Starting from pole position, Andrea Kimi Antonelli won the United States Grand Prix with a comfortable lead over Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen. With George Russell only eighth, the championship leader needs just a ninth-place finish in Mexico next Sunday to clinch the world title.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli left his rivals with nothing but crumbs in Austin. Starting from pole position on medium tires, the Italian immediately capitalized on a poor start from the Red Bulls , who, like the Ferraris , were on soft tires, to pull away. In the confusion of the opening corners, the two red cars overtook Isack Hadjar , while Charles Leclerc snatched second place from Max Verstappen in the first sector. The Dutchman did regain his position later in the lap, but the championship leader already had a 2,3-second advantage by the end of the first lap.
A brief safety car period, triggered at the start of lap two to clear debris, did not alter the course of the race. Behind them, team orders changed frequently: on lap eight, McLaren swapped Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris , then seventh and eighth respectively, before Haas did the same with Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon for eleventh place three laps later. The Briton, whose car had been damaged in a collision with Pierre Gasly early in the race, subsequently dropped down the order, received a ten-second penalty for the incident, and then retired. Meanwhile, George Russell had also been penalized, receiving a five-second penalty to be served during his pit stop, for gaining an advantage outside track limits.
Red Bull gets tangled, Ferrari in ambush
Red Bull initiated the pit stops by bringing Verstappen in at the end of lap 13. Rejoining in eighth place on a fresh set of soft tires, the four-time world champion was effectively committed to a two-stop strategy. Lewis Hamilton pitted on the following lap for mediums and rejoined the race in ninth, behind Liam Lawson , before Leclerc and Piastri followed suit on lap 15. While the Monegasque driver emerged on mediums just behind Verstappen, the Australian found himself relegated to a distant twelfth place on hard tires, the same compound chosen by Norris a lap later.
Meanwhile, Mercedes kept both drivers out on track, as did Red Bull with Hadjar despite his soft tires. Verstappen quickly capitalized on his fresher tires, closing in on Russell on lap eighteen and easily overtaking him to move back onto the podium. Leclerc followed suit three laps later to take fourth place, forcing the Briton to pit at the end of lap 22. Rejoining the race in tenth place on hard tires, Russell watched as Antonelli, still leading, became the virtual world champion.
Hadjar then relinquished second place to his teammate on lap 24, at the end of which Antonelli finally made his pit stop. Rejoining on hard tires in fourth place, between Leclerc and Hamilton, the Bolognese driver temporarily ceded the lead to Verstappen. Still on his starting soft tires, Hadjar bravely resisted Leclerc before pitting himself at the end of lap 25, emerging sixth on hard tires. A decision the Frenchman clearly struggled to understand, especially as a new power delivery issue plagued the number 6 car.
Leclerc overtakes Verstappen in the finale
On the other side of the garage, the situation was hardly more encouraging. At the front, Verstappen was complaining about an undrivable car and was losing precious seconds, allowing the Leclerc-Antonelli duo to close in on him. The Dutchman dove into the pits at the end of lap 31 and rejoined the race in fifth place on medium tires. Leclerc inherited the lead, but only briefly, as Antonelli quickly overtook him and was never challenged again. Hamilton made his second pit stop on lap 39, switching to hard tires, a move mirrored by his teammate on the following lap, before climbing to fifth place by passing Hadjar.
The battle for the minor placings enlivened the end of the race. Long held up behind Norris, Verstappen saw Leclerc closing in, leading to a three-way fight for the podium. Threatened by the Ferrari at the start of lap 47, the Red Bull driver went all out at the first corner to overtake the McLaren and reclaim second place, but Leclerc followed suit, passing Norris a few corners later. Riding his momentum, the Monegasque driver overtook Verstappen on lap 49 to seize second place, while Antonelli held a lead of over sixteen seconds with six laps remaining.
The Italian driver crossed the finish line victorious, ahead of Leclerc and Verstappen. Hamilton, Norris, Hadjar, and Piastri also finished ahead of Russell’s Mercedes #63, which came in eighth, while Lawson and Gasly completed the top 10. This result puts Antonelli two points away from the title: a ninth-place finish will be enough for him in Mexico this Sunday, November 1st, to clinch his first world championship.
F1 2026 – United States Grand Prix
The classification of the race
2026 United States Grand Prix – Race Standings
Circuit of the Americas, Austin – Sunday, October 25, 2026
S: soft – M: medium – H: hard. Final tires: tires fitted during the last stint.
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