How Kimi Antonelli can win the title in Mexico City
Kimi Antonelli must wait until at least the Mexico City Grand Prix to be crowned as F1 world champion after missing out in the United States.
The Mercedes driver could have won the title in Austin if he had won the race, George Russell had finished ninth or lower, and Lewis Hamilton had finished fifth or lower.
This was the only combination of results which would have seen Antonelli crowned as F1’s youngest-ever world champion – but his ninth victory of the season was coupled with Russell’s P8 and Hamilton’s P4, meaning Antonelli heads to Mexico City next week with a 123-point lead over Russell and a 124-point advantage over Hamilton.
After the Austin race, Antonelli has scored 365 points, against 242 for Russell and 241 for Hamilton.
There are 125 points remaining in the season, meaning that to keep their title hopes alive, Russell or Hamilton must win in Mexico City.
If any other driver aside from those two win in Mexico, Antonelli will be champion.
If either of them do, Antonelli would be required to take a P9 finish if Russell wins or a P10 finish if Hamilton wins.
He is still on course to shatter Sebastian Vettel’s record as the youngest F1 champion, with the German 23 years, 4 months, 11 days old when he won the 2010 title.
Antonelli will now be at least 20 years, 2 months, 7 days old if he wins the title in Mexico, beating Vettel’s record by 3 years, 2 months, 4 days.