Kimi Antonelli has his first opportunity to clinch the 2026 Formula 1 World Drivers' Championship at the United States Grand Prix. The race will begin at 15:00 local time (20:00 GMT) in Austin, Texas. Follow the latest updates from the Circuit of the Americas here!

Antonelli claimed pole position for today's United States Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver finished just under two tenths of a second ahead of Max Verstappen. Isack Hadjar completed the top three, while Charles Leclerc is set to start fourth on the grid. Antonelli's two closest rivals in the standings, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, will start fifth and sixth, respectively. The two McLaren drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, complete the fourth row in that order.

Entering the race, Antonelli is 102 points ahead of Russell and 111 points ahead of Hamilton in the standings. The young Italian needs to extend his lead to more than 125 points by the end of the weekend to claim the title. If he wins, Russell finishes no higher than ninth and Hamilton no higher than fifth, Antonelli will become the youngest F1 world champion ever, taking the record from Sebastian Vettel.

Power unit penalties shake up the United States Grand Prix grid order at COTA

A total of 95 places' worth of grid penalties have already been handed out to various drivers for changing power unit components. Arvid Lindblad made it through to Q3 yesterday and qualified ninth, but a five-place grid penalty will relegate him to P14 on the grid.

Gabriel Bortoleto and Franco Colapinto finished 13th and 14th, respectively, on Saturday, and both drivers will have to start from the back of the grid at the Circuit of the Americas. Colapinto has a 10-place grid penalty, while Bortoleto's power unit component changes amount to an 80-place (!) grid penalty for today's Grand Prix.