• Antonelli has 102-point lead over George Russell

• Needs to be 125 points in front after Sunday’s race

Kimi Antonelli claimed pole position for the US Grand Prix with a hugely impressive lap for Mercedes at the Circuit of the Americas. In beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen into second place, Antonelli did exactly what was required to give him the chance to close out his first world championship title this weekend.

Isack Hadjar did well to secure third for Red Bull, with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in fourth and fifth for Ferrari, with Antonelli’s Mercedes teammate George Russell in sixth.

Antonelli’s first pole since the Belgian GP in July could not have been better timed as he attempts to take his first title. The Italian has a 102-point lead over Russell and needs to be 125 points in front after this race. To take the title he must win on Sunday and have Russell finish outside the top eight, with Hamilton outside the top four. The win certainly looks to be a strong prospect but he still needs his rivals to stumble somewhat on Sunday.

He can only do his best and knows that even should the title not be secured here, on this form it will surely be done and dusted by the next round in Mexico.

“We got pole, so we’ll try to win tomorrow,” Antonelli said. “Max has been very quick and did an incredible job in qualifying so it’s not going to be easy. Hopefully we’ll be leading into turn one and we’ll try to set the pace, even though it’s going to be very tight. Very happy with qualifying today, Q3 was very tough with the wind, gusty, unpredictable but happy to stick it on pole.”

It is another striking achievement from the Italian, not least because the Mercedes upgrades applied in Malaysia have made the car more of a handful to drive. Indeed Russell was a full four-tenths off his teammate, and a strong return to form for Antonelli as he looks to become the youngest F1 world champion at just 20 years old.

He was flawless for the lap that proved unbeatable in the Texas sunshine but it was a performance by which Mercedes, too, will be buoyed given they were hoping to extract the maximum from their recent upgrades which had not delivered as expected on their opening salvos in Malaysia and Singapore. With the team having found a way to exploit them, Antonelli gave a reminder of just what a formidable opponent he is.

His engineer, Pete Bonnington, admitted it was somewhat unexpected given both the team’s work on their upgrades and the form of the recently resurgent Red Bull, with Verstappen taking pole and the win at the last two rounds. A sentiment echoed by the beaming Antonelli.

“It was unexpected, we felt it would be close but it was a good surprise,” he said. “I am happy because we have been working very hard on this package and since Singapore we have taken a big step further. The team have done a tremendous job and finally we are seeing the results.”

For the first runs in Q3 in what had been a tightly-contested session, with both Red Bull and Ferrari looking to be very much in the mix, it was Antonelli who set the pace. He put in a blistering lap with a time of 1minute 34.035seconds, almost two tenths up on Verstappen, with the Italian hooking up what was one of his very best laps of the weekend.

On the final runs Verstappen gave his all but could not improve and, although Antonelli too could not go quicker, he had done enough. His time was not bettered and a somewhat unexpected pole was secured with no little style. “Yes man, it’s good to be back,” he said.

For Antonelli, in a season of milestones, including eight wins, his first pole in Austin is his seventh of the season and the first for Mercedes here since Valtteri Bottas last took the top spot in 2019, from which he went on to win – a feat Antonelli will hope to emulate.

The Italian looked very much at his best and has given himself the chance to potentially finish the job. But as Verstappen observed, if not here on Sunday, then at the next round or the round after. The hard yards are over.