Mercedes' bet on an 18-year-old has given F1 a record that should outlast Vettel's
Andrea Kimi Antonelli has won the 2026 F1 title at 20 years and 68 days, breaking Sebastian Vettel's youngest-champion record by more than three years.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli is the youngest world champion Formula 1 has ever had. He clinched the 2026 title at 20 years and 68 days old, by RaceFans' count, and took more than three years off the record Sebastian Vettel set in 2010.
Mercedes were right to put him in the car as a teenager. He made his debut last season at 18, a risk for any team to take, and the payout has come in only his second full season.
Five wins in a row from China
Antonelli's first grand prix victory came at the second round of the season, in China. It was the first of five in a row, and that run put him into the championship lead. He has sealed the title with four rounds remaining.
That makes him the sixth driver to win the championship in the same year as his first grand prix win. Giuseppe Farina managed it by winning the very first title. The last to do it was Keke Rosberg in 1982, 44 years ago.
How far Vettel's mark has fallen
Vettel was 23 when he won the first of his four titles, also in his second full season. Antonelli was four years old at the time. That record stood for 16 years, and before Vettel it belonged to two drivers still on the grid, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. Alonso set it in September 2005, almost a full year before Antonelli was born.
The age figure says more about when Antonelli started than how quickly he got there. RaceFans pointed out that he is not among the 10 drivers who needed the fewest starts to win the crown, partly because modern seasons are so long: 2026 was meant to have 24 rounds, where the first championship had seven.
Why we expect this one to last
Our view is that Antonelli's record will stand longer than Vettel's did. He had barely got going when he won it, which is exactly where Vettel was in 2010, and nobody coming through looks set to start younger than 18. Mercedes deserve as much credit as he does for backing him so early.
It is a rare title for Italy too. Italian drivers have now won the championship four times, and the previous three all came in the first four years of the world championship. Antonelli is also the first champion in car number 12 since Ayrton Senna won his first title with McLaren in 1988.
Mexico comes next, this weekend, with Antonelli racing as champion for the first time. Of the four rounds still on the calendar, RaceFans reported doubt over whether the races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi will go ahead.
