New Delhi, Nov 2 (IANS) Italian tennis star Jannik Sinner congratulated fellow countryman Kimi Antonelli on becoming the youngest-ever Formula 1 world champion with a special message.
The 20-year-old broke Sebastian Vettel's record of the youngest F1 champion when he secured the 2026 title with a third-place finish at the Mexico Grand Prix, with still four races to go.
Speaking in a video shared by F1, Sinner congratulated Antonelli's historic title win. "Kimi, you are the new world champion of this year, and it sounds amazing. Congrats on this to your family and, of course, to your whole team. You made the whole country very, very happy and enjoy this beautiful moment. Ciao ciao and see you very soon," Sinner said in a video.
Meanwhile, Antonelli has also become the first Italian world champion after 73 years. The country saw three driver titles from Giuseppe "Nino" Farina and Alberto Ascari in the first four years of the sport from 1950 to 1953, but had to wait for another 73 long years for an Italian to be crowned.
Antonelli was down in tears after he crossed the line in P3 in Mexico, which was more than enough for him to seal the drivers' title. "We did it. And, you know, without them, I wouldn't be here. Without Mercedes, without my family," Antonelli said after the race. "So I'm very grateful for this moment, and it's one that will live forever. And I just, I'm speechless. I'm trying to process what has just happened."
Meanwhile, Team Boss Toto Wolff was also ecstatic for the youngster bagging the title after many had put doubts over him last season. Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after Antonelli's win, Wolff said that getting him into the Mercedes seat "was always a calculated risk, not a real risk" and he feels as if it was yesterday that he was in junior karting.
"It's incredible; we have to pinch ourselves because it seems like yesterday he was 11 years old in the garage in junior karting. And it goes so fast," he said.
"He won the junior formula, then had a difficult year in F2, and that's already where people started to doubt. Then when Lewis (Hamilton) told me, 'I'm going to Ferrari', it was my immediate reaction that we've got to put him in the car. But people were doubters.
"I was thinking before, we had two sponsors leaving us because of that, because who is this kid? There were others who stayed with us until today; some are here that reap the full reward and then the difficult year.
"People said he shouldn't even be in F1; he should be at a smaller team, 10 races and no points, the tears in Spa, and then this. I'm just so proud of the team; all of them continued to trust him, and he delivered," Wolff added.
--IANS
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