Kimi Antonelli's stellar sophomore campaign had left little doubt that he would take the crown, but the Mercedes driver sealed his maiden Drivers' Championship in style with a podium finish at a wild Mexico City Grand Prix. Starting fourth for the 71-lap race, the 20-year-old Italian kept his nose clean while chaos erupted around him. Mercedes gambled on keeping him out for a Safety Car that arrived a lap too late, but when it was upgraded to a red flag for barrier repairs, Antonelli nailed the standing restart. He muscled past Charles Leclerc with a confident move into Turn 1 and shadowed Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton to the flag, securing his childhood dream and becoming the first Italian champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953.
"Without them, I wouldn’t be here – without Mercedes, without my family," a speechless Antonelli said after sharing the podium with Verstappen and Hamilton. "So I’m very grateful for this moment, and it’s one that will live forever."
I believe he was racing for the victory here and then came in this lack of energy and ruined his race.
While the newly crowned champion made history, Ferrari managed to completely implode once again on the opening lap. Lewis Hamilton had claimed his maiden pole for the Scuderia and held the lead initially, only for team-mate Charles Leclerc to launch a challenge around the outside. The pair went wheel-to-wheel before running off track at Turn 4, with Leclerc cutting the grass to take the lead. Leclerc copped a five-second penalty and dropped behind Verstappen during the pit stops, leaving team boss Fred Vasseur incandescent. "I'm having trouble swallowing it," Vasseur told Canal+. "It's a lack of respect for all the people who work. Wasting a victory is hard. It's stuck in my throat. They're not racing for themselves. We're going to clear all this up."
Amidst the red flags and safety cars—including a heavy shunt when Valtteri Bottas suffered a suspension failure in his Cadillac and clouted the barriers, plus a late-race tangle between Arvid Lindblad and Oscar Piastri—Red Bull's Max Verstappen claimed his sixth Mexico City Grand Prix victory. Starting fifth, the Dutch driver sliced through the Ferrari chaos and fought off Hamilton to win by just 0.7s. The victory vaults Verstappen to second in the standings, two points ahead of Hamilton, after claiming three wins in the last four rounds and hauling 149 points.
It was a miserable afternoon on the other side of the Mercedes garage for George Russell. Starting second, he bogged down off the line due to an energy deployment issue that dropped him four places, later compounded by a 10-second penalty for spinning Isack Hadjar's Red Bull at Turn 6. Russell limped home sixth, watching his team-mate lift the title while sliding to fourth in the standings. Toto Wolff admitted the team let Russell down with the technical glitch, conceding: "I believe he was racing for the victory here and then came in this lack of energy and ruined his race."
Further down the order, Ryo Hirakawa turned a planned FP1 outing into a stunning Grand Prix debut. Thrust into a race seat after Haas replaced Esteban Ocon following Friday practice, the Japanese racer kept his head amid the chaos, charged through after the safety cars on soft tyres, and was eventually promoted from 13th to 10th by post-race penalties to score a point on debut. Team-mate Ollie Bearman wasn't so fortunate, forced to retire with car damage after being punted from behind by Nico Hulkenberg.
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