Antonelli shares title party hangover after Verstappen's 'still drunk' confession

The Mercedes driver finished third in Sunday's Mexico City Grand Prix to become the sport's youngest-ever drivers' title winner, achieving the feat with four rounds of the 2026 season still remaining. The race in Brazil was still to come as the last leg of a triple-header, but Mercedes held a party on Sunday night anyway, and Antonelli said he did not hold back.

Earlier in the week, Max Verstappen had looked back on his own first title, where the Dutchman admitted he was still drunk the following day. Antonelli's story sounds similar.

Sky Sport Germany asked him whether Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord had been the "biggest party animal". Antonelli gave Lord a quick verdict, "Bradley's good", and then spoke about his own night. "I was not joking either. I never drink. I try to avoid that as much as possible, also because I prefer eating pasta ragu from my mother. But that night, I was like, it's such a special occasion, I've got to go full out.

"The thing is, because I'm not used to it, after very little I was already feeling it. But I just kept going, all the way until the end. But it was a fun night." He also said that his body "wasn't in the best of states," and that he had spent the evening with the team, his father and a few friends.

Plenty of people sent congratulations. Antonelli said he had received further messages from Verstappen and Hamilton, along with reigning world champion Lando Norris and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. "I have to be honest, many, many people reached out and they were super nice," he told Sky Sports F1.

Of all those messages, the video from Sebastian Vettel was his favourite. Antonelli became champion at 20 years and 68 days old, which took Vettel's youngest-champion record from 2010. Vettel delivered a personal congratulatory message through F1's social media channels, and Antonelli said it gave him something to take forward.

Congratulations also came from beyond Formula 1, and Antonelli confirmed he had been congratulated by fellow Italian sports stars Valentino Rossi and Jannik Sinner. The tennis player sent a video message that F1 shared, telling him: "You made the whole country very, very happy and enjoy this beautiful moment." The country had been waiting a long time for this. The last Italian to win the title was Alberto Ascari in 1953.

Antonelli is not ready to switch off yet, and Mercedes can claim another title this weekend. If the German outfit outscores Ferrari by three points on Friday, the team will be crowned constructors' champions as well.