'Very special' - Kimi Antonelli becomes youngest ever F1 champion

You've probably heard of big names in Formula 1 like Lewis Hamilton or Lando Norris - but have you heard of Kimi Antonelli?

It's a name we might soon get used to hearing, because the 20-year-old has become the youngest champion in Formula 1 history.

He has won nine races this season, so finishing third at the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday was enough to secure him the title.

He finished the race behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen in first and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton in second.

The youngest F1 champion until now had been Sebastian Vettel, who won his first title at 23 years in 2010 - making him three years and 66 days older than Anontelli.

The Mercedes driver has also become the first Italian to win the F1 title in more than 70 years.

During the slowing-down lap, Antonelli seemed to be both laughing and crying after his team told him he was world champion, saying: "Thank you so much. We did it. We did it."

He admitted he was so emotional on the last lap that he was struggling to see.

"I lost probably two seconds because I was already crying basically and I couldn't see clearly ahead," he said. "I could see two Ferraris somehow with the tears.

"It was very special and a lot of memories went through my mind in that moment."

There are four races remaining in the season, so there are also more opportunities to come for further success.

His full name is Andrea Kimi Antonelli, and while his close friends and family call him Andrea, in F1 he is known as Kimi.

His parents ran a racing team business, so he grew up around cars from a very early age.

His father Marco told the BBC about taking Kimi go-karting aged 10, and realising he might have an exceptional talent as a racing driver.

After spending years karting, he moved up to cars aged 15, and it wasn't long before he got the attention of Mercedes.

Antonelli had his first season in 2025, where he had some success but ended with a final point total of less than half that of his Mercedes teammate George Russell.

It was during his second season in the sport that he saw big wins, managing to break a number of records on the way to becoming F1's youngest champion.

He was the youngest driver to achieve a pole position in China and the youngest to lead the championship at the next race in Japan.

He also became the youngest driver to complete a 'grand slam' in Monaco, with pole position, fastest lap, leading every lap and winning the race.