Wolff: Antonelli said he was not thinking about the championship before winning in Austin
Toto Wolff says Kimi Antonelli walked into his office before the US Grand Prix and told him he was not thinking about the title at all. Antonelli went on to win by about 13 seconds and arrives in Mexico City needing ninth place to clinch it.
A visit before the race
Kimi Antonelli could have been world champion by Sunday evening in Austin. According to Toto Wolff, the 20-year-old was thinking about something else. The Mercedes team principal told Sky Sports that Antonelli "sneaked into my office" before getting ready for the race and said he was going to enjoy it. Wolff relayed that the driver was "not thinking about the championship at all", and described him as being on a "discovery mission" emotionally.
The account, reported by Crash.net and PlanetF1, gives no further detail of the conversation. It fits what happened on track: Antonelli started from pole, controlled the race and won by 13.078 seconds.
Strategy that stayed put
Wolff also spoke about the call that helped him. Mercedes had discussed the risk that Max Verstappen could undercut, but stayed with a one-stop plan that it judged fastest. Wolff said the plan was about eight seconds quicker in theory. Verstappen and Charles Leclerc tried two stops to catch Antonelli and could not.
Our race data supports the pattern: ten of the 19 classified finishers made one stop, and Antonelli was one of them.
By the numbers
The win was Antonelli's ninth of 2026 and took him to 365 points from 18 races. Our data shows 15 podiums for him this season. George Russell, second in the standings on 242, finished eighth in Austin and kept a mathematical chance alive, as did Lewis Hamilton on 241.
PlanetF1 reports that Antonelli needs ninth place at the Mexico City Grand Prix on 1 November to clinch the title. A champion at 20 would become the youngest in the sport's history, ahead of Sebastian Vettel. Wolff called the Austin win exceptional "at any time".
