– Since 2009, there has been a mandatory summer break in the factories in Formula 1. In connection with this, there has always been a “summer champion” in recent years (analogous to the “autumn champion” in football), who led the drivers’ world championship at the break.
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In 2026, Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli is leading the world championship at this point. The just 19-year-old, who will only celebrate his 20th birthday in August, is thus the youngest “summer champion” in the history of Formula 1 so far.
However, this unofficial title is no guarantee of winning the championship at the end of the year. Since the introduction of the summer break in 2009, it has already happened seven times that the driver leading at the break ultimately did not become world champion.
In 2010, Mark Webber experienced this “mishap” right away. The Red Bull driver ended up losing out to his teammate Sebastian Vettel, who won his first world championship that year, while Webber only finished third behind Vettel and Fernando Alonso.
Two years later, Vettel again overturned a deficit at the summer break. The German was already 42 points behind Alonso at the 2012 summer break – but still became world champion again at the end of the year. No one in Formula 1 history has ever made up a bigger deficit at the break.
Photo gallery: Since 2009: All “summer champions” of Formula 1
In 2014, Nico Rosberg could have become the first Formula 1 world champion of the new hybrid era. At the summer break, he was eleven points ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton. However, the title went to the Brit after, among other things, five consecutive wins in the second half of the season.
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In 2016, Rosberg got his revenge, snatching the title away from “summer champion” Hamilton, while in 2017 Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel was leading at the break, but the title ultimately went once again to Hamilton and Mercedes.
Also in 2021, Hamilton, now a record seven-time Formula 1 world champion, played a role again. He led the world championship at the summer break, but the title went to Max Verstappen after the controversial season finale in Abu Dhabi.
The Dutchman then dominated the top class and was “summer champion” and also actual world champion in 2022, 2023, and 2024. The streak only ended in 2025 when Oscar Piastri was leading the championship at the summer break. However, the world champion at the end was McLaren teammate Lando Norris.
So there is no title guarantee for Antonelli this year. However, the Italian is already 50 points ahead of the rest of the world at the summer break. And such a large deficit has never been made up in the second half of the season since the introduction of the “shutdown” in 2009.
The complete overview of all “summer champions” of Formula 1 is available in our photo gallery.
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