Austin Driver Form Watch: Verstappen’s Surge, Antonelli’s Title Cushion
The championship leader is 102 points clear, but the hottest driver on recent Grand Prix form is Max Verstappen. Before Austin, the three-race results tell a different story from the season standings.
Published October 18, 2026 · Results through the Singapore Grand Prix on October 11 · No Austin track sessions have taken place.
Three Grands Prix that changed the form picture
George Russell won in Baku on September 26, but Red Bull's trajectory turned decisively at the next two rounds. Verstappen took victory at Sepang on October 4 and followed it with a dominant win in Singapore on October 11. That makes two consecutive Grand Prix wins after a runner-up finish in Azerbaijan, plus a Singapore Sprint victory.
Antonelli has not won any of those three Grands Prix, yet P5, P2 and P3 have protected his title advantage. Russell's Baku victory was followed by a late power-unit retirement at Sepang and a ninth-place finish in Singapore. The contrast between raw recent form and the championship table is central to the Austin story.
Last three Grand Prix results — calculated form table
Azerbaijan (Sep 26) · Bahrain GP in Malaysia at Sepang (Oct 4) · Singapore (Oct 11). Standard Grand Prix points only; Singapore Sprint points excluded from this comparison.
| Driver | Baku | Sepang | Singapore | 3-GP points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max Verstappen | P2 | P1 | P1 | 68 |
| Kimi Antonelli | P5 | P2 | P3 | 43 |
| Charles Leclerc | P4 | P4 | P2 | 42 |
| Lewis Hamilton | P6 | P3 | P6 | 31 |
| George Russell | P1 | DNF | P9 | 27 |
| Isack Hadjar | P3 | P5 | P10 | 26 |
| Oscar Piastri | P14 | P6 | P5 | 18 |
| Lando Norris | DNF | P9 | P4 | 14 |
Method: Sum of official points from the three completed Grands Prix, without sprint points. This is a recent-form comparison, not the official championship standings and not a prediction of Austin results.
Driver-by-driver intelligence
Verstappen: the momentum benchmark
His P2–P1–P1 sequence is worth 68 Grand Prix points, 25 more than Antonelli across the same three races. COTA's heavy braking and fast direction changes offer another test of whether Red Bull's resurgence transfers across circuit types. The team also faces a race-engineer handover for Austin.
Antonelli: title management, not desperation
Two consecutive podiums have put the Mercedes driver on 340 points, 102 clear of Russell. The race-weekend objective is to maximize points without letting the pressure of a possible title clinch create avoidable risk. Exact clinching scenarios depend on every contender's result.
Russell: urgency after two setbacks
Russell won Baku but scored only two Grand Prix points in the next two races combined. Sepang's power-unit failure and Singapore's grid recovery left him 102 points behind. Austin presents an opportunity to reassert Mercedes' pace and keep the title fight alive.
Leclerc: the consistency threat
Leclerc's P4–P4–P2 sequence is worth 42 Grand Prix points, just one fewer than Antonelli's total. The Singapore runner-up finish suggests Ferrari should not be dismissed in the fight for a front-row start or Sunday podium.
Norris and Piastri: McLaren's narrow margin
Norris took P4 and Piastri P5 in Singapore, but McLaren holds only a seven-point constructors' advantage over Red Bull. Norris has described the MCL40 as unusually demanding to drive; Austin will test whether the car can deliver consistent qualifying laps and race pace.
Hadjar: points that matter to Red Bull
Hadjar's Baku podium and Sepang P5 provided valuable support, although Singapore yielded only P10. If Red Bull is to move ahead of McLaren in the constructors' standings, its second car remains a significant variable.
Championship Watch: two races within the race
Official standings entering Austin: Antonelli 340, Russell 238, Hamilton 229, Verstappen 221, Leclerc 215 and Norris 201. Mercedes leads the constructors' standings with 578 points, ahead of Ferrari on 444; McLaren's 339 and Red Bull's 332 create a particularly tight battle for third.
The title calculation and the fight for third in the constructors' standings should be covered separately. A Verstappen victory can continue Red Bull's rise without necessarily preventing Antonelli from securing the drivers' title, depending on the finishing positions of Russell and other challengers.
What Austin practice and qualifying must answer
- Is Red Bull quick in both high-speed direction changes and slow-corner exits? COTA's Esses and long back straight test different qualities from Singapore.
- Can Mercedes deliver a clean weekend for both cars? Antonelli's points position is strong, but Russell needs a result after Sepang and Singapore.
- Does McLaren's handling limitation translate into qualifying errors or race tyre degradation? Watch both drivers, not just Norris.
- Can Ferrari convert Leclerc's consistent form into a sustained challenge? Friday long runs will provide better evidence than predictions made before the cars run.
Austin timetable and editorial checkpoint
Formula 1's current timetable lists FP1 at 12:30 PM and FP2 at 4:00 PM on Friday, October 23; FP3 at 12:30 PM and qualifying at 4:00 PM on Saturday, October 24; and the 56-lap United States Grand Prix at 3:00 PM on Sunday, October 25. All times are Austin local time (CDT) and subject to official changes.
Reassess the form rankings after FP2, replace expectations with verified qualifying results on Saturday, and recalculate championship and constructors' scenarios after the race. Do not treat the pre-weekend form order as a projected starting grid.
Continue the race intelligence
Sources and verification
- 2026 Azerbaijan GP results
- 2026 Bahrain GP in Malaysia results
- 2026 Singapore GP results
- Official 2026 drivers' standings
- Official 2026 teams' standings
- Official 2026 US GP timetable
- Motorsport.com, Oct 16: Norris on McLaren driveability
Editorial data cut-off: October 18, 2026, before Austin practice. All three-race totals are calculated from official Grand Prix classification points, excluding Singapore Sprint points.