Why Kimi Antonelli won't get F1 world title trophy today as request denied

Kimi Antonelli is likely to become F1's youngest ever world champion in Mexico City later today (Sunday November 1), but he will not get the trophy to go with it.

The 20-year-old Italian has been sensational all season for Mercedes in his sophomore year in the sport, claiming nine race victories to date.

He will start the Mexican Grand Prix from P4 later today (2pm local time, 8pm UK) and he is a hot favourite to clinch the title and smash the record currently held by Sebastian Vettel by more than three years.

All Antonelli needs to do to clinch is finish in ninth place or better - and he may not even need that depending on what happens to nearest rivals George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.

But even if he does end the race with an unassailable lead in the Drivers' standings, the trophy will not be presented today.

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Why won't Antonelli get the F1 title trophy today?

The key word in this story is tradition - the F1 world champion has always received the trophy at the FIA's end-of-year prize giving ceremony. And not at a Grand Prix race weekend.

There is also good reason for this tradition as well - it allows for the possibility that results could retrospectively be changed and/or protests lodged after a race has finished.

GPFans did contact both F1 and the FIA for comment, and we understand that a request was made by F1 to have the trophy presented today, but that request was denied by the FIA.

We also understand this was just one of many requests made by F1 on a given race weekend.

So when will Antonelli get the trophy?

The date to mark in your calendars is Saturday December 12, 2026 when that FIA Prize Giving Ceremony takes place, this year in Shanghai in China.

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