Superlatives are rare to describe Kimi Antonelli’s unprecedented rise to power during the 2026 season. At the Mexican Grand Prix, the new leader of Formula 1 received the coronation his campaign deserved.
Winner: Kimi Antonelli
Antonelli’s triumph may have been a foregone conclusion at this point, but that only makes his feat more remarkable, not less.
It’s impossible not to think about his success without thinking about the tough rookie blues and the team’s tough love in 2025, when it seemed like there was a real risk that the Antonelli experiment would collapse over the summer. Was it too much, too young, too soon?
Those questions were quickly answered this year as Antonelli reeled off five straight victories en route to absolute domination, including that unforgettable comeback from 19th on home soil at Monza.
Antonelli’s coronation in Mexico, in a car that is no longer dominant, lived up to the occasion. With virtually all of his main team rivals sticking out their elbows, Antonelli drove a mature, low-key race – the only bit of excitement came when he lunged at Charles Leclerc to take third after the red flag. This decision allowed him to celebrate his first title on the famous Mexican podium in front of an electric Foro Sol stadium.
During a weekend, Mercedes did not have the upper hand, it was a good way to write a new chapter in the history of F1.
“On the last lap, I just pulled back because I just couldn’t see the track. I was getting emotional,” Antonelli described through tears during his title victory. “I said, ‘I’m just going to back off because otherwise I’ll crash here.'”
Kimi Antonelli shares an embrace with Toto Wolff
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
Winner: Mercedes
Antonelli’s victory is of course not his alone, but that of an army of engineers, mechanics and other staff from the Brackley, Brixworth and F1 paddocks across the world. Cogs in a machine that cracked in the days of ground effect, but fought back when F1 moved to all-new chassis and powertrain regulations for 2026.
Special mention must be given to former Mercedes talent scout Gwen Lagrue and Toto Wolff. Lagrue spotted Antonelli in karting and brought him into the Mercedes young driver program at the age of 12, while Wolff walked his talk by promoting Antonelli at 18 to replace Lewis Hamilton. Father Marco has also been instrumental every step of the way until today.
There were bumps, bruises, broken carbon fiber parts and plenty of teenage tears along the way. But the Bologna native’s remarkable transformation this year has shown it was worth it.
Ferrari has “big problems”. Don’t take our word for it, because these are the words of Lewis Hamilton. The British driver was in turmoil when his teammate Charles Leclerc overtook him off the track and received only a very light penalty of five seconds, which was easily compensated by racing in clear air.
Having finally claimed his first Ferrari pole and his first F1 pole since 2023, Hamilton looked to be good value for the Grand Prix victory thanks to the way he managed to hunt down Max Verstappen in those final laps, but failed to find a way to overtake on the straight with Ferrari’s relatively underpowered engine.
It’s not Ferrari’s first trouble spot this year, with Hamilton wanting the Scuderia to back him earlier in what was an unlikely title challenge, and he and Leclerc have had other incidents where it felt like both men competed harder than the rival teams’ drivers.
Subsequently, Hamilton demanded “serious talks” and is certain to get them. As Fred Vasseur said in his post-race press briefing: “The drivers must show respect to the 2,000 people who work for the team.”
Lewis Hamilton demands serious talks at Ferrari after latest flashpoint with Charles Leclerc
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images
Winner: Max Verstappen
There was something poetic about Antonelli: on his way to becoming the best driver of his generation, sharing the podium with the best drivers of the previous two in Verstappen and Hamilton.
Even though Hamilton feels he should have won, it also turned into a vintage Verstappen victory, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat while his rivals did the opposite.
When his car is where it needs to be, Verstappen is unstoppable. When this is not the case, as was the case in the Mexican capital, he is opportunistic. This time he took out half of the warring Ferrari duo at the start, and the other during the lone green-flag pit stop on lap 28 as Leclerc lost his five-second wait.
From the lead, Verstappen absorbed all the pressure to fend off Hamilton’s repeated advances, putting in a clinical performance to claim his third victory in four races.
The gap between Antonelli and Mercedes was too big to bridge, but neutral and Dutch fans are salivating at the thought of a 2027 season starting from a blank slate. With four leading teams all covered by three to four tenths as was the case in the last races.
When team principal Marcin Budkowski joined the team this summer, he quickly spotted some of the compromises Cadillac had to make to get onto the F1 grid, with lack of reliability and consistency of parts being a major Achilles heel.
“There are also a number of shortcuts that have been taken, which is inevitable when building a new team at a time like this,” he said in September. “It’s about working on certain areas that need more attention. In the short term, obviously reliability. We’ve seen that we’ve struggled with that in certain areas, and it’s just about bringing operational excellence to the level it should be, which is not the level of a top team at the moment.”
Mexico was the latest demonstration of this, with Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, late, having to deal with early problems, and Bottas crashing out of the race with a left front suspension collapse that sent him into the barriers at Turn 1. Bottas was lucky to escape without injury, but as Cadillac turns its attention to 2027, it’s another wake-up call for F1’s 11th team that things will have to be done at a higher level.
Bottas’ seat could be under threat with Colton Herta waiting in the wings, and he hasn’t done himself any favors with his recent performances. But for now, Cadillac’s problem isn’t with its drivers. Perhaps he owes the Finn a year in a still manageable and functional car.
If this is the case for Valtteri Bottas, then the Finn deserved better than a dysfunctional first Cadillac car
Photo by: Chris Graythen / Getty Images
Loser: Honda
There’s not much to say about Aston Martin and Honda, but it seems cruel and worrying that the year started with a car that couldn’t produce more than a handful of consecutive rounds in Australia and 17 races later we’re back in the same place.
While powertrain performance was never going to improve overnight, Honda could reasonably be expected to make greater strides in reliability, because that’s no way to race.
“I’m doing my best, you know,” said an inconsolable Fernando Alonso after parking his Aston Martin within six laps with what was described as “abnormal pressure levels in the PU systems”. His teammate Lance Stroll followed suit a minute later.
“Every lap I do, every morning I wake up, every preparation I make, the food I eat, everything is focused on my best performance behind the wheel, but I can’t seem to accumulate enough laps.
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