{
  "id": 16291963,
  "title": "Kimi Antonelli hails \"step forward\" at United States GP as Mercedes chips away at upgrades",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/24/kimi-antonelli-hails-step-forward-at-united-states-gp-as-mercedes",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-24T06:00:02.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Motorsport.com",
    "slug": "motorsport-com",
    "url": "https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/kimi-antonelli-hails-austin-fp2-step-forward-as-mercedes-chips-away-at-upgrades/10867656/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Kimi Antonelli sees a step forward in Mercedes' performance at the United States Grand Prix, as the team continues to refine its latest upgrade package. The new front wing option, introduced in Malaysia, initially made the car more peaky and harder to optimize, but Mercedes has made progress. Both Kimi Antonelli and George Russell now race on the latest specification, with Antonelli just 0.042 seconds behind Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in Friday's practice. The team's progress from first to second practice in Austin suggests the W17 is still difficult to get right, but when it works, there is performance to be found. Kimi Antonelli stated that the step forward at Austin was a good one, and the team is now trying to improve further. However, Mercedes is not overly focused on Kimi winning the championship, as it would require Lewis Hamilton to finish fifth or lower.",
  "summary": "Formula 1 championship leader Kimi Antonelli reckons Mercedes has made another step trying to extract performance from its recent upgrade package at the United States Grand Prix. Mercedes arrived at Austin's challenging Circuit of the Americas with a new front wing option to further complement its significant upgrade package introduced in Malaysia two races ago. That initial upgrade raised the…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}