F1 United States Grand Prix: How to Watch and Antonelli Title Math

The United States Grand Prix starts at 4 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, October 25 at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. The race runs 56 laps of the 5.513 kilometre circuit, about 308 kilometres in total. Viewers in the United States watch on Apple TV. Viewers in the United Kingdom watch on Sky Sports F1.

Kimi Antonelli starts on pole position after a 1:34.035 lap in Saturday qualifying, his seventh pole of the season. Max Verstappen starts second, 0.179 seconds behind, with Isack Hadjar third in the second Red Bull. Charles Leclerc starts fourth and Lewis Hamilton fifth for Ferrari. George Russell, second in the championship, starts sixth. Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris start seventh and eighth for McLaren.

The title math

Antonelli leads Russell by 102 points with six races left, and five drivers can still win the championship: Antonelli, Russell, Hamilton, Verstappen and Leclerc. Antonelli can settle it today, but the combination is narrow. If he wins the race, Hamilton finishes fifth or lower, and Russell finishes ninth or lower, Antonelli is champion with five rounds to spare.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff played the chance down when Sky Sports asked him about it. "We are not talking about that. It's not realistic," Wolff said. "I don't think we are quickest in the race, so it's about scoring points and eventually, hopefully, winning."

What stands in his way

Verstappen has won the United States Grand Prix four times, including last year, and he arrives in Austin on a two race winning streak. He starts on the front row beside Antonelli, with his teammate Hadjar directly behind, so Mercedes faces two Red Bulls in the first laps before any title calculation matters. Ferrari also showed pace earlier in the weekend: Leclerc topped first practice and Hamilton led final practice.

Our earlier report on Saturday qualifying has the full grid story. This page will be updated with the race result after the finish.

The rest of the grid

Behind Norris, Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson start ninth and tenth for Racing Bulls. Pierre Gasly starts 11th for Alpine, Nico Hulkenberg 12th for Audi, Gabriel Bortoleto 13th, Franco Colapinto 14th, Fernando Alonso 15th, Oliver Bearman 16th, Esteban Ocon 17th, Lance Stroll 18th, Carlos Sainz 19th, Alex Albon 20th, and Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas 21st and 22nd for Cadillac. Circuit of the Americas has hosted this race since 2012, and its long climb to the first corner is where the field bunches on the first lap.