United States Grand Prix: Kimi Antonelli wins but an F1 title has to wait

AUSTIN, Texas — Kimi Antonelli has won the United States Grand Prix here at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin.

But while that was all he could control in his quest for a maiden Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship, results further down the grid means his celebration will have to wait until at least next week in Mexico City.

Antonelli entered Sunday’s race needing a win — and a P5 or lower finish from Lewis Hamilton and a P9 or lower finish from teammate George Russell — to clinch his maiden title. But thanks to results from those two drivers, Antonelli could not clinch the title on this day.

But it seems those celebrations are right around the corner at the Mexico City Grand Prix next weekend.

The young Mercedes phenom put himself in the best position possible for that result on Saturday, capturing pole position with a thunderous lap at the start of Q3, while his two main rivals settled for third-row starts. And over the opening stint on Sunday, Antonelli pulled away from the field on a set of medium tires, while those behind him on softs struggled to keep up.

Antonelli pitted on Lap 24 for a set of hard tires, coming out behind a few drivers at the front of the field. But he slowly worked his way forward, sliding into P3 behind Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc. While Verstappen pitted for a fresh set of tires on Lap 31, Antonelli was released into second, and he quickly regained the lead from the Ferrari driver, and began to pull away.

The door seemed open for Antonelli to clinch the title on Lap 40, when Hamilton pitted from P4 and came back onto the track in P6, one spot down the order and a result that would help Antonelli wrap up the title. A bit further back in the field, Russell was running in P8, his day already compromised by a five-second penalty he was assessed early in the race for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

But on those fresh hard tires, Hamilton quickly closed the gap to Isack Hadjar in P5 in front of him, closing to within a half-second of the Red Bull driver on Lap 41. Hamilton was all over the rear wing of Hadjar’s RB22 by the start of Lap 42, and sliced by him at the top of the hill at Turn 1 to open the lap, taking away P5.

Up ahead on the track was his Ferrari teammate, Leclerc, and Hamilton set out to reel him in as well. But Leclerc was doing some chasing of his own, closing in on Verstappen who was running in P3, and Leclerc had trimmed Verstappen’s lead to under two seconds by Lap 45.

Meanwhile behind them, Russell was safely in P8 — with Liam Lawson over 27 seconds behind him in P9 — and the door that was open for Piastri seemed to be closing as the laps ticked down.

As the race hit the final ten laps, the biggest bit of drama was not Antonelli’s title chase, as it seemed that would have to wait, but the fight from Lando Norris in second to Verstappen and then Leclerc running behind him. Norris was on old hard tires, as he was trying to execute a one-stop strategy, but by Lap 47 Verstappen managed to catch him for second at Turn 6, and seconds later Leclerc was all over the rear wing of Norris’ MCL40.

Leclerc caught Norris at Turn 14 on Lap 47, and the McLaren driver continued to slide back as the Ferrari and the Red Bull charged ahead. Will Joseph, Norris’ engineer, then asked Norris on Lap 49 if he had a strategy preference, and Norris replied that he did not have one at the moment.

McLaren decided to leave him out.

Leclerc and Verstappen were still trading blows, however, as Leclerc managed to overtake the Red Bull driver on Lap 49, sliding into second place again as the laps ticked down.

And up ahead, Antonelli was in a world of his own, 16 seconds ahead of Leclerc with five laps to go.

Hamilton eventually caught Norris, sliding past him on Lap 51, dropping the reigning World Champion down to P5 and getting Hamilton into fourth, putting another dent in Antonelli’s hopes of clinching the title on this day.

Then, some drama. Valtteri Bottas pulled to the side of the track, and climbed out of his Cadillac, reporting an engine issue. That brought out a Virtual Safety Car on Lap 52, and a brief window for drivers to potentially try and take advantage of a pit stop under the VSC.

And while Bottas tried to stop his car near a break in the barrier, making it easier for the marshals to clear the track, they seemed to have some trouble moving it off the grass and behind the barrier, eventually calling for a crane to lift the car off the grass.

The work finally ended and the VSC was lifted on Lap 53, and by that point Antonelli had a 19-second lead over Leclerc. Leclerc had a 1.7-second lead over Verstappen, and the closest battle on the track at that point was between the Williams pair of Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz, who were separated by just over a half-second.

In a fight for P17.

Antonelli eventually took the checkered flag for his ninth Grand Prix victory of the season, adding 25 points to his account to bring his total to 365 on the year. By holding on for P8 Russell kept his slim title hopes alive, and held on to P2 in the standings, as he will head to Mexico City with 242 points in his account.

Thanks to his P4 result, Hamilton will head to Mexico City in third with 241 points, just one point behind his former Mercedes teammate.

Here are the provisional results from the 2026 United States Grand Prix, subject to any post-race penalties and the final classification.