Russell Left Behind

Austin LIVE: Antonelli Gets Off to a Flying Start

Let’s be honest! Who could seriously challenge Kimi Antonelli for the World Championship title at this point?(Bild: AFP/CLIVE ROSE)

Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli won the Austin Grand Prix in the U.S. However, the Formula 1 World Championship title decision in favor of the 20-year-old Italian has been postponed because his closest rivals, Lewis Hamilton (4th) and George Russell (8th), scored points accordingly. Nevertheless, the world championship title is now just a formality.

Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and Max Verstappen (Red Bull) finished second and third, respectively, to round out the podium. Antonelli will have his next chance to become the youngest world champion of all time in a week’s time in Mexico.

+8

Fotos

With his ninth career victory in motorsport’s “premier class,” Antonelli extended his commanding lead to 123 points (over Russell) with five races remaining. This means that even a ninth-place finish next Sunday will be enough for him. “That was the result we needed. Well done, let’s keep pushing like this,” the winner radioed to the pit crew.

Antonelli knows: “We’re very close.”
His home country has been waiting for its next Formula 1 world champion for over 70 years. Alberto Ascari achieved it in 1953. No one doubts anymore that Antonelli will follow in his footsteps soon. With his victory in qualifying, he had already put himself in position in Texas. On Sunday, he once again did everything he could to secure his early coronation. But the competition wasn’t playing along just yet. Russell, second in the championship, and Hamilton, third in the standings, shouldn’t have finished higher than ninth and fifth, respectively. “We’re very close. Hopefully we’ll be able to pull it off soon,” Antonelli said with a grin during the winner’s interview.

  With a record crowd of 467,000 fans over the entire weekend, the event was once again a major draw. The man on whom all eyes were fixed before the race got off to a lightning-fast start. While Antonelli pulled away, Verstappen was caught off guard by Leclerc but found an opening shortly afterward to reclaim second place. Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar, who ultimately finished sixth, had to let both Ferraris pass him. He settled into fifth place ahead of George Russell. With that, the top positions—each on different tire compounds—were secured.

Tire Strategy
Up front, Antonelli was soon running alone at the front before a tire strategy battle unfolded. Verstappen was the first driver to switch off the soft tires, while his teammate Hadjar waited twelve laps longer to do so. Antonelli switched to hard tires on lap 25 of 56 in the Texas heat and initially fell back behind Verstappen and Leclerc. Shortly thereafter, Verstappen reported serious problems. “The car is undriveable,” the flustered Dutchman radioed. After a pit stop for Verstappen and a passing maneuver, Antonelli once again confidently led the field over the numerous bumps on the track and secured the victory without any trouble.

The result:

The standings in the World Championship:

Behind them, Leclerc, on fresher tires, managed to overtake last year’s winner, Verstappen.