Key events
Antonelli doesn’t – unusually for young sports stars – look older than his years. He’s all chuchi-faced and innocent, with a luxuriant head of hair, curls spilling out of his baseball cap. I am not envious, not one bit.
It knows how to rain in Brazil.
It’s dry now, but it may not stay that way.
Also going on:
The starting grid
1 Lando Norris 🇬🇧 McLaren
2 Kimi Antonelli 🇮🇹 Mercedes
3 Liam Lawson 🇳🇿 Red Bull
4 Nico Hülkenberg 🇩🇪 Audi
5 Isack Hadjar 🇫🇷 Red Bull
6 Oliver Bearman 🇬🇧 Haas
7 George Russell 🇬🇧 Mercedes
8 Fernando Alonso 🇪🇸 Aston Martin
9 Alexander Albon 🇹🇭 Williams
10 Oscar Piastri 🇦🇺 McLaren
11 Rafael Câmara 🇧🇷 Haas
12 Arvid Lindblad 🇬🇧Racing Bulls
13 Carlos Sainz 🇪🇸 Williams
14 Charles Leclerc 🇲🇨 Ferrari
15 Franco Colapinto 🇦🇷 Alpine
16 Pierre Gasly 🇫🇷 Alpine
17 Lance Stroll 🇨🇦 Aston Martin
18 Valtteri Bottas 🇫🇮 Cadillac
19 Gabriel Bortoleto 🇧🇷 Audi
20 Lewis Hamilton 🇬🇧 Ferrari
21 Max Verstappen 🇳🇱 Red Bull
22 Sergio Pérez 🇲🇽 Cadillac
Preamble
Boris Becker winning Wimbledon at 17 in 1985; Mike Tyson winning the world heavyweight boxing championship at 20 in 1986; Stephen Hendry winning the World Snooker Championships at 21 in 1990; Luke Littler winning the World Darts Championship in 2025; to which ludicrous list can now be added the name Kimi Antonelli, winner of the world driver championship at 20 in 2026.
Of course the car has plenty to do with it, but finding the confidence and nous to beat around tracks men who’ve been driving them for years is a rare old effort – the next youngest to take the title, Sebastian Vettel in 2010, was 23 at the time. The question now, though, is whether Antonelli can go again, and again, and again, as the distractions away from the race multiply and the other freaks of nature who call this mad pursuit work, find holes in his game while closing some in their own.
All of which makes today’s jaunt an important one: can the champ, starting second on the grid, lay down a marker for next season, advising his elders that there’ll be no letting up? Or will the piqued old stagers launch their fightback?
Let’s find out!
Lights out: 2pm local, 5pm GMT
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