F1 United States GP: Kimi Antonelli takes dominant victory – but no title

Kimi Antonelli has taken another step towards an inevitable Formula 1 title with a sovereign United States Grand Prix win, defeating Charles Leclerc at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas.

From pole, the Mercedes driver warded off a challenge from the Ferrari man and Max Verstappen as he stuck to the Silver Arrows’ masterplan and executed a clean one-stop race.

Antonelli’s ninth grand prix win of 2026 wasn’t quite enough to secure the title just yet, but the 20-year-old Italian now looks set to become F1’s youngest ever world champion at next weekend’s Mexico Grand Prix.

Antonelli held onto his lead at the start of the 56-lap race as second-placed Verstappen suffered a poor getaway. That left the Red Bull driver vulnerable to Leclerc, who had picked off Isack Hadjar and then swept past Verstappen with a high commitment move through the Esses.

Lewis Hamilton, starting on used softs, also worked his way past Hadjar. Behind him, George Russell was handed a five-second time penalty for going off the track on lap one while defending his position. As the top of the order settled down, Oscar Piastri was told to let quicker Lando Norris past on lap eight for seventh.

At the front, Antonelli controlled a narrow but sovereign three-second lead on Verstappen. That prompted Red Bull to roll the dice and call the Dutchman in on lap 14 for a second set of soft tyres, putting him on a two-stop race.

Mercedes didn’t take the bait and kept Antonelli out as it looked determined to stay on a one-stop strategy. Struggling for grip on used softs, Hamilton came in for mediums next, as did his team-mate Leclerc and the two McLarens.

That left a temporary top three of Antonelli, Hadjar and Russell until all came in for what was supposed to be their only pitstop, with Antonelli eschewing the soft tyres entirely to go from mediums to hards on lap 25.

Verstappen didn’t enjoy his new-found lead all that long as he started struggling with engine braking issues, calling his Red Bull “undriveable”. It forced him into the pits on lap 32 for a second stop for mediums, dropping down to fifth, 18 seconds behind new leader Antonelli.

On the slower hard tyres Antonelli faced a challenge from Leclerc, but both he and Ferrari team-mate Hamilton were yet to stop again as Verstappen remained Antonelli’s real challenger. The two Ferraris both moved to hard tyres in the final third, which droppèd them behind Verstappen.

To get to Antonelli, though, Verstappen first had to clear second-placed Norris, who also banked on a one-stop strategy. Verstappen’s battle with Norris allowed Leclerc to exploit his fresher tyres and close the gap, with the three cars converging with 10 laps to go.

At the start of lap 47, Verstappen made a late lunge on Norris to the inside of COTA’s steep Turn 1 hairpin, snatching second away before Leclerc also found a way through. On much fresher tyres, Leclerc then picked off Verstappen on the back straight on lap 49 to take second.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Alex Slitz / Getty Images

Antonelli’s win never came under real threat as he led Leclerc by 13 seconds, with Verstappen another four seconds behind in third.

Norris also fell into the clutches of Hamilton as the latter secured fourth from the reigning world champion on lap 51, which also meant the seven-time world champion remained in mathematical title contention until next week.

Hadjar finished sixth ahead of Piastri, who held off Russell for a distant seventh. With Russell needing to avoid finishing ninth or lower to prolong his theoretical title chances, he only just managed to do so after a frustrating weekend.

Liam Lawson continued Racing Bulls’ canter to fifth in the constructors’ championship by finishing ninth, with the final point going to Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. Antonelli is now all but certain to wrap up the championship in Mexico, needing just two points to become the youngest ever title winner aged 20.

Haas driver Oliver Bearman was one of three retirements, the eventual result of first-lap damage from contact with Gasly, which the Briton was handed a 10-second penalty for and provoked a brief VSC period.

Alpine’s Franco Colapinto also disappeared from the race, while Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas retired late on with engine trouble, causing the second brief virtual safety car period of the race.

F1 United States GP results

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