At the very beginning of his Formula 1 career, Kimi Antonelli has already rewritten several age-related records. Here is a complete overview of the milestones he has already achieved, the ones he can still target in the coming years, and those that are now definitively out of reach.
Records already broken by Antonelli
The youngest pole position winner
Previous record: Sebastian Vettel – 21 years, 2 months and 11 days – 2008 Italian Grand Prix
New record: Kimi Antonelli – 19 years, 6 months and 18 days – 2026 Chinese Grand Prix
Back in 2008, Sebastian Vettel stunned the Formula 1 world by taking a sensational pole position with the modest Toro Rosso team in wet qualifying conditions at Monza. The favorites, Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton, were eliminated in Q2, while their respective teammates at Ferrari and McLaren, Felipe Massa and Heikki Kovalainen, were slower by 1.339 seconds and 0.076 seconds in Q3.
Kimi Antonelli was almost two years younger when he surpassed his Mercedes teammate George Russell by 0.222 seconds in Q3 at last month’s Chinese Grand Prix, securing a historic pole position.
The youngest driver to set the fastest lap
Previous record: Max Verstappen – 19 years, 1 month and 14 days – 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix
New record: Kimi Antonelli – 18 years, 7 months and 12 days – 2025 Japanese Grand Prix
Max Verstappen delivered a remarkable performance in the wet race at Interlagos in 2016, climbing from 14th to third place in the final 16 laps after a late pit stop, and setting the fastest lap by a margin of 0.227 seconds.
Antonelli was six months younger when he recorded the fastest lap in only his third Grand Prix start, beating Oscar Piastri and Verstappen by 0.074 and 0.076 seconds respectively, before crossing the finish line in sixth place at Suzuka last year.
The youngest race leader
Previous record: Max Verstappen – 18 years, 7 months and 15 days – 2016 Spanish Grand Prix
New record: Kimi Antonelli – 18 years, 7 months and 12 days – 2025 Japanese Grand Prix
During the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, when Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg collided from the front row, the race turned into a four-way fight between Red Bull and Ferrari. Max Verstappen took the lead for the first time in his career on lap 11, thanks to teammate Daniel Ricciardo’s pit stop, and went on to win on his Red Bull debut.
In Japan last year, Kimi Antonelli extended his opening stint on medium tyres by 10 to 12 laps compared to the five drivers ahead of him, allowing him to lead the race for 10 laps. At that moment, he was three days younger than Verstappen had been when setting the previous record.
The youngest championship leader
Previous record: Lewis Hamilton – 22 years, 4 months and 6 days – 2007 Spanish Grand Prix
New record: Kimi Antonelli – 19 years, 7 months and 4 days – 2026 Japanese Grand Prix
In 2007, Lewis Hamilton’s Formula 1 debut was the definition of consistency, completely free of rookie mistakes. His career began with a run of nine consecutive podium finishes. By the end of round four in Barcelona, he had yet to win a race, but he was the only driver to have finished every race inside the top three. His tally of 30 points out of a possible 40 gave him a two-point lead over McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso and a three-point advantage over Ferrari’s Felipe Massa.
Fast forward 19 years, and Hamilton’s successor at Mercedes, Antonelli, won two of the first three Grands Prix of the 2026 season, finishing second behind teammate George Russell in the opening race in Melbourne. This made him the championship leader—and three years younger than Hamilton had been when he set the original record.
The youngest driver to achieve a hat-trick
Previous record: Sebastian Vettel – 21 years, 11 months and 18 days – 2009 British Grand Prix
New record: Kimi Antonelli – 19 years, 6 months and 18 days – 2026 Chinese Grand Prix
In his first season with Red Bull, Sebastian Vettel delivered a dominant performance at Silverstone. The German secured pole position by 0.347 seconds over Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn, finished 15 seconds ahead of teammate Mark Webber, and beat the Australian by two tenths in the fastest lap standings. It could have been a Grand Chelem, but Vettel briefly lost the lead to Webber during his final pit stop.
Last month, Antonelli achieved not just one but two hat-tricks, in China and Japan. His pole position margins were consistently between 0.2 and 0.3 seconds, he set both fastest laps by around a tenth, and he beat Russell by a few seconds at the chequered flag on both occasions.
Records Antonelli can still break
The youngest driver to achieve a Grand Chelem
Current record: Max Verstappen – 23 years, 9 months and 4 days – 2021 Austrian Grand Prix
It took Verstappen 128 Grand Prix starts to secure his first Grand Chelem, but he still managed to beat Vettel’s previous record. On Red Bull’s home soil, during his first season as world champion, Verstappen took pole by just 0.048 seconds over Lando Norris, set the fastest lap by more than one and a half seconds, and led every lap to win by 18 seconds over Valtteri Bottas.
Antonelli has every chance of breaking this record, provided he manages to secure a Grand Chelem before the end of May 2030.
The youngest world champion
Current record: Sebastian Vettel – 23 years, 4 months and 11 days – 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso and Verstappen all became world champions at a very similar age, within a 10-month window. The German remains the youngest of them all, having delivered Red Bull its first-ever world title.
Antonelli would take that record away from Vettel if he wins the championship by 2029. On December 25 of that year, he will be exactly 23 years and four months old.
Records Antonelli can no longer break
The youngest race winner
Current record: Max Verstappen – 18 years, 7 months and 15 days – 2016 Spanish Grand Prix
At the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, Verstappen became not only the youngest race leader in Formula 1 history, but also the youngest race winner, being two and a half years younger than Vettel when he won at Monza in 2008.
Antonelli would have needed to win one of the first three Grands Prix of the 2025 season to take that record.
The youngest podium finisher
Current record: Max Verstappen – 18 years, 7 months and 15 days – 2016 Spanish Grand Prix
In the same race where he claimed his first victory, Verstappen also became the youngest driver ever to stand on a Formula 1 podium. That particular record has been threatened on several occasions since. Lance Stroll was just 12 days older when he finished third at the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, while Antonelli himself was two months older at the time of his first podium in Canada last year.
The Italian finished fourth on his debut in Melbourne—just one position higher would have been enough to secure the record.
The youngest points scorer
Current record: Max Verstappen – 17 years, 5 months and 29 days – 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix
This record is unlikely to ever be broken, as drivers are now unable to obtain the super licence required to compete in Formula 1 before the age of 18.
Verstappen remains the only driver under 18 to have competed in the Formula 1 World Championship, and he scored points in just his second race, finishing seventh in Malaysia.
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