Inside Mercedes F1’s COTA 2026 Race Weekend With HPE: The Car Is Never Finished
Kimi Antonelli won the United States Grand Prix from pole on a one-stop, beating Charles Leclerc by 13.078 seconds with Max Verstappen third; the pit wall held against Verstappen’s two-stop undercut. Ferrari had owned the timing sheets until then, Leclerc fastest in Friday’s second practice and Lewis Hamilton in Saturday’s final session, so the Mercedes that turned up for qualifying caught the paddock, and the fans, off guard. Antonelli still left Austin without the title, because George Russell’s eighth place and Hamilton’s fourth each kept the arithmetic alive…
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