Verstappen jokes with new world champion Antonelli in the cooldown room

Kimi Antonelli became Formula 1 world champion for the first time in his career at the Mexican Grand Prix. After the race, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton praised him in the cooldown room. Verstappen also joked with both drivers.

It was a wonderful moment. As Verstappen entered the cooldown room, Hamilton could be seen with an arm around 20-year-old Antonelli, giving him a hug. "I'm so happy for you," Hamilton began. "I am hoping next year, we can have some..." Hamilton said before signalling some racing action. "For sure," Antonelli replied.

Antonelli enjoyed the final part of the race in Mexico

Antonelli thought the final part of the race in particular was fantastic. "The end of the race was fun; we were all pushing flat out." Verstappen had meanwhile taken a seat on the sofa. Hamilton then pointed out the downside of clipping the speed. "Yeah, that's true. It really kills the overtaking into Turn 1. But you need it," Verstappen replied.

"The brakes were an issue," Antonelli observed. Verstappen and Hamilton nodded in agreement. As they watched footage of Bottas's crash, all three reacted the same way. "That was scary," Antonelli said.

There was a brief silence, but then Verstappen joked with Antonelli. "You've got some green confetti, ha ha." Antonelli tried to wipe them off and asked if they were gone. "No, you need some water," Verstappen said. The Dutchman wet a small towel and handed it to Antonelli.

Hamilton then remarked that Red Bull had a lot of speed on the straight. "You guys have got too much power on the straight," he said. Verstappen had a quick-witted response. "I needed it with your cornering, ha ha." Antonelli then pointed to the brakes.

"Didn't you have a brake issue problems with the brakes?" the Italian asked. "Yeah, at the beginning," Hamilton said. "We had to do a lot of LICO (lift and coast)," Antonelli replied.