Kimi Antonelli became the 2026 F1 World Champion with a 3rd-place finish at the Mexican Grand Prix. In only his 2nd season, he secured the title at 20 years and 68 days old, becoming the youngest World Drivers’ Champion.

But crossing the finish line doesn’t mean a driver can disappear into the garage and celebrate. There’s a tightly packed schedule of podium appearances, interviews, press conferences and team photographs to get through. And somewhere in all that, the achievement starts to sink in.

I followed Kimi through those first hours in Mexico City. There were family hugs, tears, champagne and an extraordinary amount of media attention. Max Verstappen won the race, but this was very much Kimi’s afternoon.

Before the Race: Family, Nerves and a Hug From Lando

Kimi arrived with his sister, Maggie, with his parents and a small entourage following behind. Before the family headed to the grid, I asked his father, Marco, how he felt. His answer was that it felt strange.

I didn’t push him to explain. By the end of the afternoon, though, that uncertainty had quite clearly turned into elation.

On the grid, Kimi climbed out of the car, put on an ice vest and spoke with his race engineer, Bono, before returning to the garage. A short time later, he was back for the national anthem.

From the opposite side of the track, I photographed him standing between George Russell and Lando Norris. As they left the anthem ceremony, Lando gave him a hug. It was a lovely little moment: the reigning world champion embracing the driver who was about to take the title.

The scale of Kimi’s achievement deserves some perspective. He beat Sebastian Vettel’s youngest-champion record by 3 years and 65 days. I don’t think that will be an easy record to break. It took the right car, the ability to make the most of it and someone like Toto Wolff pushing hard for him. Toto had every reason to feel rather pleased that evening.

4:27 p.m.: The New Champion Arrives in Parc Fermé

At 4:27 p.m., Kimi pulled into the 3rd-place position in parc fermé. Normally, the race winner is the centre of attention. Not this time. Almost all the media were waiting beside Kimi’s spot rather than Max’s.

Kimi stood on the car briefly with his fists raised, then climbed down and went straight to his family. They stayed in a group embrace for perhaps 20 or 30 seconds. Amid all the cameras and the noise, that was their moment together.

Then the official schedule took over. There were parc fermé interviews, a visit to the cool-down room and the podium ceremony. As the 3rd-place finisher, Kimi was the first driver called out onto the podium, while the Mercedes crew celebrated below.

That distinction is worth keeping clear: Max won the Mexican Grand Prix; Kimi won the World Drivers’ Championship. The race result and the championship result produced 2 separate celebrations later in the evening, but the title understandably drew most of the attention.

4:41 to 4:51 p.m.: An Extraordinary Podium Celebration

The podium sequence moved quickly, but there was an awful lot packed into those few minutes:

• 4:41 p.m.: Kimi stepped onto the podium.
• 4:42 p.m.: The 2 national anthems played.
• 4:45 p.m.: The champagne celebrations began.
• 4:46 p.m.: Lewis Hamilton and Max lifted Kimi onto their shoulders.
• 4:47 p.m.: Max’s car was lowered from the display platform and replaced with Kimi’s Mercedes.
• 4:49 p.m.: Kimi spoke with Nico Rosberg.
• 4:51 p.m.: He sat on the steps and took in the stadium.

I suspect Lewis came up with the idea of lifting Kimi, and it looked like a fairly last-minute arrangement. I can’t say that for certain, but the result was a terrific photograph: the new champion raised above 2 of the sport’s most successful drivers.

The Paddock Club guests immediately beside the podium had an exceptional view. Those are expensive tickets, but on this occasion they put people right alongside a remarkable piece of F1 history.

Once the Mercedes was in place, Kimi kissed the car and posed with the Italian flag. It was genuinely moving. I had tears in my eyes, and there was plenty of emotion around the stadium.

At 20, Kimi was also comfortably above Mexico City’s drinking age of 18, so he could choose how much of the champagne to drink rather than spray.

One detail that might otherwise go unnoticed: the podium steps had been raised by 12 cm on Friday. I suspected the champagne company might have had something to do with the request, although that was only my impression. Either way, they were higher than the steps we normally see.

By 4:51 p.m., Kimi finally had a brief opportunity to sit there with his flag and absorb the scene. With the car in front of him and the stadium surrounding him, it was quite a place to pause.

5:01 p.m.: The Interviews Keep Coming

At 5:01 p.m., Kimi reached the media pen. He was still emotional, and a couple of times I noticed tears in his eyes. Winning the championship hadn’t suddenly become an ordinary fact just because the podium ceremony was over.

I went up to the press conference room at 5:18 p.m. Lewis arrived first, and Kimi came in at 5:22 p.m.. I thought the assembled media might applaud, but he entered quietly. Max joined them a few minutes later.

One small exchange amused me. Max asked, I believe addressing Kimi, whether he had been out of breath coming up the stairs. Mexico City’s altitude makes itself felt, even with something as simple as climbing a staircase. I could certainly sympathise.

A newly crowned world champion also has a separate championship press conference after the usual post-race conference. Kimi had that additional commitment to complete, too.

I didn’t stay for it. There were 2 pit-lane celebrations coming up, and I wanted to be in position for both. That is one of the practical challenges of photographing a championship evening: while the driver has a schedule to follow, you have to decide where you can get the most useful pictures.

6:04 to 7:00 p.m.: Team Photos, Champagne and More Work

Red Bull held its celebration for Max’s race win at 6:04 p.m.. There was plenty of champagne and sticky Red Bull flying around. I managed to avoid almost all of it before heading to Mercedes.

The difference in media numbers was striking. I would estimate there were roughly 10 times as many media at Mercedes as there had been at Red Bull.

Kimi arrived at 6:12 p.m. to a tremendous reception. At 6:18 p.m., the team posed for the initial photographs, effectively the dry version before everyone got soaked.

At 6:20 p.m., Kimi stood in front of the group and agreed not to run away while they showered him with champagne. They made full use of the opportunity.

Then came another familiar championship ritual: lifting the driver onto a crew member’s shoulders. There’s a practical photographic reason for that. With so many people crowding around, anyone behind the front row struggles to get a clear picture. Raising the driver gives far more photographers a chance.

It didn’t seem to last as long as Lando’s title celebration the previous year, or Max’s in Las Vegas the year before that. Fairly quickly, Kimi was back inside the garage with his crew.

The public celebration still wasn’t the end of his working day. After most of the media had cleared, he did what I understood to be about 20 minutes of television interviews outside the garage, then returned to the hospitality suite for an engineering meeting.

By about 7:00 p.m., I called it a day. Kimi had become world champion, completed his ceremonies, answered question after question, celebrated with the team and still had engineering business to attend to.

As for the number on his car in 2027, my understanding was that he intended to keep number 12, rather than take the champion’s number 1. Lando would give up number 1 and return to number 4. That was my expectation at the time, rather than a confirmed announcement from Kimi.

The Other Major Mexico Story: Haas Replaces Esteban Ocon

While Kimi’s title dominated Sunday, the other major paddock story began on Friday with Esteban Ocon’s sudden departure from the Haas line-up for the remainder of the weekend.

There had been unhappy radio exchanges between Esteban and race engineer Laura Müller during FP2. I understood that a heated discussion with team principal Ayao Komatsu followed. People who saw the drivers’ briefing told me things appeared normal there, but the replacement decision was taken on Friday night.

By about 6:00 a.m. on Saturday, Formula 1 had been advised that reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa would take over. That early notification matters for more than the sporting paperwork: the television operation also needs updated material, including driver sequences for the world feed.

Ryo was at the circuit early to work with F1’s media team. At 32, the Toyota-backed driver was hardly a youngster making his first steps in motorsport, and he ended the weekend with a point.

My first indication of the change came when someone suggested I look at the Haas garage. Crew members were removing Esteban’s name. They understandably weren’t keen to discuss it, but the team statement followed shortly afterwards.

Inside hospitality, the mood was described to me as a mixture of concern and anticipation about a new driver joining the operation. Most of the signage had been changed by Saturday afternoon, although the large sign above hospitality wasn’t replaced until Saturday night.

The speed of events caught people out. I understood Oliver Bearman was told about 10 minutes before the announcement. His trainer told me he discovered the news through my Instagram post.

There were also reports in the French publication L’Équipe suggesting the Friday discussion might have involved a physical altercation. Esteban categorically denied that any physical violence took place. That allegation should not be treated as established fact.

Whatever happened in the discussion, the weekend had brought a serious rupture between driver and team. An Aston Martin reserve role was being discussed as a possible route for Esteban to remain involved in F1, but that was still a possibility, not a confirmed move.

Who Could Drive for Haas in Brazil?

I didn’t expect Hirakawa to remain in the car for Brazil because he had a World Endurance Championship commitment that weekend. That left 2 candidates in the discussion: Rafael Câmara and Jack Doohan.

Câmara looked a likely favourite. A Brazilian driver making his debut at his home Grand Prix would be quite an occasion. There was, however, a scheduling complication: he was already due to drive Ferrari’s FP1 session.

My understanding was that Charles Leclerc would be returning home for the birth of his first child and would miss media day, with Câmara already assigned to that practice session.

Doohan was another strong candidate. He had 7 Grands Prix behind him, had been working with Haas and had done useful simulator work. There was plenty of Australian support for him, too, although support alone doesn’t decide a seat.

At that point, both names belonged in the conversation. Neither should have been presented as a confirmed replacement for the final races.

Qatar, Security and Life Around the Mexico Paddock

There was also discussion about Yamaha withdrawing from the upcoming Qatar MotoGP event. I asked Laurent Mekies about it, and he expected the event to proceed without Yamaha.

Separately, F1’s position was that Yamaha’s decision did not affect its own plans. Imola remained on standby, but the intention was still to hold the final 2 races in the Middle East. The indication I received was that a change would require something unmistakably obvious to have happened. That was a telling way of putting it.

Closer to the circuit, George Russell was the only driver I noticed driving himself to the track. The others generally travelled in the back, with a professional driver at the wheel and a security person in the front passenger seat.

George told me the cars were about 750 kg heavier than normal because of their bulletproofing, and that the suspension struggled with the additional weight. He also gets travel sick in the back, which helps explain his preference for driving.

Police motorcycle escorts were another part of the transport arrangements. The figure I was given was 7,000 pesos per officer per day, approximately US$370.

On a lighter note, Pierre Gasly appeared in a Mexican wrestling mask again. I always enjoy seeing him embrace the local customs. It adds a bit of personality to the weekend.

Less enjoyable was another reminder about personal space. Isack Hadjar received a warning for pushing a paddock guest. I felt the guest had perhaps imposed himself on Isack, although that doesn’t make pushing a good look.

I also saw Oliver Bearman’s bodyguard knock away a hand when someone tried to put an arm around Ollie for a selfie. Paddock access isn’t permission to touch people. The same boundaries that apply on the street should apply inside an F1 venue.

There was a rather warmer interaction away from the circuit. Over dinner, I stopped for a brief chat with some people at another table and complimented a gentleman named Mo on his scarf. He promptly offered it to me. It was cold, the scarf was beautiful, and I gratefully accepted.

Those little encounters are part of what makes a race weekend memorable. But Mexico’s defining image was Kimi with his Italian flag, his Mercedes and the people who helped him get there. The championship was secured on track; the hours afterwards showed just how much it meant.