A Fiesta In Mexico
Mexico got wild well before the race even started with news of Ryo Hirakawa replacing Esteban Ocon for the weekend, and Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstrappen, Liam Lawson and Gabriel Bortoleto all having grid penalties. Kimi Antonelli was guaranteed the Driver’s Championship as long as he placed above P10. Mexico hosted its first Grand Prix in 1963; it has a circuit length of 4.304 km and 17 turns and 71 laps to the finish line. The long straight that heads into a hard-breaking Turn 1 always makes for interesting overtakes—let's see what the overtakes looked like this year.
Qualifying
Q1 passed without any major incidents. Hirakawa tried his best but with little time to prepare, most didn’t expect much of him. Fernado Alonso’s qualifying was cut short due to power unit and water pressure issues. Carlos Sainz also put in a good lap time just as the session ended to beat out his teammate for Q2. Nico Hulkenberg, Franco Colapinto, Oscar Piastri, Bortoleto, Olivier Bearman, and Sainz all got eliminated in Q2.
In Q3 we see a lot of back and forth between the two Ferraris for provisional pole, but in the end, Lewis Hamilton takes his first pole position for Ferrari at the Mexico GP. In P2 we have George Russell, then Charles Leclerc in P3. A one-place grid penalty pushed Max Verstrappen into 5th and Kimi Antonelli into P4. Anontelli had stated that he felt “more tense than usual” because of his race position.
As we headed into the Sunday race, many of the drivers spoke about their frustrations with qualifying as well as what they could have done better. Lawson was disqualified from the qualifying due to technical issues, and multiple others would be starting in the pit-lane with him after having their own technical issues and because of exceeding the power unit limit.
Race
Lewis Hamilton was able to get a great start off the line and kept the lead, but right behind him, Leclerc took Russell for P2 and Verstappen followed Leclerc into P3 pushing Russell into P4 and Antonelli into P5. At Turn 6 of Lap 1, Leclerc tried to overtake Hamilton from the outside, but went off track to gain an advantage, and in this gap, Verstappen was able to overtake Hamilton for P2. Lerclerc received a 5-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Russell also got a 10-second penalty for causing a crash with Isack Hadjar, who spun out in the first lap and fell from P7 to P19.
On Lap 7, both Aston Martins were out with Fernando Alonso bringing his car in and Lance Stroll stopping on track. On Lap 24 we see Leclerc and Verstappen pit and Leclerc serves his penalty as well. Hamilton pits on Lap 29 and leaves the pit lane behind Leclerc and Verstappen putting him in P6.
The race headed into a red-flag and a stoppage after Bottas crashed into the barriers by Turn 1 due to suspension issues. On the restart, we had Max Verstappen in the lead with Leclerc, then Hamilton right behind him. Hamilton was able to get a better start and pushed ahead of his teammate. Bearman was forced to retire from the race after a crash caused by Hulkenberg, who received a 10-second time penalty for this incident. Antonelli took P3 from Leclerc on Lap 48 after taking the inside on Turn 1. The race order was Verstappen in P1, Hamilton in P2 and Antonelli rounding out the podium. We saw another safety car as Arvid Lindblad went into the barriers after an incident with Oscar Piastri but no stoppage.
With just a few laps remaining and Antonelli in P3, we crowned our youngest World Champion ever at just 20 years old, beating out Sebestian Vettel by a whole three years. There wasn’t a single dry eye in the Mercedes garage with the team and Antonelli’s family all celebrating. Kimi Antonelli is our 2026 Driver’s World Champion after having a near perfect season with a car and talent that went unmatched.
