As Motorsport.com reports from the paddock, Kimi Antonelli delivered another masterclass in Austin, putting himself within touching distance of the title. The Italian put together a perfect weekend with his first pole since Spa in the middle of the summer and a commanding victory, showing strong pace on both tyre compounds after a clean start. It is now a formality that he will officially wrap up his first championship in Mexico, barring something extraordinary.
Mercedes finally seems to have unlocked the potential of the upgrade package it introduced back in Bahrain and Malaysia, though it has played out differently across the garage. Both Antonelli and George Russell ran the upgrades in Austin alongside a front wing trialled in Singapore, but the W17 was a different beast in Antonelli's hands as he cruised from pole to victory. Russell, meanwhile, reverted to the previous specification in Singapore to compare the packages, but weekends like Austin expose a staggering performance gap between the Mercedes team-mates.
That leaves Russell needing to start worrying about 2027 right now. While he is mathematically still in contention for this year's crown, Antonelli will clinch it next Sunday unless Russell wins the race. Facing the prospect of a career as a wingman after being outpaced by a young Italian, Russell needs to use the remaining races of 2026 to find answers, experiment with different approaches, or figure out what is preventing him from matching Antonelli's speed.
Further down the grid, Liam Lawson handled the pressure brilliantly both on and off the track. After admitting that performing on stage in the Live Music Capital of the World on Thursday brought ten times more pressure than racing in a grand prix, the Racing Bulls driver delivered another assured performance. He posted the sixth-fastest time on Friday, played the team game on Saturday by sitting out Q3 to save team-mate Arvid Lindblad from dropping further back than his five-place penalty, and drove to ninth on Sunday to lead the midfield home. It marked his 13th points finish of the season and helped Racing Bulls pull further clear of Alpine.
Williams, on the other hand, is completely running out of excuses. After sacrificing 2025 and pinning all its hopes on a major upgrade package for Baku—which only yielded points once in the last 12 races—Austin marked a dismal new low. The team finished ahead of only Cadillac and even trailed Lance Stroll's Aston Martin, getting knocked out in Q1 and stranded in no man's land during the race. With the remaining races looking like a long slog, Williams is already promising that 2027 will be better.
