Kimi Antonelli Wins United States Grand Prix From Pole, Title Wait Goes to Mexico City

AUSTIN, Texas. Kimi Antonelli won the United States Grand Prix from pole on Sunday at the Circuit of The Americas, beating Charles Leclerc of Ferrari by 13.078 seconds with a one-stop strategy. Max Verstappen finished third for Red Bull Racing. It was Antonelli's ninth Grand Prix win of the season, and it moved the Mercedes driver to the edge of the title.

Antonelli needed three things to clinch in Austin: the win, George Russell ninth or lower, and Lewis Hamilton outside the top four. He did his part, but Russell finished eighth and Hamilton fourth, one place better than he needed from each, so the title waited a week.

"It was the result we needed," Antonelli said. "The whole team deserve it so much and all this time putting in so much work on bringing this new package and finally seeing the result is very pleasant and it was also perfect execution from strategy to call the one-stop so I'm really happy we made it stick."

A strong start and a long medium stint

Antonelli took pole with what team principal Toto Wolff called "a miracle lap." He started on medium tyres, like both McLarens and Russell, while the rest of the top 10 started on softs. He kept the lead at the start, and Verstappen, who appeared to have a deployment issue off the line, briefly fell behind Leclerc before taking second back on the opening lap.

A short Virtual Safety Car for debris did little to the gap. While many rivals stopped twice, Antonelli ran a long first stint on the mediums and then took hard tyres to the finish. A late Virtual Safety Car, called when Valtteri Bottas pulled his Cadillac off the track, slowed the field before the final lap.

A late move gave Leclerc his second straight runner-up finish, and Verstappen held third despite several problems with his car. Hamilton was fourth.

The rest of the field

Lando Norris faded to fifth on old tyres for McLaren, ahead of Isack Hadjar and Oscar Piastri. Russell was eighth after a frustrating day, and Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls and Pierre Gasly of Alpine took the last points.

Nico Hulkenberg, Arvid Lindblad and Gabriel Bortoleto finished 11th through 13th, with Bortoleto recovering from an 80-place grid penalty. Esteban Ocon was 14th as Haas failed to score at its home race. Franco Colapinto, Ollie Bearman and Bottas retired.

It was Antonelli's first win since the Spanish Grand Prix on Sept. 13, after Russell won in Baku and Verstappen won in Malaysia and Singapore. Lindblad started 14th and Colapinto and Bortoleto started 20th and 21st after power unit penalties, and Lance Stroll started from the pit lane after Aston Martin changed his car under parc ferme conditions.

Antonelli arrived in Austin with a 102-point lead over Russell and went on to clinch the title in Mexico City a week later.

For more, see Formula 1's race report (opens in a new tab).

This was Round 18 of the 2026 season. It came after Verstappen's first Marina Bay win and before Antonelli's title-clinching race in Mexico City. For the full title picture, see our 2026 F1 standings breakdown.

Sources: Formula 1. More Formula 1 coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: Richard Pardon / Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team