• Mercedes team principal hits out at ‘selfish’ drivers

• Antonelli says he will keep No 12 on his car next season

The Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, has described his Formula One world champion Kimi Antonelli as a new kind of racing driver who represents the future of the sport, com­paring him scathingly to what he called some of the entitled ­moaners on the grid and declaring “selfless, ruthless” drivers now dead to F1.

Antonelli secured his first world title in Mexico City on Sunday, at 20 years old becoming the ­youngest F1 champion in only his second season in the sport. The ­Italian’s attitude, enthusiasm and sense of fair play have been notable in a revelatory season for a driver so young and Wolff believes he has proved to be a gamechanger in more ways than one.

Italian 20-year-old is on the verge of becoming the youngest world champion with the Mexican Grand Prix ready for a carnival coronation atmosphere

An 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.

• 28-year-old still believes he will win world title one day

• Kimi Antonelli misses media duties with ‘viral illness’

George Russell has insisted he will not let his difficult Formula One season define his career and believes he still has plenty of years left to come back and win the world championship.

Russell has been outdriven by his 20-year-old Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli in a bruising season for the British driver. Antonelli is set to win the title and become F1’s youngest world champion at this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix if he finishes in ninth place or above.