Antonelli crowned F1's youngest champion as Verstappen beats Hamilton in Mexico

Kimi Antonelli is Formula 1's youngest-ever world champion after finishing third at the Mexican Grand Prix, a result that confirmed the title regardless of what happened at the front, according to Autosport.

Max Verstappen took the race win for Red Bull, holding off a determined Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages, while Charles Leclerc's Ferrari slipped to fourth having led for much of the afternoon.

Because neither Hamilton nor George Russell crossed the line first, the only two drivers who could have kept the championship fight alive, Antonelli's own finishing position made no difference to the destination of the title, Yahoo Sports reported.

The Mercedes driver still produced a composed drive, working his way past Leclerc in the second half of the race to claim the podium finish that accompanied his maiden crown.

The weekend had begun with a reminder of Hamilton's enduring speed, as the seven-time champion claimed his first pole position for Ferrari on Saturday, as reported by Guardian Formula One's Giles Richards at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Russell qualified second for Mercedes, with Antonelli fourth on the grid.

Hamilton's advantage lasted barely a lap. Leclerc challenged into Turn 2 and again approached Turns 4 and 5, eventually cutting across the grass to pass his team-mate. The move cost Hamilton momentum, allowing Verstappen to snatch second place from the Ferrari as well.

"I got pushed off by my own team-mate," Hamilton said afterwards, reflecting his frustration at being demoted twice in the space of a few corners.

Leclerc was handed a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, a sanction both Hamilton and Verstappen felt was lenient given the circumstances. "He's got clean air, he doesn't have to manage like the rest of us," Hamilton said.

There was further drama behind the leaders as Russell, who had dropped from second to sixth at the start, collided with Red Bull's Isack Hadjar and was handed a 10-second time penalty.

Leclerc built a five-second cushion over Verstappen before the pitstops, with the Dutchman the only frontrunner to start the race on medium tyres rather than softs. Oscar Piastri, starting a lowly 12th, had already climbed to seventh in the opening laps.

The race turned on lap 28 of 71, when both Leclerc and Verstappen made their only stops. Leclerc switched to mediums while Verstappen fitted softs, and the five-second penalty hanging over the Ferrari allowed Red Bull to leapfrog him in the pitlane.

"We basically need one of your magic Mexico stints," Verstappen's race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, told his driver as the softer rubber went on. Hamilton pitted for mediums a lap later, which dropped the leading trio of cars down to fourth, fifth and sixth.

That reshuffle briefly handed Antonelli clear track at the front, alongside Russell and McLaren's Lando Norris, with Mercedes lacking a realistic route back to the race win but needing nothing more from the afternoon than the result that duly arrived.

Verstappen went on to resist Hamilton's late pressure and take the chequered flag, closing out a Mexico City weekend remembered above all for the coronation of Formula 1's newest, and youngest, world champion.