They call Formula 1 the Piranha Club, and it’s an easy world in which to let your inner cynicism carry you away.

Over the weekend in Mexico, Esteban Ocon was summarily dismissed prematurely from Haas for as yet unexplained reasons. I like him, and waited half an hour in Texas last week to say goodbye in case I missed him over the rest of the season. I was glad I had.

Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar was in trouble for fending off an intrusive fan who tried to embrace him while taking one of those dreaded selfies.

Liam Lawson’s career at Racing Bulls may be in jeopardy in favour of a promising young Bulgarian Formula 2 racer, even though the New Zealander has been devouring points lately like they’re those lovely chocolate honeycomb sweets.

Right now he has 83 points and, with ninth place overall, he’s best-of-the-rest outside the top-four teams. That’s no mean feat, and I hope he keeps his ride. He deserves to.

But every so often you see things that restore your faith in human nature. Last week it was the tears in Marco Antonelli’s eyes as we told him just how cool we thought his boy is (speak as you find, right?), and then watched Kimi looking at the moon, manifesting. This weekend, it was his long-awaited coronation.

Of course, the post-race scenes after he had completed the podium behind Max Verstappen and his mentor Lewis Hamilton were highly charged with emotion as everyone in the paddock – and seemingly in Mexico City – wanted to congratulate F1’s gallant young charger.

Besides his opposition in 2026, he has blown away Sebastian Vettel’s record of 23 years and 134 days as the sport’s youngest-ever champion. It now stands at a mere 20 years and 68 days.

He became the sport’s 36th champion and only the third Italy had crowned, their first since the great Alberto Ascari in 1953. And he joined Juan Manuel Fangio, Jacques Villeneuve and Hamilton as the only sophomore champions.

He cried, of course, as his race engineer Pete Bonnington congratulated him during the slow-down lap, exorting his young charge to “Get in there, Kimi! Champion of the world!”

You would expect him to bury himself in an embrace with his parents Marco and Veronica and younger sister Maggie, and to do likewise, more than once, with his Mercedes teammates. But it was touching to see the fraternal delight with which Hamilton congratulated him.

And how Verstappen also hugged the Antonelli family before doing likewise with their son. I thought that was classy, even though the Dutchman knows the Italian will be his main opposition in the future.

F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali, who started his own career handling car park duties at Imola, embraced his countryman, the two sharing that mystical national kinship that linked modern F1 with its distant past when Giuseppe Farina and Ascari ruled the roost. Italy had waited 73 years for this moment.

And then there was that other moment as the three drivers left the podium. Hamilton quietly tapped Verstappen’s shoulders and then nodded at Kimi, and without the need for words each took hold of one of his legs and hoisted him aloft. It was one of those touching displays of mutual respect that you never forget.

As an enthusiastic adolescent, and for the last 40 years as a professional journalist covering the sport I love, I’ve witnessed a lot of men being crowned world champion. It’s always easy to buy into their dreams as the miracle happens.

I remember as a teenager being happy when Jackie Stewart won his first title in 1969, because a photo of him helming the BRM H16 through Silverstone’s Copse corner in 1967 was the catalyst that turned me on to F1.

Later, still as a fan, I’d be happy to see Emerson Fittipaldi, James Hunt and Mario Andretti win. By the time I was working in F1, I was really happy for Ayrton Senna in 1988 having worked with him in F3. Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill, Mika Hakkinen, Hamilton, Jenson Button and Lando Norris… All were memorable, enjoyable occasions.

But there is just something about Kimi. It’s not even his tender age. It’s the way he’s been raised by Marco and Veronica, his deep love of the sport and the honourable way he behaves. There is simply nothing not to like about this kid.

He’s going to be around for a long time, and he’s the perfect antidote to the Piranha Club face of F1. If that isn’t cause for further celebration…