Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli Within Reach of Becoming Youngest F1 Champion as Series Resumes at COTA
Antonelli needs a win and help from rivals to seal the championship, with only 150 points left available this season, officials said.
- On Sunday, October 25, 2026, Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli can clinch his maiden Formula 1 Drivers' Championship at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, marking his first opportunity to secure the title.
- The 20-year-old Italian has dominated the 2026 season with nine victories across 17 rounds, defying pre-season expectations that initially favored Mercedes teammate George Russell.
- To clinch the title in Austin, Antonelli must win the race while teammate Russell finishes ninth or lower and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton finishes fifth or lower.
- Victory would make Antonelli the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history, surpassing Sebastian Vettel's 2010 record at age 23, and Italy's first titleholder since Alberto Ascari in 1953.
- Should these results not occur in Austin, the championship battle continues to the Mexico City Grand Prix on November 1, pending potential calendar adjustments due to Middle East conflict.
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Andrea Kimi Antonelli took the pole position for the United States Grand Prix, followed by Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar.
Ferrari still ahead of everyone, Leclerc 3rd but his best lap was cancelled for having exceeded the limits of the track. Antonelli fourth, at 23 the qualifying
A strong leader in the drivers' standings, the young Italian prodigy could leave Austin with the world crown at five GPs at the end of the championship. With more than 100 points ahead of his team-mate George Russell, the world title holds out to Kimi Antonelli.
Kimi Antonelli can become the new world champion of the "king class" already this weekend. Or is there a curious development?
The first match point is in Austin. To exploit it, however, Kimi Antonelli must win the U.S. GP and wait for two precise results: George Russell ninth or worse, Lewis Hamilton fifth or worse. Only with this combination, on the Italian evening of Sunday 25 October, the Mercedes driver will be able to become world champion with [...] L'articolo F1, Kimi Antonelli champion 2026: the combinations to win the title already in Austin comes from Il Fatt…
It is already in the United States GP (Sunday, 20h, DAZN) that the Italian kid, who guarantees who knows him, maintains the natural grace and genuineness of when he was a child, will have the first opportunity to guarantee a title that seems inevitable. After a difficult debut in 2025, in his second year in Formula 1 he saw a Kimi Antonelli, dominator, psychologically very strong, who discovered his limits by wandering and learning from these mi…
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