Nate Saunders Oct 25, 2026, 09:08 PM ET

AUSTIN, Texas -- The closer Kimi Antonelli gets to making Formula 1 history, the less he seems to care about the enormity of what he's doing.

Antonelli's ninth win of 2026 at the U.S. Grand Prix left him a whisker away from the F1 championship; to claim the crown, he needed Lewis Hamilton to finish fifth or lower (he finished fourth) and George Russell to finish ninth or lower (he finished eighth). He now needs just two points in Mexico -- a ninth-place finish will suffice -- to finally become the youngest driver to clinch the title and the first Italian to do it since Alberto Ascari in 1953.

All the talk coming into the race had focused on Antonelli's chance of getting it done. You wouldn't have known it -- the 20-year-old was the personification of cool from his arrival in America this week.…