AUSTIN, Texas — Kimi Antonelli secured pole position for the United States Grand Prix during qualifying Saturday at Circuit of The Americas.
The Mercedes driver edged the Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar to set the fastest time in qualifying.
On a weekend when the Italian could be crowned the world champion, his first lap of one minute and 34.035 seconds was enough to take pole, with no one able to find the improvements needed to challenge him in the final minutes.
“I felt good in the car, especially in Q3,” Antonelli said. “It was tricky with the wind because the balance was changing quite a lot from corner to corner, but that last lap was looking good.
“I pushed a little bit more and just lost it which was a shame, but still very happy with the result and looking forward to tomorrow.”
Verstappen was nearly two-tenths off the pace in second as he went marginally quicker than Hadjar and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, while Lewis Hamilton settled for fifth place.
Mercedes’ George Russell was a frustrating sixth ahead of McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who moved up a place after his team mate Lando Norris’ time was deleted for track limits, relegating the Briton to eighth.
Although Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson completed the top 10, the former will receive a five-place penalty for exceeding the permitted internal combustion engine allocation.
