Antonelli takes dominant win at United States GP

Kimi Antonelli kept his composure to triumph at the United States Grand Prix and take another step towards clinching the Drivers’ Championship, edging out Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen in a strategic race.

The Italian’s superb opening lap combined with Verstappen’s poor start to give him an early lead, which he held onto through an inspired one-stop strategy to secure his ninth Grand Prix victory of the season.

While many of his rivals stopped twice, Antonelli delivered a mighty stint on the medium tyres before managing the hard compound all the way to the chequered flag, eking out a margin of 13.078s even after a Virtual Safety Car slowed the field before the final lap.

Behind him, a late move promoted Leclerc to a second consecutive P2 finish as Verstappen withstood multiple niggles with his Red Bull to complete the podium, with Lewis Hamilton adding to Ferrari’s points haul in fourth place.

Lando Norris saw his opportunity of a podium disappear with his ageing tyres, leaving him in P5 ahead of Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri.

A frustrating day for George Russell saw him wind up in eighth place, followed by Liam Lawson and Pierre Gasly in the last of the points-paying positions. Nico Hulkenberg, Arvid Lindblad and Gabriel Bortoleto missed out as they took P11 to P13, with the Brazilian bouncing back from a substantial 80-place grid penalty.

Esteban Ocon took P14 from the Aston Martin pair of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso as Haas failed to score in their home race.

In similarly bad news for Williams, they extended their point-less streak to three events as Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz led Sergio Perez in rounding out the finishers in Austin.

There were three retirements for Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, Haas’ Ollie Bearman and Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas, with the latter pulling to the side of the track to cause the VSC that neutralised some of the last laps.

The first two days of action at the Circuit of The Americas had produced plenty of challenges as well as another close contest between the top teams, but Sunday was time for the paddock to shift their focus to the main event.

While Ferrari had set the pace throughout Free Practice, and McLaren and Red Bull both looked competitive in Qualifying, it was Drivers’ Championship leader Antonelli who had sealed pole position with what Toto Wolff described as “a miracle lap”.

It put the Italian within touching distance of his maiden title, but that would rely on three things – victory in the 56-lap Grand Prix while Russell placed ninth or below, and Hamilton finished outside of the top four.

Such a result was certainly possible after the Britons qualified P6 and P5 respectively, but it remained to be seen whether Antonelli would be able to hold off the impressive Red Bull pair at lights out, with Verstappen targeting a third consecutive win.

Ahead of the race, a number of changes to the order were confirmed. Lindblad would line up in P14 as Colapinto and Bortoleto dropped to P20 and P21, all three having exceeded the allocation for various power unit components.

In addition, Aston Martin’s Stroll was required to start from the pit lane after his car was modified under Parc Ferme conditions and additional PU elements were used, sacrificing his P18 finish in Qualifying.

Once all 22 cars were in position and the tyre blankets were removed, it was revealed that the field was divided over tyre compounds, with the Mercedes and McLaren drivers set to begin on the mediums as the rest of the top 10 – including the Red Bulls – bolted on the softs.

Nearly everyone else had also opted for the grippier rubber, apart from Bottas and Colapinto on the hards, and Stroll on the mediums.

After the formation lap was completed without any drama, the five red lights went out to kick off the United States Grand Prix, and a great launch from Antonelli saw him hold onto the lead whilst Verstappen fell into the clutches of the Ferrari pair.

Leclerc executed a confident overtake to improve to P2, with the Dutchman seemingly suffering a deployment issue, and Hamilton went side-by-side but ultimately settled for P4. However, before the first lap had ended, Verstappen found the performance he needed to reclaim second place and set his sights on Antonelli.

Although a short Virtual Safety Car period followed to recover some debris from the track, it didn’t last long enough for Verstappen to make a significant dent in Antonelli’s lead, with the Italian enjoying a 2s advantage at the front of the field.

Elsewhere, Hadjar had dropped back to P5 as the major winners and losers from the opening laps were revealed – Bearman, Ocon and Albon had all gained three positions each whilst Hulkenberg and Alonso lost a handful of places further down the order.

Albon’s progress came at the cost of earlier contact with Alonso, who was putting pressure on Sainz in his ambition to move into P16, which he achieved five laps into the race. Replays also showed that the latter had been squeezed into the pit wall in the Williams, and Bearman had also bumped into Gasly.

Back in the top 10, it was announced that Russell was under investigation for leaving the track and gaining an advantage after banging wheels with Piastri’s McLaren. Upon learning of this, the Briton insisted: “I was on the inside, he was overtaking on the outside. That’s his risk.”

Nevertheless, the stewards ruled that a five-second time penalty was deserved – good news for Norris, who was steadily closing the gap to sixth-placed Russell after McLaren had switched him with Piastri.

By Lap 10, Antonelli had built a margin of nearly 3s over Verstappen, but plenty of action was unfolding outside of the points. A back-and-forth battle saw Alonso get back past Albon for P15, and Colapinto was similarly trying to challenge Sainz further behind.

Team orders were imposed for a second time in the race when Haas told their drivers to swap positions, Bearman having shared concerns about his car’s strange handling. They therefore chose to prioritise Ocon’s undamaged machine in the hope of breaking into the points at their home event, with the Frenchman shuffling up to P11.

That was soon validated as Bearman continued to drop down the order before following Verstappen into the pits on Lap 14 – the Dutchman was given another set of soft tyres and emerged in eighth place, crucially making the most of the clear air to quickly close in on Piastri.

Hamilton was the next to peel off for a pit stop and was soon joined by Leclerc and the Australian, theoretically locking in a two-stop strategy for Ferrari and McLaren, with Norris changing his tyres a lap later.

Contrastingly, Mercedes relied on the medium compound to extend their first stint, but it didn’t take long for Verstappen to pass Russell and get back into the top three behind his team mate Hadjar, who said that his tyres felt “okay” and suggested that he “should stay out for a bit”.

Bearman’s tough day went from bad to worse as he was handed a 10-second time penalty whilst running in P18, effectively ruling out any chance of scoring points as he responded “are you kidding me?” to news of the decision – he later retired with damage.

Meanwhile, Antonelli was making the most of a 12s buffer over Hadjar as his engineer told him to “go as long as we can”, confirming that a one-stop was the likely approach for the Silver Arrows over the remaining laps.

They did, however, call Russell in to serve his penalty and take on the hard compound, which dropped him to P10 just as Hadjar was ordered to let his faster team mate past, which he obeyed after some initial resistance.

Verstappen was therefore freed to chase down Antonelli, but his mission was made much easier by the Italian stopping for fresh tyres at the end of Lap 24.

He returned to the circuit in fourth place, narrowly staying ahead of Hamilton before attention moved onto a tight contest for P3 between Leclerc and Hadjar, which was cut short again when Hadjar finally got rid of his softs.

Red Bull’s recovery from their shaky start was jeopardised by issues for both of their drivers, with the Frenchman apparently stuck on incorrect mapping that impacted the throttle, and Verstappen fighting an “undriveable” car.

When asked for an update on his front wing, he stated that he had “literally no idea”, so with Ferrari’s Leclerc creeping ever closer Red Bull brought him in for his second stop. Unfortunately for the Monegasque, his inherited lead was brief as Antonelli charged past to recapture his original starting position.

That left him in first place ahead of Leclerc and Hamilton with 20 laps to go, but he did have a tense moment with backmarker Sainz – the Spaniard didn’t get out of the way quickly enough, forcing Antonelli into a lock-up at Turn 12.

It didn’t appear to unnerve him too much as he continued to pump in strong laps whilst the Ferraris pitted again, promoting Norris and Verstappen to the podium spots as McLaren advised their driver to stay out on his hard tyres.

Although that may have been their best opportunity to finish on the rostrum, Verstappen quickly cut his deficit down to less than a second and sailed past at the beginning of Lap 47, commanding a three-way battle for P2 as Leclerc sought to demote Norris further.

Despite a lock-up, the Monegasque thrived in the tantalising battle and swept past the McLaren driver, who was evidently struggling to nurse his tyres more and more as the laps ticked down.

Leclerc wasn’t done attacking quite yet and overtook Verstappen for P2 – possibly aided by engine braking troubles on the RB22 – as his team mate similarly stormed past Norris to move into fourth place.

The race was neutralised when Bottas slowed and pulled to the side of the track, causing a Virtual Safety Car to be deployed while the marshals moved his Cadillac to a safer place, but such was Antonelli’s lead at this stage that it put minimal pressure on him.

Normal conditions resumed with a few laps to go and the Italian continued to control from the front, remaining there all the way to the chequered flag as Leclerc settled for second place just over 13s behind.

Verstappen finished on the podium for a sixth event in a row, denying Hamilton and Norris as Hadjar took P6 in the second Red Bull. Nearly 18s further back, Piastri settled for seventh ahead of Russell, Lawson and Gasly.

Audi missed out on the points with Hulkenberg taking P11, followed by Lindblad, Bortoleto and Ocon in a tricky day for the midfield outfits. The Aston Martins of Stroll and Alonso were next in the order with Albon, Sainz and Perez rounding out the finishers after earlier retirements for Bottas, Colapinto and Bearman.

The F1 paddock will move straight on to the Mexico City Grand Prix across the weekend of October 30-November 1.