Antonelli delivers 'the race of a champion who isn't the champion yet'

Kimi Antonelli's Austin win was "the best he has delivered", according to Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, even if it wasn't quite enough to give him the title. Kimi Antonelli needs two points in Mexico to be certain of becoming world champion The race that took Kimi Antonelli to the brink of a record-breaking world championship was, in the words of his Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, "the best he has delivered so far" and "the race of a champion who isn't the champion yet". The 20-year-old Italian's victory in the United States Grand Prix puts him in an impregnable position. Antonelli is so far ahead in the points that the only way he could not win the title in Mexico City next weekend is if either his team-mate George Russell or Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton win the race.

Even then, Antonelli will guarantee the title if he finishes ninth, or 10th if it's Hamilton. He arrived here thanks to one of the most dominant victories of the season, in a car in which Russell could finish only eighth, albeit hampered by a five-second penalty. While Russell was toiling and failing to pass McLaren's Oscar Piastri, Antonelli was operating on another level entirely, as he has so often this season. "Exceptional," Wolff said, "and I think he's outperformed the car." Antonelli wins