Mexico City, Nov 2 (IANS) Kimi Antonelli’s dad, Marco Antonelli, reflected on his son’s historic F1 2026 title win, stating that Kimi “makes himself stronger and stronger”.

Antonelli did more than enough to secure his maiden F1 title at the Mexico Grand Prix with a third-place finish to become the youngest F1 world champion. The 20-year-old had made his F1 debut just last year in place of the legendary Lewis Hamilton, who chose Ferrari in 2025.

Antonelli’s father supported his son with several appearances in the Mercedes garage in 2026. Speaking after his son’s maiden F1 title, Marco summarised his reaction. “Step by step he makes himself stronger and stronger and stronger, and this is the result,” he told Sky Sports F1.

“I’m very lucky because the relationship with my son and with my daughter is special, and this is the best thing in the world that I can have.

“Of course, Kimi is young and needs a shoulder in difficult and also in happy moments, (to) share the situation with somebody that he believes is on his side. I did nothing special; I did only the job that I think that each father (does) with his son and his family, and so we are here. I’m very proud of it,” he added.

Antonelli started the race from P4 and finished P3 after going past Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and celebrated his title win with a podium finish. Speaking to F1 TV, the senior Antonelli said, “I feel good because you can imagine that, when you achieve one result like this, it’s an important result and I’m very happy. I said to him, I don’t know if you know, you are the champion. I cried!”

“It’s been step by step during his career that, on some occasion, I realised that he was good. But (you) never can say that he might achieve this result, because it’s not possible to say. Never you can (be sure) to be World Champion one day.

“The position that Kimi had last year was very difficult, because when you jump in the car of a seven-time World Champion, it’s very difficult to keep up the performance and not feel the pressure.

“I’m very happy that after the bad period he had the capacity to restart and take the experience to improve himself, and I think that this is the result.

“For me the celebration is here on track – around the fans, around you, around the cars. This is my life,” he added.

–IANS

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