Mexico City Grand Prix Recap: Max Verstappen Wins as Kimi Antonelli Is Crowned F1 Champion
The Happy Hour Racing Monday Race Recap, our weekly breakdown of how the Formula 1 weekend actually played out.
The Short Version
Max Verstappen won the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, holding off Lewis Hamilton by 0.799 seconds after starting fifth. It was his sixth win in Mexico City, his third of 2026 and the 74th of his career. Behind him, Kimi Antonelli finished third and that was enough. At 20 years and 68 days old, the Mercedes driver became the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history with four races still to run.
Verstappen Won a Race Ferrari Should Have Had
Hamilton took his first pole position for Ferrari on Saturday, and for about 400 meters on Sunday it looked like the perfect weekend. Then it fell apart in front of him. Verstappen never had the fastest car in Mexico City. He had the smartest afternoon. He started fifth on the medium tyre while Hamilton, George Russell and Charles Leclerc all lined up on softs, and that single choice shaped everything that followed.
While the soft runners burned through their opening stint, Verstappen sat back and waited. He pitted on lap 27, took the lead for good on lap 44 and led the final 28 laps. Hamilton closed hard in the last few tours and got within eight tenths, but Verstappen never gave him a real look. Three different drivers led the race: Leclerc for 27 laps, Antonelli for 16, Verstappen for 28.
Oracle Red Bull Racing on Verstappen's sixth win at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
- Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) November 2, 2026
The Lap One Clash That Decided It
Hamilton and Leclerc went side by side into Turn 4 on the opening lap and neither one lifted. Both Ferraris ran wide, Leclerc cut across the grass and came out of it leading the race. The stewards gave him a five second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, and Leclerc later admitted he deserved it. Hamilton was blunt on the radio about being pushed out by his own teammate.
That was the race. Ferrari had the front row covered and spent the next 20 laps racing itself instead of Verstappen. Team principal Fred Vasseur did not hide his frustration afterward, calling it a wasted victory and a lack of respect for the people who build the car. Hamilton finished second and set the fastest lap of the day, a 1:19.268 on lap 50. Leclerc finished fourth. Neither result is what Ferrari drove to Mexico City for.
Russell had his own opening lap problem. He clipped Isack Hadjar and spun him at Turn 6, picked up a 10 second penalty for causing the collision, and dropped to sixth. Hadjar, who started seventh, was shuffled out of the top ten on track before post race penalties pulled him back to ninth.
Strategy and the Red Flag Reset
Aston Martin was done inside seven laps. Fernando Alonso retired in the pits and Lance Stroll stopped at Turn 6 on lap seven, which brought out a virtual safety car. Isack Hadjar dived into the pit lane on that same lap and took the cheapest stop of the afternoon. Liam Lawson followed on lap 11 and Pierre Gasly on lap 17, both teams rolling the dice early.
The bigger reset came on lap 46. Valtteri Bottas lost the front left suspension on his Cadillac under braking for Turn 1 and hit the barrier hard. He climbed out on his own, but the barrier needed repairs and the race was red flagged. Every car in the pit lane got a free set of tyres out of it. When the race restarted with 25 laps left, Antonelli went down the inside of Leclerc at Turn 1 and took third. That pass is the one that sealed the championship.
The penalties kept coming after the flag. Oscar Piastri took 10 seconds for causing a collision with Arvid Lindblad, Franco Colapinto took 10 seconds for failing to slow under yellows and Pierre Gasly was handed a 30 second penalty for the same offense under double yellows. All three dropped out of the points. That promoted Liam Lawson to seventh from a pit lane start, Gabriel Bortoleto to eighth and Ryo Hirakawa to tenth on his Formula 1 debut after a mid weekend call up at Haas.
Antonelli Is the Youngest Champion in F1 History
Antonelli only needed ninth place to clinch. He got third, climbed onto his Mercedes in the stadium section and took the title in his second season in Formula 1. He is 20 years and 68 days old, which breaks the record Sebastian Vettel set in 2010 at 23. He is also the first Italian world champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953, ending a 73 year wait.
The numbers behind it are not close. Nine wins, 16 podiums, seven poles and 380 points. Verstappen sits second on 261, which is a 119 point gap with only 100 points left on the table.
Formula 1 on Kimi Antonelli taking the 2026 title with Mercedes in Mexico City.
- Formula 1 (@F1) November 2, 2026
By the Numbers
Who Is Hot and Who Is Not
Hot: Verstappen has three wins in the last four races and has gone from fourth in the standings to second in a single afternoon. Lawson turned a pit lane start into seventh. Hirakawa scored on debut, which almost nobody does.
Not: Ferrari had pole, had the lead and left with nothing but a second place and an argument. Russell started second, finished sixth and slid from second in the championship to fourth. Sergio Perez finished 16th for Cadillac at his home race and picked up a pit lane speeding penalty along the way. Piastri is still without a win in 2026 and left Mexico City with zero points after his penalty.
What the Last Four Races Are Actually For
The drivers' title is gone, so the fight is now for second and for the constructors' championship. Only 16 points separate Verstappen in second from Leclerc in fifth, with Hamilton on 259 and Russell on 250 in between. That is a four way scrap over the last four weekends.
Mercedes leads Ferrari 630 to 504 in the constructors' standings. With 43 points available per race per team, Mercedes can wrap it up at Interlagos by outscoring Ferrari by four points. Brazil is next, on Sunday November 8. You can see the rest of the calendar and the updated table on the Formula 1 schedule and standings page.
The Bottom Line
Verstappen won the race because Ferrari lost it on the first lap, and Antonelli won the championship because he kept finishing on the podium while everyone around him traded paint. A 20 year old in his second season just rewrote the record book.
Your turn: was the lap one Turn 4 clash a racing incident between teammates, or should Ferrari have been managing that fight from the pit wall before it ever got to Turn 4? Tell us what you would have done on the radio.
Shop the Story
Verstappen gear moves fast after a win weekend. Here is what is in stock right now:
- Max Verstappen RB16B 1:18 Minichamps model car
- Red Bull Racing special edition bucket hat
- Mercedes-AMG Petronas 1:2 scale helmet
- Scuderia Ferrari garage crew tee
- McLaren Racing shadow beanie
More lids for every team are in the F1 hats collection.
