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Kimi Antonelli won the 2026 world title in Mexico City at 20, with nine wins from nineteen Grands Prix. Every race, where he started and finished, the two he lost, and what he said on the radio.
On lap 29 at Monza, Kimi Antonelli was 14.3 seconds behind his own team mate, having started nineteenth. He won by 3.9 seconds, at his home race, twelve days after his twentieth birthday.
That afternoon is the season in miniature. Antonelli has won nine of the nineteen Grands Prix of 2026, and on 1 November in Mexico City he became world champion, at 20 years and 68 days the youngest in the sport's history. The story of that day is in
Every message he and his engineer exchanged on air this season, from the Canadian Grand Prix onward, is on Kimi Antonelli's team radio page, with the audio and a transcript coloured by who is speaking. The best of it is below.
The first seven rounds:
| Round | Grand Prix | Started | Finished |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australian | 2nd | 2nd |
| 2 | Chinese | Pole | Won |
| 3 | Japanese | Pole | Won |
| 4 | Miami | Pole | Won |
| 5 | Canadian | 2nd | Won |
| 6 | Monaco | Pole | Won |
| 7 | Barcelona | 3rd | Retired, lap 62 |
Rounds 8 to 19:
| Round | Grand Prix | Started | Finished |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Austrian | 4th | 3rd |
| 9 | British | Pole | 15th |
| 10 | Belgian | Pole | Won |
| 11 | Hungarian | 7th | 3rd |
| 12 | Dutch | 3rd | 2nd |
| 13 | Italian | 19th | Won |
| 14 | Spanish (Madrid) | 2nd | Won |
| 15 | Azerbaijan | 16th | 5th |
| 16 | Bahrain (at Sepang) | 3rd | 2nd |
| 17 | Singapore | 4th | 3rd |
| 18 | United States | Pole | Won |
| 19 | Mexico City | 4th | 3rd, champion |
His sprints: fifth in China, sixth in Miami, third in Canada, first at Silverstone, fourth at Zandvoort, fourth in Singapore.
Antonelli had passed Russell for second one lap earlier when his car stopped on the exit of turn 5 on lap 62, with an apparent power unit problem. Lewis Hamilton won, his first Grand Prix victory for Ferrari.
The afternoon had not started comfortably. Before the race, he told the team the brakes felt wrong:
"Brakes feel quite bad already, quite long. Feels like air is in the system." The brakes were not what stopped him, but it was not a straightforward afternoon from the moment he left the garage.
He started on pole, lost the lead to Charles Leclerc at the start and was fighting back for the win after his pit stop when, on lap 41, he took the kerb at Copse hard. The left-front wheel shield failed and he could not turn the car properly. The radio caught him working it out in real time:
Two more pit stops followed, and then a five-second penalty for track limits on top. His reply to that is the most human message of his season:
"I didn't do it on purpose. Like, the car was broken." He was classified fifteenth. Leclerc won.
Apart from those two and Baku, he has finished every race of the season on the podium.
Monza, from nineteenth. Mercedes went past its power unit allowance, so he started nineteenth at his home Grand Prix. With 24 laps left he was 14.3 seconds behind Russell. He took 0.70 seconds a lap out of him for twenty laps, passed him on lap 50 and set the fastest lap of the race on lap 53. The full story is in our Italian GP race report.
Madrid, the first Grand Prix at the Madring. He started second and took the lead by pitting under a virtual safety car. On the radio afterwards he said the thing drivers rarely say out loud:
"I feel a bit bad for Lando, but really strong race, strong weekend." The race and the virtual safety car that decided it are in our Spanish GP race report.
The two races since Baku went to Max Verstappen, and Antonelli was on the podium behind him at both. At Sepang he started third, ran ahead of Verstappen in the wet opening laps, was passed by him at the safety car restart and finished second, 2.307 seconds behind. In Singapore he started fourth and finished third after a second, cheaper stop under the virtual safety car, a trip down an escape road and a late charge past Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton:
"Wait, there's no f*ing brake!" Mercedes told him heat soak was behind it, and he carried on. The full races are in the [Bahrain GP 2026 race report](/blog/bahrain-gp-2026-malaysia-race-results) and the [Singapore GP 2026 race report**](/blog/singapore-gp-2026-race-results). Thirty-eight points from two weekends, against Russell's two, took his lead from 66 to 102.
He needed three results to go his way to clinch in Austin and got one of them. He took pole by 0.179 seconds from Verstappen, made one stop while Leclerc, Verstappen and Hamilton made two, and won by 13.078 seconds.
"good job everyone that's the result we needed thank you so much and let's keep pushing". Russell was eighth, which left the lead at 123, three short of clinching. The race is in our US GP 2026 race report.
In Mexico City he needed ninth. He started fourth, ran his first set of tyres until lap 43 while the cars around him stopped much earlier, and passed Leclerc at the restart after Valtteri Bottas's crash and the red flag.
Engineerstill super happy with these lap times Kimmy, just keep it up
"still super happy with these lap times Kimmy, just keep it up". He finished third, 4.006 seconds behind Verstappen, and was champion with four races left. The race is in our Mexico City GP 2026 race report.
Antonelli is also the driver Formula 1 plays most. Across every session we recorded from Canada up to the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid, he had 85 broadcast messages, ahead of Lewis Hamilton on 77 and Russell on 74. That is roughly 13% of all the radio the world feed chose to air. We measured how that breaks down across the grid in whose radio Formula 1 actually plays.
Part of that is simply winning: the leader's radio gets played. Part of it is that he talks: he thanks the team, and when something breaks he describes it rather than going quiet.
The title is settled, so the last four rounds are about records and the constructors' championship. Mercedes lead Ferrari by 126 points and clinch that title in Sao Paulo if they outscore Ferrari by four or more. Sao Paulo, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi remain, and the Sao Paulo times are in our Sao Paulo GP 2026 preview.
Results and grid positions come from formula1.com's official classifications and starting grids.
The radio count is what Formula 1 broadcast, not everything said. Our 2026 radio begins at the Canadian Grand Prix, so his first four wins are not in the count, and the world feed plays only a selection of what teams say.
Quotes are attributed from the archive's own speaker labels, checked against the words. Automatic transcripts garble names, so we have quoted only lines where the speaker and the words agree.
Nine of the first nineteen: China, Japan, Miami, Canada, Monaco, Belgium, Italy, the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid and the United States. He has also won one sprint, at Silverstone.
Seven, the most of any driver this season: China, Japan, Miami, Monaco, Silverstone, Spa and Austin. He converted six of them into wins.
Yes. He clinched the title with third place at the Mexico City Grand Prix on 1 November 2026, and has 380 points with four rounds left.
He was born on 25 August 2006, so he was 20 years and 68 days old when he clinched the title, the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history.
His Mercedes stopped on the exit of turn 5 on lap 62 of 66 with an apparent power unit problem, one lap after he had passed George Russell for second.
When the leader's car breaks, you hear it on the radio before anyone explains it on television.
The Formula Dream app plays live driver radio as it is broadcast, transcript beside the audio, and collects every FIA document of the weekend as the stewards publish it: the grid penalties, the track limits decisions and the power unit changes that put a championship leader nineteenth on the grid. There is also a live timing Dashboard, currently in beta.
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Five Miami Grands Prix have been held since 2022, and only one was won from pole: Kimi Antonelli's in 2026. Max Verstappen won from ninth in 2023, and Lando Norris took his first win there in 2024. Every winner, grid slot and safety car, measured.
Engineerbeautiful work Kimi absolute masterpiece good
Driverjob guys well
Engineerdone mate it took a lot of mental strength and i think you did the job yeah lucky for the safety car
Driverweird for the safety car sorry yeah i feel a bit bad for Lando but really strong race strong weekend let's keep pushing thank you everyone
Engineerlet's keep pushing yeah we're gonna keep pushing all the way
EngineerYes, Kimi! What a drive!
DriverThank you, thank you! Thank you guys, thank you for the support! Oh God!
DriverVader, suspension is broken.
EngineerOkay, copy, copy.
EngineerWe do have a 5 second penalty for track limits Yeah
Driverbut that's
Engineera
Driverjoke mate, I didn't do it on purpose Like, the car was broken
EngineerYeah understood
DriverLike I wasn't even getting time
EngineerYeah I know mate, I know mate
DriverBrakes feel quite bad already, quite long. Feels like air is in the system.
EngineerCopy, we'll have a look at it.
Engineerone stop left to be in Kimi has made another small step another small step and
Drivergood job everyone that's the result we needed thank you so much and let's keep pushing
Engineerall the way Kimi, all the way yeah, great job for the strategy there yeah
Driveryeah, great job
DriverWait, there's no f***ing brake!
EngineerI
Driverjust went straight!
EngineerOkay, stand by, we'll have a look.
DriverBetter work, no lock!
