The Formula 1 edit

Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli!

Article by Lara Murakami

Before recent events in our beloved sport, the youngest WDC leader in F1 history was the undisputed racing legend Lewis Hamilton. Fighting his already-two-time-world-champion teammate Fernando Alonso, Lewis seized control of the lead of the championship in the fourth round of 2007; Spain. (Bitterly ironic for Fernando, with him being a proud Spaniard..) At this time, Lewis was extraordinarily young; only 22 years, 4 months and 6 days old. 

But Kimi Antonelli has come and smashed that record following his victory at the Japanese Grand Prix 2026, where he was only 19 years, 7 months, and 4 days old. A teenager. A teenager with back-to-back wins in only his second season.  

However, the win in Japan did not come easily. After seemingly fumbling his pole position advantage, Kimi was helped out massively by a well-timed safety-car period. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and his own teammate had already made pit stops before Ollie Bearman’s heavy crash, while he, fortunately, had not. The shortened amount of time lost due to a pit stop ensured that he could gain time on his competitors and retain the lead he had lost.

At the end of Grand Prix, Kimi came out on top, while his teammate and rival for the championship, our favourite diva George Russell, muttered “unbelievable” over his team radio when he realized that the young talent had beaten him for the second race in a row.

In fact, Kimi is so young that he was denied podium champagne in Japan, where the legal drinking age is 20. He was given an unlabeled bottle instead, which commentators assumed was sparkling water.

After the race, Kimi commented on his recent success, but focused on how much of the season is still left to be determined. “I’m not thinking too much about the championship. Of course it’s great, but it’s still a long way to go,” Antonelli stated. “Need to keep raising the bar because, you know, George is very quick and for sure he’s going to be back at his usual level, and also competitors, eventually they will get closer. I think we need to keep our head down and keep raising the bar.”

Since George only finished 4th in Suzuka, Kimi gained an advantage over him in the WDC for the first time, with a 9 point margin. Despite George Russell being the heavy pre-season favourite, Kimi has made himself part of the WDC conversation through precise handling of the dominant machinery he has been given.

If all goes well this season for the Italian, he could smash Seb Vettel’s famous record and become the youngest ever Champion of the World in Formula One… And if not this year, I, for one, am fully confident Kimi Antonelli is going to become WDC one day. As this pin I found on Pinterest suggests; just mark my words.

And for now, I’m so invested in the intrateam Mercedes battle. I love both George and Kimi, and I can’t wait to see how the year plays out!