Nessun Dorma on the Day of the Dead
How Andrea Kimi Antonelli became Formula 1’s youngest world champion in Mexico City — with a song that brought back memories of his grandfather.
On 1 November, Mexico fills with flowers, candles and memories. During Día de Muertos, families remember those they have lost. Photographs are given a place of honour, favourite dishes are prepared and old stories are told once more. Grief is part of it, but so is connection: the people we love remain with us in one way or another.
On that same day, Andrea Kimi Antonelli drove the most important race of his life. The twenty-year-old Italian had the chance to become world champion. And in a way nobody could have anticipated, the day would come to be about two things at once: a historic sporting achievement and the memory of someone who could not be there to share it.
Not waiting, but finishing the job
The maths was simple. Ninth place would be enough for Antonelli to secure the championship, whatever his rivals achieved. But anyone who had watched him race this season knew he had no intention of simply waiting for the title to come to him. He wanted to earn it on the track.
The race offered little room for comfort. A red flag following a heavy crash of Valtteri Bottas, followed by safety cars after incidents involving Oscar Piastri and Arvid Lindblad, kept the field on edge until the very end. Amid all the disruption, Antonelli remained composed. He drove a controlled race and crossed the finish line in third place.
Max Verstappen took the Grand Prix victory, his third win of the season, with Lewis Hamilton just 0.8 seconds behind. Antonelli crossed the line next. Third place was enough: Formula 1 had its youngest world champion in history.
On the shoulders of two legends
The podium ceremony took place in the Foro Sol, the stadium section of the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. A striking setting for a world title celebration, with the grandstands surrounding the circuit.
As Antonelli stood there, he was joined by two of the biggest names in modern Formula 1. Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, with eleven world titles between them, had already written their own chapters in the sport’s history. Now they were celebrating the arrival of a new world champion.
The image of Verstappen and Hamilton lifting him onto their shoulders quickly made its way around the world. Afterwards, Antonelli said he planned to have the photograph framed and give it a special place at home. Understandably so. Not every day do you receive congratulations like that from two drivers who have dominated the sport for years.
There is something quite fitting about that image. Formula 1 is a sport of generations, where established names make way for new talent without losing their place in its history. Antonelli took over the Mercedes seat vacated by Hamilton. Now he was standing alongside him as a world champion. One generation does not simply disappear; another takes its place. Lando Norris is part of that same transition. He claimed his first world title in 2025, and Antonelli has now followed him as champion.
Two seconds and a head full of emotion
The emotions had already begun to surface before Antonelli reached the podium. In the closing stages of the race, it was clear just how much the moment meant to him. He later admitted that his tears had probably cost him two seconds. At one point, he could barely see the track.
It is a striking admission from someone who, at the most important moment of his career, needed every bit of concentration he could muster. But after everything that had led to that finish, perhaps it was hardly surprising that emotion took over. The pressure, the relief and the realisation that his greatest dream was coming true all arrived at once.
Standing below the podium were his father Marco, his mother Veronica and his younger sister Maggie. His family had been part of his journey long before he became a familiar name in Formula 1. Maggie is his biggest fan and, when school allows, sometimes joins him at the races. For them, this was more than a sporting triumph. It was the culmination of years spent watching him grow and following his journey.
At home, Kimi is not the young world champion recognised wherever he goes, but simply a big brother. It is a side of his life that can easily fade into the background when the world is watching the driver.
Nessun Dorma
During the podium ceremony, two Italian songs rang out across the Foro Sol. First came Nessun Dorma, the famous aria from Puccini’s opera Turandot, performed by Luciano Pavarotti. It was followed by Sarà, perché ti amo by Ricchi e Poveri.
For Antonelli, it was the first piece that meant the most. Nessun Dorma had been his grandfather’s favourite. During the press conference after the race, Kimi spoke about what the music meant to him. His grandfather was no longer there to celebrate the world title with him, but hearing the aria immediately brought him to mind. His voice broke as he spoke. A little later, he tried to laugh through his tears and admitted that, by his own reckoning, he had already cried far too much that day. It was a deeply personal moment in a celebration that, for the rest of the world, was all about the championship.
Music has its own way of bringing memories back. A few notes can suddenly take you somewhere else — to someone you miss, or to a moment you have never forgotten. For Kimi, Nessun Dorma was more than the music accompanying the podium ceremony. It was his grandfather’s song, and on this particular day, it played at the very moment his greatest sporting dream came true.
In Puccini’s Turandot, Nessun Dorma builds towards the famous final words Vincerò — I shall win. It is one of the best-known moments in Italian opera. That this particular aria rang out on the day Kimi Antonelli claimed his first world title gives the moment another layer of meaning. He could never have planned such a coincidence. Perhaps he did not need to. Sometimes a moment takes on a meaning of its own through something we never intended.
The road began close to home
To understand why that memory means so much, we need to go back to Bologna and Casalecchio di Reno. Andrea Kimi Antonelli grew up in a family where motorsport was never far away. His father, Marco, was a racing driver himself and later founded AKM Motorsport. The team’s name brings together Antonelli, Kimi and Maggie: the family surname and the first names of his two children.
His grandfather Giordano was part of that story, too. He ran his own workshop in Casalecchio di Reno, where cars and racing were part of everyday life. Kimi grew up surrounded by the world of motorsport. His father often took him to the circuit. When Kimi was about five, he sat on Marco’s lap behind the wheel of a kart while his father worked the pedals. What began in the world of his father and grandfather grew into an ambition that would eventually take him all the way to Formula 1.
He later joined the Mercedes junior programme. In 2025, he made his Formula 1 debut with the team, taking the seat Lewis Hamilton had left behind. It was an enormous responsibility for such a young driver. Now, in his second season, he has turned that opportunity into a world title. Formula 1 takes him to circuits around the world, but his roots remain firmly with his family and the people who have been there from the beginning.
A new name in Italian history
With his world title, Antonelli becomes the first Italian Formula 1 world champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953. At twenty years and 68 days old, he is also the youngest world champion ever, taking the record from Sebastian Vettel, who was 23 when he won his first title in 2010.
It is a milestone for Italian motorsport. More than seventy years after Ascari, an Italian once again stands at the top of Formula 1. Antonelli has made history at just twenty years of age. The numbers speak for themselves. But behind those records is a young driver whose journey to the top began with his family trackside and a dream that kept growing.
A moment that will stay with him
The Mexico City Grand Prix will be remembered for Verstappen’s victory, Hamilton’s second place and Antonelli’s historic third. The photograph of the young Italian between two multiple world champions will no doubt be shared for years to come.
But for Kimi, this day will stay with him for many more reasons. The world title, his family at the circuit, the congratulations from Verstappen and Hamilton — and above all, the music that brought his grandfather to mind. Nessun Dorma played at the very moment his greatest sporting dream became reality. On a day when Mexico honours the memory of loved ones who have passed away, the title took on an added personal meaning. His grandfather could not stand beside him, but his memory had travelled all the way to the podium.
A world title for the history books. A photograph with two legends. And a song that, for Kimi Antonelli, will always mean more than the soundtrack to a victory.
Sometimes a memory finds its way back at exactly the right moment.
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