Kimi Antonelli became Formula One's youngest world champion at 20 years and 68 days old on Sunday when he finished third for Mercedes in a red-flagged and restarted Mexico City Grand Prix won by Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
The first Italian champion since 1953 sobbed with joy over the team radio as he took the chequered flag at the high-altitude Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, with his overall lead now an unassailable 119 points.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton started from pole position and took a close second place - after clashing with teammate Charles Leclerc - on an afternoon of drama with two safety cars, multiple crashes and an agonising 33-minute halt with 25 of the 71 laps remaining.
The previous youngest champion was Germany's Sebastian Vettel, who took the first of his four with Red Bull at 23 years and 134 days in 2010.
“I’m speechless. I’m trying to process what has just happened,” said Antonelli in comments to the crowd. “It’s been an incredible season, and to share this podium with Max and Lewis is truly incredible. And looking forward to some more battles in the future.
The last Italian champion was Alberto Ascari, 73 years earlier.
“On the last lap, I just backed off because I just couldn't see the track. I was getting emotional,” Antonelli told a later news conference.
“So it was just good to bring it home.”
Leclerc finished fourth, McLaren's outgoing champion Lando Norris was fifth and Antonelli's teammate George Russell only sixth in a race he had to win to have any chance of staying in contention.
That also meant Verstappen went second in the overall standings, with Hamilton third and pre-season favourite Russell plummeting to fourth and 130 points behind Antonelli.
Mercedes have 630 points in the constructors' standings to Ferrari's 504 and could clinch that title in Brazil next weekend.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri was seventh at the flag but was then handed a 10-second penalty for causing a collision and demoted to 15th.
That initially moved Franco Colapinto to seventh and his Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly to ninth, but both later lost their points when they were handed 10-second penalties for going too fast under yellow flags.
The race was stopped, after a brief safety car deployment, on lap 46 of 71 after Valtteri Bottas suffered a high-speed front-left suspension failure down the straight with his Cadillac pitched uncontrollably into the barriers at turn one.
Verstappen led from the restart, challenged by Hamilton with Antonelli passing Leclerc, and there was then another safety car when Lindblad and Piastri collided - with the field released to race again with nine laps to the chequered flag.
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