← All Race Notes

Antonelli needs 2 more points. His rivals need 5 straight wins.

· United States Grand Prix

That's all he needs to be world champion, after winning Austin by 13 seconds. Russell and Hamilton would need to win all 5 races left, and neither has won 2 in a row all season. So it's done, the paperwork just hasn't caught up.

Red Bull and Verstappen arrived on fire, with the last 2 wins. This time a few things broke, and he made sure everyone heard.

Race poster of the United States Grand Prix 2026 at the Circuit of the Americas: Antonelli's black Mercedes #12 crossing the chequered line in the foreground, Leclerc's Ferrari and Verstappen's Red Bull further up the track toward a championship trophy under Mexican banners, Russell sitting by the track with his head down and Hamilton standing beside him in Ferrari red.
United States Grand Prix Antonelli needs 2 more points. His rivals need 5 straight wins.

108 alerts across 56 laps

Live alerts fired during the United States Grand Prix

The Race

On lap 14 Red Bull brought Verstappen in for more softs, the fast tyres that don't last, while Mercedes left Antonelli out.

Grid Copilot alert on lap 16: Undercut On, Verstappen stopped early for new tyres to get ahead of Antonelli, and it's working.
The early stop is working, lap 16 Antonelli would come out behind.

Then the plan ran into the other Red Bull. Hadjar, still on his first tyres, was only told to move once Verstappen was stuck behind him, and argued anyway.

"Thank you guys, really good strategy there" Verstappen told the team.

Grid Copilot alert on lap 27: Undercut Worked, Verstappen stopped early and it paid off, up to P1 on his second set of soft tyres, with Antonelli back in P3 after his stop.
Verstappen leads, lap 27 For 7 laps. Softs again, so another stop was coming.

Antonelli made his only stop on lap 25 and came out P4. By lap 32 Verstappen's softs were done. Red Bull brought him in, and Antonelli passed Leclerc on track for the lead.

Grid Copilot alert on lap 34: Battle for P1, Pulling Away, Antonelli pulling away from Leclerc, out of reach in about 1 lap.
Antonelli gone, lap 34 Out of reach a lap later.

Verstappen's slow lap-32 stop dropped him to P5, behind Norris, who was suddenly running for a podium.

Grid Copilot alert on lap 38: Tyre Risk, Norris is on 21-lap hard tyres and Verstappen pitted 6 laps ago and is already catching him on new tyres.
Verstappen catching Norris, lap 38 6-lap mediums against Norris's 21-lap hards.

Verstappen had everything he needed to pass Norris, and did on lap 47. Then Leclerc took P2 off him, and Hamilton was gaining about a second a lap until Bottas's Cadillac broke down and a Virtual Safety Car bailed Verstappen out. Hamilton missed the podium by 1 second.

Verstappen's radio review: "The pace, the wrong tyre, sh*t pitstop, sh*t engine braking. Nothing worked. Lucky with the VSC at the end." 1 star, would not recommend.

Elsewhere In The Grid

Russell got a 5 second penalty for going off the track to stay ahead of Piastri, then got stuck behind him anyway. Hamilton is now 1 point behind Russell for P2 in the championship, Verstappen and Leclerc within 9.

Grid Copilot alert on lap 35: Battle for P7, Still Stuck, Russell has been right behind Piastri for 5 laps but can't find a way past.
Russell stuck, lap 35 Behind Piastri, all the way to P8.

Albon and Alonso touched on lap 1, leaving Alonso with "half a car". He still beat Albon, then called the drivers at the back "very low" quality. From P16.

P9 in Mexico makes Antonelli champion. See you there.

P1

ANTONELLI

P2

LECLERC

P3

VERSTAPPEN