Kimi Antonelli won in Austin but was made to wait at least another week to secure his F1 champion status.
Toto Wolff declared his win in Austin the best performance of Kimi Antonelli’s short Formula One career so far. The Mercedes chief was effusive with his praise of the 20-year-old who is on the brink of record-breaking title glory after securing his ninth Grand Prix victory of the season. But only after, with his practical hat on, Wolff had characterised the result as “another small step” towards the now inevitable outcome.
Antonelli will shave three years off the record for the youngest F1 champion ever when he gets over the line. That is likely to be next Sunday in Mexico City, with ninth place or better good enough to officially take the record away from Sebastian Vettel.
He could have done it in Austin on Sunday, but only if he won and Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished low enough. Both Brits scored enough points to keep themselves mathematically in contention, but Antonelli held up his end of the equation.
He won from pole and Wolff suggested he thought it was an even better performance than the one his driver produced on home soil at Monza in September, when he won from 19th on the grid. “The race of a champion who isn’t the champion yet,” was the Mercedes chief’s description.
“I’ve said that this is probably the best race I’ve seen, but my problem is that I don’t remember past races. Monza was actually also pretty good, obviously with the advantage of the home crowd. But the headline is this is the best we can keep.”
To have celebrated the title in Texas, the Antonelli required mistakes from his competitors. Hamilton prolonged the championship battle by finishing fourth and Russell just barely did his part, only managing a frustrating eighth place. He needed to be ninth or lower to be knocked out of contention.
Antonelli now holds a 123-point advantage over Russell, with a maximum of 125 still up for grabs. Hamilton is a further point behind, and so ninth place or better next time out will be enough for the Italian to make sure of his crown, even if Russell wins in Mexico City.
And he is planning to get it done. Antonelli said: “We are very close. We’ll try to finish on a high and hopefully we can clinch it very soon. I’m going to approach with the same mindset – to have fun and fight for another win. It would be best to finish well, that’s the goal, but I’m just going to try to enjoy the rest of the season.”
Antonelli’s joy was obvious as he whooped over the radio after taking the chequered flag. Once he had parked his car in parc ferme, he took off his helmet and threw himself into the arms of his mechanics who celebrated the win wildly.
“I am very happy because I have a very good group of people around me in the team and my father who always comes,” Antonelli said. “A great group of people that help me to be more relaxed and not worry about these kind of things, help me to block out the noise and allow me to enjoy the weekend and perform.
“On Thursday, [there was] a lot of talk about championship and stuff and I just tried to not worry about that and deliver the best result I could. Today was very important for me and the team.”
Russell could not find the same performance from the other Mercedes and was also hampered by a five-second time penalty, picked up for leaving the track and gaining an advantage while defending from Oscar Piastri on lap one.