2026 United States Grand Prix Review, Kimi Won and The Championship Fight is Still On.

I wanted Kimi to have a good race in Austin, but I also wanted the championship to stay alive. A slightly selfish request, considering he has spent the season working towards winning it and I am sitting here asking him to wait because I want more entertainment.

Thankfully, George and Lewis helped with that. Just about. Apparently, nobody was willing to give me a comfortable Sunday.

Kimi, on the other hand, looked quite comfortable taking his ninth win of the season, finishing more than 13 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc. I am happy for him. That was a properly convincing drive, especially with his first chance to seal the championship hanging over the weekend.

I get nervous when a payment takes too long to go through, so I am probably not the person to explain how he stayed that calm.

His tyre management deserves plenty of credit too. Mercedes kept him out on the mediums before switching to the hards for the rest of the race. One stop, enough pace and tyres that lasted. Lovely when everyone involved agrees to cooperate, including the car.

But making one stop was not automatically the winning answer. Norris tried it too, only his older hard tyres left him vulnerable towards the end, and he finished fifth. Kimi made the strategy work through his driving as well. You cannot just copy his homework and expect the same marks.

And that brings me to Charles, who had a rather different way of getting things done.

Ferrari ran both cars through softs, mediums and then hards, giving Charles fresher tyres for the closing stages. Leclerc said afterwards that a one-stop wasn’t on their cards, so this was about making their own approach work rather than chasing Mercedes’ plan. Which he did beautifully, passing Norris and then Max to finish second.

I loved that performance. Charles had work to do after the extra stop, and watching him turn that tyre advantage into actual overtakes was satisfying. Ferrari, more of this please. I quite enjoy discussing your strategy without needing a recovery period afterwards.

Unfortunately, enjoying Charles’ race also meant watching him take second away from Sir Max, and that is where my happiness became slightly complicated.

After Malaysia and Singapore, I was getting comfortable with Red Bull winning again. Then came Austin, and suddenly we were back discussing what was wrong with the car. Aaah, Red Bull, can we please enjoy the relationship for a little longer before the problems return?. I can see Hadjar suffered as well.

Max started on softs, took another set at his first stop and finished on mediums. Using softs twice meant another stop was necessary to meet the dry-weather tyre rules, so that early decision committed him to the two-stop route. But the tyres were only part of it. Engine-braking and gearshift issues added to a race where the pace wasn’t enough either. Max acknowledged that afterwards, so I cannot fairly turn this into another argument about the pit wall alone.

Third is still a podium. I know. But after two wins, watching him start second and finish third was not quite what I had ordered.

Meanwhile, Lewis finished fourth and George eighth, keeping both of their title hopes alive by landing exactly where they needed to.

George did make life harder with a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. I defend him quite often, but I cannot blame bad luck for everything. George, please help me with my side of this conversation. I really want you to do some remedies around your luck in 2027.

Still, between his one-stop race and Lewis’s two-stop effort, they kept the championship undecided for Mexico. Thank you, gentlemen. Not a lot of breathing room, but I will take it.

Of course, Kimi now leads George by 123 points, with Lewis another point behind. I am calling it a title fight because it technically still is. Please do not inspect my optimism too closely.

My A2W race rating: 7/10. A lovely drive from Kimi, a strong finish from Charles and enough strategy differences to keep me interested behind the leader. I wanted more of a fight for the win, but at least the championship celebrations have to wait.

And to the championship: please keep pretending this is close until I have had time to emotionally prepare for Kimi winning it.
aKi Malik