Kimi Antonelli becomes youngest champion in F1 history at age 20

YURI CORTEZ/AFP/Getty Images

After crossing the finish line of the Mexico City Grand Prix behind race winner Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, F1 history-maker Kimi Antonelli placed his hands on the steering wheel and his voice cracked as he said, “We did it, we did it.”

Although the 20-year-old Mercedes driver finished third in the Mexican capital on Sunday, he became the youngest champion in the history of Formula 1.

“Thank you so much, we did it, we did it, thank you so much … thank you,” Antonelli said on the team radio after securing the title with four races still left in the season.

Antonelli, the first Italian to win the title since Alberto Ascari in 1953, took an unassailable lead in the standings over teammate George Russell and Ferrari’s Hamilton.

Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters

Time might be on Kimi Antonelli’s side, but the F1 prodigy is in a hurry to win now

Sebastian Vettel was the previous youngest champion at age 23 in 2010.

Verstappen won the Mexico City GP for the sixth time.

“I would not be here, without Mercedes and my family, I am speechless just trying to process this,” Antonelli said at the end of the race. “It has been an incredible season.”

“For 73 years, our country has waited for this moment, and today an entire nation will celebrate one of its own reaching the very pinnacle of our sport,” said Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali.

“Today, his name joins the legends of our sport. A new chapter in Formula 1 history has been written, and I firmly believe this is only the beginning of an extraordinary legacy.”

The race was stopped on lap 46 with a red flag after Valtteri Bottas crashed into the wall at the first corner, following issues with his right-side suspension.

Cadillac reported that the driver was given “further medical assessments as a precaution.” Bottas had got out of the car unaided and waved to the fans before leaving the track.

At the restart, Verstappen was first — followed by Charles Leclerc, Hamilton, Antonelli, Lando Norris and Russell — and the Red Bull driver did not let the win slip away.

After Mexico, F1 will head to Brazil and then to Las Vegas. It remains uncertain whether the final two scheduled Grands Prix — in Qatar and Abu Dhabi —will take place, given instability in the region.

Clive Mason/Getty Images

Hamilton, who had secured pole position on Saturday, lost it on the fourth lap while battling for the lead with Leclerc. Hamilton briefly went off track, dropping back to third place.

The maneuver between the two Ferrari drivers was investigated, resulting in a five-second penalty for Leclerc — a decision that left seven-time world champion Hamilton fuming.

“The stewards are basically handing Charles this win. We agreed in the drivers’ briefing,” Hamilton said. “The problem with a 5-second penalty is that he’s got clean air and doesn’t have to manage (the car) like the rest of us. He should have just given the position back.”

Shortly before the red flag caused by Bottas’ crash, Hamilton radioed, “We’ve got problems … big, big problems.” On pulling into the garage, he appeared visibly frustrated with his team.

After a disastrous qualifying, Fernando Alonso joked that he wouldn’t race in Mexico and would head straight to Brazil instead.

That nearly became a reality.

Alonso, a two-time F1 champion, was forced to retire early, with his teammate Lance Stroll exiting the race shortly afterward on the seventh lap, capping off a disastrous visit to Mexico for the Aston Martin team.

“I was just told to retire the car due to an engine issue. I’m not sure what happened. The car was fine during the first practice sessions, then it failed in qualifying, and now it’s happened again,” Alonso said. “We had reliability issues at the worst possible time.”

尤里·科尔特斯/法新社/盖蒂图片社

在墨西哥城大奖赛的终点线前，紧随冠军马克斯·维斯塔潘和刘易斯·汉密尔顿之后，F1 历史创造者基米·安东内利将双手放在方向盘上，声音哽咽地说：“我们做到了，我们做到了。”

尽管这位 20 岁的梅赛德斯车手周日在墨西哥城仅获得第三名，但他成为了 F1 历史上最年轻的世界冠军。

“非常感谢，我们做到了，我们做到了，非常感谢……谢谢，”安东内利在赛季还剩四场比赛的情况下提前锁定总冠军后，在车队无线电中说道。

安东内利是自 1953 年阿尔贝托·阿斯卡里以来首位赢得世界冠军的意大利人，他在积分榜上领先队友乔治·拉塞尔和法拉利的汉密尔顿，取得了不可撼动的领先优势。

金京勋/路透社

时间或许站在基米·安东内利这边，但这位F1天才少年急于求成，想要立刻赢得比赛。

塞巴斯蒂安·维特尔是此前最年轻的世界冠军，他在 2010 年以 23 岁的年龄夺冠。

维斯塔潘第六次赢得墨西哥城大奖赛冠军。

“如果没有梅赛德斯车队和我的家人，我不可能站在这里。我简直难以置信，难以言表，”安东内利在比赛结束后说道。“这真是一个不可思议的赛季。”

“73年来，我们国家一直在等待这一刻，今天，整个国家将庆祝我们的一员达到了我们这项运动的巅峰，”一级方程式首席执行官斯特凡诺·多梅尼卡利说道。

“今天，他的名字将与这项运动的传奇人物并肩齐名。一级方程式赛车的历史翻开了新的一页，我坚信这仅仅是他非凡传奇的开始。”

比赛在第 46 圈因瓦尔特里·博塔斯在第一个弯道撞墙而出示红旗暂停，原因是他的右侧悬挂系统出现问题。

凯迪拉克方面表示，出于谨慎起见，车手接受了“进一步的医疗评估”。博塔斯自行下车，并在离开赛道前向车迷挥手致意。

重新发车后，维斯塔潘排在第一位——紧随其后的是查尔斯·勒克莱尔、汉密尔顿、安东内利、兰多·诺里斯和拉塞尔——这位红牛车手没有让胜利从手中溜走。

墨西哥站之后，F1将前往巴西，然后是拉斯维加斯。鉴于该地区局势不稳定，原定在卡塔尔和阿布扎比举行的最后两场大奖赛能否如期举行仍是未知数。

克莱夫·梅森/盖蒂图片社

汉密尔顿周六拿下杆位，但在第四圈与勒克莱尔争夺领先位置时丢掉了杆位。汉密尔顿短暂冲出赛道，跌至第三位。

两名法拉利车手之间的超车动作受到了调查，结果勒克莱尔被罚时五秒——这一决定让七届世界冠军汉密尔顿非常愤怒。

“赛会干事基本上是把这场胜利拱手让给了查尔斯。我们在车手简报会上也同意了这一点，”汉密尔顿说道。“5秒的罚时问题在于，他可以一路畅通无阻，不用像我们其他人那样费心控制赛车。他应该把位置还回去。”

在博塔斯撞车引发红旗前不久，汉密尔顿通过无线电说道：“我们遇到麻烦了……大麻烦。”驶入维修站后，他明显对自己的车队感到失望。

在经历了一场灾难性的排位赛后，费尔南多·阿隆索开玩笑说他不会参加墨西哥站的比赛，而是直接前往巴西参赛。

这差点就成了现实。

两届F1世界冠军阿隆索被迫提前退赛，他的队友兰斯·斯特罗尔随后在第七圈退出了比赛，阿斯顿·马丁车队在墨西哥的灾难性之旅就此结束。

“我刚刚被告知由于引擎故障必须退赛。我不确定到底发生了什么。赛车在第一次练习赛中一切正常，然后在排位赛中出现故障，现在又发生了，”阿隆索说道。“我们在最糟糕的时候遇到了可靠性问题。”