Austin, 25 October 2026: Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli won the United States Grand Prix from pole position at the Circuit of The Americas on Sunday and now needs only a ninth-place finish at next week’s Mexico City Grand Prix to become Formula 1’s youngest world champion.
The 20-year-old Italian led from the first lap and won by 13.078 seconds from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who started second, finished third, 17.485 seconds behind. Lewis Hamilton was fourth for Ferrari, ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar. It was Antonelli’s ninth win of the season.
“The car felt perfect today,” Antonelli said.
Verstappen’s car damaged by debris
Verstappen lost ground to the Ferraris at the start but was back in second by the end of the first lap. His car picked up damage from debris around lap eight, and balance problems and higher tyre wear later cost him second place to Leclerc.
“It wasn’t the strongest race for me, as there were a lot of things that didn’t work out,” Verstappen said. “We struggled with engine consistency throughout the race, which we’ll need to work on, but it’s still a podium, so if you look at the beginning of the year and where we are now, we’ll take that. Our target is always to be first, and we want to win more.”
The result was Red Bull’s 12th podium of the season. The team moved up to third in the Constructors’ Championship, and Verstappen is now six points behind second place in the Drivers’ Championship.
Hadjar started third, lost two places to the Ferraris at the start and then had a system problem in the pit lane. “We did a good job to keep P6 and bring a few points to the team from what was an up-and-down weekend,” he said.
“We lost a bit of our edge today, and I don’t think we had enough pace to fight with Kimi, who had a very strong race,” Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies said.
Audi just miss out on points
Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg finished 11th and Gabriel Bortoleto 13th. Hulkenberg dropped to 15th at the start when the anti-stall system kicked in, while Bortoleto started from the back row after penalties for component changes.
“Nico’s race was compromised at the start when the anti-stall kicked in, dropping him to P15. To recover to P11 and to close in on P10 was a superb effort,” Audi racing director Allan McNish said.
The Mexico City Grand Prix is next Sunday.
