As the sun was beginning to rise at the Circuit of the Americas on Sunday morning one week ago, a solitary sportswriter was taking a lonely walk along pit lane ahead of the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix.

During that walk, the LED screen that rises over the track, ahead of the steep climb into Turn 1, flashed a message.

“Kimi Antonelli, 2026 FIA Formula 1 World Champion.”

Video board operators preparing for any eventuality is nothing new, and this writer remembers arriving at the track one day ahead of the 2024 Miami Grand Prix to a similar message congratulating Logan Sargeant on his first F1 Grand Prix victory. Those working the video boards need to be ready for every possibility, however remote that might be:

Mark Schofield

Mark Schofield

Antonelli indeed won the United States Grand Prix a week ago, but it was not enough to clinch his maiden title. The video operators in Austin never had to flash that message.

But while it was not true then, to borrow a phrase from F1 commentator Alex Jacques, his driving in Mexico City has made it true now.

And those video board operators can now flash that message: Kimi Antonelli, 2026 Formula 1 World Champion.

Antonelli arrived in Mexico for the Mexico City Grand Prix on the cusp of a title, and while the young Mercedes phenom missed Thursday’s media day to a viral illness, he did enough on Saturday to start the race up in P4, alongside Charles Leclerc in P3 and right behind his Mercedes teammate George Russell, who started second.

Antonelli played it cautious at the start, taking a look into Turn 1 as he went wide, but slotting into P4 behind Leclerc, Max Verstappen, and Lewis Hamilton in front of him. The drama was happening in front of him, as the Ferrari teammates came together and Leclerc charged into the lead, with Verstappen sliding up to second as Hamilton settled into third.

While Leclerc and Russell were handed penalties for incidents on the opening lap, Antonelli continued to pump in the laps from P4. When some initial pit stops by the top three drivers were completed, Antonelli inherited the lead on Lap 28.

He racked up lap after lap on those soft tires, playing the waiting game in hopes of a safety car to deliver a free pit stop. But Antonelli did not need a win to clinch the title, he could simply finish in the points to eliminate the rest of his rivals in the standings.

Still, he pumped in lap after lap, showing the mastery that put him on the verge of becoming the sport’s youngest champion.

His race engineer Peter “Bono” Bonnington gave him words of great encouragement on Lap 42, telling him that he was doing great and just to keep it up. He finally came in on Lap 43 and while his team delivered a 4.3-second stop — on the slower side — he came out in P4 12 seconds behind Hamilton in P3.

But fourth was going to be good enough for him to clinch the title, had the race ended then.

Then a bad break arrived for Antonelli, as Valtteri Bottas careened off the racing line and into the barrier to bring out a Safety Car. Some of the race leaders immediately dipped into the pit lane, including Hamilton. But a slow stop from Ferrari saw Hamilton rejoin the race behind Antonelli, who slid up into P3.

Then a red flag came out, neutralizing the race as stewards attended to Bottas who was still inside the MAC-26 at Turn 1.

Race control, during the red flag period, revised the starting order to put Hamilton into P3, and Antonelli into P4.

Eventually, the restart came. Verstappen held onto the lead, with Hamilton rocketing into P2 behind him. As for Antonelli, he pulled off a tremendous overtake of Leclerc to swipe third place, putting himself in position to celebrate his title not just in Mexico City, but on the podium as well.

But the drama was far from over. An incident between Arvid Lindblad and Oscar Piastri on Lap 59, as they battled for seventh place, ended with the VCARB driver in the barrier, and a Safety Car on the track. The field again bunched up behind the Safety Car, and another restart loomed.

The safety car ended on Lap 62, setting the stage for a nine-lap sprint to the checkered flag. Verstappen dropped the hammer to restart the Mexico City Grand Prix, but Hamilton was right on his rear wing at the end of the straight to stay within striking distance of the leader.

And just behind them, Antonelli was closing in on his title.

The laps ticked down, with Verstappen maintaining his lead over Hamilton, with Antonelli solidly in third. The biggest battle on the track was behind Antonelli, as Leclerc was trying to hold off Lando Norris, who was all over the rear wing of Leclerc’s SF-26.

The battles between Leclerc and Norris, and Verstappen and Hamilton, caught the attention of the cameras. But sandwiched between those battles was Antonelli, closing in on that title from corner after corner. Eventually, the checkered flag flew with Verstappen taken the win ahead of Hamilton and Antonelli.

With Antonelli joining a club that includes the two drivers in front of him, the list of F1 Drivers’ Champions.

After 73 years, an Italian was atop the Formula 1 world once more. Antonelli joins Giuseppe “Nino” Farina and Alberto Ascari as the three drivers to achieve individual F1 glory, with Farina winning back in 1950, and Ascari winning back in 1953.

And now Antonelli joins them.

“Thank you so much. We did it. We did it. Thank you so much,” said Antonelli over the radio, fighting back tears.

Meeting with the media in Austin last week, Antonelli described the idea of winning the F1 Drivers’ Championship as a dream. “I mean, it would be a dream. You know, it’s something I’ve dreamt of since I was little,” said Antonelli on the Thursday ahead of the United States Grand Prix.

Now that dream is a reality.