Kimi Antonelli took pole position at the United States Grand Prix with an impressive lap for Mercedes at the Circuit of the Americas. By beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen into second place, Antonelli did exactly what was necessary to give him the chance to close out his first world championship title this weekend. Isack Hadjar did well to secure third place for Red Bull, with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in fourth and fifth for Ferrari, and Antonelli’s Mercedes teammate George Russell in sixth. Antonelli’s first pole position since the Belgian GP in July couldn’t have been better timed as he bids for his first title. The Italian has a 102 point lead over Russell and needs to be 125 points after this race. To take the title he must win on Sunday and have Russell finish outside the top eight, with Hamilton outside the top four. Victory certainly looks like a good prospect, but they still need their rivals to stumble on Sunday. He can only do his best and knows that even if the title is not secured here, in this form he will surely get it and dust himself off in the next round in Mexico. “We got pole, so we’ll try to win tomorrow,” Antonelli said. “Max has been very fast and did an incredible job in qualifying, so it’s not going to be easy. Hopefully, we’ll be in the lead in the first corner and we’ll try to set the pace, although it’s going to be very tight. I’m very happy with today’s qualifying, Q3 was very tough with the wind, gusty, unpredictable, but happy to get pole.” drive. In fact, Russell was four tenths behind his team-mate, and it was a strong return to form for Antonelli as he looks to become the youngest F1 world champion at just 20 years old. Kimi Antonelli has a 102-point lead over George Russell. Photograph: Kaylee Greenlee/Reuters He was impeccable in the unbeatable lap under the Texas sun, but it was a performance that will also encourage Mercedes, as they hoped to make the most of their recent updates that had not delivered the expected results in their first launches in Malaysia and Singapore. Once the team found a way to exploit them, Antonelli remembered how formidable his opponent is. Its engineer, Pete Bonnington, admitted it was unexpected given both the team’s work on its improvements and the form of the recently resurgent Red Bull, with Verstappen taking pole and victory in the final two rounds. A sentiment echoed by the radiant Antonelli. “It was unexpected, we felt it would be close, but it was a good surprise,” he said. “I am happy because we have been working very hard on this package and since Singapore we have taken a big step further. The team has done a tremendous job and we are finally seeing the results.” rhythm. He set a dizzying lap with a time of 1 minute 34.035 seconds, almost two tenths ahead of Verstappen, and the Italian achieved what was one of his best laps of the weekend. In the final laps, Verstappen gave it his all but couldn’t improve and, although Antonelli couldn’t go faster either, he had done enough. His time did not improve and he secured a somewhat unexpected pole in no small style. “Yeah, man, it’s good to be back,” he said. For Antonelli, in a season of milestones including eight wins, his first pole in Austin is the seventh of the season and the first for Mercedes here since Valtteri Bottas last took the top spot in 2019, from which he went on to win, a feat Antonelli hopes to emulate. The Italian looked at his best and has given himself the opportunity to finish the job. But as Verstappen observed, if not here on Sunday, then in the next round or the one after that. No more hard yards.
