Andrea Kimi Antonelli: F1 2026 world champion?
Mercedes has unearthed a gem in the form of Andrea Kimi Antonelli
Sebastian Vettel was 23 years and 133 days old when he became F1 world champion for the first time at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Could the former Red Bull driver’s record come under threat over the next few years? Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who turned 19 in August, is finally showing why Mercedes opted to sign him as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement…
Could Andrea Kimi Antonelli break Sebastian Vettel’s record?
A version of this article originally appeared in PlanetF1.com’s conclusions from the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix
George Russell to storm to the title in an all-conquering Mercedes in 2026, you say? Not so fast.
Mercedes always saw something special in Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
It has taken some time, but now the rest of the world is starting to see it too.
Might last weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix have developed into a straight contest between Old Max and New Max if Antonelli had a cleaner run in qualifying?
Andrea Kimi Antonelli vs George Russell: Mercedes head-to-head scores for F1 2025
👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates
👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates
As in Brazil, Antonelli was more than a match for Russell in the early stages of the weekend before locking up on his final lap of a rain-affected Q1 and being knocked out.
It was a missed opportunity in conditions not so different from those in which he eliminated many of the doubts about Mercedes’ decision to sign him as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement on debut in Australia at the start of this season, rising to fourth from 16th on the grid.
His recovery from 17th to an eventual third in Vegas – achieved by massaging a set of hard tyres across the final 48 laps, finishing ahead of Oscar Piastri’s McLaren on the road and just seven seconds behind (an albeit compromised) Russell – was arguably more complete.
His rate of improvement since the lowest point of his mid-season slump at Spa, where tears were shed after two Q1 exits in the space of 24 hours, has been astonishing.
Yet not so surprising if you happened to read the Gospel of Mercedes, which even before his debut declared Antonelli the most exciting driver to arrive in F1 since Verstappen a decade ago.
The prophecy, it seems, was true.
And how much better will he get from here? Not just over the next five years, but over the coming winter?
How much faster, stronger, resilient will he be in 2026 for the experiences – high and low – of his debut season?
For getting up to speed with life as an F1 driver in 2025 and expanding his data banks with knowledge of each circuit? For going through that difficult summer spell and coming through the other side?
If the Mercedes is half as good as so many expect next season, it is a mouthwatering thought.
It was argued in this column not long ago that Mercedes made a mistake by signing Antonelli for 2025, piling all the pressure of replacing Lewis Hamilton on the shoulders of someone so young, when the sensible thing would have been to place him at Williams for a season or three.
Yet in 2026 Mercedes stands to reap the rewards of the great Antonelli gamble, helped by the reset represented by every driver starting from scratch under the all-new regulations.
More on Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Mercedes from PlanetF1.com
This month marked the 15th anniversary of Sebastian Vettel becoming the youngest-ever world champion in F1 history at 23 years and 133 days in 2010.
In an age in which F1 drivers keep getting younger, it is a record destined to fall one of these days.
Verstappen never really stood a chance, in truth, spending the first five years of his career in an era of Hamilton/Mercedes domination and a bunch of unreliable, underpowered, almost-there-but-not-quite Red Bull-Renaults.
Antonelli?
No guarantee, of course, but it’s increasingly plain that he has the raw talent.
And pretty soon he’ll have the car and the experience to go along with it…
