Formula 1 championship leader Kimi Antonelli has vowed to keep the same mindset for the United States Grand Prix, where he could clinch his maiden world title.
The Mercedes driver has been the dominant performer of 2026 as he holds a 102-point gap over team-mate George Russell in second, thanks to 14 podiums including eight wins.
Antonelli’s most recent result was third at Singapore on Sunday and it means he now has his first opportunity of clinching the title at Circuit of the Americas next time out.
To do so he must win and hope Russell finishes ninth or lower with anything else most likely taking the fight to Mexico at the end of October, so the chances of it happening in Austin are slim.
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How can Kimi Antonelli become world champion at F1 US GP?When asked at Marina Bay if he will be thinking of the title at Austin, the 20-year-old replied: “For sure. But at the same time, I know it's very close, I know it's there, but I just need to make sure that I keep doing the best I can.
“The mindset is always the same to go out there and win and perform the best way I can. I think this weekend I haven't particularly driven that well. I felt like I could have done a better job.
“But I feel confident that, you know, a week to reset and I'm really looking forward to be back in Austin.
“At the end of the day, if I don't do my job well, then the result won't come. So in order to achieve what I want, I need to perform as simple as that.”
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Formula 1 via Getty Images
The foundations of his title charge came early in the season as Mercedes made a dominant start to the regulation switch by winning the opening six rounds from pole, Antonelli taking five victories.
Ferrari and McLaren subsequently fitted various upgrades to close the gap, meaning Antonelli won only three of the next nine rounds before a Baku update in September saw Red Bull enter the fray.
Max Verstappen has therefore won the last two races from pole, as well as the Singapore sprint, while Mercedes is still trying to figure out the update it brought to Sepang last weekend.
So Antonelli can be thankful that Red Bull made a slow start to the year, with just one podium in the opening five rounds, otherwise the threat from four-time world champion Verstappen would be higher.
“It would be very scary,” he told Sky Sports, when asked about the possibility of Verstappen being less than 119 points behind at this stage.
“It would be very, very scary. But all in all I feel like we're doing a great job. At the end, you look at the season and we've always been there.
“So obviously we've had a great car and now we're trying to understand this new package but I'm very proud of the team this weekend because we pushed through the difficulties and we started to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
“So it's just a matter of time. Now we go back to Austin again. A normal weekend, standard weekend, where we can hopefully do a lot of changes and understand more of this package.”
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