Antonelli secures world title in Mexico as Verstappen wins — driver ratings
Kimi Antonelli clinched the Formula 1 world championship by finishing third at the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday, while Max Verstappen won the race. Verstappen held off Lewis Hamilton after a late safety car restart, and Antonelli’s podium was sufficient to secure the title with four grands prix remaining.
Verstappen claimed his sixth Mexico City Grand Prix victory as Antonelli became the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history. The article provides driver ratings assessing performances across the whole Mexico City weekend. Antonelli’s third place delivered the championship with four races left in the season.
Antonelli managed an excellent first stint on the soft tyre, produced a decisive move on Leclerc after the red flag and finished on the podium to become Formula 1's youngest-ever world champion. He handled the pressure of the occasion, a point the report highlights. That podium result was enough to seal the title despite earlier moments during the weekend.
Max Verstappen took the race win by holding off Lewis Hamilton following a late safety car restart. The victory added to his Mexico City successes, with the report noting this as his sixth win at the venue. Hamilton was the nearest challenger on the final laps after the restart.
Race control and stewards issued a string of penalties that affected finishing positions. One driver spun Isack Hadjar and picked up a 10-second penalty; a separate collision that ended Arvid Lindblad's race was judged avoidable and also drew a 10-second penalty. Another competitor was penalised 10 seconds for not slowing sufficiently for yellow flags, while a failure to slow for double-waved yellow flags resulted in a 30-second penalty that dropped a driver to 17th.
Reliability problems removed other contenders from the running: an Aston Martin suffered a battery-related problem and was retired after only five laps, and an MGU-K issue that had compromised qualifying reappeared in the race and forced a retirement after five laps. One competitor, who had started at the back because of power-unit penalties, had made up ground before a frightening accident that the report attributes to a car failure rather than driver error.
There were notable recoveries and promotions: a driver disqualified in qualifying for a technical breach recovered from the pit lane and, after showing top-10 pace on Saturday, fought through to seventh once penalties were applied. An emergency debutant started 18th, passed both Williams drivers late on and was promoted into the points by post-race penalties. Williams continued to struggle, but Albon led their challenge and finished 11th — his best result in 13 races, largely achieved after penalties elsewhere.
Antonelli’s third-place finish therefore clinched the world championship with four grands prix still to run, and the driver ratings in this report set out how individual performances over the Mexico City weekend contributed to that outcome.
