F1 US Grand Prix: Best Quotes From the Drivers After Sunday's Race

Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli didn't have to sweat much on Sunday, winning the 2026 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix by more than 16 seconds over Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Red Bull's Max Verstappen. 

But there were more than a handful of things happening behind Antonelli. Here's what he and his fellow drivers have to say about Sunday's race at the Circuit of The Americas.

Antonelli didn't clinch the title this weekend, but he puts himself in prime position in Mexico. After extending his championship lead to 123 points over teammate George Russell, the Italian driver just needs to finish at least ninth in Mexico to secure the Drivers' Championship.

Antonelli: "The car felt great today, and I was able to control the race, but it definitely wasn't easy. There was pressure throughout, and I knew I couldn't afford to make a mistake. I just tried to stay calm, focus on each lap, and execute the race."

Leclerc finished in P2 for the second straight, but he found himself in wheel-to-wheel battles from the start to the end. The Monegasque lined up fourth on the grid. But a good start, combined with his excellent stint on the medium tyres, helped him hunt Max Verstappen in second place.

Leclerc credited Ferrari's upgrades for the improvements that he felt in the car.

Leclerc: “We brought good upgrades to the car and have been going in a direction that I quite like. It makes me feel confident with the car, so I'm optimistic. It's all about optimising what we have for the upcoming races, with the target of converting our progress to a win.”

Prior to the weekend, Verstappen looked like the favorite to win in COTA, having won four of the last five races here. But the Dutchman, who is known as a fast starter, quickly lost ground to Antonelli right at the start. Eventually, he was overtaken by Leclerc and settled for third place, snapping his two-race winning streak.

Verstappen said that the car's engine and their tyres presented more questions than answers.

Verstappen: “The biggest question mark is why the tyres didn’t really work, while the harder compounds actually did really well, so that’s something to analyse. We struggled with engine consistency throughout the race, which we’ll need to work on, but it’s still a podium, so if you look at the beginning of the year and where we are now, we’ll take that."

The McLarens struggled in qualifying on Saturday, with Oscar Piastri settling for a P7 start and Norris in P8. On Sunday, it was obvious that Piastri didn't have the pace early on, forcing the team to swap their drivers. Norris took the fight to the front, but had to settle for a P5 finish.

Norris, winner of two races this season, acknowledged that they still don't have the pace to keep up with Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull.

Norris: "The reality remains that we are still lacking the outright pace needed to challenge higher up the grid. It was clear this weekend. Qualifying performance and car predictability remain our main priorities to address, but the team continues to do a fantastic job, and I am confident that if we resolve these key areas, we will secure strong results across the remaining races."

With Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson qualifying ahead of him, Gasly had a huge job ahead of him on Sunday. He had to defend and put himself in position to score points, especially after Alpine's horrible Asian triple-header.

Starting from P10, Gasly had a bit of tussle with Haas' Oliver Bearman that resulted in the latter incurring a penalty. Still, the French driver put his head down and scored Alpine's first point since the Spanish Grand Prix.

Gasly: “Given the circumstances, I think that's good, and that's all we could have achieved today. It was a pity about the incident with Ollie [Bearman] as it was quite a small contact, but it brought quite significant damage to my car. Having seen my car after the race, I was surprised to see the damage on the right-hand side floor with quite a lot of carbon fibre missing."

Bearman had a good start to the race, climbing from P13 to P11 on the opening lap. With confidence brimming, the young Haas driver tried to overtake Gasly for P10 but unfortunately made contact. The stewards handed him a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision.

Bearman had to retire his damaged car, but he said that he doesn't regret making that move.

Bearman: “I don’t regret going for the move because at this stage in the season, if we don’t do anything special and get a bit lucky and be aggressive and go for it, we’re just not going to score points as we’re not always fast enough to score them on merit."

It was not exactly an eventful race in COTA, but it was yet another display of championship composure for Kimi Antonelli. The 20-year-old driver might have felt jitters for his first shot at securing the championship, but his excellent start helped him dominate the race. 

Our greatest takeaway is that Antonelli should now start planning his championship celebrations in Mexico.