Only very few of us managed to achieve that and nobody has done it as young as you.”
Deep Dive
How much younger was Kimi Antonelli than Sebastian Vettel when he won his first F1 title?
How did Antonelli’s route to the F1 title differ from Vettel’s?
How did Antonelli and Vettel clinch their first F1 championships?
“It is never the one race that matters, it is all the races we do. Every race shapes us. And with all that's about to happen in the coming weeks, I'm sure you will soon feel the drive to race again. As in the bigger picture, there's still a race to win. “Lastly, a piece of advice. Great achievements might change the way people look at you, but you don't have to change the way you look at people. Now go on and enjoy it. Un abbraccio forte, Sebastian. Ciao.”
Before the Mexico weekend, the youngest on the grid was asked whether he remembered Vettel becoming the youngest world champion. "I don't remember that. I was four years old,” he told Yahoo Sports. “I'm sorry. I remember I was playing with Hot Wheels, but I don't remember him clinching [the title]. "Later on, when I grew up, I saw the race, which was crazy,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Before the Mexico weekend, the youngest on the grid was asked whether he remembered Vettel becoming the youngest world champion. "I don't remember that. I was four years old,” he told Yahoo Sports. “I'm sorry. I remember I was playing with Hot Wheels, but I don't remember him clinching [the title]. "Later on, when I grew up, I saw the race, which was crazy,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}The numbers favoured Antonelli heavily. He arrived in Mexico leading the championship with 365 points, 123 clear of Mercedes teammate George Russell, with only 100 points remaining, so any result in the top nine would make him champion. He finished third, leaving him on 380 points. Max Verstappen, who won the race, moved up to second, 119 points behind Antonelli. Antonelli beat Vettel’s record by three years and 65 days. He is also Italy’s first world champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953, ending a 73-year wait.
Post-qualifying in the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Antonelli told the media he felt “more tense than usual” this weekend. He qualified fifth, behind Russell. A penalty for Red Bull driver Max Verstappen moved him up to fourth. The surprise of Saturday belonged to Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time world champion whose seat Antonelli inherited. Hamilton took pole for the red team after a 1,197-day wait. On Sunday, Antonelli survived a chaotic first lap, a red flag and two safety-car restarts, then passed Charles Leclerc late on to take the final podium place behind Verstappen and Hamilton.
The day Vettel stole it
Abu Dhabi, 14 November 2010. Vettel did not arrive as the man to beat. He was third in the standings, 15 points behind then-Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso and seven behind his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber. Ten days earlier he had been a 16-1 outsider. He had not led the championship once all season until he crossed the line in the final race.
He won from pole. It arrived in the shape of a mid-field Renault. Alonso and Webber, who had pitted early, found themselves trapped behind Vitaly Petrov and could not pass. Alonso finished seventh. The final table read Vettel 256, Alonso 252, Webber 242, Hamilton 240. Vettel wept as he took the flag.
He was 23 years and 134 days old. He had taken the record from Hamilton, who won at 23 years and 300 days. Vettel took 10 poles that year, twice as many as Webber. He was the fastest man on the track over a lap, and he had been collecting records since he was a teenager.
Two prodigies, two roads
Vettel’s rise was a ladder of firsts. He made his Formula 1 race debut with BMW Sauber at the United States Grand Prix, stepping in when Robert Kubica was hurt in a crash. At 19 years and 53 days, he was the youngest driver ever to appear at a Grand Prix weekend, and he scored a point on debut. Toro Rosso signed him from the Hungarian Grand Prix onwards, where he replaced Scott Speed for the rest of the season.
In 2008, he took pole position as the youngest pole-sitter in history and converted it into victory at 21 years and 73 days, the youngest race winner in history at the time. It was his first career pole and first win, and Toro Rosso’s first too.
The rest of the decade followed. In 2009, he moved up to the senior team, Red Bull Racing. He won four races and finished second in the championship. The following year, he took the championship at the Abu Dhabi finale, ending the season four points clear of Fernando Alonso. Four consecutive world titles, 53 wins, 122 podiums and 3,098 points – that was Vettel before his retirement in 2022.
Antonelli's progression through the junior categories was much quicker. He won the senior European karting titles in 2020 and 2021 before claiming the Formula Regional European Championship. He then moved directly into Formula 2 in 2024, skipping Formula 3.
Mercedes had been tracking his progress for years. When Hamilton shocked the paddock and announced his move to Ferrari in early 2024, team principal Toto Wolff made the decision to promote Antonelli to the senior team for 2025.
TABLE (HT GFX)TABLE (HT GFX)
Vettel (2010) | Antonelli (2026) | |
| Age | 23 y, 134 d | 20 y, 68 d |
| Starts | 62 | 43 |
| Wins | 10 | 9 |
| Poles | 15 | 7 |
| Podiums | 19 | 19 |
| Win rate | 16.1% | 20.9% |
| Pole rate | 24.2% | 16.3% |
(Vettel’s figures run through the 2010 finale, Antonelli’s through the Mexico City Grand Prix.)
The Toto Wolff gamble
Promoting a teenager to replace a seven-time world champion was never going to be a decision free of scrutiny. Wolff was aware of the risks, particularly after Antonelli's crash during his first practice appearance at Monza. But the Mercedes team principal continued to back his driver.
Antonelli’s FRECA performance at a rain-drenched Zandvoort, where he systematically dismantled the field in conditions so treacherous that experienced drivers were aquaplaning off on straightaways, is still talked about. Formula 1’s guide says Mercedes believed they had “an Italian Verstappen.”
Stepping into Hamilton’s shoes at Brackley meant enduring a trial by fire. During his FP1 debut at Monza in 2024, Antonelli set the fastest initial sector of the session before losing the rear of his Mercedes at the legendary Parabolica, slamming into the tire barrier at 45G. Yet telemetry engineers were stunned to discover that his apex speed into the Variante Ascari prior to the crash had surpassed George Russell's benchmark. Wolff famously stepped onto the team radio in 2024, “Kimi, all good. All good, Kimi,”
In 2025 in Australia, he started 16th and finished fourth in the wet. At Suzuka he became the youngest driver to lead a lap and set a fastest lap. At Miami he took the Sprint pole, the youngest pole-sitter in any F1 format. The rookie year ended seventh in the standings, with three podiums and 150 points.
In China earlier this season, he took pole at 19 years, six months and 17 days, the youngest Grand Prix pole-sitter ever. Vettel once held that record before him. At the Shanghai International Circuit, post-qualifying, Hamilton told assembled media it was “a great record” and that it would take a while for someone to get close to it. Hamiltion qualified third, behind Antonelli.
Antonelli then drove a flawless race to take his first Grand Prix victory. After the chequered flag, Wolff said over the radio: “He's too young. We shouldn't put him in a Mercedes. Put him in a smaller team. He needs the experience. Look at the mistakes he makes. Here we go, Kimi. Victory!” he said in March.
"When things go bad, there are people who come out and say, 'That was a bad decision,' and 'Mercedes took too much risk'," he said. "And this sport that we live in is manic depressive. Today, it's great. In two weeks, he puts it in the wall, and people say he's too young."
Two races later, he became the youngest championship leader in history, at 19 years and 216 days. In Canada, a Russell retirement handed him the lead and his fourth consecutive win. Antonelli thrived. At Monza in September, he delivered a drive for the history books, carving his way from 19th on the grid to take a fairy-tale victory, becoming the first Italian to win the Italian Grand Prix since Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966.
He won nine of the first 19 races, just short of half the season. And he has finished in the top eight in 17 of those 19 starts.
Sky Sports Formula 1 commentator and former driver Martin Brundle also compared Antonelli to F1 legend Ayrton Senna after the Mercedes driver claimed a stunning Monaco Grand Prix pole position earlier this year. Likening the Mercedes driver to Senna, who was known as the 'Master of Monaco', Brundle on Sky Sports F1: "Antonelli made less mistakes than anyone else in the front half of the grid. It was super impressive. He makes me think of Senna."
He also has a very good car. Mercedes leads the 2026 F1 Constructor Standings with 630 points following the Mexican Grand Prix. Kimi Antonelli’s teammate, George Russell, began the year as the title favourite and now sits in fourth place – 11 points behind Verstappen and nine behind Hamilton.