Max Vertstappen scored his third victory of the season at the Mexico City Grand Prix while Kimi Antonelli achieved his dream result by taking the 2026 Formula 1 world championship with a P3 finish.
Kimi Antonelli has written history by becoming the sport’s youngest-ever world champion at Mexico, as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen beat Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton to win the race.
Verstappen seized control of the race during the only pitstop of the race on lap 28 of 71, jumping ahead of leader Charles Leclerc, and he fended off Leclerc’s teammate Hamilton to take victory, with Antonelli celebrating his maiden title success with a podium spot in third position.
With neither Russell nor Hamilton winning the Mexico Grand Prix, Antonelli’s race result was secured, but he underlined his mature title winning campaign with a controlled drive as he picked off Leclerc in the second half of the race.
At the start, polesitter Hamilton was challenged by Leclerc for the lead into Turn 2 and again towards Turn 4-5. Leclerc cut the grass to pass his teammate as Hamilton lost momentum to third-placed Verstappen as well, who took advantage of the tussle to take second away from Hamilton.
“I got pushed off by my own teammate,” Hamilton commented, as Verstappen was also complaining for Leclerc to hand back the position. The Ferrari driver only received a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, which was deemed rather soft by both Verstappen and his own teammate: “He’s got clean air, he doesn’t have to manage like the rest of us,” Hamilton pointed out.
In the background, Isack Hadjar was pushed off by slow-starting George Russell, who had dropped from second to sixth and was handed a ten-second time penalty.
To Hamilton’s point, Leclerc soon pulled out a five-second gap to second-placed Verstappen – the Red Bull driver only frontrunner to start on medium tyres instead of softs. Hamilton trailed by another couple of seconds ahead of the Silver Arrows and the Papaya cars. A strong start from Oscar Piastri saw him move up from a disappointing P12 grid slot to seventh, seven seconds behind the top runners.
Leclerc and Verstappen both pitted on lap 28 for their only pitstop, with Leclerc moving to mediums and Verstappen switching to softs. Helped by Leclerc’s additional five-second penalty, Verstappen was able to jump the Ferrari in pitlane to take charge of the race, despite the tyre compound.
“We basically need one of your magic Mexico stints,” said Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, as Hamilton’s next-lap response by collecting mediums dropped the leading trio to fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.
It handed Antonelli a brief moment in clear air at the front from Russell and Lando Norris, with Mercedes not having any real strategic options to challenge for the win – not that Antonelli would have minded one bit while on title course.
Antonelli was the last from that offset trio to enter into the pits by lap 44, well over the halfway mark of the 71-lap race, demonstrating Red Bull had no issue to worry about regarding the durability of the soft tyre.
But just as Antonelli had pitted, giving up on the possibility of a safety car, Valtteri Bottas’s Cadillac hit the wall at Turn 1 with a left-front suspension failure, bringing out not just a safety car but a red flag. Bottas was taken to the medical centre for precautionary checks and was released without injuries.
Following a nearly 40-minute red flag for barrier repairs, the race resumed with a standard restart with Verstappen leading from Leclerc, Hamilton, Antonelli, Norris, Russell and Piastri – all on a set of soft tyres. On the lap 47 restart, Verstappen was forced to defend against Hamilton, who enjoyed a great launch off the line to move past Leclerc into second.
As Leclerc locked up into Turn 1, Verstappen resisted Hamilton’s advances through Mexico’s first sector, the only real overtaking opportunity. But Hamilton continued to apply pressure to the leading Red Bull.
Antonelli did not want to celebrate his title success off the Foro Sol podium and move his way past Leclerc for third in Turn on lap 48. Suffering a flat spot from his restart lock-up Leclerc continued as he was then pressurised by Norris in the battle for fourth.
The race would receive another late drama when Arvid Lindblad crashed out of seventh after contact with Piastri, bringing out another safety car.
That reset allowed Hamilton, who had been dropping out of Verstappen’s slipstream, another chance to challenge for the win away from his old title rival when the racing resumed on lap 65.
But despite applying pressure on Verstappen lap after lap, Hamilton ran out of options and had to settle for second as Verstappen took his third Grand Prix victory of the season, and third in four races.
An emotional Antonelli crossed the finish in third to win the drivers’ world championship, beating Sebastian Vettel’s age record by three full years aged 20.
Leclerc hung onto fourth ahead of Norris, Russell and Piastri. Franco Colapinto took eighth as best of the rest, with Liam Lawson and Pierre Gasly rounding out the top ten.
As well as retirements for Lindblad and Bortoleto, Oliver Bearman was forced to stop with suspension damage after being taken out by Nico Hulkenberg at Turn 4 on the restart.
The Aston Martins suffered another character-building session as Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were parked after just seven laps with new Honda power unit problems.
So congratulations to Andrea Kimi Antonelli in winning the world championship in only his second Formula 1 season in the pinnacle of motor racing. It is quite incredible that the Mercedes driver achieved his first race victory back in China in the early part of the season and now he is world champion. What an awesome achievement.
As for Max Verstappen, what a drive from P5 on the original starting grid to finish in P1 for Red Bull. That’s another top result for the four-time champion.
Mexico City Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 2:20:28.772
2 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +0.799s
3 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +4.006s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +10.707s
5 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes +11.778s
6 George Russell Mercedes +12.263s
7 Oscar Piasti McLaren-Mercedes +19.475s
8 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes +20.204s
9 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford +20.899s
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes +21.483s
11 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +22.041s
12 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford +22.503s
13 Ryo Hirakawa Haas-Ferrari +25.373s
14 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes +27.562s
15 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes +28.638s
16 Nico Huldenberg Audi +29.977s
17 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari +30.695s
Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford DNF
Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari DNF
Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari DNF
Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda DNF
Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda DNF