Antonelli Snatches Pole for 2026 US GP

Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli snatched pole position for the 2026 US Grand Prix. 

Antonelli unexpectedly found pace throughout Qualifying to take pole – on a weekend he can win the title – from Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar, as the latter enjoyed a career-best third-placed grid slot ahead of Charles Leclerc and the fastest driver in FP3 – Lewis Hamilton.

Now here is a roundup of FP3 and Qualifying at Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas, USA.

FP3

A quiet start to the session saw Cadillac’s Sergio Perez first onto the track on the hard tyre and he set 1m 39.880 as the benchmark time, which he subsequently lowered to 1m 39.391 in the eighth minute.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly then posted 1m 37.592 followed by 1m 36.861 on the medium tyre, before Hamilton posted 1m 36.716 on soft tyres to go top in the 15th minute.

Liam Lawson on medium tyres then Lando Norris on the soft tyre displaced him but the latter saw his 1m 36.066 lap time deleted after he ran wide at Turn 12.

His McLaren teammate – Oscar Piastri then went quickest with 1m 36.243 in the 19th minute but Verstappen swiftly usurped his time with 1m 35.702 on the medium tyre.

Hamilton responded with 1m 35.561 in the 22nd minute but it was his Ferrari teammate, Leclerc who was fastest at the halfway mark after he posted 1m 35.127 in the 29th minute.

Once qualifying simulations on the soft tyre commenced, Antonelli briefly went top on 1m 35.15 but his lap time was deleted, as a consequence of him running wide at Turn Nine.

Verstappen then Hamilton displaced Leclerc with legal lap times before the Monegasque posted 1m 34.810 with 11 minutes left, yet Leclerc’s lap time was deleted due to a breach of track limits at Turn Nine.

Hamilton consequently emerged fastest with 1m 34.893 ahead of Verstappen by 0.168 seconds, with Leclerc and Isack Hadjar the only drivers to not register their best lap time on the soft tyre – as the latter pair’s fastest lap times were achieved on the medium tyre.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	1m 34.893
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+ 0.168
3	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 0.234
4	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+ 0.303
5	George Russell	Mercedes	+ 0.488
6	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+ 0.638
7	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	+ 0.698
8	Lando Norris	McLaren	+ 0.813
9	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+ 1.011
10	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	+ 1.037
11	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	+ 1.038
12	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	+ 1.188
13	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+ 1.283
14	Oliver Bearman	Haas	+ 1.342
15	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+ 1.358
16	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+ 1.562
17	Esteban Ocon	Haas	+ 1.849
18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+ 2.238
19	Alex Albon	Williams	+ 2.775
20	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+ 2.818
21	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	+ 2.991
22	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	+ 3.872

 

Qualifying

Q1

Bottas laid 1m 38.853 as the initial benchmark but lap times quickly tumbled as Leclerc set 1m 35.200 as the benchmark time ahead of Verstappen and Hadjar, as the top three after the opening fliers were split by 0.086 seconds.

The bottom six meanwhile comprised of Stroll, Sainz, Albon, Perez, Bottas and Gasly whose lap time was deleted, whilst Antonelli, Piastri and Russell boldly gambled on the medium tyre rather than soft tyre compound in this segment.

At the checkered flag, Gasly survived at the expense of Ocon who qualified 17th ahead of Stroll, Sainz, Albon, Perez and Bottas, whilst Norris posted 1m 35.029 in the final minute to top the segment.

 

Q2

Leclerc was first out on track and laid 1m 35.026 as the initial benchmark which was quickly usurped by a few drivers, as Verstappen set the pace on 1m 34.471 ahead of Norris by 0.068 seconds.

Once everyone except Bortoleto set a lap time, the bottom six comprised of Lindblad, Gasly, Colapinto, Bearman, Alonso and Bortoleto.

As the checkered flag fell, Lindblad survived at the expense of Hulkenberg who qualified 12th behind Gasly.

Bortoleto qualified 13th but will start at the back due to a 80-place grid penalty for a power unit component change, whilst Colapinto will too start at the back due to a 10-place grid penalty for a new control electronics unit.

Alonso and Bearman were eliminated in 15th and 16th positions but will start higher up the grid once penalties are applied.

 

Q3

Russell was the first driver to head out and laid 1m 34.476 as the initial benchmark time, which Antonelli beat with 1m 34.035 to head Verstappen by 0.179 seconds.

Racing Bulls meanwhile opted not to run Lawson in this segment due to a lack of pace to finish higher than ninth whilst Lindblad has a five-place grid penalty for a sixth Internal Combustion Engine component, which means that Lawson will start ninth anyway

Antonelli meanwhile headed the timesheet from Verstappen, Hadjar, Leclerc, Russell, Hamilton, Piastri, Norris and Lindblad – who participated in the segment in order to continue acclimatising in his first visit to the circuit aware that he will start 14th on the grid.

At the checkered flag, barely anyone improved as the top four were set in stone, whilst Hamilton and Norris improved to fifth and sixth ahead of Russell and Piastri, yet Norris saw his lap time deleted due to a breach of track limits to drop him to eighth.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1m 34.035
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+ 0.179
3	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	+ 0.215
4	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 0.232
5	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+ 0.276
6	Lando Norris	McLaren	+ 0.441
7	George Russell	Mercedes	+ 0.768
8	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+ 1.014
9	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	+ 2.014
10	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	No Time
11	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	1m 35.080
12	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	+ 0.078
13	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+ 0.611
14	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+ 0.642
15	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+ 0.738
16	Oliver Bearman	Haas	+ 0.951
17	Esteban Ocon	Haas	1m 36.531
18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+ 0.146
19	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+ 0.239
20	Alex Albon	Williams	+ 0.436
21	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	+ 0.902
22	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	+ 0.992