Antonelli Closes in on Maiden F1 Title with Victory at 2026 US GP

Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli closed in on the title with victory at the 2026 US Grand Prix.

Antonelli led from lights out until his first pit stop on lap 25, before he regained the lead with a late move on Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc into Turn 12 on lap 32, as the Monegasque went on to finish second from Max Verstappen.

Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris, Isack Hadjar, Oscar Piastri, George Russell, Liam Lawson and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top ten.

In the drivers’ standings, Antonelli extended his title lead over Russell to 123 points with Hamilton a further point behind in third, meaning that he will win the title in Mexico on 1 November if he finishes in the top nine or if Russell and Hamilton fail to win if he fails to finish in the top ten.

At lights out, Antonelli made a clean getaway from pole ahead of Verstappen but Leclerc and Hamilton demoted Hadjar to fifth, whilst Russell fought off Piastri but got a five-second time penalty for running wide at Turn 12 and not lifting to retain the same gap.

The race quickly settled in a tyre management rhythm for the top nine whilst Gasly lost tenth to Oliver Bearman on lap five after he got wide onto the outside of Turn 13, which caused him to turn in on the Brit as he snuck through on the inside line.

Stewards however adjudged Bearman as at fault for the contact and harshly served him a ten-second time penalty, which he served in his second pit stop, after Haas decided to retire him once he served the penalty due to damage suffered in the contact.

Up front, Verstappen on the soft tyres pitted at the end of lap 13 for new soft tyres in an attempt to undercut Antonelli who started on the medium tyre, which paid off as he inherited the lead once Antonelli pitted at the end of lap 24.

Verstappen however lost grip by lap 30 and was caught by Leclerc and Antonelli who were around three seconds behind just two laps earlier, as the former four-time champion reported power unit issues and pitted at the end of lap 31 and rejoined with a 19-second deficit to the lead

Antonelli meanwhile dived up the inside of Leclerc on lap 32 to regain the lead and proceeded to built a four-second gap before the Monegasque pitted at the end of lap 39, which unexpectedly put Norris up to second on his hard tyre after he opted for an one-stop strategy.

Verstappen though was unable to clear the Brit once he got to within one second on lap 44 which enabled Leclerc to cut his six-second deficit after his second stop down, as he caught up to the Red Bull driver on lap 46.

Verstappen however cleared Norris into Turn One on lap 47 whilst Leclerc followed through at Turn 13 as Norris slipped to fourth by the end of that lap.

Leclerc on lap 49 cleared Verstappen with a late dive down the inside of Turn 12 to take second but was unable to deny Antonelli a ninth Grand Prix victory of the season, albeit after a late Virtual Safety car from lap 51 to lap 53 after Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas stopped at Turn 11.

Verstappen finished third ahead of Hamilton who cleared Norris into the first corner on lap 51 for fourth.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	56	56 Laps
2	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	56	+ 13.852
3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	56	+ 17.485
4	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	56	+ 18.515
5	Lando Norris	McLaren	56	+ 30.521
6	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	56	+ 34.373
7	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	56	+ 52.674
8	George Russell	Mercedes	56	+ 54.303
9	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	56	+ 79.183
10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	56	+ 87.516
11	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	56	+ 94.945
12	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	55	+ 1 Lap
13	Esteban Ocon	Haas	55	+ 1 Lap
14	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	55	+ 1 Lap
15	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	55	+ 1 Lap
16	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	55	+ 1 Lap
17	Alex Albon	Williams	55	+ 1 Lap
18	Carlos Sainz	Williams	55	+ 1 Lap
19	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	55	+ 1 Lap
RET	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	49	Power Unit
RET	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	35	Damage
RET	Oliver Bearman	Haas	25	Damage