Overview
- Antonelli set a 1:34.035 in qualifying on Saturday to claim pole for the United States Grand Prix with Max Verstappen second and Isack Hadjar third.
- If Antonelli wins the race and George Russell finishes ninth or lower and Lewis Hamilton finishes fifth or lower he will secure the 2026 drivers’ championship.
- Race officials deleted dozens of laps for exceeding track limits across the weekend, including five laps for Charles Leclerc, and several final Q3 efforts were lost to those rulings.
- Multiple power-unit penalties reshaped the effective grid: Gabriel Bortoleto will start from the back after large component changes and Arvid Lindblad carries a five-place drop, prompting Racing Bulls to withhold Liam Lawson from a Q3 run.
- Ferrari led all practice sessions but failed to convert that pace in qualifying, underlining how COTA’s changing conditions, tyre degradation and setup timing swung Saturday’s order and strengthened Antonelli’s chance at clinching early.