Jolyon Palmer Applauds Kimi Antonelli's Bold Strategy Against Verstappen at COTA
Jolyon Palmer was thoroughly impressed by Kimi Antonelli's performance at the 2026 United States Grand Prix, highlighting his aggressive approach. Antonelli secured pole position and converted it into a win, leaving Max Verstappen behind with his strategic driving.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli left former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer in admiration at the 2026 United States Grand Prix, thanks to his impressive performance during qualifying. The Mercedes driver returned to the top of the timesheets at the Circuit of the Americas for the first time in eight rounds, eventually converting his seventh pole of the season into his ninth Grand Prix victory out of 18 races. Antonelli clinched pole position by a margin of 0.179 seconds over Max Verstappen, with a standout first Q3 lap that clocked in at 1:34.035, leaving the Red Bull driver to settle with a 1:34.214.
Jolyon Palmer, who was analyzing the race, noted Antonelli's aggressive kerb usage in the first sector as a key factor in his performance. Palmer remarked, "Most importantly for Kimi was his underlying pace across the weekend. His pole lap was superb on a day where everybody else was struggling to string laps together." Palmer was particularly impressed with how Antonelli tackled the esses, gaining significant time on Verstappen by "hammering over apex kerbs in his typically extreme manner."
During the race, Antonelli's perfect launch from pole allowed him to open up a gap over Verstappen before Turn 1, effectively putting him in control of a one-stop strategy that led to a comfortable 13.078-second victory over Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. While Verstappen couldn’t mount a challenge for the win, Antonelli's pace in the first sector during qualifying was noteworthy, even though his advantage came in the latter sectors.
In the end, Antonelli posted a first sector split time of 25.310 seconds on his initial Q3 lap, a time Verstappen bettered slightly with a 25.254-second split. However, Antonelli regained his edge in the second sector, with split times of 37.297 seconds compared to Verstappen's 37.475 seconds. The final sector saw Antonelli clock a 31.428-second split, just ahead of Verstappen's 31.485 seconds, securing his pole position.
Palmer's analysis highlighted the mastery of Antonelli's driving, particularly in the first sector's challenging conditions. Despite the wind and difficulty others faced in maintaining their laps, Antonelli's precision and bold kerb usage stood out as defining elements of his weekend performance.