Andrea Kimi Antonelli arrives at the United States Grand Prix one good Sunday away from becoming Formula 1’s youngest world champion.
The Mercedes driver has 340 points and leads teammate George Russell by 102. Lewis Hamilton is 111 behind in third, and Antonelli has topped the standings since round three in Japan.
The standings
| Position | Driver | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 340 |
| 2 | George Russell | Mercedes | 238 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 229 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 221 |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 215 |
| 6 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 201 |
Six rounds remain, starting in Austin. This leaves a maximum of 150 points for a driver who wins every remaining Grand Prix. After the United States Grand Prix, five races remain: Mexico, Brazil, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, worth a maximum of 125 points.
How Kimi Antonelli wins it in Austin
He needs to come out of Texas with a lead big enough that no one can catch him. This means outscoring Russell by 23 points, Hamilton by 14 and Verstappen by six to seal his record-breaking title.
Victory is the starting point. A win would also give Antonelli the title on countback in the event of an end-of-season points tie, because race wins are the first tiebreaker.
Who else is still win?
Russell and Hamilton are the realistic threats, but three more drivers remain in the hunt mathematically. Verstappen (119 points back), Leclerc (125) and Norris (139) are all still in contention, but an Antonelli win in Austin would knock all three out wherever they finished.
The longer shots depend on something close to a collapse. A driver lower down the order can only win the title if Antonelli scores no more points and nobody else passes his current 340.
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