Kimi Antonelli secured pole position for the United States Grand Prix this weekend, a result that could ultimately decide whether he claims his maiden world championship title.
He outpaced Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by a margin of 0.179 seconds, with team-mate Isack Hadjar finishing third ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.
The 20-year-old Italian was ecstatic as he conquered his first pole position since winning the Belgian Grand Prix in July, remarking, “It feels really good to get back to this.”
Should he triumph Sunday in Austin—overtaking Hamilton into fourth place and Russell into eighth—the driver will crown himself world champion.
Hamilton currently starts fifth, while Russell will take sixth, well ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
His favourable spot was quite surprising, given that Ferraris had dominated all three practice sessions and Verstappen had looked incredibly strong during the latter half of qualifying.
Not anticipating such a placement, Antonelli’s engineer Peter Bonnington stressed that the car’s performance on its initial final-qualifying lap was the determining factor.
Verstappen had managed only fourth quickest times in Q2 despite starting on used tyres, yet found his vehicle lacked sufficient grip during the closing stages of qualifying.
Antonelli stated: “We secured the pole, so we will certainly try to win, but Max has been exceptionally quick and Isack has done an incredible job, making it far from straightforward.”
“Our strategy is to make a strong launch and hopefully gain early control into Turn One to establish the rhythm,” he added, acknowledging how fiercely competitive the race promises to be.
Verstappen reflected: “Q3 was poor, although Q1 and Q2 were excellent, but somehow in run one and two there wasn’t a proper balance. There was no mistake, just insufficient grip—but if we are P2, I accept it.”