Mexican GP: Antonelli champion, Hamilton and Leclerc clash, Verstappen wins

It is official. Kimi Antonelli has been crowned the new, and youngest world champion in Formula 1 history after his podium result at the Mexican Grand Prix.

It was a race won by Max Verstappen from an angry Lewis Hamilton, who at one stage accused the stewards of “handing” a win to Charles Leclerc after fireworks between the Ferrari teammates. It was an eventful race featuring safety cars and a red flag stoppage.

Kimi Antonelli crowned world champion

The stage was set for what was almost certainly Kimi Antonelli’s championship-winning drive.

From fourth on the grid, he knew that P9 or better would be enough to seal the deal.

On the front row, Lewis Hamilton, after securing his first pole position, and George Russell, looking to keep those extremely thin title hopes alive, started on soft tyres.

It was the same for Charles Leclerc and Antonelli on softs.

Max Verstappen had taken a different route on mediums.

Lights out! Good start from Hamilton. Chaos followed.

Russell had lost out to Leclerc and Verstappen. Into Turn 4, Leclerc was on the attack against his teammate, both Ferraris wide as Leclerc cut the corner.

“Got pushed out by my own teammate,” was Hamilton’s verdict over the radio, having also lost out to Verstappen. Isack Hadjar had been sent spinning behind and to the back of the pack. Russell was under investigation for clipping the Red Bull.

Leclerc and Hamilton were placed under investigation by the FIA stewards, who had warned that corner-cutting at the start would be ruled over with an iron fist this year.

The Monegasque lead from Verstappen and Hamilton. Antonelli was sitting pretty for the title in fourth.

Fernando Alonso’s race was over on Lap 6 as he was told box to retire his Aston Martin. One lap later, teammate Lance Stroll was told stop the car. He did at Turn 6. Virtual Safety Car.

Only Hadjar pitted, for mediums, during that lap-and-a-half under VSC.

Lap 13 and a five-second penalty was sent Leclerc’s way for leaving the track and gaining an advantage in that all-Ferrari incident. He was leading by just over three seconds from Verstappen, as his threat to the Ferraris grew stronger. The gap to Hamilton was a tad over five seconds.

“Ha! I thought all the new penalties were 10s,” was Verstappen’s response to that FIA verdict.

Speaking of 10-second penalties, Russell got 10 for causing the collision with Hadjar. McLaren had made the call to Norris to up the pressure on the Mercedes driver.

By Lap 23, Leclerc had stretched his lead to five seconds, and was 7.5s ahead of his Ferrari teammate.

“The stewards are basically handing Charles this win. We agreed, in the drivers’ briefing.” Hamilton’s stance was clear.

Leclerc was in at the end of Lap 27. Verstappen followed him in. That allowed the Dutchman to take the net lead, Leclerc having served those five seconds before Ferrari could service his car.

Leclerc was now on mediums, Verstappen softs.

Hamilton boxed on the following lap. 2.5s for mediums. He was back out a net third.

Antonelli, calmly marching towards the title, had the lead on the track yet to stop.

Russell was second, with that penalty still hanging over him. Norris, third on the road, was told that holding out for a Safety Car was now his best bet.

Sergio Perez had been piecing together a strong, 300th grand prix on home soil. A sticky front left at his stop complicated matters greatly.

Russell came back out in eighth, behind Arvid Lindblad and Franco Colapinto, after serving his penalty and swapping to mediums. Both drivers soon pitted out of the way, but the title was almost Antonelli’s.

With Verstappen closing in, Norris was finally called to box at the end of L39. The reigning world champion went long in his pit box, leading to a six-second stop for mediums. He was still able to maintain track position over Russell.

In came Antonelli at the end of L44, for a crucial pit-stop in his title quest. 4.1s, but it did the job. In fourth, it was time to close it out.

Drama at T1. Bottas was in the wall. Safety Car. Verstappen and Leclerc continued. Hamilton pitted to return to softs.

Russell and Piastri also took a ‘cheap’ stop.

With Bottas still in the cockpit, thankfully giving a thumbs up to the medical staff, the red flag was thrown with barrier repairs required.

Suspension failure had meant a heavy hit into the wall for the Finn. Thankfully, gingerly, he walked away from the scene of the crash.

After a precautionary assessment at the medical centre, Bottas got the all-clear but was excused from all post-race media duties.

The red flag did mean that Hamilton’s potential strategic advantage had evaporated. Drivers could change their tyres ahead of the restart.

There was good news though. While he was behind Antonelli on the road when the red flag was thrown, the FIA decided to go back a lap for the standing restart order. That meant Hamilton was third on the grid behind Verstappen and Leclerc, but ahead of Antonelli, to go from fourth.

Cadillac was satisfied that it was safe to put Perez back out on track. He had though picked up a five-second penalty for pit-lane speeding.

Soft tyres galore for the restart. Lap 47 Lights out (again). A light banging of wheels from Verstappen and Hamilton, the former retaining the lead. That was noted, but no further investigation followed. A big lock-up for Leclerc, but he got it slowed down and ran third. Antonelli stayed fourth, for now.

Title on the line, Antonelli still sent it down the inside of Leclerc into T1, a sublime move as he rose into the podium places.

It turned out that Verstappen was not quite out of the woods yet. He had been noted for potentially being out of position at the restart. Nico Hulkenberg was also noted over an incident at T4 which triggered Oliver Bearman’s retirement from the race.

10-second penalty for Hulkenberg

Verstappen, no further investigation.

Leclerc, clearly struggling on his softs after that major lock-up, was coming under heavy pressure from Norris’ McLaren.

Verstappen was reporting inconsistent engine braking, but he was keeping Hamilton outside the one-second window.

We had another Safety Car on L59. Lindblad was in the wall at T2, after a heavy hit with Piastri on his inside. He was thankfully okay. Piastri’s McLaren had damage. The stewards launched a post-race investigation.

“I think I’m seeing the chord on the tyre.” Leclerc was concerned, but Ferrari had not brought him in for a swap.

The Safety Car ended at the conclusion of Lap 62/71. Verstappen dropped the hammer through the stadium section. Hamilton read it, but was not close enough to attack into T1.

Verstappen held on to win. Hamilton second. Antonelli was the new youngest world champion in F1 history!

Mexico City Grand Prix 2026 – F1 race results (Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez)