Kimi Antonelli moved to the brink of a record-breaking Formula 1 world championship with a dominant victory at the United States Grand Prix. The 20-year-old Italian needs only two points in Mexico City next weekend to secure the title.
Antonelli's lead is so substantial that the championship is mathematically his unless both George Russell, his Mercedes team-mate, and Lewis Hamilton, driving for Ferrari, finish ahead of him. Even if one of them wins in Mexico, Antonelli clinches the title by finishing ninth, or tenth if Hamilton wins.
The American victory showcased Antonelli's performance in a car that Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff described as difficult to operate. Russell, driving the same upgraded specification, finished eighth with a five-second penalty while attempting to pass McLaren's Oscar Piastri. Antonelli, by contrast, was "operating on another level entirely," according to Wolff, who called it "the best he has delivered so far" and "the race of a champion who isn't the champion yet."
The Mercedes upgrade that debuted in Malaysia two races ago proved troublesome, costing the team approximately 0.3 seconds per lap. Wolff attributed Russell's struggles to the car's narrow operational window. Antonelli's driving style, he said, "glues with the car" in a way that allowed him to extract maximum performance.
Remarkably, Antonelli approached the weekend without visible pressure despite being on the cusp of his lifelong ambition. Wolff recounted how Antonelli sat in his office with feet up, saying he was not thinking about the championship at all. "It's not so important," Wolff explained, though he acknowledged the substantial points advantage helped.
When clinched, Antonelli will become the first Italian to win the F1 drivers' championship since Alberto Ascari in 1953. That 71-year gap resonates deeply in a country fundamental to motorsport's history. McLaren principal Andrea Stella called Antonelli's performance "particularly thrilling, as an Italian person in motorsport."
Antonelli has overshadowed Russell throughout 2024, a gap Stella attributed to his aggressive yet effective driving style. "He's been able to harness his driving style with what is required of the cars," Stella said, while recognising Antonelli's capacity to deliver results when it matters most.