Verstappen and Hamilton carry champion Antonelli on their shoulders: twelve titles on one podium

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton lifted Kimi Antonelli onto their shoulders on the Mexico City Grand Prix podium on Sunday, and the picture says more than the result sheet. Between them, the three men on that podium hold twelve Formula 1 world titles: seven for Hamilton, four for Verstappen and, since about 90 minutes earlier, one for Antonelli.

Results, standings and the full race classification: Mexico City Grand Prix 2026 results.

Eleven titles carrying the twelfth

Verstappen won the race for Red Bull, 0.799 seconds ahead of Hamilton’s Ferrari. Antonelli finished third for Mercedes, which was more than enough: he needed only a top-nine finish to become champion with four Grands Prix still to run. At 20 years and 68 days he is the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history, more than three years younger than Sebastian Vettel was in 2010.

So the two most successful drivers of the last two decades stood either side of him, and instead of standing still for the anthem photo they picked him up. Verstappen, winner’s medal round his neck, waved with his left hand. Hamilton, with a Mexican flag over his shoulder, waved with his right. Antonelli, in the middle and above both of them, raised a fist.

“Truly incredible”, says the new champion

Antonelli spoke about it straight after the race. “It’s been an incredible season, and to share this podium with Max and Lewis is truly incredible,” he said, as quoted by Formula 1.

In Mercedes’ race report he added: “Finishing on the podium made it even more special and sharing it with Max (Verstappen) and Lewis (Hamilton) was really cool.”

Hamilton, who won six of his seven titles with Mercedes, the team that has now crowned Antonelli, was just as clear. “I mean, it was beautiful to be up there with these two and to be up there with Kimi for his first World Championship,” he said. “I think it was a very special moment, one of the most special moments that I remember having here.”

Verstappen kept it short, as he does. For him it was “a very special podium”, and he added: “I think it had to be that way with the three of us standing there with him.”

Two generations, one photo

Hamilton took his first title in 2008, when Antonelli was a toddler. Verstappen won four in a row from 2021 to 2024. Antonelli, a Mercedes junior since he was a child, gives the team its tenth drivers’ title and Italy its first champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953. The full story of how he won it: Kimi Antonelli is Formula 1 world champion at 20. How Verstappen won the race itself: our Mexico City Grand Prix race report.

Our verdict: a handover, not a farewell

Podium photos are usually forgotten by the next race. This one will not be. It is tempting to read it as the old guard handing over the sport, but neither of the men doing the lifting looked ready to step aside: Verstappen won the race and leads the fight for second in the championship, Hamilton was eight tenths behind him. What the photo shows is respect, not retirement. That makes the next four races, and next season, more interesting, not less.

São Paulo next, on 8 November

The championship is decided, but second place is not: Verstappen has 261 points, Hamilton 259. The F1 standings show the full picture before the São Paulo Grand Prix.

Sources: formula1.com (driver reactions and “What the teams said”, 1 November 2026); Mercedes-AMG F1 race report.

Which of the three on that podium wins the next world title: Antonelli again, Verstappen or Hamilton? Tell us in the comments.