{"id":938460,"date":"2026-10-23T20:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T20:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/938460\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T20:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T20:50:10","slug":"f1-crown-in-reach-for-kimi-antonelli-at-bumpy-austin-circuit-drivers-insist-is-unacceptable-formula-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/938460\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 crown in reach for Kimi Antonelli at bumpy Austin circuit drivers insist is \u2018unacceptable\u2019 | Formula One"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Formula One world championship is within reach for Kimi Antonelli<\/a> at the US Grand Prix in Austin this weekend. But while the young Italian approaches the race intending simply to have fun, there is disquiet among other drivers about the potential long-term health dangers posed by the state of the Texas circuit.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old Antonelli will become Formula One\u2019s youngest world champion if he claims the title at the Circuit of the Americas on Sunday, eclipsing Sebastian Vettel\u2019s record from 2010, when the German driver was 23 and Antonelli was four. It is an outside chance, as the Italian has acknowledged. He must win while needing his rivals to endure a poor day. His Mercedes teammate George Russell would have to finish outside the top eight and Ferrari\u2019s Lewis Hamilton<\/a> outside the top four.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, while Antonelli knows the title race is in effect over, he is keeping the cool head that has brought him to this point with such alacrity. The Mercedes ship, helmed by his race engineer Pete Bonnington, who was alongside Hamilton for his six titles with the team, is steady as she goes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a meeting with Bono this morning and we said: \u2018Just have fun,\u2019\u201d Antonelli said. \u201cIt\u2019s the same mindset I\u2019ve had all year. One race at a time. Just try to do the best I can every race weekend, and then we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a tricky rookie season last year, Antonelli has adapted remarkably quickly to competing at the front of the grid. But as he seeks to close out the title, he feels able to draw on previous experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cFormula One is different because the pressure is a lot bigger than in anything else,\u201d he added. \u201cThe competition is a little bit higher as well because you\u2019re racing with 21 of the best drivers in the world. But when you fight for championships in karting and junior series, the mindset is very similar in the way you approach races and the way you think.\u201d<\/p>\n

Going into the weekend, however, the circuit has drawn unusually severe criticism from drivers. The race was first held in 2012 and the circuit has a contract until 2034. It has become hugely popular, with sold-out crowds, but the track has come under intense scrutiny.<\/p>\n

It is built on marshland and the bumps caused by the ground beneath the track have been condemned as potentially harmful, with the uneven surface forcing impacts into the base of the drivers\u2019 spines.<\/p>\n

Max Verstappen, Red Bull\u2019s four-time world champion, said: \u201cThe bumps are unacceptable. Over time they\u2019ve been grinding a little bit here and there but it\u2019s just putting a plaster on the big problem. You need to really fully open up the track. That costs a lot of money and time but that\u2019s the only way to get rid of it because these bumps are not natural and they are out of control.<\/p>\n

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\u201cFrom the checks that I\u2019ve done from my spine, the bottom end doesn\u2019t look that great. I know that\u2019s part of racing. I know that can be part of sport, but it\u2019s also further damage from the cars that we had the last few years. If we continue with finding this acceptable to drive on, then you are going to suffer with that much more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Verstappen\u2019s opinion was echoed by the defending world champion, Lando Norris, who is frustrated that drivers\u2019 concerns are not being listened to. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty bad,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of places I need to take headache tablets before I go out simply because it\u2019s so bumpy and you\u2019re hitting your head pretty hard against the headrest because of the bumps. So it\u2019s certainly not a nice thing. There\u2019s not much we can do. I mean, we complain about it, it\u2019s stuff we\u2019ve brought up many, many times but there\u2019s only so much we can complain about things.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Formula One world championship is within reach for Kimi Antonelli at the US Grand Prix in Austin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":938461,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-938460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=938460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/938461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=938460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=938460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=938460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}