Antonelli wins U.S. Grand Prix from pole, 123 points clear with five races left

Kimi Antonelli did everything but win the championship at Circuit of the Americas on Sunday, Oct. 25.

The 20-year-old Italian took pole, won the 56-lap U.S. Grand Prix and now leads Mercedes teammate George Russell by 123 points. It was his ninth win of the season.

How the race went

Antonelli's start decided it. He got away cleanly from pole while Max Verstappen's Red Bull bogged down, and Verstappen and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc then fought each other through the opening lap. By the end of that lap Antonelli was more than two seconds clear, and nobody got near him afterward.

Mercedes called a one-stop strategy. Antonelli ran a long stint on mediums, then took the hard tyres to the flag. Most of the field stopped twice.

A Virtual Safety Car came out late after Cadillac's Valtteri Bottas stopped on track. Antonelli still won by 13.078 seconds over Leclerc, who passed Verstappen for second on lap 49. Verstappen took third and Hamilton was fourth for Ferrari. Reigning champion Lando Norris was fifth.

Russell finished eighth, 54 seconds behind his teammate. He had picked up a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage while battling Oscar Piastri on lap one.

Bottas, Alpine's Franco Colapinto and Haas' Ollie Bearman did not finish. Gabriel Bortoleto came back from an 80-place grid penalty to finish 13th.

"The car felt perfect today," Antonelli said. "It was also perfect execution from strategy to call the one-stop. Really happy we made it stick."

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff radioed him on the cool-down lap: "Another small step." Wolff later called it "the race of a champion who isn't the champion yet."

The title math

To clinch in Austin, Antonelli needed to win with Russell ninth or lower and Hamilton no better than fifth. Russell took eighth and Hamilton fourth, so the decision moves to Mexico City.

There are 125 points left across five rounds: Mexico, São Paulo, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Motorsport.com's count assumes the two Middle East races go ahead amid the regional conflict.

Verstappen, Leclerc and Norris were mathematical contenders before Texas. Their results in Austin ended their chances.

That leaves Russell, 123 behind, and Hamilton, 124 behind. After Mexico there will be 100 points left, and Antonelli wins any tie on countback because he has the most victories. So Russell and Hamilton would need to be within 99 points to stay alive.

For Russell that means winning in Mexico while Antonelli finishes 10th or lower. For Hamilton it means winning while Antonelli scores nothing. Anything else hands Antonelli the title in Mexico City, and the BBC's Andrew Benson put it as needing only about two points.

Hamilton's setup problem

Hamilton said the race slipped away early. "I couldn't turn the car in the lower speed particularly," he told Sky Sports, describing heavy understeer through the slow corners in the first two stints.

He said he has lost a lot of points over the last five races or so, which he put down to setup. "I feel like I've been driving well," he said. He added that the final stint balance was close to what he wanted from the start.

Verstappen, who had won the previous two races, was blunt about his poor getaway. "My start was normal, it's consistently bad," he said.

Boos on the podium

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, presented the winner's trophy, and boos were heard from the crowd as he did. They turned to cheers when Antonelli lifted it.

What comes next

The Mexico City Grand Prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 1, with lights out at 20:00 GMT. First practice opens on Friday, Oct. 30, at 18:30 GMT.

A title there would make Antonelli the youngest champion in F1 history, in only his second season.