Kimi Antonelli edges closer to title after winning United States Grand Prix: Formula One – as it happened

The drivers come out and celebrate on the podium. Antonelli reigns today and must only finish ninth or higher at the Mexico GP next week to clinch the overall title and become the youngest champion in F1 history.

Join us then to see if he can do it (he can). Giles Richards’ report from the Circuit of the Americas will be with us shortly.

1 Mercedes 🇩🇪 607pts 2 Ferrari 🇮🇹 474 3 Red Bull 🇦🇹 355 4 McLaren 🇬🇧 355 5 Racing Bulls 🇮🇹 102 6 Alpine 🇫🇷 69 7 Haas 🇺🇸 30 8 Audi 🇩🇪 23 9 Williams 🇬🇧 12 10 Aston Martin 🇬🇧 7 11 Cadillac 🇺🇸 0

1 Kimi Antonelli 🇮🇹 Mercedes 1:35:16.650 – 25pts 2 Charles Leclerc 🇲🇨 Ferrari +13.078 – 18pts 3 Max Verstappen 🇳🇱 Red Bull +17.485 – 15pts 4 Lewis Hamilton 🇬🇧 Ferrari +18.515 – 12pts 5 Lando Norris 🇬🇧 McLaren +30.521 – 10pts 6 Isack Hadjar 🇫🇷 Red Bull +34.373 – 8pts 7 Oscar Piastri 🇦🇺 McLaren +52.674 – 6pts 8 George Russell 🇬🇧 Mercedes +54.303 – 4pts 9 Liam Lawson 🇳🇿 Red Bull +79.183 – 2pts 10 Pierre Gasly 🇫🇷 Alpine +87.516 – 1pt 11 Nico Hülkenberg 🇩🇪 Audi +94.945s 12 Arvid Lindblad 🇬🇧Racing Bulls +1 lap 13 Gabriel Bortoleto 🇧🇷 Audi +1 lap 14 Esteban Ocon 🇫🇷 Haas +1 lap 15 Lance Stroll 🇨🇦 Aston Martin +1 lap 16 Fernando Alonso 🇪🇸 Aston Martin +1 lap 17 Alexander Albon 🇹🇭 Williams +1 lap 18 Carlos Sainz 🇪🇸 Williams +1 lap 19 Sergio Pérez 🇲🇽 Cadillac +1 lap NC Valtteri Bottas 🇫🇮 Cadillac +1 lap NC Franco Colapinto 🇦🇷 Alpine DNF NC Oliver Bearman 🇬🇧 Haas DNF

1 Kimi Antonelli 🇮🇹 Mercedes 365pts 2 George Russell 🇬🇧 Mercedes 242 3 Lewis Hamilton 🇬🇧 Ferrari 241 4 Max Verstappen 🇳🇱 Red Bull 236 5 Charles Leclerc 🇲🇨 Ferrari 233 6 Lando Norris 🇬🇧 McLaren 211 7 Oscar Piastri 🇦🇺 McLaren 144 8 Isack Hadjar 🇫🇷 Red Bull 105 9 Liam Lawson 🇳🇿 Racing Bulls 77 10 Pierre Gasly 🇫🇷 Alpine 42 11 Arvid Lindblad 🇬🇧 Racing Bulls 38 12 Franco Colapinto 🇦🇷 Alpine 27 13 Oliver Bearman 🇬🇧 Haas 23 14 Nico Hülkenberg 🇩🇪 Audi 13 15 Gabriel Bortoleto 🇧🇷 Audi 10 16 Esteban Ocon 🇫🇷 Haas 7 17 Fernando Alonso 🇪🇸 Aston Martin 7 18 Carlos Sainz 🇪🇸 Williams 7 19 Alexander Albon 🇹🇭 Williams 5 20 Yuki Tsunoda 🇯🇵 Racing Bulls 1

Yet to score: Lance Stroll 🇨🇦 Aston Martin Valtteri Bottas 🇫🇮 Cadillac Sergio Pérez 🇲🇽 Cadillac

Leclerc: “It was quite a good race, unfortunately we couldn’t get the win. But at the end of the day, it was a positive race. It was a fun race.”

Verstappen: “Our overall pace was not good enough and the tyres we had available were not the right ones. But we still managed to get on the podium.”

Antonelli: “It was a result we needed to be fair, the whole team deserved it – all this time working to bring this new package and finally seeing the result is very and very pleasant. It was always a perfect execution of strategy to call the one [pit] stop. Today was a great team effort. We’re very close [to the title]. Hopefully we can clinch it soon.”

Antonelli takes a selfie with the Mercedes crew and is now off to get weighed and checked over. He’d had to wait a whole three races for a win. Standards are slipping.

Updated top three in the drivers’ standings. You think Kimi’s going to win the title?

Kimi is excited on the team radio: “Yes, woo. Let’s go! That’s how we [BAD WORD ALERT] we do it!”

… but not the championship just yet. The 20-year-old will have to wait after Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished fourth and eighth respectively, keeping their very faint title hopes alive. That said, his ninth win of the season was a dominant one, reaffirming the fact that he’s been by far the best rider all year. And, as you may have heard 843 times before, he’s still only 20.

Lap 55/56: Antonelli’s lead is around 16 seconds. I think he may just win this one.

Lap 54/56: Bottas’s car is lifted off and the virtual safety car is done. We will finish this race … in an actual race.

Lap 53/56: Bottas pulls off the track, his car can’t be immediately be moved and the virtual safety car is out. Antonelli had a huge lead anyway, but this race could end in a procession.

Lap 51/56: Hamilton overtakes Norris and is into fourth. That means his title chances will stay alive today if he stays in fourth.

Lap 50/56: There’s an outside chance to Hamilton getting a podium here. He’s gaining on Norris in fourth and Max is really having to battle to control his car in third.

Lap 49/56: Leclerc dives past Verstappen after a wide turn at 11, and the Monaco driver is up to second. He’s had a great drive today.

Lap 48/56: While there’s action further back, Antonelli rolls (very quickly on). His lead over second-placed Verstappen is 16.3 seconds. Neither man is set to pit again today.

Lap 47/56: Verstappen continues to nibble at Norris, then slips past and is now second. Leclerc tries to pass Norris too but the Englishman hangs on … for now. And on the next turn, Norris locks up and Leclerc passes nicely and into third place.

Lap 46/56: Standings with 10 laps to go:

Lap 45/56: Verstappen is closing on second-placed Norris.

Lap 44/56: Russell still has a healthy lead over ninth-place Lawson (around 28 seconds) meaning the title race is likely to continue into the next GP as things stands.

Lap 43/56: First-place Antonelli, who won’t pit again unless something goes very wrong, leads Norris in second by 14.7sec.

Lap 42/56: Hamilton battling Hadjar for fifth. He has a few darts and is held off by Hadjar until the Englishman finally overtakes him.

Lap 41/56: Lewis Hamilton records the fastest lap of the race. Watch this kid, he could be going places.

Lap 40/56: Leclerc pits. Current standings:

Lap 39/56: Hamilton pits – almost certainly his final one of the day – and reenters in sixth. He needs to finish fourth or higher to keep his championship hopes alive.

Lap 38/56: Russell and Piastri are having a battle for seventh. Russell still comfortably ahead of Lawson, who is ninth – that gap is around 27 seconds.

Lap 37/56: Franco Colapinto retires. Antonelli gets a track limits violation as he tries to lap Sainz.

Lap 36/56: Verstappen was reporting problems a while back but seems to be more comfortable now. Proof that if you just ignore your problems in life they’ll magically sort themselves out at some point.

Lap 35/56: Russell is in eighth, meaning the title race will (nominally) continue into the Mexican GP next week. Russell looks fairly comfortable too, so he probably won’s slip back down the field.

Lap 34/56: Antonelli’s lead over Leclerc is 1.7sec.

Lap 32/56: “Front wing update please, Max,” he’s asked on the radio. His not entirely encouraging reply: “No idea, mate.” Verstappen pits and it’s a slow one. He reenters the race in fifth. For now, Leclerc leads over Antonelli, but the Italian will not pit again this race. And … he overtakes Leclerc to regain the lead anyway. A comfortable, nerveless race from the 20-year-old.

Lap 31/56: Russell is up to eighth – and Hamilton is fourth – which means Kimi would not win the title today, even if he finishes in first.

Lap 30/56: Verstappen is on the radio saying he’s having a problem with his car. He can’t hear what his engineer is saying though. So put that down as two problems: his engine and his radio. It’s looking good for Antonelli.

Lap 29/56: A bad day for Bearman. He serves his 10-second penalty and then retires from the race.

Lap 28/56: Standings at the halfway point:

Lap 27/56: As things stand, Antonelli will be ahead of Verstappen when Max pits.

Lap 26/56: Hadjar pits and Kimi moves up to third. Hamilton is fourth, which means Antonelli would not win the title if he goes on to clinch this race today.

Lap 25/56: Antonelli pits! And he reenters in fourth but he won’t pit again this race, whereas everyone else ahead of him will. The Italian remains the favourite for this race.

Lap 24/56: Verstappen is 13 seconds behind Antonelli in first. Hadjar did not like having to let Max through into second but was quickly told by the team where to stick his feelings.

Lap 23/56: Russell pits and serves his five-second penalty while he’s at it. He reenters the race in 10th. That means – as things stand with Russell in 10th and Hamilton in fifth – that Antonelli would win the title if he wins the race today. But things are likely to change between now and then. Verstappen moves into second.

Lap 22/56: Verstappen in now in third. He’s set to pit once more this race, as is the leader, Antonelli. The gap between first and third is around 14 seconds.

Lap 21/56: Leclerc, who has had an excellent race today, overtakes Russell and is now in fourth. Russell, remember, needs to finish outside the top eight for Antonelli to have a chance of clinching the title today.

Lap 20/56: The Ferraris edge up to fifth (Leclerc) and sixth (Hamilton). Leclerc also sets the fastest lap of the race so far.