Kimi Antonelli has just made Formula 1 history, becoming the youngest World Champion in the sport’s history at 20 years and 68 days old.
Antonelli. He needed only a ninth-place finish to clinch the title, developing a composed drive through a chaotic afternoon at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, securing the championship with races to spare. He shattered Sebastian Vettel’s long-standing record of 23 years and 134 days, set in 2010.
Visibly emotional, he said: “It’s a long day I will remember forever. We did it, and without Mercedes and my family I wouldn’t be here. I’m speechless.”
Andrea Kimi Antonelli was born on 25 August 2006 in Bologna, Italy, as the son of Marco Antonelli, who is a sportscar racer and owner of the AKM Motorsport team, and Veronica Pomaro. His second name is named after the Finnish racer, Kimi Räikkönen, although he clarified that he was not named after him as the 2007 World Champion.
Scouted by the Minardi Management at the age of eight, Antonelli became a member of the Mercedes Junior Team at the age of 12 in 2018. He won consecutive European karting championships in 2020 and 2021 and became the youngest ever senior European Champion at the age of 14.
Antonelli has become dominant in Italian and ADAC F4 series in 2022 and won a record number of 13 races in the Italian series and the gold medal of Italy at the FIA Motorsport Games while competing with a broken wrist. In 2023, Antonelli won the Formula Regional European and Middle East titles. In 2024, he finished sixth in F2.
In 2025, Antonelli replaced Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes and became the third-youngest driver in F1 history at the age of 18. He scored a podium finish in Canada and set several youngest-driver records, finishing 7th in the standings with 150 points.
