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# Antonelli settles the title before the Gulf finale
- URL: https://www.gulfsportsdaily.com/articles/antonelli-settles-the-title-before-the-gulf-finale/
- Published: 2026-11-03T11:33:43.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-03T11:33:43.000Z
- Description: Kimi Antonelli secured his first Formula 1 championship in Mexico with four races remaining, leaving Qatar and Abu Dhabi to welcome the youngest champion in the sport’s history.
- Author: Gulf Sports Daily
- Tags: Motor Sports

Kimi Antonelli needed only ninth place in Mexico City to settle the drivers’ championship. He finished third, securing the title on Sunday before Formula 1 reaches its final two races in the Gulf. The margin he had built over the season allowed him to finish behind Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton and still complete the most important result of his career. At 20, the Mercedes driver is world champion in only his second Formula 1 season.

The podium came after an interruption had undone the benefit of a long opening stint. Starting fourth, Antonelli kept his soft tyres going beyond 40 laps, creating an advantage that disappeared when Valtteri Bottas crashed and the race was stopped. Mercedes said he was third at the suspension but had to restart fourth because the order was taken at the control line at pit entry. On the second lap after racing resumed, he passed Charles Leclerc into Turn 1 to regain a podium place.

Afterwards, Antonelli acknowledged that the possibility of winning the championship had made this weekend more tense. He thanked his family and Mercedes and described his difficulty taking in what he had achieved. Sharing the podium with Verstappen and Hamilton gave him company well acquainted with that achievement, even as the race itself belonged to the Red Bull driver. The title had been secured without a tenth victory of the year, a measure of how much Antonelli had already accomplished before arriving in Mexico.

His winning sequence began in China and continued through Japan, Miami, Canada and Monaco, five successive victories that established the scale of the challenge facing his rivals. Further wins came in Belgium, Italy and Spain before he added the United States Grand Prix immediately before Mexico. Those results spread his success across the calendar rather than concentrating it in a brief run at the end. The ninth win had put him in position to finish the championship without needing to win again.

That record is a substantial change from his debut season, when he went without points in 10 races. Mercedes had promoted him after only three seasons in junior single seaters, and Toto Wolff recalled the doubts surrounding that decision as he reflected on the title. The team principal said Mercedes had continued to trust Antonelli through the difficult periods. A championship in the following season gives that decision a concrete return, while also showing why the first year alone was an incomplete assessment of his potential.

Antonelli’s age makes the achievement distinct even among drivers who have won early in their careers. At 20 years and 68 days, he has taken the youngest champion record from Sebastian Vettel, who was 23 years and 134 days when he won in 2010\. He is also Italy’s first champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953 and the first graduate of the Mercedes junior programme to win the title. His success therefore carries significance for both his country and the team that brought him into Formula 1.

The standings show how decisively he has separated himself from the field. Antonelli has 380 points after 19 rounds, with Verstappen on 261 and Hamilton on 259\. George Russell is fourth on 250 and Leclerc fifth on 245\. There are 119 points between the champion and his closest pursuer, but only 16 between second and fifth. That leaves a much closer contest behind Antonelli, with Hamilton just two points short of Verstappen and both Russell and Leclerc within reach of second place.

Mercedes also has a championship still to secure. Its 630 points put it 126 ahead of Ferrari, which has 504, while Red Bull has 382 and McLaren 365\. The advantage is substantial, but the drivers’ title does not by itself complete the team’s season. Antonelli and Russell both identified the constructors’ championship as their remaining objective after Mexico. Mercedes can now approach that task with its leading driver’s individual title settled, and with the contribution of both cars still important to the outcome.

The teams’ standings offer another reason to look beyond the newly crowned champion in the remaining races. Red Bull and McLaren are separated by 17 points in the contest for third, far less than the gaps ahead of them. Each team’s final position depends on what its two drivers can still deliver, so a race result can matter differently to a driver and to his team. The closing rounds retain that competitive purpose even after the biggest individual prize has been awarded.

Brazil comes next, from November 6 to 8, followed by Las Vegas from November 19 to 21\. Qatar then hosts the penultimate round from November 27 to 29, with Abu Dhabi closing the season from December 4 to 6\. Brazil and Las Vegas will determine how much remains unsettled when the teams arrive in Qatar. The order behind Antonelli and the constructors’ championship may both look different by then, but the Gulf races will have no bearing on who becomes drivers’ champion.

For Gulf spectators, the change is clear: the final two rounds will feature a champion already confirmed, rather than decide who takes the title. They will still offer two opportunities to see whether Antonelli can add to the wins that secured his championship, and whether the rivals closest to him can finish the year ahead on the track. Mexico demonstrated that those outcomes can coexist. Verstappen won the race, Hamilton finished second and Antonelli left with the championship his season had earned.