Kimi Antonelli: Unwell in Mexico, start number for 2027 confirmed

Mercedes has announced that Kimi Antonelli will not be attending the traditional media day (Thursday). “Kimi is not feeling well following a viral infection. The team has therefore decided to relieve him of all commitments today so that he can rest ahead of training from Friday onwards. We do not believe that Antonelli’s participation is at risk.”

It is highly likely that 20-year-old Kimi Antonelli will become the youngest World Champion in Formula 1 history this weekend in Mexico.

A nice coincidence: Niki Lauda’s first World Championship title in 1975 with Ferrari – in car number 12. Ayrton Senna’s first world championship title in 1988 with McLaren – with number 12. You’ve guessed which number Kimi Antonelli is racing with today – number 12.

As champion, the Bolognese driver is entitled to race with the number 1 in the 2027 Grand Prix season, but if it were up to the Mercedes driver, he would continue to drive with the number 12. He has confirmed this in various interviews. Whether Mercedes is equally keen on not having a car bearing the world champion’s number 1 on the track is another matter.

This situation is nothing new for Mercedes, however, as Lewis Hamilton has done without the number 1 for years in order to continue driving with his beloved number 44.

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Soon-to-be world champion Kimi Antonelli: The inevitable will then follow in Mexico

The 20-year-old Italian Kimi Antonelli had the chance to secure the 2026 World Championship title at the US Grand Prix. He did everything right: victory in Texas. The title celebrations have nevertheless been postponed. Until Mexico.

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A Formula 1 starting grid without the number 1 is more common than one might think.

There have, of course, been instances where the champion was no longer on the grid at all. In those cases, the number 1 was not allocated. For example, in 1993 – following Williams’ split from Nigel Mansell at the end of 1992 – the Williams drivers Damon Hill and Alain Prost raced with number 0 for Hill and number 2 for Prost.

In the early years of the Formula 1 World Championship, the world champion did not, moreover, receive the number 1 for the champion in the following season; the numbers also varied from race to race.

Even as champion, Lewis Hamilton preferred to continue using the number 44, “because the 44 means more to me than the 1. I drove with the 44 at the start of my career; I won my first championship with it – the number has a history for me. The number 1 has been worn by so many drivers – Vettel, Schumacher, Senna – but not the 44. I like wearing the 44 on the car, but I feel like the number one. That’s enough for me.”

The last world champion, before Hamilton, to start the new season without the number 1 was Emerson Fittipaldi at the 1973 Argentine Grand Prix, where, curiously, he wore start number 2. For the rest of the season, however, the number 1 was emblazoned on his John Player Special Lotus.

It was also Fittipaldi who became the first driver to wear the world champion’s number 1 for the entire season – that was in 1975, at McLaren.

Another curious fact: the Brazilian had previously lined up four times in the Formula 1 World Championship with the number 1, but at that point he wasn’t even world champion yet...

Formula 1 statistics since 1950 show that 152 different drivers have driven with Kimi Antonelli’s number 12!

The most famous among them: Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, Niki Lauda, Nico Hülkenberg, Jenson Button, Graham Hill, Jack Brabham, Jo Siffert, Jochen Rindt, Denny Hulme, Jim Clark, John Surtees and – the Italian champions who preceded Kimi, namely Alberto Ascari and Giuseppe Farina.