Antonelli beats Verstappen to United States GP pole in Austin

Kimi Antonelli will start the US Grand Prix from pole position after beating Max Verstappen in a tight qualifying session at the Circuit of The Americas.

The championship leader produced a 1:34.035 on his first run in Q3, putting him 0.179 seconds ahead of Verstappen. Isack Hadjar took third in the second Red Bull, only 0.036s behind his team-mate. Antonelli abandoned his final attempt, but nobody was able to beat his earlier time. It gives the Mercedes driver his seventh pole of the season as he heads into Sunday’s race with his first opportunity to clinch the 2026 world championship.

Ferrari fall short after setting practice pace

Pole had looked difficult to predict throughout qualifying. Lando Norris led Q1 before Charles Leclerc put Ferrari on top in Q2, continuing the pace the team had shown by leading all three practice sessions. Antonelli then found more when Q3 began. Leclerc finished fourth, just 0.017s behind Hadjar, with Lewis Hamilton fifth and George Russell sixth in the second Mercedes.

McLaren could not turn its Q1 pace into a challenge for the front row. Oscar Piastri qualified seventh, while Norris dropped to eighth after his final lap was deleted for exceeding track limits. Verstappen will nevertheless start alongside Antonelli after winning the previous two Grands Prix in Malaysia and Singapore. Red Bull also have Hadjar immediately behind in third, giving Antonelli two Red Bulls around him on the run towards COTA’s steep opening corner.

United States GP starting grid

Three power-unit penalties have changed the order behind the leading eight. Arvid Lindblad qualified ninth but drops five places to 14th, promoting Liam Lawson, Pierre Gasly, Nico Hulkenberg, Fernando Alonso and Oliver Bearman. Franco Colapinto has a 10-place penalty and starts 21st, while Gabriel Bortoleto will line up 22nd after exceeding his permitted allocation of several power-unit components. The table below therefore shows Sunday’s starting positions rather than simply the qualifying classification.

Start	Driver	Team	Qualifying time
1	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1:34.035
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:34.214
3	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	1:34.250
4	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:34.267
5	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	1:34.311
6	George Russell	Mercedes	1:34.476
7	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:34.803
8	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:35.049
9	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	No Q3 time
10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	1:35.080
11	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	1:35.158
12	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1:35.818
13	Oliver Bearman	Haas	1:36.031
14	Arvid Lindblad*	Racing Bulls	1:36.049
15	Esteban Ocon	Haas	1:36.531
16	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	1:36.677
17	Carlos Sainz	Williams	1:36.770
18	Alex Albon	Williams	1:36.967
19	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	1:37.433
20	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	1:37.523
21	Franco Colapinto*	Alpine	1:35.722
22	Gabriel Bortoleto*	Audi	1:35.691

*Grid penalties applied.

Antonelli has first chance to win F1 title

Antonelli starts the race 102 points ahead of Russell and 111 clear of Hamilton. With six Grands Prix remaining, Austin is the first weekend on which the championship can be decided. If Antonelli wins, Russell must finish ninth or lower and Hamilton fifth or lower for the Mercedes driver to become world champion. Our full guide explains how Antonelli can win the F1 title in Austin.

Russell starts sixth and Hamilton fifth, so both currently line up inside the positions they need to keep the championship alive. Verstappen, meanwhile, starts directly alongside Antonelli as he chases a third successive Grand Prix victory. The United States Grand Prix starts at 3pm in Austin, 4pm Eastern, 1pm Pacific and 8pm UK time. Our United States GP race-week guide has the full COTA schedule and weekend details.

Keep up with the United States Grand Prix

Follow the latest Formula 1 news, race results and analysis on Read Motorsport throughout the Austin weekend.