Antonelli Takes Austin Win to Widen Championship Gap to 123 Points

Kimi Antonelli extended his Formula One championship lead to 123 points on Sunday after winning the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. The 20-year-old Italian driver completed the 56-lap race at the Circuit of the Americas in 1:35:16.650, starting from pole position.

Charles Leclerc of Monaco finished second, crossing the line 13.078 seconds behind Antonelli. Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing took the podium, finishing 17.485 seconds back. The result places Antonelli in a commanding position with five races left in the calendar.

Strategy determined the outcome. While most competitors executed two pit stops, Antonelli remained on track until Lap 25 for a single stop. He credited his team for trusting that approach. “It was a perfect way to end the weekend; it was an incredible team effort, especially from strategy to believe in me and go for one stop,” he said.

A Virtual Safety Car triggered on Lap 52 when Valtteri Bottas’s Cadillac stopped on the track. The caution remained active until the penultimate lap. By that point, the gap to the leaders had grown too large for any challenge. The incident helped secure Verstappen’s third-place finish, a result he attributed partly to luck.

Verstappen is now mathematically out of the title fight. The four-time champion will go two years without a world title. “Our overall pace was not good enough, and the tyres we had available were not the right ones,” he said. He noted that the car lacked the necessary performance levels throughout the race.

Mercedes also widened its lead in the constructors' championship. The team holds 607 points, extending its advantage over Ferrari to 133 points. Ferrari sits second with 474 points. Antonelli has now won both United States races on this year's schedule, following his victory in Miami earlier in the season.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff described the performance as the best Antonelli has produced this season. “Getting off the start with the inferior tyre and then controlling it at all times. The race of a champion who isn’t the champion yet, but exceptional,” Wolff said. He added that Antonelli outperformed the car's capabilities and that his driving style suits the machine well.