Kimi Antonelli came from the shadows to take the title in Austin, having started the year with question marks that arose last season not over his pace, which was never in doubt, but about errors that punctuated his rookie campaign. He had been significantly outgunned by George Russell in the other Mercedes.

There was also a feeling that he was overexposed too early in a top seat rather than given time to learn his craft at a less visible team, an accusation that was probably true.

The alternative of a year or two at, say, Williams, might have been kinder on his young psyche. He was, after all, just 18, and to take up the place vacated by no less than Sir Lewis Hamilton was surely a task for an older head.

Would he bounce back from the pounding? Could he rein in the extravagant ebullience that was the extreme edge of his electric speed? In fairness, Toto Wolff was his ever-supportive boss and put an arm around his slender shoulders to emollient effect.

Wolff, who enlisted Antonelli to Mercedes’ young driver programme aged 11, never wavered in his belief that he had unearthed Hamilton's rightful heir. He conveyed this conviction to Kimi both privately and publicly.

Still, there were doubts in the paddock. One team principal told me at the start of the season when I asked him for his assessment of Antonelli: ‘Undoubtedly quick but prone to too many mistakes.’

But he has shown himself to be serene in 2026, and especially so for a driver of 20. Think about that. Only 20. There are only a few examples from the past of this kind of precocious brilliance. 

Stirling Moss secured his landmark win at Goodwood on his 19th birthday in 1948, announcing his gifts to the world. Max Verstappen won his first F1 race in Spain at 18 in 2016. Well, Antonelli can be satisfied at living in that sort of society.

He frankly blew away Russell, who started the season as favourite and full of confidence that his time had come. He duly started in spectacular style in Melbourne with a win there and it looked as if he had only to stay alive to take the title. It was all his for the taking.

A pivotal moment, the most significant of all in my estimation, came in China with Antonelli's first win a week after Russell’s in Melbourne. A door opened, just as Russell needed to keep it slammed shut in Antonelli’s face, and from there impetus swung the Italian’s way.

I think Russell, who won the sprint in China, was psychologically damaged by trailing Antonelli home the next day – five seconds the margin. The usurper had done it from pole, again his first. He was to keep his foot to the floor for weeks on end, helped by the good fortune to be driving the grid’s dominant car for the early part of the season. Other teams later caught up.

Wins in the next four races – Japan, Miami, Canada and Monaco – poleaxed Russell, who was at a loss over how best to drive his machine. Poor George began by talking a good game, but he gradually realised the dream of a lifetime was slipping away from him.

Yes, he suffered the bigger slices of bad luck, and perhaps there was a slight bias in the team towards Antonelli, not to the extent of sabotage or ill-intent towards Russell, but a gravitational pull to the star they saw as their future hero.

The damage was done by now and Antonelli, skilfully tutored by Lewis Hamilton’s old race engineer Peter ‘Bono’ Bonnington, was always busily aggregating points, there or thereabouts even on his off days.

After three races without a win – including Hamilton’s maiden victory for Ferrari in Barcelona, something of a false dawn – Antonelli triumphed again in Spa. This represented a big swing. Russell and Hamilton collided on the first lap, with Russell eliminated and Hamilton given a five-second penalty.

Antonelli held off Charles Leclerc to stretch his lead over Hamilton to 45 points and over Russell to 50.

Other highlights? Probably the best, Antonelli's home win in Monza from the back of the grid after taking a penalty for a change of engine. The car was quick, his new power unit strong, and he was favoured by an agreeable strategy, but it was still a fine comeback drive.

Most of those in the stands would have preferred a Ferrari victory. Their red tops and their banners signified that. There was barely a Mercedes shirt in sight. But, still, this win helped lift Kimi on to a pedestal in his homeland he had yet to reach.

Another milestone in his remarkable championship journey, which he completed with his latest victory in Texas, was Russell’s engine blowing up in the closing stages of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia at the start of the month. 

That sealed it, basically, even though Antonelli finished second to a resurgent Red Bull of Max Verstappen. Still, the points were ticking up all the time.

Now he has clinched the title with four or five rounds remaining depending on whether the planned final races in the Middle East, in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, survive the vicissitudes of war. If they are off, the planned alternative is a finale in Imola.

It would be some party to toast the boy born just 20 miles away in Bologna.