Kimi Antonelli takes US GP pole at COTA, puts title in reach
On 24 October 2026 Kimi Antonelli claimed pole position for the US Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas, beating Max Verstappen into second place and giving himself the chance to clinch his first world championship this weekend.
Antonelli, driving for Mercedes, goes into the race holding a 102-point lead over his teammate George Russell and needs to be 125 points clear after Sunday’s race. The 20-year-old’s pole in Austin was his first since the Belgian Grand Prix in July; it was also his seventh pole of the season in a campaign that has produced eight wins. Mercedes’ top spot in qualifying is the team’s first at this venue since Valtteri Bottas was on pole in 2019.
In Q3 Antonelli set the benchmark with a lap of 1 minute 34.035 seconds, almost two tenths quicker than Verstappen, in a session affected by gusty, unpredictable wind. “We got pole, so we’ll try to win tomorrow,” Antonelli said. “Max has been very quick and did an incredible job in qualifying so it’s not going to be easy. Hopefully we’ll be leading into turn one and we’ll try to set the pace, even though it’s going to be very tight. Very happy with qualifying today, Q3 was very tough with the wind, gusty, unpredictable but happy to stick it on pole.”
Mercedes had applied upgrades in Malaysia that initially made the car more difficult to drive, and the team had not seen the expected returns in Malaysia and Singapore, but they found a way to exploit the package in Austin. Russell was four-tenths of a second slower than Antonelli in qualifying, and Antonelli’s race engineer Pete Bonnington described the result as somewhat unexpected given the work on the upgrades and Red Bull’s recent form. “It was unexpected, we felt it would be close but it was a good surprise,” Antonelli said. “I am happy because we have been working very hard on this package and since Singapore we have taken a big step further. The team have done a tremendous job and finally we are seeing the results.”
Verstappen pushed on the final runs but could not improve, and Antonelli’s time held to secure pole. Isack Hadjar took third for Red Bull, with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in fourth and fifth for Ferrari and George Russell sixth for Mercedes.
Antonelli described the pole as a return to form. “Yes man, it’s good to be back,” he said, after delivering what the team called one of his best laps of the weekend.
To seal the championship at Austin Antonelli must win on Sunday and have Russell finish outside the top eight and Hamilton finish outside the top four; if he does not clinch the title here the driver or team expect the outcome could be settled at the next round in Mexico.
