Antonelli just two points from F1 title after winning US Grand Prix

Hamilton and Leclerc were next in, switching to mediums, with Leclerc in particular coming to life. Mercedes stuck to their guns. Russell came in on lap 22 for a set off hard compound tyres and re-emerged in 10th, with Antonelli doing likewise two laps later. That put Verstappen into the lead of the race, but the Dutchman seemed stressed. His radio was not working brilliantly, limiting his communications with his race engineer Tom Hart, while he was furious that the team did not order team-mate Hadjar out of the way when he came up behind him after stopping. “Thanks guys. Really good strategy there. Stuck in the dirty air. F---.” His mood was not helped by a slow stop on lap 31 to switch to a set of medium tyres. On lap 38, Hamilton pitted and came out in sixth. Russell, meanwhile, was languishing perilously in eighth, unable to pass Piastri in seventh despite having fresher tyres. At this point, Antonelli was within a whisker of being crowned champion. All it would have taken was Russell to lose one spot. Admittedly, he was 28 seconds ahead of Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson, but all it would have taken was a mistake, or a power unit failure and the title race was over. Rather incredibly, it is the first time Verstappen has been out of title contention since the final race of 2020. “Yeah, I think our overall pace was not good enough and probably the tyres we had available were probably not the right ones. For whatever reason it didn’t work out. We still managed to get on the podium... I’ll take it.” A late virtual safety car after Valtteri Bottas’s Cadillac ground to a halt by the side of the track, made the final laps rather processional, denying us the opportunity of seeing the fast-closing Hamilton take on Verstappen for the final podium spot. But it hardly mattered. The day belonged once again to Antonelli, who should be champion by the end of next week.