Kimi Antonelli becomes youngest F1 world champion at 20 years and 68 days
Kimi Antonelli became the youngest Formula 1 World Champion in the 77th year of the championship after clinching the title in Mexico at the age of 20 years and 68 days. He surpassed Sebastian Vettel's previous youngest-champion mark of 23 years and 133 days and secured the crown in only his second full season in the sport.
Antonelli remained a teenager until 25 August and made his F1 debut at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix aged 18. Since that debut he has won nine Grands Prix. His rapid rise to the title came despite a 2025 rookie campaign that produced 'occasional highs but plenty of errors.'
In his second season Antonelli established several youngest-driver records: he became the youngest driver to take pole position in China, the youngest to lead the championship at the next race in Japan and, in Monaco, the youngest driver to complete a grand slam of pole position, fastest lap, leading every lap and winning the race. His rookie-season total was 150 points, which was less than half of the 319 points accumulated by Mercedes team-mate George Russell.
Sebastian Vettel, who was 23 years and 133 days old when he won his first drivers' championship in 2010, took four consecutive titles from 2010-13. Vettel went into the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix one of four drivers who could win the title, trailing Fernando Alonso by 15 points and team-mate Mark Webber by seven; by winning the race while Alonso finished seventh after getting stuck behind Vitaly Petrov and Webber eighth, Vettel clinched the championship by four points from Alonso. Vettel had earlier become the youngest points scorer on his debut for BMW Sauber in Indianapolis in 2007 and the then-youngest pole sitter and race winner at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix for Toro Rosso.
Lewis Hamilton was 23 years and 300 days old when he won the 2008 championship, taking the title by overtaking Timo Glock into the final corner of the Brazilian Grand Prix after a dramatic race. He had made his F1 debut at the 2007 Australian Grand Prix aged 22 and came close to the 2007 title before late-season setbacks. Hamilton later lost the 2021 title on the final lap in Abu Dhabi in circumstances described as a source of huge controversy: Verstappen and Hamilton entered that race level on points, Verstappen had pole but Hamilton led until a Nicholas Latifi crash with five laps to go brought out a safety car; Verstappen pitted for soft tyres while Hamilton stayed out, race director Michael Masi permitted the lapped cars between Hamilton and Verstappen to pass but not those behind the Red Bull, and the race restarted for a single lap when Verstappen overtook Hamilton. Toto Wolff shouted over the radio to Masi: "No, Michael, no! That was so not right!"
Max Verstappen was 24 years and 73 days old when he won a drivers' championship and made his F1 debut at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix aged 17. He remains the youngest driver to win an F1 race, achieving that in his first race for Red Bull in Spain in 2016 at 18 years and 228 days. The outcome in Abu Dhabi in 2021 was the first of four consecutive titles for a Red Bull driver, with Verstappen dominating the 2022, 2023 and 2024 seasons.
Fernando Alonso was 24 years and 57 days old when he won his first title after debuting at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix aged 19. He took control of the 2005 championship by winning four of the first seven races, secured the title with a third place at the Brazilian Grand Prix with two races to spare, and followed up with a second successive championship in 2006; the article notes the 45-year-old remains a prominent figure in F1 and that he will be back for another season with Aston Martin in 2027, 26 years after his debut for Minardi.
Emerson Fittipaldi was 25 years and 273 days old when he won the 1972 world title in his second full season, taking five wins from 12 races to edge Jackie Stewart; he won a second drivers' title for McLaren two years later, saw his F1 race-winning days end after joining his brother's Fittipaldi team in 1976, later won the 1989 IndyCar title and the Indianapolis 500 in 1989 and 1993, and remained F1's youngest champion for 33 years until Alonso's first title.
Antonelli sealed the world championship as Verstappen won in Mexico. The article also links to a feature headlined "Antonelli - the boy 'born in a garage' who became world champion" and to a quiz titled "How much do you know about F1 champion Antonelli?"
