Kimi Antonelli stuns Max Verstappen to take pole in Austin; Antonelli could be crowned world champion on Sunday if he wins and other results go his way; watch the United States GP live on Sky Sports F1 & Sky Sports Main Event at 8pm on Sunday, with build-up from 6.30pm
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Kimi Antonelli beat Max Verstappen to pole position for the United States Grand Prix to boost his chances of sealing a maiden world championship in Sunday's race.
The 20-year-old Mercedes driver is all but certain to become Formula 1's youngest ever champion but could clinch the title with five rounds to spare if he wins in Austin on Sunday and other placings go his way.
It was perhaps the most unlikely of Antonelli's seven poles this season as he came from nowhere in Q3 to surge ahead of Verstappen, who had appeared for most of the weekend to be battling Ferrari for the front-row positions.
Antonelli's pole time of 1:34.035s was good enough to beat Verstappen by 0.179s, with neither driver managing to improve on the second of their two Q3 flying laps.
Verstappen's Red Bull team-mate Isack Hadjar equalled his best qualifying result by taking third, leaving Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton a hugely disappointing fourth and fifth, respectively.
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George Russell will start from sixth, with the Brit needing to finish in the top eight to ensure Antonelli won't be crowned champion if he wins on Sunday. Hamilton would also need to finish fifth or lower in the event of an Antonelli victory for the title to be confirmed.
"We got pole, so we will try to win tomorrow," Antonelli said. "Max has been very quick and Isack did an incredible job, so it won't be easy.
"We will try to get a good start and hopefully we lead into Turn 1, then set the pace, even though it will be very tight.
"Very happy with qualifying. Q3 was very tough with the wind. Very gusty and unpredictable but happy to put it on pole."
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Oscar Piastri took seventh ahead of his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris as the latter was demoted from sixth after having his final effort deleted for breaching track limits.
Racing Bulls took the final two top-10 places but Liam Lawson will inherit ninth from his team-mate Arvid Lindblad, who has a five-place grid penalty for exceeding his engine component allowance.
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Sunday October 25 5pm: F1 Academy Race 3 6.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: United States GP build-up* 8pm: THE UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX* 10pm: Chequered Flag: United States GP reaction 11pm: Ted's Notebook
Formula 1 heads to The Americas for another triple-header with the United States Grand Prix in Austin up first this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime
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Source: Sports
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