Austin puts on a show as Kimi Antonelli almost seals the championship.
It was a weekend out in Austin, Texas as Kimi Antonelli continued his winning streak and added another one under his belt for the 2026 season. The championship battle was very close to being sealed, however his remaining competitors wanted to take it to one more race. George Russell unfortunately had a difficult day, having started P6, strategy and difficulty on track with overtaking made it difficult to move. He ended up finishing P8 after being stuck behind the McLaren of Oscar Piastri for most of the race.
Charles Leclerc put on a show with some smart overtaking moments, especially to secure the P2 spot. With some drivers struggling for pace on tyres, Leclerc used that to his advantage, as well as being able to manage his own tyres too. Lewis Hamilton ended up being stuck just behind Max Verstappen with a late Virtual Safety Car call costing him the chance to fight for P3.
Max Verstappen was very lucky to secure P3, with Hamilton chasing him down and almost beating him to the line. Verstappen appeared to struggle for pace throughout the entire race, with significant tyres drop off towards the end of each stint. Isack Hadjar finished P6, splitting the two McLarens and finishing well ahead of Piastri.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri had a quiet race, struggling for a bit of pace, with Norris facing an almost 2 car overtake and Piastri having some great defence against Russell. Lando Norris finished P5, close to 12 seconds behind Hamilton, whilst Oscar Piastri finished P7.
P9 went to Liam Lawson as he displayed similar defensive ability as we have all previously seen him do. However, despite that, it was an otherwise quiet weekend for Lawson in a race of his own, with nobody near to him. Arvid Lindblad finished outside of the points in P12 after a bit of a tough day with pace. The young driver struggled to keep up, but having started P14, it was a gain on the day.
Pierre Gasly rounded out the top 10, finishing P10. The Alpine driver had a similar situation to Lawson, just having a lone man race with no one nearby to gain track position on. Franco Colapinto added a DNF to his 2026 season due to severe damage to his car after a lap 30 incident with his teammate and Arvid Lindblad where he was sandwiched between the two drivers.
Audi had another tough weekend, scoring no points and only just missing out on the opportunity for points. Nico Hulkenberg finished P11, just missing out on the P10 position, whilst his teammate Gabriel Bortoleto finished P13, which was a positive after he was forced to take an 80-place grid penalty for use of additional power unit elements.
Esteban Ocon has faced a difficult year, with the Haas car proving it is not as competitive as it ideally should be. He was stuck down in the lower half of the grid finishing P14. His teammate Ollie Bearman finished the day early on lap 24 due to extensive damage and loss of downforce after an incident with Alpines Pierre Gasly.
The Aston Martin pairing finished the race out in P15 and P16, with improvements to their car, but still facing some issues. Aston Martin have had a dismal year, like Cadillac with very little point scoring opportunities in the 2026 season. Lance Stroll finished P15 ahead of teammate Fernando Alonso who finished P16.
Williams faced one of their toughest weekends of the year in Austin. The team struggled for any kind of pace and would ultimately finish at the back end of the grid and far from points. Alex Albon finished P17, and teammate Carlos Sainz finished P18. Both drivers had noted the difficulty of driving the car throughout the entire weekend.
Cadillac had once again faced a one driver in and one driver as a DNF. Sergio Perez finished the race as the last car in P19, whilst Valtteri Bottas had yet another DNF added to his tough 2026 season, retiring on lap 51 due to a mechanical failure.
This weekend’s outing in Mexico could be the race where F1 crowns their newest champion, Kimi Antonelli. But the battle for P2 to P5 still remains with drivers fighting to finish in the best position possible.
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