How Antonelli became Formula One's youngest world champion

A young man and an extraordinary competitor. Andrea Kimi Antonelli was born on August 25, 2006 in Bologna, Italy, and at the age of five, his father Marco, a race car driver himself, put him behind the wheel of a go-kart. He quickly showed his talent and climbed the ranks. In 2019, the Mercedes team brought him into the Young Drivers Academy and supported his rise to Formula One. He became the Italian and German champion in 2022, European champion in 2023, and won Formula 2 races twice the following year. At just 18, Antonelli had Mercedes convinced, and he was given the immense task of succeeding seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. In his first F1 season, he secured three podium finishes and finished seventh in the championship. I mean, definitely I have experienced a lot last year and definitely feel more prepared ahead of 2026. Mercedes kept pace with the regulatory changes and gave Antonelli a car capable of winning. At the second Grand Prix of the season in China, he became the youngest driver in F1 history to secure a pole position, then won his first race the very next day. It marked the start of a streak of five consecutive victories that got his season off to a perfect start. Antonelli is fast, but he also knows how to manage his lead in the championship and adapt. At Monza in early September, he won the race after starting from 19th on the grid, ahead of his British teammate George Russell. At just 20 years and two months old, Andrea Kimi Antonelli is the youngest Formula One champion in history, beating out the German Sebastian Vettel who won the race at 23 in 2010. He is the first to bring the title back to Italy since Alberto Ascari in 1953.