Kimi Antonelli won the United States Grand Prix in Austin on Sunday, October 25, and can now be crowned Formula 1 world champion at the Mexico City Grand Prix this weekend. The 20-year-old Mercedes driver led from pole position, and it was his ninth victory of the season.

Antonelli finished 13.078 seconds ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc at the Circuit of the Americas, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen 17.485 seconds back in third. Lewis Hamilton was fourth for Ferrari and McLaren's Lando Norris fifth, according to the official Formula 1 results.

A one-stop masterclass

Antonelli made a clean start from pole and kept the lead. Behind him Verstappen dropped behind both Ferraris before recovering second place on the opening lap, Formula1.com reported. A brief Virtual Safety Car early on, to clear debris, did not trouble the leader. He kept a gap of about two seconds and then gradually extended it.

Mercedes kept him on a one-stop strategy. He ran a long first stint on medium tyres, pitted on lap 25 and switched to hards for the rest of the 56-lap race, while most of his rivals stopped twice. Late on Leclerc passed Verstappen for second, and the Dutchman then got past Norris to take the last podium place. Leclerc also set the fastest lap of the race, a 1:37.976 on lap 42, according to GrandPrix.com.

"It was the result we needed," Antonelli said afterwards, crediting his team and the decision to make only one stop.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff called it "the best race that he's delivered so far," Al Jazeera reported, and earlier described Antonelli's pole lap as "a miracle lap."

Difficult day for Russell

Antonelli's teammate George Russell, his nearest challenger in the standings, finished only eighth. He was given a five-second time penalty for gaining an advantage after banging wheels with Oscar Piastri. Haas's Ollie Bearman received a 10-second penalty and later retired. Alpine's Franco Colapinto and Cadillac's Valtteri Bottas also failed to finish, and Bottas's late stoppage brought out a second Virtual Safety Car.

Verstappen, the four-time champion, is now mathematically out of the title race. "Our overall pace was not good enough," he said, adding that Red Bull had been on the wrong tyres.

The maths for Mexico

Provisional standings published by GrandPrix.com put Antonelli on 365 points, 123 ahead of Russell on 242 and 124 ahead of Hamilton on 241, with five rounds left. In the constructors' championship Mercedes lead Ferrari 607 to 474.

Antonelli will clinch the title in Mexico City by finishing ninth or better. Russell can only take the fight further by winning the race while Antonelli finishes 10th or lower. Hamilton needs to win with Antonelli outside the points. If the points end up level, Antonelli holds the tie-break with nine wins.

The Mexico City Grand Prix runs from October 30 to November 1. If he seals the title there, Antonelli would become world champion in only his second season in Formula 1.

"I want to finish the season on a high, to go into 2027 with high hopes," Antonelli said, according to Al Jazeera.

Photos: Formula 1; AFP via Al Jazeera