Kimi Antonelli won the United States Grand Prix and moved to the brink of the 2026 drivers' championship. The Antonelli world title maths is now tight but simple: he leads George Russell by 123 points and Lewis Hamilton by 124, with a maximum of 125 still on the table.
The Mercedes driver, who turned 20 in August and is in only his second F1 season, took his ninth win of the year by 13 seconds at the Circuit of The Americas. He did it on a one-stop strategy while his nearest rivals ran two.
Antonelli could have sealed the crown in Austin, but only on a specific combination: victory, Hamilton outside the top four and Russell ninth or lower. He delivered his part of the deal. Hamilton finished fourth and Russell eighth, so the championship stays alive on paper for at least one more round.
Antonelli world title edges closer on a one-stop
The race turned on tyre life. Antonelli's single stop left him a longer final stint than the two-stop runners around him, and the gap grew rather than shrank. Thirteen seconds at the flag is what that looks like when the rubber holds.
Behind him the strategies split. Lando Norris made a one-stop work for fifth in the McLaren, ahead of Red Bull's Isack Hadjar. Liam Lawson continued his points-scoring run with ninth for Racing Bulls, and Pierre Gasly took the last point in tenth for Alpine.
Leclerc beats Verstappen in the two-stop fight
Charles Leclerc finished second for Ferrari, winning out against Red Bull's Max Verstappen in the battle between the two-stop cars. Hamilton came home fourth, a second behind Verstappen, close enough to keep the gap honest without threatening the podium.
The full Austin order:
- Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull
- Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
- Lando Norris, McLaren
- Isack Hadjar, Red Bull
- Oscar Piastri, McLaren
- George Russell, Mercedes
- Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls
- Pierre Gasly, Alpine
Russell's five-second penalty and a weekend to forget
Russell started sixth and served a five-second penalty at his only pit stop, judged to have gained an advantage by going off track in a first-lap fight with Oscar Piastri. The elongated stop dropped him behind the McLaren.
He then spent almost half the race tucked up behind Piastri and could not find a way past. Eighth place was the sum of it, and it left his team-mate 123 points up the road.
Mexico City offers the first match point
Antonelli clinches the title with four rounds to spare if he finishes anywhere in the top nine at the Mexico City Grand Prix. That is the whole equation now: a top-nine finish, and the youngest champion in F1 history is confirmed.
The second leg of the triple header runs from October 30 to November 1 and is live on Sky Sports F1.
The original report is from skysports.com.
