Antonelli nears F1 title as Russell searches for answers after Austin

Kimi Antonelli’s ninth win of the Formula 1 season brought his first title within reach, while George Russell finished eighth in Austin still searching for answers about his pace. That contrast framed Motorsport.com columnist Filip Cleeren’s post-race assessment of the Mercedes teammates.

Cleeren wrote that one or two points in Mexico could be enough for Antonelli to seal the championship even if Lewis Hamilton or Russell won there. At 20, Antonelli would become Formula 1’s youngest champion, beating Sebastian Vettel’s record by three years.

Team principal Toto Wolff called the Austin victory Antonelli’s best win. Cleeren pointed to the early pressure Antonelli resisted after starting on the slower medium tyre, then to his control as Mercedes stuck to its planned one-stop strategy.

Russell’s account was stark: “Six good laps, 50 bad laps.” He wanted to understand why his pace was so poor in the first stint. Russell also said there were signs the set-up window was very small; he hoped that might explain his lack of pace and said he needed to work with his team to understand it.

Cleeren did not describe the gap as a simple matter of speed: he said signs were building that Antonelli might be the quicker driver, but Russell was not far off his pace. He floated the Malaysia upgrade as one possible factor, saying it had made the W17 faster but harder to exploit and might have affected Russell more. For Russell, Cleeren said, the priority was finding workable solutions before the off-season.