Antonelli dominates United States GP in Austin and needs two points in Mexico to clinch title

Kimi Antonelli won the United States Grand Prix in Austin on 26 October 2026, moving to the brink of the world championship and leaving him requiring two points in Mexico City next weekend to be certain of the title.

Antonelli arrived in Austin already in a strong position and knew he would clinch the championship if he won with team-mate George Russell finishing lower than eighth and Lewis Hamilton finishing lower than fourth; he took victory but Russell and Hamilton finished eighth and fourth respectively, keeping the outcome alive for Mexico City. The only route by which Antonelli could fail to become champion in Mexico is if either Russell or Hamilton win the race; even in that scenario Antonelli would secure the title if he finishes ninth, or 10th if the race winner is Hamilton.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff described Antonelli's performance in Austin as "the best he has delivered so far" and called it "the race of a champion who isn't the champion yet." Wolff also summarised the win as "Exceptional," and added, "and I think he's outperformed the car." While Russell, who was given a five-second penalty, could only finish eighth and was unable to pass McLaren's Oscar Piastri, Antonelli claimed pole position and produced a dominant race.

Wolff underlined Antonelli's composure off the track, recounting that the driver "comes in," "sits on my chair, feet up, and keeps chatting away and saying: 'This is so funny. I'm not thinking about the championship at all.' And in a kind of youngish excitement, almost like it's surreal. And that's why it's not so important." On whether the driver's large points lead reduced pressure, Wolff said: "The advantage helps," he said. "But it's also innate in him and I don't think that it's something to be trained for. He's not over-thinking it."

Mercedes had brought an upgraded specification to Austin that Wolff said had been unconvincing on its debut in Malaysia, where he thought it had made the car "0.3secs per lap slower." After splitting the cars in Singapore to understand the package, the team used the upgrade on both cars in Austin and Antonelli converted it into pole position and a commanding victory. Wolff warned that "The update we put on the car is difficult to operate," and added, "And Kimi landed it." He expanded: "Maybe it's a bit harsh to say but I think his driving style just glues with the car. We saw that in qualifying yesterday where on his last lap he could have been another 0.15-0.2 secs up. And on the other side George just struggled so much. And I believe this is because the operational window of the car is so difficult."

On comparisons with his victory at Monza, Wolff said he did not dwell on past races: "My problem is that I don't remember past races. So now you're saying Monza was actually also pretty good, obviously with the advantage of the home crowd and seeing all these tifosi that were a little bit confused, wearing red, and an Italian with the Mercedes outfit up on the podium. And I think we're going to see more Kimi caps, Mercedes caps next year. So both of them were pretty good. But the headline that this is the best we can keep." Antonelli reflected on Monza himself: "Monza, we clearly had the fastest car," he said. "We were just super quick, so of course it was incredibly special coming from the back. But it was also a track where it was relatively easy to overtake, and we were so quick. Definitely, Monza was a super-special one, and one that I will remember forever. But this one probably, in terms of execution, was better, because the way we built up and the way we built the performance throughout the weekend was very good."

If Antonelli clinches the title he will become the first Italian world champion since Alberto Ascari, who won in 1952 and 1953; McLaren team principal Andrea Stella reflected on that lineage, saying: "As an Italian, wow, we need to go back to Ascari, the names that they created the inspiration for all of us. To see an Italian achieving this level of performance and results in Formula 1, that's particularly thrilling, as an Italian person in motorsport." Stella also offered a technical assessment of Antonelli's style: "Going more into the technical, and specifically this season, Kimi is a very interesting one to look at, because he pretty much attacks all the times," Stella said. "You see how often he's just going off track, and you see his onboard (camera), he's pretty aggressive. But at the same time, this seems to be not only kind of an aggressive driving, or an attacking driving, but effective. And if we think how much we talk in these media sessions about the cars being difficult to drive consistently fast, it should be recognised how much he's been able to harness his driving style with what is required of the cars. But at the same time, almost contradicting what I'm saying, when is the time to bring home the result, he's been able to do it. So he's the deserving leader of this championship. He's writing an important piece of history for motorsport, because once he achieves the championship, he will be the youngest." Antonelli will beat by more than three years the previous record for youngest winner of the championship, Sebastian Vettel in 2010.

Antonelli said he will keep the same approach for the remaining races: "I'm going to approach it with the same mindset," he said. "Just trying to have as much fun as possible, trying to hopefully fight for another win. It would be best to finish on a high, and that's the goal. But I'm just going to try to enjoy the rest of the season from now on." He has the opportunity to secure the drivers' title at the Mexico City Grand Prix next weekend.