Reported by Al Jazeera
Mercedes’s Italian wonderkid wins drivers’ championship at 20 years and 68 days, finishing third at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Kimi Antonelli has become Formula One’s youngest world champion at 20 years and 68 days old with his third-place finish for Mercedes at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
The first Italian champion since 1953 sobbed with joy over the team radio as he took the chequered flag at the high-altitude Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Sunday.
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Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the red-flagged, restarted race for his second win of the season, but Antonelli’s overall lead reached an unassailable 119 points after finishing third.
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton started from pole position and took a close second place – after clashing with teammate Charles Leclerc – on an afternoon of drama, with two safety cars, multiple crashes and an agonising 33-minute halt with 25 of the 71 laps remaining.
“Get in there, Kimi. Champion of the world,” said his race engineer Peter Bonnington, a regular target for the young driver’s practical jokes.
“We did it. Thank you so much,” gasped the Italian, whose parents and sister were there to embrace him when he stepped out of the car. He was then mobbed by his pit crew.
The previous youngest champion was Germany’s Sebastian Vettel, who took the first of his four with Red Bull at 23 years and 134 days old in 2010.
“I’m speechless. I’m trying to process what has just happened,” Antonelli said to the crowd.
“It’s been an incredible season, and to share this podium with Max and Lewis is truly incredible. And looking forward to some more battles in the future.
“This weekend, I did feel a bit more tense, but I’m just so happy that we got it done, and now we can enjoy the rest of the season,” he added, as he stood on the podium with an Italian flag wrapped around his shoulders, spraying the champagne with abandon.
The last Italian champion was Alberto Ascari, 73 years earlier.
“On the last lap, I just backed off, because I just couldn’t see the track. I was…