Kimi Antonelli just needs to score two points in the 2026 Mexico City Grand Prix to become the youngest Formula 1 Champion ever, a record previously held by former German driver Sebastian Vettel.Vettel won his first Formula 1 Title back in 2010 with Red Bull Racing at the age of 23 years and 134 days. Antonelli will lower that record to 20 years and 68 days if he wins the Title this weekend in Mexico City.
And while the young Mercedes driver has made it look easy this year, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff insisted it was totally the opposite.
Wolff promoted Antonelli into Formula 1 directly after one season in Formula 3 to replace Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton in 2025, which turned out to be a humbling rookie season for both the driver and his team.
But Antonelli was transformed in 2026 and is now on the cusp of sealing his maiden Formula 1 Title, only in his second season in the sport.
Gwen Lagrue, who will become Red Bull’s young driver program boss in 2027, was the one who pointed out Antonelli to Mercedes, with Wolff pouncing at the opportunity.
The Austrian explained the effort that was put in to develop Antonelli into the driver we are witnessing today, he said in Austin last weekend: “I read an interview with Piero Ferrari last week where he said, ‘What a talent. He reminds me of Niki Lauda’. And I’m thinking, ‘People don’t get that this is the work of nine years’.
Nine years and over ten million dollars spent
“The development of nine years, the hardship of nine years, the integration of the team, the working with the engineers, the 10 or more millions spent in the development of his career, of his ability, of his character together with his parents.
“It’s just not that it landed like this,” Wolff insisted, as he went on to express his satisfaction after the criticism he and Antonelli faced for the latter’s early induction into Formula 1, which many, including us at GrandPrix247, believed was premature.
He said: “All of that now is extremely satisfying, to see what he’s able to deliver and how he’s working with the team, with Bono [race engineer Peter Bonnington], and yielding the results. But it wasn’t an easy road.”
Antonelli will become the first Italian Formula 1 driver to win the Title since 1953, when Alberto Ascari did so, and he is doing that in a German team, Mercedes.
Antonelli was lucky Ferrari didn’t sign him?
That is because Ferrari passed on the chance to sign him, as he was too young, according to Giovanni Minardi, Antonelli’s former manager, who spoke to La Gazzetta dello Sport earlier in 2026.
Minardi said: “For Ferrari, Kimi was still too young, whereas Mercedes could offer better guarantees regarding his future prospects.”
But one cannot but think that Ferrari, in the current state, would’ve destroyed Antonelli’s career due to their antics as well as the pressure he would’ve had to deal with being a driver for the Italian team.
The last factor was emphasized by former Ferrari President Luca Montezemolo, who told Spanish newspaper AS: “I am a Ferrari man, but I’m delighted to see what Antonelli is doing. What I do regret is that Ferrari had the chance to sign him. They didn’t.
“A great opportunity vanished, but almost better for Antonelli. Such a young Italian driving a Ferrari… It would have been terrible pressure,” the 79-year-old Italian concluded. (Reporting by Agnes Carlier)