Kimi Antonelli took pole position for the United States Grand Prix with a hugely impressive lap for Mercedes at the Circuit of the Americas. By beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen into second place, Antonelli did exactly what was needed to give him the chance to win his first world championship title this weekend.
Isack Hadjar did well to secure third place for Red Bull, with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in fourth and fifth for Ferrari, and Antonelli’s Mercedes teammate George Russell sixth.
Antonelli’s first pole since the Belgian GP in July couldn’t have been better timed as he bids to win his first title. The Italian is 102 points ahead of Russell and should be 125 points ahead after this race. To win the title, he must win on Sunday and have Russell finish outside the top eight, and Hamilton outside the top four. Victory certainly seems like a good prospect, but he still needs his rivals to stumble on Sunday.
He can only do his best and knows that even if the title is not obtained here, in this form, it will surely be obtained and dusted in the next round in Mexico.
“We got pole, so we will try to win tomorrow,” Antonelli said. “Max was very fast and did an incredible job in qualifying, so it’s not going to be easy. Hopefully we’ll be in the lead into the first corner and try to set the pace, although it’s going to be very tight. Very happy with qualifying today, Q3 was very difficult with the wind, gusty, unpredictable, but happy to stay on pole.”
This is another landmark achievement for the Italian, not least because Mercedes’ improvements in Malaysia have made the car more difficult to drive. Indeed, Russell was four tenths behind his teammate, and it was a strong return to form for Antonelli as he seeks to become F1’s youngest world champion at just 20 years old.
He was faultless during the lap which proved unbeatable in the Texas sun, but it was a performance which will also be supported by Mercedes as they hoped to make the most of their recent improvements which had failed to produce the expected results during their opening salvos in Malaysia and Singapore. With the team finding a way to exploit them, Antonelli reiterated what a formidable opponent he is.
Its engineer, Pete Bonnington, admitted it was somewhat unexpected given both the team’s work on its improvements and the recently resurgent Red Bull’s form, with Verstappen taking pole and victory in the last two rounds. A feeling echoed by the radiant Antonelli.
“It was unexpected, we thought it would be close but it was a nice surprise,” he said. “I am happy because we have worked very hard on this package and since Singapore we have taken a big step forward. The team has done a wonderful job and we are finally seeing the results.”
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For the first tests in Q3 during a hotly contested session, with Red Bull and Ferrari looking to have a strong presence, it was Antonelli who set the tone. He put in a blistering lap with a time of 1 minute 34.035 seconds, almost two tenths ahead of Verstappen, with the Italian putting in what was one of his best laps of the weekend.
In the last runs, Verstappen gave his all but couldn’t improve and, although Antonelli couldn’t go any faster either, he did enough. His time was not improved and a somewhat unexpected pole was achieved in great style. “Yeah man, it’s good to be back,” he said.
For Antonelli, in an eventful season, including eight wins, his first pole in Austin is his seventh of the season and the first for Mercedes here since Valtteri Bottas last took the top spot in 2019, from which he went on to claim victory – a feat Antonelli hopes to emulate.
The Italian was very much at his best and gave himself the chance to potentially finish the job. But as Verstappen observed, if not here on Sunday, then next round or the round after that. The difficult projects are finished.
Gn sports
