The youngest Formula 1 world champions

Sebastian Vettel was 23 years and 134 days old when he won the 2010 title in Abu Dhabi, and nobody has been younger since. Kimi Antonelli turned 20 in August. He leaves Austin 123 points clear of George Russell with five races and 125 points left, so if he finishes the job this year he takes more than three years off the record.

The ten youngest champions

Age on the day the title was decided. For Fittipaldi, Lauda, Clark and Alonso that came with races still to run.

Five of the ten won in the last 25 years, and the newest entry is last year’s: Lando Norris clinched in Abu Dhabi at 26, two points ahead of Verstappen. Two names are missing that people expect to see. Ayrton Senna was 28 when he won in 1988, and Kimi Räikkönen was 28 in 2007.

How the record moved

The first champion set the bar high. Nino Farina was 43 when he won in 1950, Juan Manuel Fangio was 40 the year after, and every new record since has taken it down by a few years at a time.

Fittipaldi, 1972

Emerson Fittipaldi clinched at Monza with two races to spare, driving the black and gold Lotus 72. He was 25 years and 273 days old, and the record stayed his for 33 years, the longest anyone has held it. Schumacher came closest in 1994 and missed by 41 days.

Alonso, Hamilton and Vettel, 2005 to 2010

The record then fell three times in six seasons. Alonso took it at Interlagos in 2005 with Renault, the title that ended Schumacher’s run of five. Hamilton took it at the same circuit three years later in his second season, by one point over Felipe Massa, after passing Timo Glock for fifth place in the last corners of the last lap.

Vettel’s 2010 title was stranger still. He went to the final race in Abu Dhabi third in the standings, 15 points behind Alonso, and had not led the championship at any point that year. He won the race, Alonso finished seventh behind Vitaly Petrov’s Renault, and Vettel was champion by four points.

Where Antonelli stands

Antonelli was born in Bologna on 25 August 2006. He went straight from Formula 2 into Lewis Hamilton’s old seat at Mercedes for 2025, and won in Austin last weekend for the ninth Grand Prix win of his career. Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc can no longer catch him. The only two who still can are Russell, his teammate, 123 points behind, and Hamilton, now at Ferrari, one point further back.

There are no sprints left, so each of the last five races is worth 25 points at most. If Antonelli leaves Mexico City more than 100 points ahead of both of them, it is over. His age at each of the remaining races:

Wherever it happens, he would also be the first Italian champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953. Italy had two of the first three champions, Farina and Ascari, and none since Ascari’s second title.

Young winners are not the same list

Verstappen has been the youngest Grand Prix winner since the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, which he won at 18 years and 228 days in his first race for Red Bull. He was not champion until five years later. Vettel had won a race at 21 with Toro Rosso before his title at 23. Winning early tends to come from being put in a fast car early. Winning a title needs that car for a whole season, and most young drivers get one or the other.

Name the champions yourself

All ten drivers in the first table are in F1 Grid, where each square asks for a driver who fits a team on one side and a team, country or record on the other. One of the columns that comes up is World Champion, and with 35 champions to choose from, the ten above are a quick way to fill it.