Lights OutMediaKimi Antonelli has just won the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas for the first time. He started on pole position and finished with a thirteen-second gap between him and Charles Leclerc. Leclerc finished second, and Verstappen finished third. Antonelli still leads the Drivers’ Championship, except the gap is bigger now: he is 123 points ahead of Russell with only five races left.
Leclerc finished 13.078 seconds behind Antonelli, and Verstappen finished 17.485 seconds behind him. Hamilton finished fourth, Norris fifth, Hadjar sixth, Piastri seventh, Russell eighth, Lawson ninth, and Gasly tenth. It was an unfortunate finish for Russell but also for Hadjar, who had started in third. Though he had a good starting position, the car wasn’t cooperating during the race, and after his pit stop he said it was “undriveable.”
Antonelli got a great start off the line and led from the start on mediums. Verstappen lost position in the opening lap, but made up for it before the end of lap one. On that same lap, Russell left the track and gained an advantage while fighting Piastri, which earned him a five-second time penalty. He served it at his stop and then spent the rest of the race stuck behind Piastri. Verstappen pitted, in my opinion, a little early for someone who was on softs. A short virtual safety car came out early on for debris. When I say short, I mean short. On lap 24, Antonelli pitted from mediums to hards, making his race a one-stop. Later in the race, Leclerc passed Verstappen to take second place. Bottas pulled over near the end of the race, which brought out another virtual safety car, this one longer than the first.
Unfortunately for Antonelli, he was unable to win the title in Austin. He needed Russell to finish ninth or lower and Hamilton to finish fifth or lower, neither of which happened. Antonelli leads the championship with 365 points, Russell has 242, Hamilton 241, and for the first time in six years, Max Verstappen is out of the fight for the world championship title. Mercedes leads Ferrari by 133 points in the constructors’ championship. Mexico City starts Friday, and Antonelli could win the title there.