2026 F1 season timeline: 40 dated events from Melbourne to Abu Dhabi, with a map and sources, tracing how Kimi Antonelli became the youngest world champion at 20. Every race winner, the cancelled Gulf rounds, the Sepang stand-in and the races still to run.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli was born in Bologna on 25 August 2006. He began karting in 2014. On 1 November 2026 he was 20 years and 68 days old. That figure became the youngest age at which any driver has won the Formula 1 world championship.
In 2018 Antonelli won four karting titles. The same year Mercedes signed him to its junior programme. He moved into single seaters in 2021 with a nine race spell in Italian Formula 4 that brought three podiums. Mercedes kept him in its programme through Formula 4, Formula Regional and Formula 2.
Antonelli won the German ADAC Formula 4 championship in 2022. He took nine wins and three second places from 15 starts. He had made his car racing debut in Italian F4 the year before, a nine race spell with three podiums.
Antonelli won the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine in 2023. He took five wins and five second places. Mercedes then moved him past Formula 3 and straight into Formula 2 with Prema for 2024. He won the Silverstone sprint and the Hungarian feature race that year.
Antonelli drove a Mercedes in first practice at the 2024 Italian Grand Prix. It was his first session at a Formula 1 race weekend. He crashed at the Parabolica, the last corner of the Monza circuit. Mercedes named him as its 2025 race driver the next day. Two years later he won the Italian Grand Prix on the same track from 19th on the grid.
Mercedes confirmed on 31 August 2024 that Antonelli would race for the team in 2025. He was 18. He took the seat of Lewis Hamilton, who was leaving Mercedes for Ferrari. At the time Antonelli was seventh in Formula 2 with two wins. He had won the Formula Regional European title the season before.
Antonelli started his first Grand Prix at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. He was 18. He finished fourth. One year later, on the same circuit, he finished second behind George Russell in the first race under the 2026 rules.
Antonelli was fastest in sprint qualifying for the 2025 Miami Grand Prix. It made him the youngest driver to start from pole in any Formula 1 format. He was 18. He did not take a Grand Prix pole in 2025.
Antonelli finished third at the 2025 Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. It was his first podium in Formula 1. He came back to Montreal in May 2026 and won the race.
Antonelli finished the 2025 championship seventh with 150 points, just behind Lewis Hamilton. Lando Norris of McLaren was world champion. Antonelli had no Grand Prix wins and no Grand Prix poles in his first season.
Formula 1 set out the rules for 2026. The cars are shorter, narrower and lighter. The electric motor is about three times as powerful, and the split between engine and battery is about 50-50. The MGU-H is gone. The fuel is advanced sustainable fuel. Wing flaps open on set straights in a low drag mode. DRS is replaced by an Overtake Mode that gives a car within one second of the car ahead extra electrical energy.
George Russell won the first race under the 2026 rules from pole in 1:23:06.801. Antonelli finished second, 2.974 seconds behind. Charles Leclerc was third. Max Verstappen started 20th and finished sixth. Cadillac finished its first Formula 1 race. Audi raced as a works team for the first time. Six cars were not classified. Oscar Piastri spun on his way to the grid and did not start.
Formula 1 said on 14 March that the Bahrain Grand Prix of 12 April and the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix of 19 April would not take place. Iranian missile and drone attacks had hit both countries after the US and Israeli operation against Iran that began on 28 February. The calendar fell from 24 to 22 races. F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali called the decision the right one at this stage.
Antonelli won the 56 lap Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai by 5.515 seconds from George Russell. He was 19. He became the youngest Grand Prix pole sitter and the second youngest Grand Prix winner. Lewis Hamilton finished third, his first Grand Prix podium for Ferrari. Russell had won the sprint on Saturday. Both McLarens failed to start with power unit electrical problems.
Antonelli won the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka from pole. Oscar Piastri of McLaren finished second and Charles Leclerc third. Antonelli also set the fastest lap, 1:32.432. The next race was five weeks away, in Miami. The two Gulf rounds that would have filled April had been called off.
Antonelli won the Miami Grand Prix from pole, his third win in a row. Lando Norris finished second and Oscar Piastri third, the first double podium of the year for McLaren. Norris set the fastest lap, 1:31.869. It was a sprint weekend.
George Russell started the Canadian Grand Prix from pole. He retired. Antonelli won, his fourth win in a row. Lewis Hamilton finished second for Ferrari and Max Verstappen third for Red Bull. Antonelli also set the fastest lap, 1:14.210. A year earlier he had taken his first podium on the same circuit.
Antonelli led every lap from pole and set the fastest lap. It was his first Grand Slam, which made him the 28th driver in Formula 1 history to record one, and his fifth straight win. He is the youngest winner in the 97 year history of the Monaco Grand Prix. Hamilton finished second. Isack Hadjar was classified third after penalties to Pierre Gasly. Leclerc’s brakes failed and he hit the barrier at the last corner. Verstappen retired on the first lap. Antonelli left Monaco 66 points clear.
Lewis Hamilton won the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix on a three stop strategy. It was his first win for Ferrari. George Russell and Lando Norris completed the first all British podium since 1968. Antonelli’s engine failed with four laps left while he ran in the top three. His run of five wins ended. Leclerc also retired. Hamilton left Barcelona 41 points behind Antonelli.
George Russell won the Austrian Grand Prix. Max Verstappen finished second at Red Bull’s home circuit. Antonelli was third. Antonelli set the fastest lap, 1:10.374. It was Russell’s second win of 2026. Mercedes had now won seven of the first eight races.
Antonelli started from pole. Both Ferraris passed him at the start and Charles Leclerc led. Leclerc won the 52 lap race in 1:27:11.335, 0.427 seconds ahead of George Russell. Lewis Hamilton was third despite a jump start penalty. The race finished behind the safety car. Antonelli had a wheel shield failure, pitted several times, took a five second penalty and finished 16th with no points. Verstappen went off at Stowe and retired.
Antonelli won the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, his sixth win of the season. Charles Leclerc finished second and Max Verstappen third. George Russell retired. Lando Norris set the fastest lap, 1:48.890.
Lando Norris, the 2025 world champion, won the Hungarian Grand Prix from pole. It was his first win of 2026. He finished more than 15 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen. Antonelli was third after a grid penalty. After 11 races Antonelli had 219 points, Hamilton 169 and Russell 160. Oscar Piastri retired.
Formula 1 moved the Bahrain Grand Prix to the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia, on 4 October. It was the first F1 race at Sepang since 2017. The event kept the name Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix, because Bahrain paid to stage it in another country at short notice. F1 had first tried to run the race in Bahrain on 4 October. Renewed fighting made that impossible. The calendar went back to 23 races.
Isack Hadjar injured his wrist during the summer break and missed the Dutch Grand Prix. Liam Lawson replaced him at Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen. Yuki Tsunoda, the reserve driver, took Lawson’s seat at Racing Bulls next to Arvid Lindblad. Hadjar also missed the Italian Grand Prix two weeks later.
Lando Norris won the Dutch Grand Prix, his second win in a row. Antonelli finished second and George Russell third. Max Verstappen retired from his home race. Charles Leclerc set the fastest lap, 1:14.230. It was a sprint weekend.
Antonelli took an engine penalty and started the Italian Grand Prix 19th. He won the 53 lap race by 3.857 seconds from George Russell. Max Verstappen was third. It was his seventh win of 2026 and his first at home, two years after he crashed at the Parabolica in his first Formula 1 practice session.
Lando Norris started from pole and led by more than six seconds. On lap 15 Lance Stroll stopped at turn 20 and a virtual safety car came out just after Norris passed the pit entry. Antonelli, Verstappen and Russell pitted under it. Norris pitted on lap 16 and was stationary for seven seconds. Antonelli won the 57 lap race, his eighth win. Verstappen was 4.3 seconds behind and Norris third. Antonelli led Russell by 81 points.
George Russell won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, held on a Saturday. It was his third win of 2026. Max Verstappen finished second and Isack Hadjar, back from his wrist injury, third. Russell also set the fastest lap, 1:44.916. Lando Norris retired after a collision with Franco Colapinto.
Heavy rain delayed the start at Sepang by an hour and 40 minutes. Max Verstappen started from pole, his first of the season, lost the lead to both Mercedes and took it back after a safety car for Valtteri Bottas. He won. It was his first win of 2026. Antonelli finished second and Lewis Hamilton third. George Russell’s power unit appeared to fail while he ran third, five laps from the end.
Max Verstappen won a rain delayed sprint in Singapore after George Russell crashed out of the lead. On the final lap the two McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri collided. Norris apologised. McLaren’s team chiefs criticised both drivers in public the next day.
Max Verstappen won the Singapore Grand Prix from pole. It was his 50th career pole, his 250th Grand Prix start and his first win in Singapore. Charles Leclerc finished second. Antonelli was third, his 14th podium of the season. He led George Russell by 102 points with six races left and could clinch the title at the next round in Austin.
Antonelli won the United States Grand Prix from pole in 1:35:16.650. Charles Leclerc finished 13.078 seconds behind and Max Verstappen 17.485 seconds behind. It was his ninth win of 2026. He led George Russell by 123 points with five races left. Mercedes led Ferrari 607 to 474 in the constructors’ table.
Lewis Hamilton started from pole, his first since 2023. Leclerc pushed him wide on the first lap and Max Verstappen won the 71 lap race. Hamilton was second and Antonelli third. The race was stopped for 33 minutes with 25 laps left and had two safety cars. George Russell started on the front row and finished sixth after a 10 second penalty. Antonelli’s lead became 119 points with four races left. He was world champion.
Antonelli won the title at 20 years and 68 days. The previous youngest champions were Sebastian Vettel at 23 years and 134 days in 2010, Lewis Hamilton at 23 years and 300 days in 2008, and Max Verstappen at 24 years and 73 days in 2021. He is the first Italian world champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953, 73 years earlier. He did it in his second season, with nine wins.
Mercedes arrived at Interlagos 126 points ahead of Ferrari with four races left. A gain of four more points in Brazil would give Mercedes the constructors’ title, its first since 2021. Mercedes had won 12 of 19 races. Ferrari had outscored it over the previous four. Hamilton was set for his 400th start. Rafael Camara, the Formula 2 leader, was to make his F1 debut for Haas in place of Esteban Ocon.
Lando Norris won round 20 from pole in 1:35:23.504 on a wet, then dry, then wet afternoon at Interlagos, 14.602 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen, who had started 21st. Isack Hadjar was third for a Red Bull double podium. Antonelli led until he spun at Turn 1 on lap 20 in fresh rain, and finished fifth with a penalty included. George Russell recovered from a spin at the pit exit to finish fourth. With Antonelli fifth, Mercedes clinched the constructors' championship with three races left, its ninth and its first since 2021.
The Las Vegas Grand Prix is round 21. It runs on a Saturday night on a street circuit along the Las Vegas Strip, with the race weekend set for 19 to 21 November. The drivers’ title is already decided. The fight for second place between Verstappen, Hamilton, Russell and Leclerc was open, with 16 points between them after Mexico.
The Qatar Grand Prix at Lusail is round 22. It is one of the two Gulf races left on the calendar after Bahrain and Saudi Arabia were called off in March. In July Formula 1 said it was preparing contingency plans for the final two rounds, in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina closes the 2026 season as round 23. The race weekend is set for 4 to 6 December. It is the 23rd race of a calendar that began with 24, fell to 22 in March and returned to 23 with the Sepang round. A year earlier, on the same circuit, Antonelli ended his rookie season seventh in the championship.