Lights OutMediaKimi Antonelli has just won the world drivers’ championship at only 20 years old, making him the youngest world champion in the history of F1. He’s Italy’s first champion in 73 years, since Alberto Ascari in 1953, and he clinched it with four rounds to spare. Verstappen won the race, and Hamilton finished second, less than a second behind him.
Hamilton started on pole, his first with Ferrari. Russell started second and Leclerc third. At Turn 4 on the first lap, both Ferraris went wide. The stewards said that both entered too fast: Hamilton went off on the inside, and Leclerc completed his pass off the track. Leclerc received a five-second penalty, cut from the usual ten because Hamilton also went off.
Both Aston Martins retired early on, within a lap of each other. Bottas’s left-front suspension failed at Turn 1 on lap 44. A safety car came out, then a red flag for barrier repairs that lasted nearly 40 minutes. Thankfully, Bottas was alright.
As for the restart, the grid was set one lap back, so Hamilton lined up third and Antonelli fourth. On the standing restart, Hamilton got a decent launch, passed Leclerc and made contact with Verstappen at Turn 1. The stewards decided not to investigate. Antonelli went down the inside of Leclerc into Turn 1 and moved into a podium spot.
Hulkenberg took out Bearman at Turn 4 and got a ten-second time penalty. On lap 59, Lindblad crashed after Piastri’s front tire hit his left rear, which brought out another safety car. Verstappen held off Hamilton for the remainder of the race. After the race, the stewards gave Piastri a ten-second penalty for the collision, and Colapinto and Gasly were penalized for failing to slow under yellow flags, which reshuffled the results. The final top ten were Verstappen, Hamilton, Antonelli, Leclerc, Norris, Russell, Lawson, Bortoleto, Hadjar and Hirakawa.
Next up is São Paulo, round 20 of 23, from November 6–8, with only four races left this season. Forza Kimi!