Antonelli takes another step closer to F1 title with US GP pole position

Kimi Antonelli’s chances of becoming Formula One’s youngest ever world champion in Texas this weekend improved massively after he claimed a surprise pole position for Sunday’s United States Grand Prix. Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton could only qualify fifth and Antonelli’s Mercedes team-mate George Russell was sixth. Antonelli, who holds a 102-point lead over Russell heading into the race, and a 109-point lead over Hamilton, knows he has to win on Sunday to stand any chance of tying up the championship with five rounds of the season still remaining. The 20-year-old also needs Russell to finish ninth or lower and Hamilton to finish fifth or lower. But all of those things are still possible after a tricky, windy qualifying session at the Circuit of the Americas that threw up a few surprises. Ferrari, who had topped every practice session in the build-up to qualifying, were the big disappointment. McLaren team principal Zak Brown had described the Scuderia as being “in a league of their own” in practice, but Charles Leclerc could only qualify fourth and Hamilton fifth, 0.232sec and 0.276sec off the pace respectively.