Kimi Antonelli could become Formula 1's youngest world champion as early as the United States Grand Prix on October 25. Mercedes' Antonelli increased his lead at the top of the Drivers' Championship to a season-high 102 points with a third-place finish in the Singapore Grand Prix. George Russell remains second in the standings but a ninth-place finish after engine penalties left him starting at the back of the grid, dropping him beyond a century of points behind his team-mate for the first time.
Lewis Hamilton's late slide off the podium leaves the Ferrari driver 111 points off the pace in third place. With such a large lead and with a scheduled six races left in the 2026 season, the world title now looks a formality for the 20-year-old Italian in just his second year of F1 to usurp Sebastian Vettel as the sport's youngest title winner. A first chance - albeit an outside one - to clinch the crown will arrive as soon as the next race at Austin's Circuit of the Americas, live on Sky Sports F1.
There will be five scheduled races left - Mexico, Brazil, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi - after the United States Grand Prix takes place on Sunday October 25 and a maximum of 125 points left to play for. To win the title in Austin, Antonelli needs to increase his championship lead by 23 points. For that to happen he must win the grand prix AND then hope both Russell and Hamilton do not score sufficient points to stay within 124 points of him going to Mexico.
The permutations for Antonelli to become champion in Austin are: Antonelli wins the race (25 points) and Russell finishes ninth or lower (2 points or less) and Hamilton finishes fifth or lower (10 points or less). Were Antonelli to win the race and Russell finish ninth, Antonelli would hold a 125-point lead over his team-mate with exactly 125 points left to play for. But that would still be enough for Antonelli to become champion, provided Hamilton was also still outside the top four in the race.
That is because victory in Austin would be the Italian's ninth of the year and with Russell on three wins the Briton would only be able to get to a maximum of eight in the five races left. Antonelli would therefore be guaranteed the title on results countback, with race wins the first tiebreaker in event of an end-of-season points tie. Max Verstappen (119 points back), Charles Leclerc (125 points back) and Lando Norris (139 points back) all remain in mathematical title contention too after Singapore but would all be automatically knocked out by an Antonelli win in Austin wherever they finished that race.
উৎস: Sky Sports Champions League · সারাংশ: HeadlinesBriefing