Kimi Antonelli becomes Formula One's youngest world champion in Mexico City at 20 years and 68 days

Kimi Antonelli has become Formula One's youngest world champion. The Mercedes Italian driver won the drivers' championship at 20 years and 68 days old with a third-place finish at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

The first Italian champion since 1953, Antonelli sobbed with joy over the team radio as he took the chequered flag at the high-altitude Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Sunday.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the red-flagged and restarted race for his second win of the season, but Antonelli's overall lead reached an unassailable 119 points after finishing third.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton started from pole position and took a close second place — after clashing with teammate Charles Leclerc — on an afternoon of drama with two safety cars, multiple crashes and an agonising 33-minute halt with 25 of the 71 laps remaining.

His race engineer Peter Bonnington, a regular target for the young driver's practical jokes, said: 'Get in there, Kimi. Champion of the world.' Antonelli gasped: 'We did it, thank you so much.' His parents and sister were there to embrace him when he stepped out of the car. He was then mobbed by his pit crew.

The previous youngest champion was Germany's Sebastian Vettel, who took the first of his four titles with Red Bull at 23 years and 134 days in 2010.

Antonelli told the crowd: 'I'm speechless. I'm trying to process what has just happened.' He added: 'It's been an incredible season, and to share this podium with Max and Lewis is truly incredible. And looking forward to some more battles in the future.' With an Italian flag wrapped around his shoulders on the podium, he sprayed the champagne with abandon. 'This weekend I did feel a bit more tense, but I'm just so happy that we got it done, and now we can enjoy the rest of the season,' he said.

The last Italian champion was Alberto Ascari, 73 years earlier. Antonelli told a later news conference: 'On the last lap, I just backed off because I just couldn't see the track. I was getting emotional.'

Leclerc finished fourth, McLaren's outgoing champion Lando Norris was fifth and Antonelli's teammate George Russell only sixth in a race he had to win to have any chance of staying in contention. That also meant Verstappen went second in the overall standings, with Hamilton third and pre-season favourite Russell plummeting to fourth and 130 points behind Antonelli.

Mercedes have 630 points in the constructors' standings to Ferrari's 504 and could clinch that title in Brazil next weekend.

The race was stopped, after a brief safety car deployment, on lap 46 of 71 after Valtteri Bottas suffered a high-speed front-left suspension failure down the straight, with his Cadillac pitched uncontrollably into the barriers at turn one. Bottas received medical attention in the car but then walked to an ambulance, giving a thumbs up, as the rest of the field returned to the pits. He went to the medical centre and was released.

Verstappen led from the restart, challenged by Hamilton, with Antonelli passing Leclerc. There was then another safety car when Lindblad and Piastri collided — with the field released to race again with nine laps to the chequered flag.

Hamilton had led away from the original pole position, for the 105th time in his career but first for Ferrari at a full grand prix, with Leclerc slotting in behind from third on the grid. The British driver held him off as they went side by side through the opening corners, but Leclerc cut turn four and went across the grass as they battled for the lead, with Verstappen then taking second from Hamilton as the Ferrari looped wide. 'Pushed out by my own teammate,' Hamilton said over the radio. Stewards handed Leclerc a five-second penalty.

Russell, who had lined up on the front row, made a poor start and dropped to fifth. He also collided with Hadjar, with the Red Bull punted off, and the stewards handed him a 10-second penalty.