Charles Leclerc trimmed nearly two seconds off Kimi Antonelli’s winning margin on the final lap of the US Grand Prix. That left Leclerc falling fractionally short of beating the Italian driver's season’s best gap of 13.7 seconds over Oscar Piastri in Japan earlier this year. Despite that late charge, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has come forward to declare that this latest victory was Antonelli’s absolute best race.
That is massive praise coming from his boss. While the drive itself was far less eye-catching than some of his other performances this season, you can easily see why Wolff walked away so deeply impressed with the machine's work on track.
The foundation for the success was laid early when Antonelli absolutely nailed qualifying. He managed to secure a pole position that Mercedes themselves honestly thought was a long shot going into the session.
Statistically, starting from pole position at Austin is one of the hardest places to retain the lead at the start of the race. The track is exceptionally wide as it runs into the first corner, and historically, the driver starting in second place has tended to get much better launches, creating a golden opportunity to dive right into the lead.
