(PRIMASPORT) AUSTIN – Andrea Kimi Antonelli isn't yet the Formula 1 world champion, but the finish line is very close. The prodigious 20-year-old from Bologna also won the United States Grand Prix, the icing on the cake of a Sunday that began with Mercedes expected to be the third-placed driver behind both Red Bull and Ferrari. Instead, on the scenic COTA circuit in Austin, he achieved a commanding victory, the result of once again a completely error-free drive and a courageous one-stop strategy. Charles Leclerc finished second, finally in top form behind the wheel of the SF-26 and able to overtake Max Verstappen, who finished third, in the closing stages. Lewis Hamilton finished fourth and George Russell eighth, with clear consequences for the championship: Antonelli will clinch the title in Mexico City if he finishes ninth, regardless of anyone else's results. He's just two points away from etching his name into the motorsports Olympus.
His nightmare was over just a few meters from the start: Antonelli got off to a perfect start and entered the first corner with a significant advantage over his rivals. Things went worse for Verstappen, who moved from pole position to third behind a courageous Leclerc, who managed to pass him even on the extremely tricky Snake in Austin. The Dutchman reclaimed second place even before the first lap of COTA was completed, but this immediately confirmed two themes of the United States Grand Prix: the great competitiveness of Ferrari and Red Bull and the possibility for Kimi to capitalize on this by setting up a solo race without dangerous close calls. And indeed, after 14 laps of nothing, Verstappen himself diversified his strategy, opting for a first pit stop that would prove costly later on, switching from soft tires to another set of softs. The Ferraris behind him instead opted for mediums, while a seemingly lost Norris in eighth place switched to hards: the Englishman from McLaren would prove to be right, at least in part.
Meanwhile, yet another nightmare of a dominant performance unfolds for George Russell, who needed a ninth-place finish to extend his championship hopes by at least one more weekend. This was achieved with great difficulty only after several pit stops, due to a penalty for veering off the road and resulting contact with Hadjar. The pit stop for the number 63 Mercedes comes on lap 23, the first of two in which Antonelli would mathematically be the world champion (Hamilton is currently fifth). On lap 25, Kimi also changes tires, and the collision will not recur during the race. But the United States Grand Prix still has something to tell in the finale: on laps 39 and 40, Hamilton and then Leclerc somewhat surprisingly switch to hard tires in their final pit stop, while Verstappen, ahead of them, has already opted for mediums. The two Ferraris flew, and by the 46th minute, the Monegasque was on the tail of the third-placed Red Bull and Norris's McLaren, which had climbed to second thanks to sticking to a one-stop strategy. The Dutchman quickly dispatched the world champion, but Leclerc made two sensational passes in the next two laps and moved up to second. Hamilton might even have joined him on the podium, had it not been for a Virtual Safety Car late in the race that slowed his progress.
But the great protagonist of the day was and remains Kimi Antonelli, with his ninth victory of the season and just two steps away from becoming the first Formula 1 world champion born in the 21st century, the first to do so at just 20 years of age, the first Italian to do so since Alberto Ascari and even since 1953. All this while celebrating from a podium shared with Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen: no small feat. (PRIMASPORT)