F1 Mexico GP: Antonelli becomes youngest world champion as Verstappen holds off Hamilton for victory

Kimi Antonelli has written history by becoming Formula 1's youngest-ever world champion at the Mexico Grand Prix, as Red Bull's Max Verstappen beat Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton to win the race.

Verstappen seized control of the race during the only pitstop of the race on lap 28 of 71, leapfrogging early leader Charles Leclerc, and he fended off Leclerc's team-mate Hamilton to take victory, with Antonelli celebrating his maiden F1 title with a podium spot in third.

With neither Russell nor Hamilton winning the race, Antonelli's race result was irrelevant, but he underlined his mature title winning campaign with a controlled drive as he picked off Leclerc in the second half of the race.

At the start, polesitter Hamilton was challenged by Leclerc for the lead into Turn 2 and again towards Turn 4-5. Leclerc cut the grass to pass his team-mate as Hamilton lost momentum to third-placed Verstappen as well, who took advantage of the intra-team tussle to snatch second away from Hamilton.

"I got pushed off by my own team-mate," Hamilton rued, as Verstappen was also angling for Leclerc to hand back the position. The Monegasque only received a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, which was deemed rather soft by both Verstappen and his own team-mate: "He's got clean air, he doesn't have to manage like the rest of us," Hamilton pointed out.

In the background, the second Red Bull of Isack Hadjar was punted off by slow-starting George Russell, who had dropped from second to sixth and was handed a 10-second time penalty.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: James Sutton / Formula 1 / Formula Motorsport Ltd via Getty Images

To Hamilton's point, Leclerc soon pulled out a five-second gap to second-placed Verstappen - the Dutchman only frontrunner to start on medium tyres instead of softs. Hamilton trailed by another couple of seconds ahead of the two Mercedes and the two McLaren cars. A strong start from Oscar Piastri saw him move up from a disappointing 12th grid slot to seventh, seven seconds behind the leading train.

Leclerc and Verstappen both pitted on lap 28 for their only pitstop, with Leclerc moving to mediums and Verstappen switching to softs. Helped by Leclerc's additional five-second hold, Verstappen was able to jump the Ferrari in pitlane to take charge of the race, albeit on the more brittle tyre compound.

"We basically need one of your magic Mexico stints," declared Verstappen's race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, as Hamilton's next-lap response by collecting mediums dropped the leading trio to fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.

It handed Antonelli a brief spell in clear air at the front from Russell and Lando Norris, with Mercedes not having any real strategic options to challenge for the win - not that Antonelli would have minded one bit while on title course.

Antonelli was the last from that offset trio to peel into the pits by lap 44, well over the halfway mark of the 71-lap race, demonstrating Red Bull had little to worry about regarding the durability of the soft tyre.

But just as Antonelli had pitted, giving up on the possibility of catching a lucky safety car, Valtteri Bottas's Cadillac hit the wall at Turn 1 with a left-front suspension failure, bringing out not just a safety car but a red flag. Bottas was taken to the medical centre for precautionary checks and was released without injuries.

Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac Racing crash

Photo by: Chris Graythen / Getty Images

Following a nearly 40-minute wait for barrier repairs, the race resumed with a standard restart with Verstappen leading from Leclerc, Hamilton, Antonelli, Norris, Russell and Piastri - all on a set of soft tyres. On the lap 47 restart, Verstappen was forced to defend against Hamilton, who enjoyed a huge launch off the line to motor past Leclerc into second.

As Leclerc locked up into Turn 1, Verstappen resisted Hamilton's advances through Mexico's first sector, the only real overtaking opportunity. But Hamilton didn't relent and continued applying pressure to the leading Red Bull.

Antonelli didn't want to celebrate his title success off the Foro Sol podium and lunged his way past Leclerc for third in Turn on lap 48. Suffering a lingering flat spot from his restart lock-up Leclerc's woes continued as he was then pressurised by Norris in the battle for fourth.

The race would receive another fresh twist when Arvid Lindblad crashed out of seventh after tangling with Piastri, bringing out another safety car.

That reset allowed Hamilton, who had been dropping out of Verstappen's slipstream, another chance to snatch the win away from his old rival when the racing resumed on lap 65.

But despite hounding Verstappen lap after lap, Hamilton ran out of options and had to settle for second as Verstappen took his third grand prix win of the season, and third in four races.

A tearful Antonelli cruised across the finish in third to soak in his drivers' world championship, beating Sebastian Vettel's age record by three full years aged 20.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images

Leclerc hung onto fourth ahead of Norris, Russell and Piastri. Franco Colapinto took eighth as best of the rest, with Liam Lawson and Pierre Gasly rounding out the top 10.

As well as retirements for Lindblad and Bortoleto, Oliver Bearman disappeared with suspension damage after being taken out by Nico Hulkenberg at Turn 4 on the restart.

The two Aston Martins suffered another character-building campaign as Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were parked after just seven laps with new Honda power unit problems.

F1 Mexico GP results

RACE

All Stats

Cla	Driver	#		Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Chassis	Engine
1	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	3		71	-			2	25		Red Bull	Red Bull
2	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44		71	+0.799 0.799	0.799		3	18		Ferrari	Ferrari
3	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12		71	+4.006 4.006	3.207		2	15		Mercedes	Mercedes
4	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		71	+10.707 10.707	6.701		2	12		Ferrari	Ferrari
5	L. Norris McLaren	1		71	+11.778 11.778	1.071		2	10		McLaren	Mercedes
6	G. Russell Mercedes	63		71	+12.263 12.263	0.485		3	8		Mercedes	Mercedes
7	O. Piastri McLaren	81		71	+19.475 19.475	7.212		3	6		McLaren	Mercedes
8	F. Colapinto Alpine	43		71	+20.204 20.204	0.729		2	4		Alpine	Mercedes
9	L. Lawson Racing Bulls	30		71	+20.899 20.899	0.695		4	2		RB	Red Bull
10	P. Gasly Alpine	10		71	+21.483 21.483	0.584		3	1		Alpine	Mercedes
11	G. Bortoleto Audi	5		71	+22.041 22.041	0.558		2			Audi	Audi
12	I. Hadjar Red Bull Racing	6		71	+22.503 22.503	0.462		3			Red Bull	Red Bull
13	R. Hirakawa Haas F1 Team	50		71	+25.373 25.373	2.870		5			Haas	Ferrari
14	A. Albon Williams	23		71	+27.562 27.562	2.189		4			Williams	Mercedes
15	C. Sainz Williams	55		71	+28.638 28.638	1.076		3			Williams	Mercedes
16	N. Hulkenberg Audi	27		71	+29.977 29.977	1.339		3			Audi	Audi
17	S. Perez Cadillac F1 Team	11		71	+30.695 30.695	0.718		5			Cadillac	Ferrari
dnf	A. Lindblad Racing Bulls	41		58	13 Laps			2		Retirement	RB	Red Bull
dnf	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87		47	24 Laps			3		Retirement	Haas	Ferrari
dnf	V. Bottas Cadillac F1 Team	77		42	29 Laps			1		Retirement	Cadillac	Ferrari
dnf	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		5	66 Laps			1		Retirement	Aston Martin	Honda
dnf	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		5	66 Laps			2		Retirement	Aston Martin	Honda
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