This wasn’t supposed to be a coronation that came with any drama. Antonelli arrived in Mexico needing a ninth-place finish or better, after a ninth win of the season at Austin the week before. The only question was how quickly he could get it done.
Antonelli started fourth, behind a Ferrari fight that ended up deciding the afternoon. After both Ferraris left the track, Leclerc emerged in front and Verstappen took second. Leclerc didn’t concede the lead and was given a five-second penalty for gaining an advantage by leaving the track. Hamilton had pitted just before a red flag, and the stewards adjusted the order so that he stayed third rather than dropping behind Antonelli.
When the race restarted, Antonelli did what a champion does. He made a late-braking move on Leclerc with 24 laps remaining to take third. He tried a move on Verstappen around the first chicane, made minor contact, and settled for the podium. He didn’t need to risk more.
Verstappen won it. He held off Hamilton by 0.799 seconds for his sixth victory in Mexico and the 74th of his career. The five-second penalty that helped him left neither driver happy, according to reports, but it was a sideshow. The title was already Antonelli’s.
The numbers around him are stacked. He is the first Italian world champion since Ascari in 1953, and only the second after Ascari and inaugural winner Giuseppe Farina. Italy’s governing body put it neatly: Farina, Ascari, Antonelli. He’s also the 36th driver to win the title, and only the third to do it in his second season, following Jacques Villeneuve and Lewis Hamilton.
The Hamilton connection hangs over this story. Antonelli took Hamilton’s seat at Mercedes when the seven-time champion left for Ferrari, and Toto Wolff has said that some sponsors left the team over the swap. That looks expensive now. Hamilton finished second in the race that crowned his replacement.
The gap is the bigger story. Antonelli has 380 points to Verstappen’s 261, a margin of 119 with four races still to run. Earlier reports had his closest challengers on his own team, George Russell, then Hamilton and Verstappen. None of them could hold him. By Austin, he had nine wins to Russell’s three.
For all the records, the image people took away was personal. Antonelli sobbed over the team radio after the race. He later admitted that he lost about two seconds on a lap because he was crying inside the helmet. His father, Marco, who once feared for his racing future, was filmed reacting in the garage. Formula 1’s CEO, Stefano Domenicali, said the champion had captured the imagination of millions.
Four races remain, in Las Vegas, Qatar, Abu Dhabi and elsewhere on the calendar, and Antonelli has nothing left to prove this season. The more interesting question is what Verstappen, who is second and winning again, does next year. Four-time champions don’t tend to sit still.
For Antonelli, the question is simpler. He is 20, and he has already won the thing most drivers spend a career chasing.
