Max Verstappen shares emotional message after Kimi Antonelli's historic F1 title win

Motorsport photoRed Bull's Max Verstappen says he is "very proud" of Kimi Antonelli after the 20-year-old driver became the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history at the Mexican Grand Prix.Antonelli finished third behind Verstappen and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez to claim his first title at the age of 20 years and 68 days, beating Sebastian Vettel's record by more than three years.While speaking to 2016 champion Nico Rosberg during his post-race interview, Verstappen said he was impressed by what Antonelli had achieved at such a young age."It’s incredible what a season he had. And to do that also at such an age, I think it’s just really, really impressive," the Dutchman explained."It’s amazing to see the whole team celebrating with him. His family is here as well. So I’m sure this is a very emotional day for him and I’m very proud of him."Andrea Kimi Antonelli, MercedesAndrea Kimi Antonelli, MercedesThe four-time champion's own afternoon was decided early on as a strong getaway and a five-second penalty for Charles Leclerc helped him into the lead."The first start already made the race for me. I just had a very good first lap, let’s say like that. And after that, we had a bit of a different strategy," he said."I do think we lacked a little bit of pace, but we just hung in there, made the right calls at the right time. And of course the penalty of Charles put us into the lead."The win also promoted Verstappen to second in the drivers' standings on 261 points. Hamilton remains in third on 259 points and Mercedes' George Russell, who was second prior to the Mexican Grand Prix, now sits fourth on 250 points. Ferrari's Leclerc rounds out the top five with 245 points.To read more Motorsport.com articles visit our website.