Kimi Antonelli secures pole position at United States Grand Prix

Antonelli takes pole at COTA

Kimi Antonelli secured pole position at the United States Grand Prix, beating Max Verstappen by 0.041 seconds with a 1m34.035 lap. The 20-year-old Mercedes driver is in the best position to wrap up the championship after a qualifying lap worthy of the cause. He holds a chance to tie the title on Sunday if he wins and teammate George Russell finishes ninth or lower while Lewis Hamilton finishes no higher than fifth. This pole is his first since the Belgian Grand Prix in July. Antonelli credits the performance to Mercedes efforts to fine-tune the W17 following the introduction of a Malaysia upgrade that increased speed but made the car harder to set up. The team also used a new front wing that they trialled during practice in Singapore. "Finally, we’re seeing the results," Antonelli said. He noted that the car still struggles in low speed areas despite improvements in sector one and sector two. "Medium-speed corners, high speed, medium-speed," Antonelli said of where the lap felt sweetest. The driver also joked that avoiding track limits was his "biggest achievement" during the session, as gusty conditions made the wind unpredictable during Q3. Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton took fourth and fifth in the qualifying shootout.

Red Bull struggles in final sector

The qualifying fight came down to how drivers managed tyres through the final sequence of corners at the Circuit of the Americas. Antonelli gained 0.2s on Verstappen between Turns 12 and 15 because he kept his tyres alive better than the Red Bull drivers. Verstappen complained that a lack of grip meant he could not lean on the rear of the car in the final sector. Isack Hadjar also challenged the Red Bull driver, finishing 0.3s behind Antonelli in the third sector and beating Verstappen by almost 0.1s in the middle sector. The Mercedes driver found his best pace through the medium and high speed corners of the first and second sectors, specifically through Turns 8 and 9. The championship leader managed to keep his tyres alive better than the Red Bull drivers during the final sequence of corners, which allowed him to put two tenths on Verstappen and three tenths on Hadjar. Antonelli’s sector breakdown showed 25.310s in sector one, 37.297s in sector two, and 31.428s in sector three. Verstappen recorded 25.245s in sector one and 31.485s in sector three. A composite Red Bull lap combining Verstappen’s first and third sectors with Hadjar’s middle sector would have been 0.041s slower than Antonelli. In FP2, Verstappen was 0.1s faster than Antonelli from the exit of Turn 12 to Turn 15, but that gap grew to 0.2s in FP3.

Practice results and track limits

Lewis Hamilton led the third practice session with a 1’34.893, but race control widened the white lines at the exits of turns 12, 15, and 20. Charles Leclerc set a 1’34.810 before losing his time due to a track limits infringement at the exit of turn nine. Verstappen set a 1’35.061 in practice, while Antonelli sat three-tenths behind him. Isack Hadjar finished the session in tenth place, a full second off the pace, after an incident at turn one where he said he felt Alexander Albon held him up. Hadjar is under investigation for driving erratically during that encounter. Pierre Gasly finished ninth, beating Hadjar by 0.037s, while Liam Lawson finished eleventh, just 0.001s behind Hadjar. Gabriel Bortoleto faces an investigation after he delayed Hamilton at turn 12, and Lando Norris lost his time after going off at turn 12. Oscar Piastri finished sixth and Nico Hulkenberg finished seventh. Both Audi drivers remain under investigation following an incident between Hulkenberg and Lance Stroll during practice starts. The Red Bull driver called his weekend a "disaster" until qualifying, though he said the car "really came alive a bit more" during the session.