Pole for Kimi Antonelli under the Texan sun. And so there is a decent chance this breezy, curly-haired kid could become world champion today, the youngest ever at 20, without anyone knowing it’s a fact for sure.
The Mercedes man’s elevation to the top step in only his second season appears the strongest of possibilities – but with a strange caveat attached.
For the timing of his honour is complicated because it is unclear how many rounds remain on the calendar. Owing to conflict in the Middle East doubts surround the viability of the two intended concluding grands prix in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
So, should they fall off the roster, with only Imola lined up as a single replacement, Antonelli’s current 102-point lead over crestfallen team-mate George Russell, who qualified sixth, if maintained or extended here, would be insurmountable in a reduced schedule of four rounds.
Antonelli would be two points beyond reach whatever anyone else can muster over the next few weeks. In other words, he would be champion, yet awaiting his official coronation.
Everything is falling his way and the Italian is capitalising with clinical precision. His pole by 0.179sec over Red Bull’s Max Verstappen demonstrated his gifts again. Isaak Hadjar will start third, Charles Leclerc fourth and Lewis Hamilton fifth – a bad afternoon for Ferrari given their major upgrade package and big hopes of taking a leap forward.
Kimi Antonelli (centre) was fastest in qualifying ahead of Max Verstappen (left) and Isack Hadjar (right) in Austin
My own hunch, for what it is worth, is that the Middle Eastern races will be called off, that Formula One’s insistence that they will be on is fanciful, that they are placating their friendly and well-heeled friends in the region for now, and that, lo and behold, Imola will host what will turn into a late November/early December party to celebrate Italy’s first world champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953.
What better script could there be for the local boy born in Bologna, 20 miles up the road? Just don’t let on for now.
Antonelli, rightly, is doing his calculations according to the syllabus before him. If the last two races are on, the arithmetic reads like this: having won eight out of 17 races, he has two theoretical ‘rivals’, Russell and Hamilton, a huge 111 points back.
If Antonelli leaves Austin 125 points ahead of them both today he will clinch the honours regardless of the scheduling permutations. For that to happen, he needs to win and Russell to finish ninth or lower and Hamilton fifth or lower at the Circuit of the Americas, this great, undulating track 15 miles southeast of Downtown Austin, with its music scene and packed bars.
‘It’s crazy if you think about the championship, and that’s why I won’t think about it,’ said Antonelli, whose potential success would eclipse Sebastian Vettel as the sport’s youngest title-holder. The then precocious German was aged 23 years and 134 days, back in 2010, at Red Bull.
‘Something catastrophic needs to happen to others for me to become champion this weekend.
‘We had a meeting with ‘Bono’ (race engineer Peter Bonnington, who has enjoyed his role as mentor to the young Antonelli) this morning and we said: “Just have fun.”’
Antonelli took over the seat of the world’s ‘most winningest’ driver – as they say this side of the Pond – namely Hamilton’s when he moved to Ferrari last season.
Antonelli could become world champion at the US Grand Prix on Sunday
The pair get on well, as role-model and apprentice, and Hamilton paid this tribute to the man-child he knows will follow him into sporting history, having nurtured his progress since Antonelli joined Mercedes on the Silver Arrows’ young driver programme aged 11.
‘He doesn’t need any advice,’ said the seven-time world champion. ‘He’s shown this year and also last year, but particularly this year, just his talent and his ability, his calmness in approach.
‘I’m so proud of the way he’s carried himself, how he interacts with the drivers, even with the media. If it’s not my team winning, I’d always say I want to see my old team do well.’
The final word to Antonelli and his dreams on the eve of a significant Sunday in his nascent career.
‘I have wanted to win the title since I was little,’ he admitted, for once throwing off his pragmatic blinkers. ‘But there’s still a bit to go.’
How far is anyone’s guess. It could all be over today, bizarrely, without us or him knowing it.