Topps Reveals One-of-One Kimi Antonelli Card After World Championship Win, Ryō Hirakawa Debut Patch

Formula 1 crowned its youngest-ever Driver’s Champion this past Sunday as 20-year-old Kimi Antonelli wrapped up the chase with a 3rd-place finish at the 2026 Mexico Grand Prix. Joining him on the podium were race winner and 4-time world champion Max Verstappen and second-place finisher and 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. Thanks to Antonelli securing the driver’s championship, the generation-spanning podium also broke the record for the most accomplished, which was previously held by the 2023 Australian Grand Prix podium that featured Hamilton, Verstappen (2 championships at the time), and Fernando Alonso (2 championships).

Topps, the exclusive maker of Formula 1 trading cards, wasted no time celebrating Antonelli’s championship victory as they posted a preview of a one-of-one Autograph Relic Patch card that will be included in the upcoming super-premium 2026 Topps Dynasty F1 product. The annual releases feature some of the most desirable F1 trading cards in the hobby, including Antonelli’s top rookie issues from last year’s set. The Topps preview shows off an on-card Antonelli signature and the Italian flag that was cut from a suit that he wore in a race.

After every race, Topps' print-on-demand program, Topps Now, offers a handful of cards from the drivers who made the biggest headlines. While Verstappen will likely get his own card, everybody’s attention is going to be on what Topps will do to celebrate Antonelli’s championship victory. Every Topps Now card featuring all of Antonelli’s wins this season has been a best-seller, including the card from his win at the Italian Grand Prix that unlocked the rare Chrome parallels because it crossed the 50,000 order threshold. Topps will have plenty of iconic images to choose from the celebration, and fans want them all. It would be shocking if this upcoming card does not challenge for the record of most F1 Topps Now cards printed.

The eventful weekend was not just limited to the front of the grid. Drama was bubbling in the midfield after it was revealed that Haas driver Esteban Ocon would not be participating in the weekend’s race after a disagreement with team management. While the world awaits confirmation on what exactly happened and if Ocon will rejoin the team at a future race, Haas announced that reserve driver Ryō Hirakawa would take Ocon’s place on Saturday and on Sunday, making his F1 debut under the wildest of circumstances. Despite the rapid-fire nature of the news, Topps was able to get an F1 Debut Patch on Hirakawa’s suit in time for Sunday's race. It’s unclear at the moment if F1 had a Debut Patch in hand or if Topps had a patch sent immediately after the Hirakawa news became official. The idea of someone from Fanatics or Topps taking a red-eye from their corporate offices to Mexico just so they can get a patch on Hirakawa’s suit is inspiring for its dedication.

While the Antonelli Dynasty card will be included in the soon-to-release 2026 Topps Dynasty F1, it’s unclear when Hirakawa’s Debut Patch card will appear and under what product. Previous F1 Debut Patch Autograph cards of Isack Hadjar and Gabriel Bortoleto were found in 2025 Topps Chrome F1, while Arvid Lindblad’s version was the only 2026 entry in 2026 Topps Chrome F1 since he was the only rookie, until the 32-year-old Hirakawa joined him.

Juan Martinez

From video game journalism to veteran of the sneaker blog era to podcasting about well, everything, Juan is smiling through it all and can't believe this is his life. His current hot take is that people are really underrating the Psyduck trading card market. Email: juan@soleretriever.com Instagram | Twitter | Bluesky | Threads : @ezyville