Austin (AFP) – Kimi Antonelli moved to within striking distance of his first world championship title as he powered to an emphatic victory at the US Grand Prix in Austin on Sunday. It was his ninth win of the season, and with his only rivals, Mercedes teammate George Russell and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, finishing eighth and fourth respectively, the 20-year-old Italian needs just to come in ninth in next week’s race in Mexico to become the youngest ever Formula One champion. He is also set to become the first Italian to win the title since Alberto Ascari in 1953.
Antonelli finished over 13 seconds ahead of the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen completing the podium. Antonelli started the race in pole position and after a clean start already had a 2sec lead by the end of the opening lap, at which point the result never seemed in doubt, mechanical failure and pit stop disasters notwithstanding.
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Verstappen was beaten off the start by Leclerc, who started in third, but the four-time world champion wasted no time in reclaiming second spot. Leclerc, however, overtook him in the latter part of the race, and Verstappen was left hanging on for third as Hamilton also closed.
Antonelli would have become the youngest ever champion, smashing the current record of Sebastian Vettel, who was 23 years and 133 days when he won his first title in 2010, if Russell had finished lower than eighth and Hamilton failed to make the top four. Russell, who has had some terrible luck all season, was hit with a 5sec penalty for running off the track on the opening lap and struggled to get past McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who came in seventh. Lando Norris, the outgoing champion, was running second until the closing laps when his tyres appeared to give up, and he had to settle for fifth with Isack Hadjar sixth in the second Red Bull.
© 2024 AFP
