Antonelli snatches Austin pole to edge closer to maiden F1 title

Kimi Antonelli put Mercedes on pole for the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas on Saturday, outpacing Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar in a gusty Q3 session that caught Ferrari badly off guard. The 20-year-old Italian’s first pole since July’s Belgian Grand Prix opens a narrow but genuine window for him to clinch the Formula 1 championship on Sunday.

Ferrari arrived in Austin as pre-weekend favourites, with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton expected to lead the fight against Verstappen. Instead, both Ferraris were shuffled to fourth and fifth, leaving Antonelli to spring the session’s defining surprise. Worsening wind conditions throughout Q3 made the opening run decisive, and Antonelli’s clean lap — he notably avoided any track-limits violations — proved untouchable.

The result is the clearest sign yet that Mercedes have turned the corner with their sweeping Malaysia upgrade, which made the W17 significantly faster but considerably harder to set up. A difficult opening practice session in Austin had threatened more of the same frustration, but the team steadily improved the car’s balance across the weekend, aided by a revised front wing first trialled in Singapore.

“I’m happy because we’ve been working really hard on this package, and we’re still trying to understand it fully,” Antonelli said after denying Verstappen a third consecutive pole. “Since Singapore, we’ve taken a big step further, and now we’ve just got to keep working on it, keep understanding. But it’s a good result for the team because they’ve done a tremendous job on bringing this package. Finally, we’re seeing the results.”

Antonelli also took quiet satisfaction in keeping his lap clean under pressure. “It was surprising, but also one of the biggest achievements for me today is that I didn’t do track limits. That also made our life a little bit easier. I didn’t put myself in a difficult situation, and we were able to just progress throughout the session and build from there.”

The championship arithmetic now offers Antonelli a first, if remote, shot at the title in Texas. He can wrap it up on Sunday if he wins and team-mate George Russell finishes ninth or lower, with Hamilton no higher than fifth. Russell and Hamilton start fifth and sixth respectively, making that precise combination unlikely — but not impossible.

“I’m just going to try to do the best race I can. I’m going to try to win, and then we’ll see what happens,” said Antonelli. “It does feel a little bit different, but the goal stays the same. I just need to keep doing my job, and actually, I feel like I can enjoy the driving and everything more because I’m in a very good position.”