Antonelli takes United States GP pole ahead of Verstappen as title push gathers pace
Antonelli unbeatable in Austin qualifying
Kimi Antonelli was unbeatable in qualifying for the United States Grand Prix, sealing pole position for the seventh time in 2026 at Circuit of The Americas.
The Mercedes driver edged out the Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar to set the fastest time in Q3. On a weekend when the Italian could be crowned world champion, his first lap of 1m 34.035s was enough to take pole, with no one able to find the improvements needed to challenge him in the final minutes.
Top ten order and penalties
Verstappen was nearly two-tenths off the pace in P2 as he went marginally quicker than Hadjar and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, while Lewis Hamilton settled for fifth place.
Mercedes’ George Russell was a frustrating P6 ahead of McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who moved up a place after his team mate Lando Norris’ time was deleted for track limits, relegating the Briton to P8.
Although Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson completed the top 10, the former will receive a five-place penalty for exceeding the permitted internal combustion engine allocation.
Pierre Gasly came close to squeezing into the top 10 but ultimately missed out by just 0.022s in 11th, qualifying ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto as Audi’s tow strategy didn’t work out.
Franco Colapinto followed in 14th for Alpine but he will lose 10 positions for taking a new control electronics unit, promoting Fernando Alonso and Ollie Bearman who initially finished P15 and P16 in qualifying.
Esteban Ocon couldn’t find the time he needed to progress to Q2 and was eliminated in P17, leading Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and the Williams duo of Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon as the Spaniard suffered his worst qualifying result at this track since his rookie season.
Cadillac rounded out the order with Sergio Perez taking P21 ahead of Valtteri Bottas in P22, but they will gain a position each once Colapinto and Bortoleto’s grid penalties are applied for changing multiple power unit components.
Qualifying results
FORMULA 1 MSC CRUISES UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX 2026
- 1 - 1:34.035
- 2 - 1:34.214
- 3 - 1:34.250
- 4 - 1:34.267
- 5 - 1:34.311