Antonelli storms to US Grand Prix pole

Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli secured pole position for the US Grand Prix during Saturday's qualifying session, outpacing Max Verstappen. If Antonelli wins the race and his teammate George Russell fails to finish in the top eight, the 20-year-old Italian will clinch his maiden Formula One world championship title. Lewis Hamilton must also finish outside the top four for Antonelli to claim the championship.

Russell managed to qualify sixth-fastest, sharing the third row of the grid with Hamilton. Verstappen, however, missed out on a third consecutive pole position and will start alongside Antonelli on the front row. Isack Hadjar of Red Bull secured third place, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc fourth. Antonelli's impressive lap time of one minute and 34.035 seconds marked his seventh pole position of the season, but his first since the Belgian Grand Prix in July.

Despite practice sessions seeing the Ferraris and Verstappen leading, Antonelli expressed his determination, stating, "We got pole so we will try to win tomorrow, but Max has been very quick and Isack did an incredible job, so it's not going to be easy."