AUSTIN, Texas — Kimi Antonelli kept his composure to triumph in Sunday’s United States Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas and move closer to the World Driving Championship.
Antonelli edged out Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen in a strategic race to put his Mercedes entry in victory lane.
The Italian’s superb opening lap combined with Verstappen’s poor start to give him an early lead, which he held onto through an inspired one-stop strategy to secure his ninth Grand Prix victory of the season.
While many of his rivals stopped twice, Antonelli delivered a mighty stint on the medium tires before managing the hard compound all the way to the chequered flag, eking out a margin of 13.078 seconds even after a Virtual Safety Car slowed the field before the final lap.
“It was the result we needed,” Antonelli said. “The whole team deserves it so much and all this time putting in so much work on bringing this new package and finally seeing the result is very pleasant.
“It was also perfect execution from strategy to call the one-stop so I’m really happy we made it stick, and it was a great team effort.”
Behind him, a late move promoted Leclerc to a second consecutive P2 finish as Verstappen withstood multiple niggles with his Red Bull to complete the podium, with Lewis Hamilton adding to Ferrari’s points haul in fourth place.
Lando Norris saw his opportunity of a podium disappear with his ageing tires, leaving him in P5 ahead of Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar and the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri.
A frustrating day for George Russell saw him wind up in eighth place, followed by Liam Lawson and Pierre Gasly in the last of the points-paying positions.
