{"id":4813,"date":"2026-11-01T19:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T22:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/?p=4813"},"modified":"2026-11-01T19:45:41","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T22:45:41","slug":"verstappen-praises-antonellis-historic-f1-title-and-reveals-struggle-to-hold-off-hamilton-in-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/verstappen-praises-antonellis-historic-f1-title-and-reveals-struggle-to-hold-off-hamilton-in-mexico\/","title":{"rendered":"Verstappen praises Antonelli&#8217;s historic F1 title and reveals struggle to hold off Hamilton in Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">News Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Max Verstappen praised Andrea Kimi Antonelli&#8217;s first Formula 1 world championship<\/strong>, describing the Italian&#8217;s achievement at 20 years old as extraordinary.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Red Bull driver admitted he struggled to keep Lewis Hamilton behind<\/strong> during the closing stages of his Mexican Grand Prix victory.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Verstappen credited his opening lap and Red Bull&#8217;s strategy<\/strong>, acknowledging that his car lacked some pace but that the team made the correct decisions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Max Verstappen praised Andrea Kimi Antonelli after the Mercedes driver became Formula 1&#8217;s youngest world champion at the 2026 Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday (November 1). The Dutchman, who won the race ahead of Lewis Hamilton, described <strong>Antonelli&#8217;s achievement at just 20 years old as remarkable<\/strong> and said he was proud to see the Italian celebrate with his family and Mercedes team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;It&#8217;s incredible, of course. What a season he had,&#8221; Verstappen said after the race. &#8220;To do that also at such an age is really, really impressive.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/f1-2026-mexico-cidade-do-mexico-corrida-mercedes-kimi-antonelli-12-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"F1 2026, M\u00c9XICO, CIDADE DO M\u00c9XICO, CORRIDA, MERCEDES, KIMI ANTONELLI\" class=\"wp-image-1020320064\" srcset=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/f1-2026-mexico-cidade-do-mexico-corrida-mercedes-kimi-antonelli-12-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/f1-2026-mexico-cidade-do-mexico-corrida-mercedes-kimi-antonelli-12-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/f1-2026-mexico-cidade-do-mexico-corrida-mercedes-kimi-antonelli-12-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/f1-2026-mexico-cidade-do-mexico-corrida-mercedes-kimi-antonelli-12-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/f1-2026-mexico-cidade-do-mexico-corrida-mercedes-kimi-antonelli-12-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/f1-2026-mexico-cidade-do-mexico-corrida-mercedes-kimi-antonelli-12-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/f1-2026-mexico-cidade-do-mexico-corrida-mercedes-kimi-antonelli-12.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Kimi Antonelli (Photo: F1)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Verstappen celebrates Antonelli&#8217;s historic championship<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Antonelli secured the championship by finishing third in Mexico, ending Italy&#8217;s 73-year wait for a Formula 1 world champion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Mercedes driver entered the weekend needing only ninth place to guarantee the title and completed the race on the podium behind Verstappen and Hamilton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/antonelli-becomes-youngest-f1-world-champion-as-verstappen-wins-chaotic-2026-mexican-gp\/\">Antonelli became the youngest champion in F1 history<\/a>, surpassing Sebastian Vettel&#8217;s previous record from 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Verstappen highlighted the significance of the occasion for Antonelli and those closest to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;It&#8217;s amazing to see the whole team celebrating with him, his family is here as well,&#8221; the Red Bull driver said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>&#8220;I&#8217;m sure this is a very emotional day for him and I&#8217;m very proud of him.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The result also moved Verstappen into second place in the Drivers&#8217; Championship, with 261 points, two ahead of Hamilton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Verstappen admits he was sweating as Hamilton chased him<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Verstappen also reflected on a chaotic race in which he recovered from fifth on the grid to take victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;It was very hectic out there today,&#8221; he admitted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;The first start already made the race for me. I just had a very good first lap, let&#8217;s say like that.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Dutchman explained that Red Bull&#8217;s strategy differed from those of its main rivals and that the RB22 was not necessarily the fastest car throughout the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>&#8220;I do think we lacked a little bit of pace, but we just hung in there and made the right calls at the right time,&#8221;<\/strong> he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Verstappen also acknowledged that Charles Leclerc&#8217;s five-second penalty played a decisive role in putting him ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Of course, the penalty for Charles then put us in the lead, then you could see they were always staying with me,&#8221; he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Ferrari driver had been penalised for leaving the circuit and gaining an advantage during his opening-lap battle with teammate Hamilton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Verstappen subsequently faced sustained pressure from Hamilton, who finished just <strong>0.799s behind<\/strong> after 71 laps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>&#8220;It was tough. I was sweating at the end to try and keep Lewis behind,&#8221;<\/strong> Verstappen admitted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The victory strengthened the Dutchman&#8217;s position in the battle for second in the championship, although <a href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/antonelli-seals-f1-title-in-mexico-but-verstappen-and-hamilton-ignite-battle-for-second\/\">Antonelli has already secured the Drivers&#8217; title with 380 points<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>GRANDE PR\u00caMIO<\/strong> is following every session of the Mexican Grand Prix this weekend, with breaking news, full coverage and real-time updates in its <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/\">Formula 1 section<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Max Verstappen praised Andrea Kimi Antonelli&#8217;s remarkable championship at just 20 years old and admitted he was sweating as Lewis Hamilton chased him during the closing laps of the Mexican Grand Prix.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1020320057,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"42wp_featured_image_caption":"Max Verstappen","42wp_featured_image_credits":"Red Bull Content Pool","42wp_featured_video":"","42wp_ai_content_disclaimer":"","42wp_is_ai_content":false,"42wp_featured_image_hidden":false,"42wp_authors_list":[{"id":93,"location":""}],"footnotes":"","42wp_hide_from_automatic":false,"42wp_breaking_news":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[19,63,64,963],"42wp_author":[93],"class_list":["post-4813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f1","tag-andrea-kimi-antonelli","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-max-verstappen","tag-mexican-grand-prix","42wp_author-marcos-gil"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4813"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4814,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4813\/revisions\/4814"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1020320057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4813"},{"taxonomy":"42wp_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/42wp_author?post=4813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}