Kimi Antonelli has expressed his gratitude that Max Verstappen remains too far adrift to mount a genuine championship assault, describing the prospect as "very scary" following the Red Bull driver's dominant display across the Singapore weekend.
Verstappen claimed maximum points during the Sprint format in Singapore and added another victory earlier this month in Malaysia, yet the gap to the championship leader remains insurmountable. Unlike his title-winning campaigns of previous seasons, the Red Bull driver sits too far back in the standings to engineer a realistic comeback.
The Mercedes driver can secure the championship at the next round in Austin on October 23-25, provided he outscores team-mate George Russell by 23 points and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton by 14 points. According to Grande Prémio, Antonelli arrives at the American Grand Prix with a reported 102-point lead over Russell.
Antonelli managed another solid weekend in Singapore despite the team's new package failing to deliver the expected performance gains. He secured third place on Sunday after Mercedes executed a well-timed strategy call, switching him to fresh soft tyres in the closing stages to overtake McLaren's Lando Norris and Hamilton.
The result proved encouraging given that the upgrades introduced in Malaysia had not yielded the substantial performance improvement the team had anticipated.
"It would be very scary!" Antonelli told Sky Sports F1 when asked if he is glad Verstappen is not in this year's championship battle.
The 20-year-old continued by reflecting on his team's consistency throughout the season and their efforts to understand the new technical package.
"All in all I feel like we are doing a great job. At the end, you look at the season, and we have always been there. Obviously we have had a great car and now we are trying to understand this new package. I'm very proud of the team this weekend because we pushed through the difficulties and started to see life at the end of the tunnel. It's just a matter of time."
Looking ahead to Austin, Antonelli expressed optimism about the opportunity to make further progress with the car's setup and performance characteristics.
"Now we go to Austin, a normal weekend, where we can hopefully do a lot of changes and understand the package more."
Antonelli is on course to break Sebastian Vettel's record as the youngest Formula 1 world champion, with six races remaining in the season to secure the title. According to Formula1.com, Antonelli became the youngest driver to lead the F1 standings after winning the Japanese Grand Prix, aged 19 years, 7 months and 4 days.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, typically measured in his public pronouncements, has acknowledged that Antonelli's path to the title appears almost certain based on the mathematical probabilities.
"You look at the numbers and ask the probability of him winning, and it's probably almost 100 per cent. But it's motor racing, you can break down, you can have accidents, and then things could start to stress," he told Sky Sports F1.
Wolff emphasised the importance of maintaining focus and consistency through the remaining races rather than allowing complacency to creep in.
"So, I think we need to look at it race by race, make sure that we are continuing to score the points, and eventually hopefully it's going to come towards him."
Verstappen's Singapore triumph despite radio troubles
Red Bull's recent resurgence appears to have temporarily halted Mercedes' season-long dominance, though Verstappen's Singapore victory came with unexpected complications. The Dutch driver was unable to communicate with his team for the entire race, hearing his engineer Gianpiero Lambiase but unable to transmit information in return.
"Maybe he was happy that it was not working! I couldn't really say anything. He did try at one point to ask me a few things in code, and I think he understood well what I meant or did not do," said Verstappen.
Verstappen revealed that radio difficulties have plagued him throughout the season, with Singapore representing a particularly severe instance of the problem.
"But it's never nice. I've been having difficulty with my radio already the whole season, and this weekend has been particularly bad."
The most critical moment of the race came at the opening lap when Ferrari's Charles Leclerc posed a genuine threat off the line. Red Bull have struggled with launch procedures throughout 2026, and Verstappen acknowledged the precarious nature of his position.
"The start was critical, so that was just good enough. Something was not particularly right at the start, so I need to understand what went wrong there. Before releasing the clutch, it didn't feel good. But it was just good enough."
Verstappen described the opening laps as particularly challenging due to deployment issues that nearly allowed Leclerc to gain an advantage into Turn 7.
"Then we had a few laps with some deployment issues, so that's where Charles almost got me actually into Turn 7. Once we had cleared the deployment problems, it was fine. The car was really good on the tyres. I could really manage them well."
The Red Bull driver highlighted the rarity of his position at Singapore, where he spent much of the race in clean air rather than fighting through the field.
"But to be honest, I think it was one of the first times that I've driven in clean air here in Singapore in the race, so I guess that's also nice."
Verstappen expressed satisfaction with the overall performance across different tyre compounds and his management of the race strategy.
"It's been just a fantastic weekend for us. I mean, we were flying on the soft, we were okay on the medium, and then of course with the VSC, I think it was right what Charles did with pitting and going back on a soft tyre. But, we just had it under control and of course, really happy to win here."
Verstappen has now won at every circuit on the current calendar with the exception of Madrid, demonstrating his adaptability across different track characteristics.
What happens next
Formula 1 now heads to the Americas for another triple-header weekend, with the United States Grand Prix in Austin taking centre stage. According to Formula1.com, the race is scheduled for October 23-25 at Circuit of the Americas, with the main event starting on Sunday, October 25, at 15:00 local time.
Unlike Singapore, Austin will operate as a standard race weekend in 2026. According to Grande Prémio, the schedule will feature three practice sessions, qualifying, and a 56-lap race, providing Antonelli with another opportunity to edge closer to the championship crown.
The race will be broadcast live on Sky Sports F1, with streaming available through NOW without requiring a contract.
