Kimi Antonelli takes United States Grand Prix pole for Mercedes
NXTbets Pro | Published On: October 25, 2026
Antonelli pole
Kimi Antonelli put Mercedes on the front row in Austin, taking pole position for the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. He edged Max Verstappen by 0.179 seconds and delivered his seventh pole of the 2026 Formula 1 season. Antonelli said he was pleased with the lap in windy and unpredictable conditions, and Mercedes left qualifying with its first pole position since the Belgian Grand Prix.
The result gave Mercedes a major boost. Antonelli delivered when it mattered most, while Verstappen pushed hard and came up just short in second. The pole carried extra weight because it came against Verstappen and on a day when several contenders had chances to challenge for the top spot.
Antonelli championship
Antonelli can clinch the championship Sunday if he wins and George Russell finishes ninth or lower and Lewis Hamilton finishes fifth or lower. He leads Russell by 102 points and Hamilton by 111 as the season moves toward another critical race. If he closes it out, he would become the youngest Formula 1 world champion in history at 20 years and 61 days old.
The championship picture places extra focus on Sunday’s race. Russell and Hamilton remain part of the title chase, while Antonelli’s lead gives him a favorable position entering the event. That is why the pole matters beyond Saturday’s session: it gives him track position and a strong starting point for the title scenario. For Mercedes, it also means the team goes into the race with its driver in position to finish the job.
Qualifying order
The rest of the top 10 filled out a competitive grid behind Antonelli and Verstappen. Isack Hadjar qualified third, Charles Leclerc fourth and Hamilton fifth, with Russell sixth and Oscar Piastri seventh. Lando Norris qualified eighth after a deleted lap for track limits. Ferrari had topped all three practice sessions before qualifying, but the team could not turn that pace into pole position when the session turned decisive.
That qualifying order tells the story of a field that tightened up once the pressure rose. Ferrari looked strongest across practice, but qualifying changed the picture. Hadjar’s third-place run gave him a strong starting spot, while the rest of the leading group left the session with work to do. Norris’ deleted lap for track limits shaped his outcome and dropped him into eighth, another reminder of how small margins can swing a qualifying result. Even so, the front of the grid still centers on Antonelli, and the championship chase now follows his result more closely than anyone else’s.
