Kimi Antonelli could already become the new F1 world champion on Sunday. This weekend, in Austin (Texas), the Italian Mercedes driver will have his first match point, provided he wins the United States Grand Prix. With a advantage of 102 points on his teammate George Russell e with 125 points still up for grabs after the Texan stage, Antonelli must necessarily triumph over Circuit of the Americas to hope to win his first world title at just 20 years old. However, the driver from Bologna will also have to count on a misstep from his teammate who, by arriving in the top eight on Sunday, could postpone the awarding of the title for at least a week, in Mexico or Brazil.
The Italian driver is unlikely to take excessive risks on the Texan track in order to become champion this weekend. “I’m fighting to win the championship and there isn’t much left. I hope to win it within two weeks, but we’ll see”he told French basketball player Victor Wembanyama on Monday, who plays in the NBA with the San Antonio Spurs, a Texan team. Red Bull and Max Verstappen However, he wants to postpone the verdict, aware of the improvements in recent weeks, as demonstrated by the two consecutive victories of the four-time world champion in Malaysia and Singapore. “The track in Austin will be very different, but the objective will be to maintain this momentum, making the most of every opportunity to gain as many points as possible for the constructors’ championship,” explained the Dutchman.
The difficulties of “Silver Arrows” are evident with only three GPs out of the last seven won with McLaren and Ferrari improving in performance. “In the last two races, Red Bull e Ferrari they proved to be more competitive than before. We know we face a real battle. It is important to continue learning how to extract more performance from the car, to face the next events with the belief that we can fight for victory”, declared Bradley Lord, Mercedes vice-team principal, during the Nu Silver Arrows Radio Show.