The excitement of Formula One is felt around the world, and while most countries have a burning passion for Formula One, there are two that take the crown: Italy and Mexico. Both carry such deep passion for their love of sport, whether football or motorsport; the flames of competition burn high, and the Mexican fans are always in for a treat at the beautifully designed circuit, Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
In the past, we’ve seen the crowning of a champion back-to-back with Lewis Hamilton clinching his championships in 2017 and 2018 at the Mexican Grand Prix with Mercedes, and this weekend, the young Italian, Kimi Antonelli, has the opportunity to clinch his first world title with Mercedes and become the youngest Formula One World Champion to date. To add to the history books, if Antonelli finishes P9 or higher this weekend, he will clinch the title and become the first Italian driver to win the world championship since Alberto Ascari in 1953, and the first driver to win a championship sporting the number 12 since Ayrton Senna in 1988. Will Antonelli come out victorious? Read the rest and find out.
Qualifying
It’s no surprise that the man who has had so much success in Mexico would put it to the top of the charts as quickly as possible exiting Q1; that man being Lewis Hamilton. Surprising pace from the Red Bull of Isack Hadjar found him behind Hamilton in P2 by under a tenth of a second, with Leclerc glued to his gearbox in P3. Jaws dropped when the McLaren of Oscar Piastri and the Mercedes of George Russell completed the exact same lap time down to the thousandth, but going further down the decimal points saw Piastri in P4 with Russell in P5. Gabriel Bortoletto showed phenomenal pace early, placing himself P6 at the end of Q1, with the other McLaren of Lando Norris down in P7 closely followed by the Audi of Nico Hülkenberg in P8. Qualifying was a bit rocky for Kimi Antonelli as he finished the session P9, but it’s still early, and Antonelli has been known to step it up through Q2 and Q3. Max Verstappen was quite conservative with his time in Q1, sitting in P10 and looking towards the next sessions.
The second round of qualifying saw quite a change from session one. Lando Norris found quite a bit of pace in his McLaren, jumping from P7 to the front of the grid in P1. Max Verstappen made a massive jump too, from P10 to P2, while Leclerc maintained his position in P3. Hamilton dropped off the pace ever so slightly to P4, but was only two-tenths off the lead time set by Lando Norris. George Russell was looking a bit more confident with the balance of his Mercedes, bringing himself up to P5, with the Red Bull of Hadjar dropping to P6. Antonelli was beginning his charge, climbing a couple of positions to P7, with an impressive last lap attempt by both Racing Bulls moving Arvid Lindblad to P8 and Liam Lawson to P9, and Pierre Gasly would round out the session with P10.
Final round of qualifying, and Lewis Hamilton’s still got it. The 41-year-old put in a blistering last lap attempt, crossing the line and maintaining P1, with George Russell climbing to P2 and Leclerc maintaining his P3 all session. Verstappen dropped slightly from the previous session, putting himself on the second row in P4 and the current championship leader jumping a couple positions to end Q3 in P5. Lando Norris struggled throughout Q3, crossing the line and solidifying his P6 position, with Isack Hadjar in P7, Liam Lawson in P8, Arvid Lindblad in P9, and once again, Pierre Gasly closing out Q3 in P10.
Race
Five lights on, five lights off, the Mexican Grand Prix is underway! Lewis Hamilton took off beautifully with zero wheelspin, giving him the opportunity to cut across the front end and block the Mercedes of George Russell in P2. Leclerc was on the rear wing of Russell, making a beautiful pass on the outside line heading into Turn 1, picking up P2 in the process, leading Russell to be attacked quickly by the Red Bull of Verstappen, losing two positions in one corner, bringing Verstappen to P3 and Russell down to P4.
There was a slight close call between the two Ferraris as Leclerc took too much curb heading into Turn 2 and almost collided with Hamilton, but both managed to make it out unscathed. Leclerc saw another opportunity heading into Turn 4, bravely using the outside line, and got pushed wide by Hamilton, who almost lost control of his car, sending Leclerc off track through the grass, giving Verstappen the opportunity to attack the now slower and momentum-cancelled Hamilton for P2. With Leclerc gaining an advantage by cutting the track, he’ll have to give the position back to Hamilton, meaning giving up P1 to Verstappen and dropping back down to P3. An already action-packed Grand Prix, and it’s only lap one.
The battle and advantage gained by Leclerc would lead to a five-second stop-and-go penalty, which wasn’t properly communicated by Ferrari to Lewis Hamilton. Lap by lap, Hamilton steamed under his helmet until he finally decided to voice his concern, “The stewards (FIA) are basically handing Charles this win. We agreed in the driver’s briefing,” a statement which tells me Hamilton was to be the priority for victory this weekend under team orders. Laps later, Leclerc would come in to serve his penalty, but Ferrari weren’t expecting the Red Bull of Verstappen to follow their schedule. While Hamilton did get the opportunity to regain the lead, Verstappen now has a fresh set of tires, which will be warmed up and working by the time Hamilton pits, meaning Verstappen is at a pace advantage.
The most shocking part of the weekend would unfortunately happen to the Cadillac of Valtteri Bottas. While the suspension and front-end components on modern F1 cars don’t typically fail in dramatic or shrapnel-adjacent fashion, the Cadillac did exactly that in the braking zone before Turn 1. While the cause of the suspension failure is unknown, my thoughts are that the load under heavy braking caused the suspension to fail, as it is a high-stress area, and the brakes are put to the test as cars downshift from 347 to 351 km/h (215–218 mph) down to 107 km/h (66–68 mph) in third gear; there’s a lot of front-end load, which can cause already fragile components to fail. If there’s a single minuscule flaw in the suspension or front-end components, catastrophic failure can occur, which is what we saw from the Cadillac as Bottas hurtled into the barriers, with the rear of the car making contact first. Fortunately, Bottas walked away, quite gingerly, but walked away nonetheless. It was a similar accident to what we saw from Sébastien Buemi at the 2010 Chinese Grand Prix, where both sides of the front-end assembly blew apart at the end of the long straight at the Shanghai International Circuit under braking.
Moving past the tech talk, Bottas’ accident brought out the safety car, and shortly after, the red flag, as crews needed to rebuild that section of barrier at the end of the main straight. Red flags can either help or cause drivers grief, as they’re pulled out of their zone and flow state, which can be detrimental, especially when you’re fighting for a championship. After some time outside of the car and the stewards rearranging the driver positions from the lap before Bottas’ crash, we’re back on the grid and ready for the five red lights.
Verstappen got off the line well, then the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton launched like a rocket on the hunt for P1. Verstappen weaved left and right, trying to shake off the charging Ferrari, as Hamilton made a bold move on the outside of Turn 1 but wasn’t alongside Verstappen at the apex, giving him the fully legal opportunity to use the bodywork of his Red Bull and run Hamilton a bit wide on the exit of Turn 1. The fight wasn’t over. Hamilton was keen on P1 and gave the inside of Turn 2 a look, but Verstappen closed the door, allowing him to stay at the front.
Now, in my mind, when you’re fighting for a championship, you only need to finish P9 to win. You would think a driver would play it safe and not push for a podium, right? If that driver is Kimi Antonelli, you’re wrong. Many fans, myself included, were white-knuckling their seats with each pass and beautiful overtake throughout the weekend, and while driving in P4, Antonelli saw the opportunity to take home two trophies this weekend, and he absolutely went for it. Late on the brakes, making a very last-minute decision and throwing his Mercedes on the inside of Leclerc into Turn 1, Kimi Antonelli took P3 from the Ferrari with authority, displaying his maturity as a driver, and at such a young age, Antonelli is unshakable.
The battle at the front between Verstappen and Hamilton for the win went on lap after lap after lap. The many attempts to overtake by Hamilton were unsuccessful; Verstappen crossed the line to a beautifully driven victory, and Lewis Hamilton, who almost had the perfect weekend, watched it fall through his fingers. But the big highlight is the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli coming out of the final corner, crossing the line P3 and your new Formula One World Champion, the youngest World Champion, the first world champion for Italy in over 70 years. Andrea Kimi Antonelli has made history at 20 years old.
His second year in Formula One, his second year with Mercedes, another Mercedes driver’s championship clinched at the Mexican Grand Prix; the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is a Mercedes good luck charm. Tears were shed, the weight of leading the championship lifted, the voices of Peter “Bono” Bonnington, Toto Wolff, and the Antonelli family radiate through Kimi’s helmet as he pulled up to the black board with all-gold font that stated “2026 World Champion.” Fans got to witness the coolest podium in decades: four-time champion Max Verstappen, the winner; seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in P2; and the newest name in the history books, World Champion Kimi Antonelli.
Just because a driver’s champion has been crowned doesn’t mean the season is over. There’s a tight battle going on between Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, and McLaren for the constructors’ championship, and that title needs to be claimed. Next weekend, Formula One will be at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, better known as Interlagos, for the Brazilian Grand Prix, so see you in the next recap.
