Antonelli takes US pole on weekend he can win title

Kimi Antonelli has to win the US Grand Prix to have a chance of securing the F1 title in Austin

Kimi Antonelli took pole position for the United States Grand Prix on the weekend on which he can potentially clinch his first world title.

The Mercedes driver beat Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by 0.179 seconds, with the Dutchman’s team-mate Isack Hadjar third ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.

Antonelli whooped with delight as he took his first pole position since the Belgian Grand Prix in July and said: “It feels good to be back.”

The 20-year-old Italian will become world champion on Sunday if he wins the race in Austin with Hamilton lower than fourth and Russell lower than eighth.

Hamilton is already below that position having qualified fifth, while Russell will start sixth ahead of the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

Antonelli’s pole came as something of a surprise after the Ferraris had topped all three practice sessions and Verstappen had looked strong through the second part of qualifying.

“I wasn’t expecting that,” said Antonelli’s engineer Peter Bonnington, emphasising that his charge’s first lap in final qualifying was good enough for pole.

Verstappen had been fourth quickest in Q2 despite being on used tyres but he found his car lacked the requisite grip in the final session.

Antonelli said: “We got pole so we will try to win tomorrow but Max has been very quick and Isack did an incredible job so it is not going to be easy.

“We try to get a good start and hopefully lead into Turn One and try to set the pace, even though it’s going to be very tight.”

Verstappen said: “Q3 was not good, Q1, Q2 were nice but for whatever reason in run one and two just didn’t have a nice balance. No mistakes, just not enough grip. But if it’s still a P2, I take it.”

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Hadjar was just 0.036secs behind the four-time champion while the Ferraris faded when it mattered, as they have so many times this season.

Leclerc, fastest in second and third practice, was 0.232secs off the pace and pipped Hamilton by just 0.044secs.

He said: “Just tyres were so difficult to put in the right window and as soon as the track is getting a tiny bit cooler we suffer from it massively. Q1 and Q2 we were up there but in Q3 we started to lose a little bit the pace we had.”

Russell was 0.441secs off his team-mate while the fastest McLaren was 0.768secs from pole despite an upgrade for this weekend as Norris’ best lap time was deleted for breaching track limits.

Russell said: “Things were looking good in the first two parts of qualifying but unfortunately just made a couple of mistakes in Q3 and didn’t do the lap. I don’t think I could have fought for pole but I think top three was definitely on the cards for me, but I went slower in Q3 than Q2 and that says enough.”

A downcast Norris, obviously upset with himself, added: “Not great. Just difficult. The car was the best it’s felt but I just did a crap job.”

The Racing Bulls of Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson took ninth and 10th places but the Briton will be demoted five places because of a penalty for using too many engine parts.

1. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 1:34.035

2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.179

3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.232

4. George Russell (Mercedes) +0.441

5. Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +2.014*

6. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) no time

*Lindblad has five-place grid penalty

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