Antonelli cruises to Austin victory from Leclerc and Verstappen as title crowning heads to next round
Kimi Antonelli took an assured win from pole at the 2026 United States Grand Prix with Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen completing the podium, and with Lewis Hamilton finishing fourth and George Russell in eighth, Antonelli's wait for the all but official championship continues.
Race Report
As the formation lap began, the tyre choices were revealed with Antonelli on the mediums and the Red Bull and Ferrari pairs on softs.
When the five lights went out at the Circuit of the Americas, Antonelli got the perfect launch while Verstappen had a slow start. This gave Leclerc the opportunity to lunge past Verstappen and Isack Hadjar to take second. Verstappen came roaring back however to reclaim the lost position from Leclerc, with all this scrapping giving Antonelli the chance to build a gap.
Lewis Hamilton too moved up past Hadjar, staying close to his teammate.
More chaos at the start saw George Russell run wide and then make contact with Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz scrape the pitwall after running close with Arvid Lindblad.
Into Lap 2, the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was released to clear the debris from these incidents, which was quick work.
Further back, contact between Ollie Bearman and Pierre Gasly threw more debris onto inviting a momentary yellow flag, as Bearman moved up three places to 10th, as did Haas teammate Esteban Ocon taking 12th.
By Lap 5, the top 10 was occupied by Antonelli, Verstappen, Leclerc, Hamilton, Hadjar, Russell, Piastri, Lando Norris, Liam Lawson and Bearman.
Meanwhile, the McLaren pair found themselves side-by-side once again, as Norris felt he was being held back. It was a much smoother affair when Norris was let past Piastri this time, conversations from Singapore undoubtedly coming into effect.
Russell was then hit with another blow in a season full of them, receiving a five-second time penalty for the moment earlier which was deemed as leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
Further back, Haas were facing a similar situation as the Papaya pair, with Ocon stuck behind Bearman and imploring that he had more pace than his teammate. Initially met with resistance, Ocon was soon let past Bearman by the American team.
On Lap 13, Verstappen was the first to pit, swapping his softs for another pair of new soft tyres. Hamilton and Leclerc were next to pit, both taking the medium compound. The round of stops continued with Norris and Piastri being called in, Norris having a sticky stop.
Meanwhile, Hadjar was content to stay out on his pair of softs occupying second, as Verstappen had made his way back up after pitting to third.
Elsewhere, Bearman was hit with a 10-second time penalty for his incident with Gasly earlier in the race.
On Lap 23, Russell entered the pits, serving his five second penalty, and rejoining the track in 10th. At the sharp end, Red Bull had ordered Hadjar to let Verstappen past, as the Dutchman climbed back up to second.
Antonelli boxed on Lap 25, taking on the hard tyres for his planned final stint and rejoining the track in fourth. Just ahead, Leclerc began attacking Hadjar for second, the Red Bull driver trying to help Verstappen’s fight for the win. Hadjar pitted soon enough, taking on the hard tyres much to his bewilderment.
Meanwhile, Bearman had been ordered to retire the car owing to the damage from the incident with Gasly.
Up in the lead, Verstappen had begun to face issues, one of them being unable to hear his race engineer over the radio. Leclerc and Antonelli both began closing in on Verstappen who continued to carry those concerns in his car.
On Lap 31, the Dutchman peeled into the pits, as Antonelli sailed past Leclerc to inherit the lead once more. Leclerc stuck close to the Mercedes driver but ultimately Antonelli was able to pull away and build a near two-second gap by Lap 35.
As Antonelli encountered the backmarkers, he found himself blocked by Carlos Sainz in 17th who protested that he’d locked up, forcing Antonelli to run wide before rejoining the track.
Down in 20th, Franco Colapinto was told to retire the car, becoming the second driver out of the session.
On Lap 39 of 56, Hamilton took his second stop taking the hard tyres, coming out ahead of Piastri and Russell who were both battling for seventh. His teammate followed suit, also taking on the hard tyres and rejoining in fourth, sandwiched between the Red Bull pair led by Verstappen.
Meanwhile, Russell remained stuck behind Piastri, unable to progress past eighth. The fastest driver on track at that point was Leclerc, lighting up the timing pages and hunting down Verstappen for the podium.
With 10 laps to go, the battle for second place was now between Norris who’d taken the one-stop, Verstappen and Leclerc, the Ferrari driver rapidly catching up on his fresher tyres.
At the first opportunity, Verstappen barged past Norris into Turn 4, giving Leclerc a change of target. Into Turn 13, Leclerc knocked Norris off the podium, as the Monégasque driver resumed his chase for Verstappen, this time for second place.
On Lap 49, Leclerc stormed through as Verstappen was unable to put up a fight, taking second place. His teammate Hamilton had now begun to chase down Norris in fourth. Into Turn 1 on Lap 51, Hamilton got the move done on Norris.
Further back, it was more heartbreak on home soil for Cadillac as Valtteri Bottas pulled over with engine issues, inviting the VSC. With the marshalls unable to get his car rolling, the VSC continued into Lap 53 of 56.
As the chequered flag fell, Antonelli took a dominant victory from pole with Leclerc and Verstappen completing the podium. Hamilton, Norris, Hadjar, Piastri, Russell, Lawson and Gasly completed the top 10 in Texas.
Up Next
With Hamilton and Russell’s results, despite securing the win, the championship crowning moment for Antonelli will head to the next round in Mexico, this time next week for the second part of this triple header from 30th to 1st November.
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