Antonelli wins Austin GP as Wolff hails best race yet

Kimi Antonelli won the United States Grand Prix in Austin after taking pole position, prompting Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff to call it the Italian’s best race so far. The victory left the Formula 1 championship undecided, with Antonelli still needing to secure the title in the remaining rounds. Wolff praised Antonelli’s start on what he described as the inferior tyre and his control of the race. He said the 20-year-old had outperformed the car, adding that the driver’s style suited the Mercedes W17. Those were Wolff’s assessments of his own driver after the race. Antonelli’s weekend followed a difficult period for Mercedes as it worked to understand an upgrade package introduced earlier in the season. Wolff said the car had a narrow operating window: when optimized, it could be fast, but it was not yet predictable. He pointed to teammate George Russell’s struggles as an example of how performance could fall away when the car was not operating at its peak. The team had not expected Antonelli to take pole. Wolff said he had forecast a qualifying result between third and fifth and was surprised by the lap that put Antonelli at the front. Antonelli’s pole was 0.179 seconds...