Antonelli storms to Austin pole and United States Grand Prix victory as Russell penalised

Antonelli takes Austin pole and converts it into victory

Kimi Antonelli started Sunday's United States Grand Prix from pole position after topping qualifying at the Circuit of the Americas with a lap of 1:34.035, ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen on 1:34.214 and Isack Hadjar on 1:34.250. The FIA's final qualifying classification confirms Antonelli's benchmark, with Valtteri Bottas last of the 22 classified runners on 1:37.523. ⁶

Antonelli carried that form into the race. Formula1.com's post-event coverage lists the Italian as the winner of the United States Grand Prix in Austin, with Charles Leclerc voted Driver of the Day after what the site described as a fighting drive to second. The weekend carried extra weight for the Mercedes driver: Formula1.com's pre-event analysis noted this was the first round since Round 3 in Japan in which Antonelli, who has led the drivers' standings throughout that stretch, had a mathematical chance of sealing his maiden world title. ⁶⁴⁸

Formula1.com's preview set out the title mathematics before the race: Antonelli could seal the championship in Austin by winning with team mate George Russell ninth or lower and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton no higher than fifth. The official race classification documents published after Sunday's event set out the finishing order that determines whether that scenario was realised. ⁴⁶

Friday practice: Leclerc fastest but the top four are tightly packed

Charles Leclerc set the pace in both of Friday's practice sessions at the Circuit of the Americas on 23 October, timing a 1:36.052 in Free Practice 1 and a 1:35.291 in Free Practice 2, according to the FIA's official classifications. Verstappen was second in the opening session and third in the second, while Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli improved from fifth in FP1 to second in FP2, just 0.042s behind Leclerc. ⁶³

McLaren's own practice report describes a productive but imperfect day for Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who gathered data across both sessions while the team evaluated minor updates to brake ducts and suspension. Norris was third in FP1 with a 1:36.297 and seventh in FP2 with a 1:36.373, while Piastri managed only seventh and eighth. Chief Technical Officer Rob Marshall told the team's website the balance of power among the top four teams was closer than the FP2 standings suggested, and pointed to Ferrari, Verstappen and Mercedes as the benchmark. ¹

Mercedes' day illustrated how narrow the margins were. Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin said the team struggled with locking in the first session while exploring a wider set-up window with its update package, and repositioned the cars for the afternoon, after which lap times improved. He said it looked very tight at the front and that no team among the top four could be ruled out for pole. Antonelli and Russell ran the same specification after the Italian described the progress made with the update package introduced in Singapore as continuing in Austin. ³

The pendulum had swung between teams all season. In McLaren's preview briefing, Rob Marshall acknowledged the hierarchy had been switching around almost weekly, with circuit sensitivity a strong factor in 2026, and said the team believed COTA's technical, high-downforce profile better suited the MCL40's current characteristics than recent venues. ²

A bumpy, partly resurfaced surface and track limits dominate Friday

The Circuit of the Americas' surface was a talking point all day. The FIA's Race Director notes listed circuit changes including resurfacing between the entry of Turn 9 and the entry of Turn 11, and McLaren's report described both drivers learning about new bumps on the ever-changing surface. Pirelli's weekend preview, cited by Formula1.com, noted the resurfaced section and said the ageing effect on the remainder of the track contributes to high wear levels, with tyre wear rather than graining potentially a key factor. ⁶¹⁴

Track limits were equally prominent. The FIA deleted lap times in FP1 and FP2 for numerous drivers, and teams flagged the issue repeatedly. Red Bull Technical Director Pierre Wache said the set-up running was less stiff than last year but the car was still not compliant enough over the bumps, making balance difficult to find. Verstappen had his fastest FP1 lap deleted for track limits but his previous lap stood for second, while Hadjar also lost a soft-tyre lap in the opening session. ⁶³

Pirelli's compound allocation for the weekend is the C2 hard, C3 medium and C4 soft, and the tyre supplier's preview suggested the presence of the C2 as the hard could favour long stints in a likely one-stop race, though hot Texan temperatures could increase degradation and open the door to alternatives. ⁴

Grid penalties shake up the starting order before the race

Several drivers arrived in Austin already carrying power unit-related grid drops. The FIA documents show Racing Bulls' Arvid Lindblad received a five-place drop for a sixth internal combustion engine, Alpine's Franco Colapinto a 10-place drop for a fourth control electronics unit, and Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto a 20-place drop for taking a fourth energy store and fourth control electronics unit. ⁶

Bortoleto's penalty then escalated. The FIA issued a further 60-place drop after he used additional power unit elements in Free Practice 3, and the final starting grid placed him 21st and Colapinto 20th, with Lindblad 14th. Lance Stroll was required to start from the pit lane after stewards found Aston Martin had replaced power unit elements beyond allocation and made suspension changes during parc ferme without approval. ⁶

The penalties shaped both teams' Friday programmes. Colapinto said, in comments carried by Alpine and Grandprix.com, that knowing he would take a grid penalty led the team to skip most performance running and focus on long runs, an approach similar to its Malaysian Grand Prix weekend. Bortoleto acknowledged the back-of-grid start was a shame given the car felt good, while Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane said the team would not change Lindblad's run plan and would still aim to qualify as high as possible. ⁵⁷

Race-day penalties and track limits leave their mark

Sunday's stewards' decisions shaped the outcome at the front. The FIA issued George Russell a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and rejoining ahead of Verstappen at Turn 12 to gain a lasting advantage while defending on lap one. Oliver Bearman received a 10-second penalty for colliding with Pierre Gasly at Turn 13, with the stewards finding him wholly to blame. Bortoleto escaped punishment for an alleged off-track advantage at Turn 11 while battling Colapinto, the stewards unable to establish which car was ahead at the apex. ⁶

Track limits continued to bite in the race itself. An FIA document published after the race shows lap times were deleted for 15 drivers, 28 laps in total, for exceeding track limits at Turns 2, 9, 11, 12, 15, 19 and 20, with the affected list including Antonelli's chief rivals Norris, Hamilton, Verstappen, Leclerc, Russell, Piastri and Hadjar. That scale of enforcement bore out the pre-event warnings, with drivers and team principals from McLaren, Racing Bulls and Alpine all flagging the circuit's tight limits as likely to feature in qualifying and the race. ⁶¹⁷

The result lands at a pivotal moment in the 2026 season. Formula1.com's preview noted Verstappen and Red Bull had led the way on track at the previous two rounds with back-to-back victories in Malaysia and Singapore, while McLaren arrived seeking a stronger weekend after Norris and Piastri clashed in the Singapore Sprint. Racing Bulls held a 32-point advantage over sixth-placed Alpine in the midfield battle entering the round. ⁴