Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli earns surprise pole for the US Grand Prix as he chases the F1 title
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Kimi Antonelli came to the United States Grand Prix with his eyes on a Formula 1 season championship getting closer with every race.
On Sunday at the Circuit of the Americas, he'll have the clearest view possible of the path to get there. And it could come fast.
Mercedes' championship leader earned a surprise pole position on Saturday, edging Red Bull's Max Verstappen. If he can turn that into a victory, and his closest rivals falter, the 20-year-old Italian could win the season title and become F1's youngest champion ever.
Verstappen was the favorite for pole. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton looked faster than Mercedes through all three practice sessions.
Then Antonelli put in a late-afternoon wonder lap at COTA to earn his first pole position since Belgium, a span of seven races..
“It was surprising,” Antonelli said. “I’m just going to try to do the best race I can, try to win and see what happens.”
The math for a season championship requires some help but achievable.
First he must win. If he does that, and Mercedes teammate George Russell finishes ninth or lower, and Hamilton finishes outside the top four, Antonelli will be champion.
Hamilton will start fourth, with Russell sixth.
“Just get a good start and see from there what we can do,” Antonelli said.
That's the first job. He'll be battling Verstappen into the first corner, an uphill, left turn switchback that can wreak havoc on the field and often does. Verstappen is likely to be his usual aggressive self into the first turn.
Verstappen is a four-time champion who has won four times at COTA. He also won the previous two races in Malaysia and Singapore and is trying to chase every victory he can in a season when the championship is out of reach.
Verstappen didn't offer Antonelli any advice about how to approach the race so close to the championship. He has won titles in seasons that went to the final laps, and others where he dominated.
“He doesn’t need that. He knows what he’s doing, If it doesn’t happen this weekend, it will happen next weekend, or the next weekend,” Verstappen said. “When it’s official, go celebrate.”
Antonelli's championship does appear inevitable as the season heads into the final six races.
Antonelli leads Russell by 102 points and Hamilton by 111. He built the large lead through the first half of a remarkably consistent season that included five wins in the first six races.
Russell and Hamilton will be trying to hang on Sunday to keep the championship going another week. Russell started the season as Mercedes' No. 1 driver. He won the first race but couldn't keep up.
“It’s a long race and a lot happens here in Austin," Russell told Sky Sports.
And Leclerc didn't count himself out of winning. He noted his victory at COTA in 2024 from the second row of the starting grid.
“I strongly believe we had the pace to be fighting at the front,” Leclerc said. "The last time I started from fourth here I won. I hope we can do the same tomorrow.”
The entire field struggled through all three practice sessions and qualifying to keep the cars on the track, enough so that it will be worth watching to see if any get warnings in Sunday’s race.
Race officials deleted more than 200 lap times across Friday's two practices. On Saturday, Leclerc lost a time that would have given him a clean sweep of all three sessions.
Cadillac’s American reserve driver Colton Herta took part in Friday practice to earn another point toward being licensed to race in F1 in hopes of joining the grid next season.
The team could give him more practice sessions over the next five races. He has at least 38 of the 40 license points required.
Herta left IndyCar this season to join the Formula 2 junior series to restart his goal of racing in Formula 1. If he is able to join Cadillac for next season — Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez are the team's current drivers — Herta would be the first American driver in F1 since Logan Sargeant, who was dropped by Williams in the middle of the 2024 season.
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