Race report
Formula 1 Mexican GP
F1 Mexico GP: Kimi Antonelli clinches world title as Max Verstappen holds off Lewis Hamilton for victory
Kimi Antonelli becomes Formula 1's youngest-ever world champion at the Mexico City Grand Prix, as Max Verstappen defeats Lewis Hamilton
Filip Cleeren
Edited: Nov 1, 2026, 10:36 PM
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Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
Kimi Antonelli has written history by becoming Formula 1's youngest-ever world champion at the Mexico Grand Prix, 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, leapfrogging early leader Charles Leclerc, and he fended off Leclerc's team-mate Hamilton to take victory, with Antonelli celebrating his maiden F1 title with a podium spot in third.
With neither Russell nor Hamilton winning the race, Antonelli's race result was irrelevant, 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 team-mate as Hamilton lost momentum to third-placed Verstappen as well, who took advantage of the intra-team tussle to snatch second away from Hamilton.
"I got pushed off by my own team-mate," Hamilton rued, as Verstappen was also angling for Leclerc to hand back the position. The Monegasque 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 team-mate: "He's got clean air, he doesn't have to manage like the rest of us," Hamilton pointed out.
In the background, the second Red Bull of Isack Hadjar was punted off by slow-starting George Russell, who had dropped from second to sixth and was handed a 10-second time penalty.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: James Sutton / Formula 1 / Formula Motorsport Ltd via Getty Images
To Hamilton's point, Leclerc soon pulled out a five-second gap to second-placed Verstappen - the Dutchman only frontrunner to start on medium tyres instead of softs. Hamilton trailed by another couple of seconds ahead of the two Mercedes and the two McLaren cars. A strong start from Oscar Piastri saw him move up from a disappointing 12th grid slot to seventh, seven seconds behind the leading train.
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 hold, Verstappen was able to jump the Ferrari in pitlane to take charge of the race, albeit on the more brittle tyre compound.
"We basically need one of your magic Mexico stints," declared 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 spell 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 peel into the pits by lap 44, well over the halfway mark of the 71-lap race, demonstrating Red Bull had little to worry about regarding the durability of the soft tyre.
But just as Antonelli had pitted, giving up on the possibility of catching a lucky 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.
Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac Racing crash
Photo by: Chris Graythen / Getty Images
Following a nearly 40-minute wait 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 huge launch off the line to motor 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 didn't relent and continued applying pressure to the leading Red Bull.
Antonelli didn't want to celebrate his title success off the Foro Sol podium and lunged his way past Leclerc for third in Turn on lap 48. Suffering a lingering flat spot from his restart lock-up Leclerc's woes continued as he was then pressurised by Norris in the battle for fourth.
The race would receive another fresh twist when Arvid Lindblad crashed out of seventh after tangling with Piastri, bringing out another safety car.
That reset allowed Hamilton, who had been dropping out of Verstappen's slipstream, another chance to snatch the win away from his old rival when the racing resumed on lap 65.
But despite hounding Verstappen lap after lap, Hamilton ran out of options and had to settle for second as Verstappen took his third grand prix win of the season, and third in four races.
A tearful Antonelli cruised across the finish in third to soak in his drivers' world championship, beating Sebastian Vettel's age record by three full years aged 20.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images
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 10.
As well as retirements for Lindblad and Bortoleto, Oliver Bearman disappeared with suspension damage after being taken out by Nico Hulkenberg at Turn 4 on the restart.
The two Aston Martins suffered another character-building campaign as Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were parked after just seven laps with new Honda power unit problems.
Read Also:
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F1 Mexico GP results
RACE
All Stats
Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval km/h Pits Points Retirement Chassis Engine 1 M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 3
71
-
2 25 Red Bull Red Bull 2 L. Hamilton Ferrari 44
71
+0.799
0.799
0.799 3 18 Ferrari Ferrari 3
A. Kimi Antonelli Mercedes
12 
71
+4.006
4.006
3.207 2 15 Mercedes Mercedes 4 C. Leclerc Ferrari 16
71
+10.707
10.707
6.701 2 12 Ferrari Ferrari 5 L. Norris McLaren 1
71
+11.778
11.778
1.071 2 10 McLaren Mercedes 6 G. Russell Mercedes 63
71
+12.263
12.263
0.485 3 8 Mercedes Mercedes 7 O. Piastri McLaren 81
71
+19.475
19.475
7.212 3 6 McLaren Mercedes 8 F. Colapinto Alpine 43
71
+20.204
20.204
0.729 2 4 Alpine Mercedes 9 L. Lawson Racing Bulls 30
71
+20.899
20.899
0.695 4 2 RB Red Bull 10 P. Gasly Alpine 10
71
+21.483
21.483
0.584 3 1 Alpine Mercedes 11 G. Bortoleto Audi 5
71
+22.041
22.041
0.558 2 Audi Audi 12 I. Hadjar Red Bull Racing 6
71
+22.503
22.503
0.462 3 Red Bull Red Bull 13 R. Hirakawa Haas F1 Team 50
71
+25.373
25.373
2.870 5 Haas Ferrari 14 A. Albon Williams 23
71
+27.562
27.562
2.189 4 Williams Mercedes 15 C. Sainz Williams 55
71
+28.638
28.638
1.076 3 Williams Mercedes 16 N. Hulkenberg Audi 27
71
+29.977
29.977
1.339 3 Audi Audi 17 S. Perez Cadillac F1 Team 11
71
+30.695
30.695
0.718 5 Cadillac Ferrari dnf A. Lindblad Racing Bulls 41
58
13 Laps
2 Retirement RB Red Bull dnf O. Bearman Haas F1 Team 87
47
24 Laps
3 Retirement Haas Ferrari dnf V. Bottas Cadillac F1 Team 77
42
29 Laps
1 Retirement Cadillac Ferrari dnf L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18
5
66 Laps
1 Retirement Aston Martin Honda dnf F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14
5
66 Laps
2 Retirement Aston Martin Honda View full results
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