Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli within touching distance of maiden F1 title after finishing 3rd at S’pore GP

SINGAPORE – As Max Verstappen pulled off a masterclass to win the Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix for the first time, Kimi Antonelli was keeping his head down.

Running fifth in the last leg of the 62-lap race, Antonelli seized an opportunity to overtake reigning world champion Lando Norris, who was trying to make a move on Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton in third.

The Mercedes driver then made easy pickings of seven-time world champion Hamilton, who was running on old soft tyres, in the next lap and snagged the final podium spot.

With Antonelli picking up 20 points over the weekend to his closest championship rival George Russell’s two, the 20-year-old could seal his maiden F1 world title at the next race in United States on Oct 25, becoming the youngest to do so.

Antonelli leads the 23-driver standings with 340 points, 102 ahead of teammate Russell, who finished ninth in Singapore.

For the Italian to be crowned champion in Austin, he needs to win the race and leave the Circuit of the Americas with a 125-point advantage over Russell and Hamilton, who is third with 229 points.

It appears that equation was not on Antonelli’s mind as he crossed the finish line at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

When first asked about sealing the title in Austin, an astonished Antonelli exclaimed: “Can I? Really? Let’s not worry about that. Let’s try to do the best weekend possible and finish the job.”

But when probed again later, Antonelli admitted it was on his mind.

He said: “But at the same time I know it’s very close and I know it’s there, but I just need to make sure I keep doing the best I can.

“The mindset is always the same: To go out there and win and perform the best way I can. This weekend I haven’t driven particularly well, I felt like I could have done a better job, but I feel confident and I have a week to reset.

“I’m really looking forward to being back in Austin but at the end of the day, if I don’t do my job well, all this won’t come. So in order to achieve what I want, I need to perform.”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was equally coy.

The Austrian told Sky Sports: “We didn’t expect to be ahead Lewis because they were so fast, so coming in and scoring more points than him is good.

“You look at the numbers and you ask what’s the probability of him winning, and it’s probably almost 100%.

“But it’s motor racing. You can break down, you can have accidents and then things could start to stress. So we need to look at it race by race, make sure we continue to score the points and eventually, hopefully, it’s going to come towards him.”

Antonelli has already racked up several historic milestones with the Silver Arrows this season.

He has become F1’s second-youngest race winner, its youngest championship leader and youngest pole-sitter.

He has remained at the top of the drivers’ standings since the third round in Japan. Having won eight of 16 races, he is primed for the title, in just his second F1 season.

But Antonelli might be slightly worried at Verstappen’s late charge as the Red Bull driver snatched back-to-back wins in Malaysia and Singapore.

Sitting fourth with 221 points, the Dutchman has put himself in contention late in the season, just as he did in 2025 when he ended the campaign with six victories in the last nine races.

Well aware of the threat Verstappen poses, Antonelli said on Sky Sports: “Yeah (if he were closer), it would be very scary.”

Still, he played down his inevitable coronation, paying tribute to his team instead.

“We’re doing a great job. You look at the season and we’ve always been there. We’ve had a great car, and now we’re trying to understand this new package.

“But I’m very proud of the team this weekend because we pushed through the difficulties and we started to see the light at the end of the tunnel, so it’s just a matter of time.

“Now we go back to Austin again, a normal weekend, standard weekend, where we can hopefully do a lot of changes and understand more (about) this package.”

Laura Chia is a journalist covering breaking news and current affairs, with an interest in sports.