Kimi Antonelli marks his ninth victory of the season at the United States Grand Prix

Written by: Henry Quach 🇻🇳

Kimi Antonelli kissing the United States Grand Prix First Place Trophy | Photo credit via (Getty Images)

Mercedes’s Kimi Antonelli earned his ninth victory of the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship season. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc placed in second place, marking his 6th podium finish of the season, and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen placed in third place, marking his 11th podium finish of the season. 

Entering the United States Grand Prix, Antonelli could’ve clinched the World Drivers' Championship at just 20 years old, making him the youngest F1 champion. Despite getting the win, both Mercedes’ George Russell and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton didn’t finish in a way that would’ve benefited Antonelli. 

Hamilton finished in 4th place while Russell finished in 8th place. Antonelli needed both to finish below 5th and 9th place to clinch the World Drivers' Championship, moving the championship battle to Mexico City. 

F1 returned to the United States for the Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, on October 25, 2026, with 56 laps scheduled for the race. 

It was a weird ending to the qualifying session, with all of the drivers participating except for the Racing Bulls’ Lawson and Lindblad. Neither Racing Bulls driver had a chance to compete with the other eight drivers fighting for pole. Hamilton and Leclerc improved to fifth and sixth. 

Luckily, Antonelli set the fastest lap and was able to keep his pole position. The majority of other drivers were unable to set a faster lap than his throughout the final qualifying session. 

F1 drivers completed the required formation lap to warm up their tires and check the track conditions before the race began.

Antonelli had a great start and protected his lead from the rest of the drivers. However, Verstappen had both Ferraris trailing right behind him due to a bad light reaction. 

In the early stages, Leclerc overtook Verstappen with a fast move. Hamilton attempted to follow suit but couldn’t get the job done. Seconds later, Verstappen overtook Leclerc to take back his second-place position. 

Williams’s driver Carlos Sainz had little wall contact going into turn one. After he ran out of room, Sainz tried to move up further in the pack to get past Lindblad.

There was similar contact that happened in the early stages between Russell and Mclaren’s Oscar Piastri. This resulted in Russell getting a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. 

On lap two, Haas’s Oliver Bearman made a small collision with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly to gain the position; however, Bearman was given a 10-second penalty for causing the collision. 

On lap 18, Verstappen was able to overtake Russell for third position in the race. 

On lap 23, Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar was given team orders to let Verstappen overtake him as Verstappen was going faster than Hadjar for second place. 

On lap 30, Verstappen started experiencing engine-breaking issues, which was concerning as Leclerc was hunting Verstappen down for first place. However, just two laps later, Leclerc took first place with Verstappen pitted for new tires. 

However, the lead did not last long as Antonelli overtook Leclerc to reclaim the lead of the race.

On lap 42, Hadjar and Hamilton were battling  for fifth place, but Hamilton was able to easily overtake Hadjar for the position. 

On lap 47, Verstappen and Leclerc were battling for third and potentially second place with McLaren’s Lando Norris. Verstappen overtook Norris for second place, and eventually Leclerc overtook Norris for third place.

On lap 49, Leclerc overtook Verstappen to take second place, and two laps later, Hamilton was able to overtake Norris for fourth place. 

It was a dominant victory for Antonelli as he earned his ninth victory, with Russell finishing eighth and Hamilton finishing in fourth place. The championship battle will continue in Mexico City on November 1st.