Antonelli’s coronation could well be the change of guard

One of the charms of watching elite sport is to marvel at the human endeavour to constantly push the envelope, for records and history are meant to be shattered and rewritten. Whenever there’s a strong belief that a feat can’t be matched, someone springs up to prove it wrong.

Mexico City was witness to one such occasion on Sunday when a young Italian barely out of his teens did just that. Kimi Antonelli clinched his maiden Formula One driver’s championship after finishing third in the Mexico GP. The 20-year-old became the sport’s youngest champion, surpassing Sebastian Vettel who won his first title at 23. Incidentally, Antonelli was born on the day (August 25, 2006 ) Vettel made his F1 debut during a practice session in Istanbul (Turkish GP).

The Mercedes driver burst onto the scene after just one season in F2 and was thrown into the deep end last year when he replaced seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton.

It was a huge gamble by team boss Toto Wolff to offer one of the most coveted seats in F1 to an 18-year-old.

Wolff’s decision was partly driven by the fact that he lost Max Verstappen when he had the opportunity to sign him in 2015 and didn’t want to repeat the mistake with someone whom he considered a generational talent.

However, Antonelli’s rookie season was far from impressive and far off the pace from Russell.

But in F1, one of the biggest markers of a good driver is how they react when there is a sniff of a chance at the big prize. And in that regard, when the time came, Antonelli was there to grab it.

This year, the sport introduced drastic changes, including a new power unit and aerodynamic regulations, challenging drivers used to a certain style. This is where Antonelli showed he could quickly adapt to the new demands.

From pre-season testing, it was clear that Mercedes had the best package and, understandably, Russell was the overwhelming favourite. This was further emphasised when the British driver comfortably won the opener in Australia. However, Antonelli took the bull by the horns and strung together a five-race winning streak that changed the complexion of the season. The Italian’s aggressive approach suited this generation of cars which have lower grip compared to the 2025 version. Russell struggled in this aspect and on weekends like the Monaco GP, he had no answer to the Italian.

Even on occasions when Russell qualified ahead of Antonelli, like he did in Barcelona, the youngster overtook him during the race though he retired due to mechanical failure.

The high point, though, came on home soil in Monza, when the Bologna native won from 19th on the grid, beating his teammate who started second. It was clear then and there that the title race was effectively over.

Sunday was the official coronation and it was fitting that he was joined on the rostrum by Verstappen (winner) and Hamilton (second), the two drivers who have been the icons of Formula One for the last 15 years. This could well be the change of guard, a point driven home by Antonelli’s race engineer who remarked “it’s just the first chapter”.