Kimi Antonelli has become the youngest world champion in Formula One history. The Mercedes driver finished third at the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday, taking his lead in the drivers' standings to an unassailable 119 points and sealing the title at 20 years and 68 days old.
Antonelli was in tears over the team radio as he crossed the line. "Get in there, Kimi. Champion of the world," his race engineer told him. "We did it. Thank you so much," the Italian replied. His parents and sister were waiting to embrace him when he climbed out of the car, and he later said he eased off on the final lap because he was too emotional to see the track.
He is the first Italian to win the championship since Alberto Ascari in 1953. The previous record for the youngest champion belonged to Germany's Sebastian Vettel, who won the first of his four titles with Red Bull in 2010 aged 23 years and 134 days.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the race, his second victory of the season, with Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton second after starting from pole. The afternoon brought two safety cars, several crashes and a 33-minute stoppage after a suspension failure sent Valtteri Bottas's Cadillac into the barriers at high speed on lap 46. Bottas walked to the ambulance and was later released from the medical centre.
Antonelli's teammate George Russell, who needed to win to stay in contention, could only finish sixth. Mercedes lead the constructors' championship with 630 points to Ferrari's 504 and could wrap up that title in Brazil next weekend.