Reigning World Champion Lando Norris has paid tribute to Kimi Antonelli ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix, where the Italian can secure the F1 title ahead of teammate George Russell.
Following his victory at the United States Grand Prix, Kimi Antonelli secured a second match point of the season at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
In Austin, the Italian did everything required to wrap up his first World Championship on Texan soil. However, title rivals George Russell and Lewis Hamilton delayed the celebrations with respective P4 and P8 results.
Nevertheless, those extra 25 points made a maiden crown practically inevitable in Round 19 of the 2026 Formula 1 season. Antonelli will officially become F1’s 36th Drivers’ World Champion on Sunday as long as neither Russell nor Hamilton wins the race.
Lando Norris praises Antonelli’s second-year progress
With Antonelli set to wrap up the drivers’ crown in Mexico, reigning champion Lando Norris paid tribute to the Mercedes driver’s season.
“I think it’s very impressive what he’s been able to do at his age, in his second year in Formula 1, and he’s going to be the youngest world champion ever,” Norris said in Mexico City.
If Antonelli seals the title on Sunday, he will achieve the feat as the youngest champion at 20 years, 2 months, and 7 days old, shattering Sebastian Vettel’s long-standing record from 2010 (23 years, 4 months, and 11 days).
In doing so, he would also become the third Italian driver in history to claim the sport’s ultimate prize, joining Giuseppe Farina (1950) and two-time Ferrari champion Alberto Ascari (1952 and 1953).
Antonelli’s impending triumph comes in just his second F1 campaign following a promising rookie year in 2025, which featured podium finishes in Canada, São Paulo, and Las Vegas en route to seventh in the standings.
“It’s pretty incredible, especially because last year… I wouldn’t say he had a bad first season in Formula 1; he was against George, who I think is very good and has performed very well, especially in the last year against Lewis.”
After a solid foundational year, Antonelli delivered his breakthrough performance early in 2026, capturing his maiden Grand Prix victory in China. Eight further victories have followed, putting him on course to become the first driver to win the World Championship in their second season since Lewis Hamilton in 2008.
“He’s taken quite a huge step, I would say, from last year to this year in terms of optimising things and understanding how to drive this year’s car more than other people as well,” Norris insisted.
Kimi Antonelli to beat Mercedes teammate George Russell for the crown
“Dealing with the pressure, the lack of mistakes that have come from him in both qualifying and the races, the consistency to beat his teammate, the way he has is pretty [strong].
“As I said, I rate George, and I think he’s a very good driver.
“But Kimi has been two levels above George the whole season, so he’s done a pretty incredible job, and I’m sure the world knows that.
“I don’t need to say it. I think it’s obvious enough,” Norris concluded.
Russell’s challenging 2026 campaign
Russell’s title challenge has indeed been severely compromised by a mixture of driver errors and severe mechanical misfortune. Though Russell’s unforced errors, such as crashing out of the Sprint lead in Singapore and a costly Q3 mistake in Austin (P6) that doomed his race, have undoubtedly drained his points tally, mechanical unreliability and operational setbacks have taken an additional toll on the Briton’s season.
Russell’s campaign has been plagued by a catalogue of technical failures, including a Power Unit shutdown in Malaysia, a battery failure in Canada, an anti-stall issue at the start in Hungary on top of a water leak in qualifying, a gearbox glitch during Q3 in China, vibration issues in qualifying in Japan, and an energy deployment fault that preceded his gravel-bound contact with Hamilton at Spa.
By contrast, Antonelli has enjoyed a far smoother run on the reliability front. His only major mechanical DNF occurred in Barcelona following an electrical shutdown, alongside a left-front wheel shield issue at Silverstone that forced extra pit stops.
That is not to diminish the Italian’s exceptional composure. Aside from minor setbacks, such as an FP3 crash in Australia, a bad execution at the start in Japan, track limit penalties in the Miami Sprint, and a Q3 mistake in Baku, Antonelli’s second-year has been remarkably flawless, just as Norris highlighted.
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