If Kimi Antonelli becomes Formula 1 world champion at the United States Grand Prix later this month, he will break Sebastian Vettel’s record of being the youngest F1 world champion ever to be crowned. He will also end a 73-year drought of Italian champions. Both of these records he will break in just his second year driving in the championship, and both at just 20 years old.
These are all the records he could break if he achieves the championship win at Circuit of the Americas.
What Antonelli needs in Austin
The young Italian currently leads with 340 points. His team-mate George Russell follows with 238 and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton boasts 229. The championship battle is still – technically – alive with 150 points still available, but Antonelli can indeed collect his trophy if things go his way at COTA.
Antonelli will need to win, Russell has to finish ninth or lower and Hamilton has to finish fifth or lower to give Antonelli an unassailable lead.
With Russell facing an engine penalty not at the United States Grand Prix but instead likely in Las Vegas instead, it’s possible but unlikely that he will finish so far back.
Podium: Race winner Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing, second place Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, third place Jenson Button, McLaren
Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images
What falls with the title and what doesn’t?
At 20 years and 61 days old when the Austin race takes place, the Mercedes driver will beat Vettel’s record by over three years. The German secured his first championship title in 2010 in Abu Dhabi at 23 years and 134 days old. Antonelli would also be the first driver born in the 2000s to win the championship. Lando Norris, the most recent champion, was born in 1999.
Antonelli would also become Italy’s first championship winner since Alberto Ascari, who won his championship 73 years ago. He would also be only the third Italian to win an F1 championship. He would follow in the footsteps of Nino Farina in 1950 and Ascari in 1952 and 1953. He would be the first Italian champion not driving for an Italian team.
A win in Austin would take him to nine career wins, four short of Ascari’s Italian record of 13.
He also isn’t the first to win in his second season. Hamilton did it in 2008 and Jacques Villeneuve in 1997. Farina managed it in his first season, 1950.
Antonelli has also already collected several records this year. He became the youngest polesitter in China taking over Vettel’s former record. He also became the youngest championship leader at the Japanese Grand Prix at just 19 years and 216 days old. On winning at Monza, he became the first Italian to win there in six decades.
Vettel, despite potentially losing his record, is excited for the driver: “I’d be very happy for him. He’s had an incredible year, and there’s the old phrase that records are there to be broken. He still has a lot of years ahead of him to do so.”
“I love the sport, so as a spectator, it’s very exciting. I’d wish for the others to come back and be more in the mix, but I’m sort of independent and happy for them because I know how much work there is behind it to achieve it. And whoever will win will deserve it.”
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