A n undeniable highlight of this Formula One season, marked by discontent at the new regulations, has been getting swept along by the sheer joy that the world champion-in-waiting, Kimi Antonelli , has displayed on his way to a title he will almost surely secure this weekend at the Mexican Grand Prix.

Antonelli was still a teenager for the first half of the year and it seemed fitting to describe him as such. His exuberant embrace of competing for Mercedes at the sharp end of F1 in just his second season was that of any 19-year-old. Like discovering a life-changing new band or how much fun can be had with a cold beer, a wide grin was barely off his face.

He is 20 now, still but a stripling and on Sunday at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez if he finishes in ninth place or better he will be F1’s youngest world champion, and the first Italian to win the title since Alberto Ascari in 1953.

Antonelli has confessed that as a four-year-old he did not recall when Sebastian Vettel became the previous youngest title…