2026 F1 United States Grand Prix winners and losers
All eyes were on whether Formula 1 would have a new youngest ever champion after the United States Grand Prix, and it won’t – for now – but that’s not for lack of a stellar performance from runaway points leader Kimi Antonelli.
Naturally, waiting to see if we would have a new champion would distract from the rest of the field. Here is our selection of winners and losers on Sunday’s grid at the Circuit of the Americas.
Winner: Kimi Antonelli (1st)
For all the talk about whether Mercedes’ rivals messed up their US GP strategies, the counterargument says that the Mercedes-Antonelli combination was just too good that day in Austin.
And it certainly helped put to rest many doubts about the effectiveness of Mercedes’ upgrade, after its inconclusive debut at Sepang and Singapore.
It’s remarkable to think that the previous hat-trick marked Antonelli’s longest run of the season without a win. It’s also remarkable how seeing him win has become routine in just his second year in F1.
The title surely awaits in Mexico. -Jack Cozens
Loser: George Russell (8th)
Having cut a particularly frustrated figure in the media, two quotes from Russell stand out to sum up just how painful his Sunday was.
“Six good laps, 50 bad laps,” he replied when asked by The Race what compromised his race, while also telling Sky Sports F1: “The pace was just rubbish.”
The five-second penalty (which Russell called “a bit ridiculous” but added “was the least of my worries after such a bad weekend”) was race-defining, in that he felt it was after that pit stop that he completed the “six good laps” before catching Piastri and getting stuck behind the McLaren.
We don’t know exactly what’s going on – and neither does Russell. But the optimism he had about having turned a corner appears to have quickly dried up. -JC
Winner: Lando Norris (5th)
Another brilliant stealth drive from Norris in a season where he achieved a few, here turning a horrible qualifying into a respectable race result.
The fact that McLaren asked Oscar Piastri to let Norris pass from the start seemed to reflect just how much Norris was able to extract from this difficult car when he is able to put it on the knife’s edge that both drivers have been complaining about all weekend.
Combined with a medium/hard tire strategy that was clearly far more effective than the soft tire strategies favored by Ferrari and Red Bull, Norris even made an appearance in second place at one point.
He would never have been able to hold off the Ferraris or Max Verstappen, because he feels he has to drive well beyond what is reasonable to put the car in this situation in the first place, but being temporarily on par with those cars – as well as beating higher-order contenders like Isack Hadjar and Russell – felt like a stealth driver-of-the-day overperformance from the soon-to-be-deposed reigning world champion. -Ben Anderson
Loser: Red Bull (3rd & 6th)
Given the strength of both drivers in qualifying here, and Verstappen’s recent supreme form in particular, it was a disappointing race for Red Bull.
The first lap was terrible for both cars: the engine didn’t seem to deliver its power properly and consistently, and they seemed to struggle towards the end of each stint, regardless of which tire compound was fitted.
Verstappen fared better and held on for a podium finish – and his passes on Charles Leclerc and Norris were spirited – but he was clearly unhappy with the way the car handled and will be disappointed to have finished so far behind Antonelli’s Mercedes.
His teammate Hadjar was clearly very depressed after the race, having seen his career-best qualifying performance turn into a weak regression to sixth place in the race.
He said Red Bull’s “fragile” clutch “needs an overhaul” after a poor start in which he insisted he had “done everything right” from the cockpit.
Added to this were radio problems which prevented the two drivers from hearing the team. Hadjar left the pits with the wrong engine map selected and then lost “one second per lap” on the hard tyres, which only added to his fury.
Red Bull has been the best version of itself in recent races; it wasn’t at that level here, and now there’s the added problem of dealing with a driver who clearly feels let down by his car and by extension his team. – B.A.
Winner: Charles Leclerc (2nd)
Ferrari’s major Austin upgrade was completed and, had the Scuderia repeated the qualifying pace it had enjoyed in previous races, Leclerc could have won.
Leclerc was surprised that race winner Antonelli performed a single stop, saying it was “always a double stop” on paper for Ferrari and Red Bull as well.
The team was strong throughout testing but, as Leclerc recounted, lost its chance of victory in qualifying after struggling to get the tires up to temperature.
After leading Verstappen by three points, Leclerc is just three points in the race for fourth place in the drivers’ standings – and just eight points behind third-placed teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Hamilton is no loser here, but struggled unlike Leclerc, having said after the race that he was scrambling for setup adjustments throughout testing and making further adjustments to the front wing throughout the race to eliminate understeer.
With Hamilton’s fourth place, Ferrari dominated the competition in Austin, taking 30 points to Red Bull’s 23 and Mercedes’ 29. – Samarth Canal
Loser: Fernando Alonso (16th)
Would Alonso’s Aston Martin truly have been in contention for points at the US GP, as he claims, without being knocked out by Alex Albon on the first lap?
It seems more likely to be hyperbole than a realistic claim, but the way Alonso’s pace held up despite, in his words, “half the car” thanks to overhang damage, suggests he was on course for a good result.
Even with the damage, everything was going pretty well – as a 12th or 13th place seemed possible before a slow second pit stop, where Alonso considered abandoning the car (“I was ready to turn it off”) before the front wing was changed, allowing him to engage in battle with Albon again before the finish.
This was definitely more encouraging than a 16th place finish would suggest; It’s difficult to judge whether it was “by far” the best race of the season given how his Sunday went, but it was a solid performance from Alonso.
It’s a shame that was marred by slightly understandable but ultimately exaggerated criticism leveled at Albon. -JC
Winner: Liam Lawson (9th)
Lawson’s third consecutive weekend of points puts him firmly in top rest territory, ninth in the championship, 28 points behind Red Bull’s Hadjar and 35 points ahead of Pierre Gasly.
He hailed a “strong weekend”, and it was, since he started where he finished.
Racing Bulls made some further improvements at Austin and Lawson said the car was “very good all the way” on the radio after the race – before mocking team principal Alan Permane’s comment that he should do another gig before the Mexican GP, after playing in Austin on Thursday night.
The only incident he recounted was a loud, incessant beeping from the system telling him he was going faster than the VSC’s delta time – when in reality he was six seconds behind positive.
A solid weekend with no hot spots, in stark contrast to rival Red Bull Hadjar. -Sask.
Loser: Ollie Bearman (DNF)
Bearman was frustrated after suffering damage during a second-lap skirmish with Gasly that led to him later abandoning his Haas, with a 10-second penalty for pitting it.
The Haas driver went down the inside of the Alpine in Turn 13 and made contact, and was judged to have caused a collision, but Bearman disagreed with the penalty.
He said Gasly saw his car, having left space, “but it didn’t really seem enough to him.”
He added: “For me it was a racing incident, I made a move, OK, but I felt like I was allowed a little more space than I had. I didn’t lose control. I even had to climb on the curb to try to avoid contact because I didn’t feel like I had enough space.”
Bearman doubled down and said: “I don’t regret making that decision, because to be honest at this point, if you don’t do something special and you get a little bit of luck and you go for it, then we’re not going to score any points because we’re not fast enough on merit.”
Despite the seemingly light contact, the damage cost him a second per lap and Bearman eventually retired mid-race. -Sask.
Winner: Pierre Gasly (10th)
Considering he had lost about 10 points of support in the collision for which Bearman received a 10-second penalty, scoring a point was a big success for Gasly in Austin.
OK, it’s still points lost against Racing Bulls in the fight for fifth place in the constructors’ championship. But Gasly was in the fight and without the contact and without any problems at his pit stop, he could have fought for ninth place with Lawson, who ultimately finished just over seven seconds ahead.
“I would have liked to see what would have been possible against Liam, without the damage,” Gasly said. “We’ll never know.” -Jack Benyon
Gn sports
