Max Verstappen takes third in Austin as Kimi Antonelli closes in on F1 title

Max Verstappen finished third in the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, on Sunday. The Dutch Red Bull driver struggled with his car, which meant that he was unable to put up a real fight to the race winner, Kimi Antonelli.

Verstappen started in second place after the qualifying session on Saturday. Antonelli took pole, and Charles Leclerc of Ferrari started the race behind Verstappen.

The race was almost going to begin without one driver. Fernando Alonso, considered by many to be one of the best racing drivers of all time, had mechanical issues during the formation lap. But the veteran was able to start and finish the race.

It was a perfect start for Antonelli. He sped away brilliantly, comfortably keeping his pole position. Verstappen was forced to fend off both Ferrari cars, with Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton chasing the four-time champion.

Leclerc was successful in overtaking the Red Bull, but Verstappen then took second place back from the Frenchman, all still within the first lap.

Verstappen was one of the first drivers to go in for a pit stop in the 14th lap. He was around 2.3 seconds behind the race leader, Antonelli, at the time. He came out in eighth but eventually went past George Russell in the Mercedes to climb to third with many vehicles going in for pit stops.

Behind Antonelli was his Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar. Verstappen spent several laps behind the French-Algerian driver, voicing his chagrin with the decision to the team shortly after. “Yeah, thank you, guys. Really good strategy there, stuck in dirty air. Fuck,” he could be heard saying.

Verstappen’s issues with the car began on the 30th lap. His team said they saw braking issues and tried to give Verstappen a potential solution, but the communication system was also not working correctly, with Verstappen not able to hear them.

Shortly after this, Verstappen was asked how the front wing was going. It was clear that the communications were back online as Verstappen responded. “Literally no idea mate, no idea.”

He went for his second pit stop a minute later, with the engineers making some changes to the car.

Verstappen spent a lot of time behind Lando Norris in the McLaren when he came out from the pits. This was notable as Norris had been on his tires for 27 laps.

This gave Leclerc the chance to close the gap to Verstappen. The Red Bull driver took full advantage of this initially, using Leclerc catching up as a distraction to pass Norris and climb to second place.

And yet, surprisingly, it was Leclerc who finished in second place, ahead of Verstappen. When Leclerc caught back up to Verstappen, it was surprising how easy it was to pass the Dutchman, who had told his team earlier that he was more focused on keeping Hamilton behind him, who was fifth at the time.

Antonelli could have won the championship this weekend, but Russell finished in eighth place, too high for an official championship. He will likely confirm the title in Mexico in a week's time.

Verstappen was mathematically ruled out of the title after this race, although it had been clear for some time that he had no chance of a fifth title. He is currently fourth in the rankings behind Hamilton and Russell.