Key events
Giles Richards had the privilege of watching this historic race. His report is here:
Thanks for following along with us today, and congratulations to Kimi Antonelli. Barely older than my second kid. Time flies.
One of F1’s charms is seeing the top three drivers sitting together and watching race highlights. They seem to agree a bit on the chaos of the start, and they gasp a bit at seeing the Bottas crash.
Imagine such a feature in the NFL. Or boxing.
Rosberg asks Hamilton about his day. He pauses before answering questions. “First, look at this crowd. Congratulations to Kimi and his team.”
He thinks he had to pace to win but “it wasn’t meant to be.”
Other highlights of a very polite and yet pointed interview:
“We’ll take it offline to see what we can do.”
“Last year, I got a 10-second penalty for the same move. We have to have some serious talks behind the team, for sure.”
“I’m hoping next year we have an engine to compete with (Antonelli and others).”
But he also hits a positive note when talking about Ferrari in general: “I have 100% faith in them.”
Verstappen: “I was sweating at the end to try to keep Lewis behind.”
Verstappen on Antonelli: “What a season he had. To do that at such an age, I think, is really impressive. I’m sure this is a very emotional day for him, and I’m very proud of him.”
Antonelli speaks with Nico Rosberg: “I wouldn’t be here without Mercedes, without my family. … I am speechless. I am trying to process what happened.”
Rosberg asks what it’s like to be alongside two multiple-time world champions: “To share this podium with Max and Lewis is truly incredible.”
“This weekend, I did feel a little bit more tense, but I’m just so happy we got it done, and now we can enjoy the rest of the season.”
Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes celebrates. Photograph: Manuel Velasquez/Formula 1/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 17.42 EST
Verstappen pulls in for the award ceremony and immediately walks over to Antonelli’s family to congratulate them and then Antonelli himself.
Teammate Russell runs up for a handshake and hug as well.
Final results, pending a couple of investigations a few places down from the top three.
1 Verstappen
2 Hamilton
3 Antonelli
4 Leclerc
5 Norris
6 Russell
7 Piastri
8 Colapinto
9 Lawson
10 Gasly
11 Bortoleto
12 Hadjar
13 Hirakawa
14 Albon
15 Sainz
16 Hülkenberg
17 Perez
DNF: Lindblad, Bearman, Bottas, Stroll, Alonso
Antonelli lifts his visor and wipes tears from his eyes.
Kimi Antonelli celebrates winning. Photograph: Alfredo Estrella/AFP/Getty ImagesKimi Antonelli celebrates with his family in parc ferme. Photograph: Mark Thompson/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 17.35 EST
Kimi Antonelli wins the F1 championship!
It’s Verstappen, Hamilton, Antonelli, Leclerc, Norris.
Kimi Antonelli crosses the chequered flag to finish third in the race and clinch the 2026 Formula One World Championship. Photograph: Daniel Becerril/ReutersShare
Updated at 17.30 EST
Lap 71 of 71: Hamilton hasn’t had a chance to make a serious run at Verstappen. Norris tries a couple more times to pass Leclerc but can’t.
Lap 70 of 71: Leclerc is now playing Lucy to Norris’ Charlie Brown. Norris gets so close through a few turns, and then Leclerc zooms away when the track is straighter.
Lap 69 of 71: The top three have left Leclerc, Norris and Russell in the dust. Antonelli is surely enjoying these ceremonial laps before he is crowned champion.
Lap 68 of 71: Norris has a go at Leclerc, but the Ferrari is just too fast, tire or no tire.
Stewards are looking at a Gasly/Lawson incident.
Brief yellow flag to deal with debris.
Lap 67 of 71: Stewards will take a close look at the Piastri-Lindblad incident after the race.
Russell is sitting behind the Leclerc-Norris battle, perhaps ready to pounce if they slip up.
Lap 66 of 71: Stewards are looking at the Piastri-Lindbland incident, but that’d be harsh.
Nothing else has changed. Antonelli is six laps away from the championship.
Lap 65 of 71: Hamilton is still showing no sign of overtaking Verstappen. Leclerc’s tire is literally hanging by a thread, and he’s still ahead of Norris.
Lawson is up to ninth.
Lap 64 of 71: Verstappen stays ahead of Hamilton. Antonelli has breathing room in third. Leclerc is somehow still ahead of Norris.
Verstappen and Hamilton quickly open space ahead of Antonelli. Leclerc once again has Norris on his tail.
Lap 63 of 71: The safety car’s time comes to an end. Hamilton salivates behind Verstappen …
Lap 62 of 71: Unsung accomplishment of the day: Liam Lawson started on pit road. He’s now in 10th, in the points. That’s quite a drive.
Leclerc’s tire seems to be in awful shape.
Lap 61 of 71: Piastri asks if he has a little bit of damage or a lot of damage. The team says it’s a “reasonable amount of damage.”
Lap 60 of 71: This crash doesn’t appear to be as serious as the Bottas crash, so a red flag seems unlikely.
Replay shows Piastri pulled alongside Lindblad, who wound up running over Piastri’s wheel.
Lindblad’s car has come to rest against the wall without barrier damage, but there’s a bit of debris to clean up.
Lap 59 of 71: Lindblad has hit the wall!
Yellow flag for now. Then a safety car.
Lindblad says he’s OK.
Lap 58 of 71: Now both McLarens are trying to pass –= Norris is still behind Leclerc, and Piastri has come up close to Lindblad.
But Russell is now just behind Norris.
Norris’ team informs him that Leclerc has a flat spot on his tire. Norris says he already sees it.
Lap 57 of 71: The only scenario now in which Antonelli will not clinch the championship today would be if he has a catastrophic problem while Hamilton passes Verstappen. Or five cars in front of Russell disappearing from the earth.
Lap 56 of 71: Norris is once again right behind a car that he just can’t pass. The Ferraris, for all their costly in-fighting, have been pretty fast, so one would think Leclerc should be able to hold him off, yes?
Lap 55 of 71: Verstappen yells something about the braking. The next time Verstappen complains about the car and then falls off the pace will be the first, as far as I can recall.
Sainz is under investigation for moving too soon on the restart.
Lap 54 of 71: The gaps are opening up.
Hamilton is asking his team if they can look into Verstappen bumping into him. The stewards already did. His team doesn’t think he has significant damage.
Lap 52 of 71: Top 10 is Verstappen, Hamilton, Antonelli, Leclerc, Norris, Russell, Lindblad, Piastri, Colapinto, Gasly.
So the only changes in that bunch from the restart are Hamilton and Antonelli past Leclerc, then Lindblad past Piastri, which is surprising.
Lap 51 of 71: Hamilton posts the fastest lap. Leclerc has complained of vibrations in the tires, and Norris nearly slips past him.
Hülkenberg gets a 10-second penalty. He’s already back in 16th.
Verstappen investigation is over, and he’s OK.
Lap 50 of 71: Verstappen noted for being out of position at the restart?? How many twists will this race have?
Antonelli posts the fastest lap but is still 1.3 seconds behind Hamilton.
Hülkenberg did indeed make contact with Bearman,.
Lap 49 of 71: Fastest lap goes to Hamilton. There’s no further investigation on the start.
Farther back – Bearman is out of the race, and Hülkenberg is under investigation for the start. Are those notes related?
Lap 48 of 71: Race control has noted a Hamilton-Verstappen incident, but that can’t be anything.
Hamilton says he can’t see out of his right mirror.
For now, they’re comfortably ahead of Antonelli, who is comfortably ahead of Leclerc, who is uncomfortably ahead of Norris.
Updated at 16.53 EST