Kimi Antonelli turned 20 on 25 August, twelve days before he won the Italian Grand Prix from 19th on the grid. Sebastian Vettel, the youngest world champion in history, was 23 years and 134 days old when he won his first title in Abu Dhabi in 2010. If Antonelli holds his 66-point lead over the remaining ten rounds, Vettel’s record will not so much be broken as demolished by three years, and Vettel himself said this week he would be “happy” to lose it. Here is every mark in reach, and how close each one is.
Youngest world champion
The record has stood since 2010 and only two drivers have come within a year of it: Lewis Hamilton, champion at 23 years and 300 days in 2008, and Fernando Alonso at 24 in 2005. Antonelli would be 20 years and a few months when the season ends in Abu Dhabi on 6 December, which would make him the first champion under 21 and, by some distance, the youngest in the sport’s 76 seasons. Our title permutations guide sets out when the championship could be clinched. The record follows the title. It does not need a specific race.
First Italian champion since 1953
Italy has produced Ferrari, Monza and some of the sport’s most fervent fans, and exactly two world champions, both in the first four seasons: Giuseppe Farina in 1950 and Alberto Ascari in 1952 and 1953. The 73-year drought is the longest for any of the sport’s traditional nations. That the driver ending it would do so in a Mercedes rather than a Ferrari is a detail the Monza crowd made its peace with on race day, and one that Karun Chandhok argued this week has helped Antonelli, saying not driving for Ferrari has “taken the pressure off”. Our complete list of champions shows how long the wait has been.
The home win
Antonelli’s Monza victory was, by RaceFans’ count, the first home win for an Italian driver in 36 years, and the first Italian winner of the Italian Grand Prix itself since Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966. It came from 19th on the grid after a penalty, via a red flag and a virtual safety car pit stop, and it prompted Toto Wolff to reach for the phrase “walked on water”. Our ranking of the sport’s great comeback drives placed it among the best ever, with the caveat that its full weight depends on the championship it may have decided.
Youngest race winner and pole-sitter
These belong to Max Verstappen, who won the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix at 18 years and 228 days, and Antonelli cannot beat them: he was 19 when he took his first win. He does sit second on the list of youngest winners, ahead of Charles Leclerc, and the sequence of youngest-ever podiums, wins and now potentially titles across Mercedes’ junior programme is a record of a different kind for the team.
Most points in a season by a driver under 21
Nobody has come close. Verstappen scored 204 points in 2016 at 19, then the most by a teenager. Antonelli passed that total by the summer break and sits on 267 with ten rounds remaining. Whatever the championship outcome, the points total for a driver of his age will be a record nobody expects to see challenged for a generation.
What is not yet decided
The title, obviously. George Russell has not given up, Mercedes has promised both drivers freedom, and ten races is enough time for a retirement or two to change the arithmetic, as we discussed in is the title fight already over. Antonelli’s own answer to the record talk has been to say he is thinking about the next race. At 20, with the championship in his hands, that is either remarkable discipline or the only sensible thing to say. Probably both.
Frequently asked questions
Would Antonelli be the youngest champion?
Yes. Vettel’s record is 23 years and 134 days. Antonelli would be 20.
When was the last Italian champion?
Alberto Ascari in 1953.
Who was the last Italian to win at Monza before him?
Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966.
How big is his lead?
66 points over George Russell after 13 rounds, 267 to 201.
