World champion Antonelli gifts his helmet to Italian president Mattarella in Rome

Kimi Antonelli brought his Formula 1 world championship celebrations to the highest office in Italy on Friday, meeting President Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinale in Rome and presenting him with a race helmet bearing the dedication: “To President Mattarella, with great admiration.”

Antonelli, accompanied by his parents Marco and Veronica and his sister Maggie, won the title two weeks ago at the Mexico Grand Prix — ending a 72-year wait for an Italian driver to claim the world championship, the last being Alberto Ascari in 1953.

The conversation ranged from the physical demands of driving a Formula 1 car to the contrast with karting and Formula 2. Antonelli told Mattarella that drivers typically lose around two kilograms during a race, endure intense heat inside the fireproof suit, and recover in a tub of cold water after sessions. “In Formula 1 the race lasts an average of an hour and a half,” he explained. “But will you come and see some races next year? Maybe at Monza? It would be very nice to have you with us.”

Mattarella responded warmly, acknowledging that his schedule makes travel complicated but adding: “This new situation greatly encourages me” — a reference to Antonelli’s emergence as a competitive force in the sport.

The presidential audience was one of several engagements packed into a busy few days for the 18-year-old. Hours before the Rome visit, Antonelli attended Italy’s 3-1 victory over France in a men’s international football match, and the day before he had stopped in San Marino — where he currently lives — to mark the title with local celebrations.

Antonelli is now set to fly to the United States for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the third-to-last round of the 2026 Formula 1 season.