Sao Paulo (AFP) - Italian Kimi Antonelli did not hide his anger at what happened to him on Sunday in Brazil during his first race after being crowned the youngest world champion in Formula One racing, but he tried to enjoy the success of his Mercedes team in clinching the constructors' title three rounds before the end of the season.

Published on: 09/11/2026 - 09:59

After starting from second place, Antonelli succeeded in overtaking British McLaren driver Lando Norris and took the lead in the race and began to build a relatively comfortable difference over last season’s champion during the first laps of the race.

The Italian, who last week at the age of 20 became the youngest champion in the history of first-class races, maintained the lead before and after the first round of pit stops.

However, with the Intermediate tires being replaced with slick tires despite the lack of ideal conditions for this, with some wet sections remaining, Antonelli lost control of his car at the first turn on the twentieth lap out of the 71 that included the race at the Interlagos Circuit in Sao Paulo.

He was able to regain control and continue the race, but Norris overtook him, while the Italian driver found himself under pressure from French Red Bull driver Isaac Hajjar.

Antonelli informed his team before the accident that the car was swerving when accelerating, and then the difficulty in controlling its balance caused him to lose more positions to Hajjar and the latter’s Dutch colleague Max Verstappen, ending the race in fifth place directly behind his British colleague George Russell after he lost control of the car again at the same corner.

Antonelli, who was fined for adding 5 seconds to his time as a result of an unsafe exit from his team's garage during the second stop, without this affecting his ranking, said, "I am very disappointed with the race. I am very angry, frankly, but I will put all that aside for the time being because the team has clinched the title (its ninth in the Constructors' Championship)."

He added, "We won the title for the team, and all of its members deserve it. I am very proud to be part of this group and this team that has done and is still doing a lot for me, and I am very happy for them. But speaking about the race specifically, yes, I am very disappointed."

He continued, "We were on our way to winning until that moment. I was also in the lead, and as soon as I was able to raise the tire temperature, I began to find my rhythm. But the spin happened, and I still have to review what happened, because I do not know why I lost control of the rear section so quickly."

"There was no warning or anything like that," he revealed. "But, frankly, I felt something strange in the car since I switched to soft tyres. So we have to check what happened, but it's unfortunate that we lost the race because of that."

"What happened was not normal"

The victory at the end of the race went to Norris, who achieved his third victory of the season and the fourteenth in his career, ahead of Verstappen, who performed a wonderful race after starting from the bottom of the standings as a result of replacing the power unit in his car, and Hajjar.

Verstappen enjoys driving from the bottom of the standings at the Interlagos circuit, as he won the race in 2024 from seventeenth place, then climbed to the podium last year after starting from the pits.

Although he revealed that "my reaction was very slow at the start because I was not holding the clutch in the correct way," he began to overtake his rivals "within only two laps and almost at every turn. I think we had much greater concentration than most of the mid-ranking cars. I do not remember on which lap I entered the top ten, but it all happened very quickly."

Verstappen continued his progress until it seemed as if he had a chance to win, but after the first round of pit stops, he began to suffer with his car, according to what he said, saying, “Once I switched to smooth tires, I suffered from excessive turning in the car during fast corners, which made driving it very difficult.”

He believed, "What happened was not normal. I am of course very happy with second place, but at the same time I realize that we could have achieved a better result if the car had been in good condition."

He continued, "Unfortunately, that was not the case. I ran most of the race with a car that was not in good condition."

After the eventful race ended as a result of the wet track at the start and then the rain falling again in the final laps, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc was fined for adding 5 seconds to his time, because the emirate’s son came into contact with New Zealander Liam Lawson, which led to his decline in the final standings to eighth place.

Leclerc was competing with the Racing Bulls driver for seventh place on the sixty-ninth lap when the two cars came into contact at the twelfth turn, but they were able to continue the race and reach the finish line.

© 2026 AFP

The content you want to browse is no longer in service or is currently unavailable.