Kimi Antonelli can win the Formula One drivers’ world championship at the Mexico City Grand Prix, which starts at 7am AEDT on Monday 2 November, ABC News reported.
After Austin, the Mercedes driver is on 365 points, 123 ahead of his teammate George Russell and 124 ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, according to the ABC. The Guardian’s standings have Russell on 242 points and Hamilton on 241.
Five races remain, with a maximum of 125 points available. Antonelli needs one more point to eliminate Hamilton from the title race and two to eliminate Russell, the ABC reported.
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A Ninth Win in Austin
Antonelli won the United States Grand Prix in Austin from pole position, finishing ahead of Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen on a one-stop strategy, The Guardian reported. The pole was his first since Belgium in July, according to the paper.
Victory in Austin was his ninth of the season. He has won nine of the 18 races held, according to BBC Sport. That tally includes a five-race winning run at the start of the season, The Guardian reported.
The win was not enough to settle the championship there. Russell started sixth and took a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, BBC Sport reported. The penalty dropped him to 10th after his pit stop, and he recovered only two places to finish eighth, according to the BBC. Hamilton was fourth.
Toto Wolff called the win “one small step” towards the title, The Guardian reported. “The race of a champion who isn’t the champion yet,” he said.
Australia’s Oscar Piastri finished seventh in Austin, according to BBC Sport. He is seventh in the standings on 144 points, The Guardian reported.
Records in Reach
Antonelli has led the championship since he won the Japanese Grand Prix in round three of the season, ABC News reported. This is his second season in Formula One. He is 20, BBC Sport reported.
If he takes the title, he would be the youngest world champion and the first Italian champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953, according to The Guardian.
In His Words
“I am very excited. We would love to clinch the title in style with a great result,” Antonelli said, according to ABC News.
BBC Sport quoted him as saying: “I know we are very close. We try to finish on a high and hopefully we can clinch it very soon.”
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The Maths for Mexico
Antonelli would be champion in Mexico City if he loses no more than 23 points to Russell and no more than 24 to Hamilton, BBC Sport reported.
Ninth place would be enough even if Russell wins the race, and tenth would be enough if Hamilton wins. If neither of them wins, Antonelli would be champion wherever he finishes, according to the BBC.
With nine wins, he cannot be caught on countback, so he needs to be 100 points ahead after Mexico City, The Guardian reported.
The Mexico City weekend runs from Friday 30 October to Sunday 1 November, local time, according to BBC Sport. The race starts at 7am AEDT on Monday 2 November, and if Antonelli falls short of the margin there, four races will remain.
Sources: ABC News, “F1 standings: How Kimi Antonelli can win the drivers’ championship at Mexican Grand Prix”, 26 October 2026 (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-26/how-kimi-antonelli-can-win-f1-drivers-championship/107308200); BBC Sport, “Antonelli wins in US but has to wait to secure title”, 25 October 2026 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/articles/cm20w8154wn0o); The Guardian, “Kimi Antonelli storms to US F1 GP victory but is made to wait for title glory”, 25 October 2026 (https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/oct/25/kimi-antonelli-storms-to-us-f1-gp-victory-but-is-made-to-wait-for-title-glory)
Photo: Yu Chu Chin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Kimi Antonelli meets fans on the Melbourne Walk at the Australian Grand Prix in March 2026.
