Antonelli Emerges World Champion As Verstappen Wins In Mexico

Kimi Antonelli clinched his first world title and became the youngest champion in Formula 1 history by finishing third at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Antonelli – 20 years and 68 days old – finished the race in third, behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton.

His moment of glory came on a day when tensions at Ferrari between seven-time champion Hamilton and team-mate Charles Leclerc came close to boiling over.

Antonelli drove a composed race amid some hectic action involving the other front-runners in a grand prix interrupted by a red flag that led to a 25-lap sprint to the finish.

The Italian, a teenager until late August, spent the closing laps watching Hamilton try to get close enough to pass Verstappen after the two had made contact at the first chicane at the restart.

But Hamilton found it impossible to get his Ferrari close enough to Verstappen to try to pass and ended the day frustrated and feeling a win had slipped through his fingers as a consequence of Leclerc’s aggression on the first lap.

That was a secondary story on the day Antonelli made history, smashing Sebastian Vettel’s previous record for being the youngest champion by three years and 66 days.

Antonelli also becomes the first Italian to win the F1 title since Alberto Ascari in 1953.

Antonelli had tears mixed with laughter over the radio on the slowing down lap as he proved initially incapable of talking when his team told him he was world champion.

After he half-composed himself, he said: “Thank you so much. We did it. We did it.”
Culled from BBC